News: QRL against independent commission

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Winging it
<p>THE push for an independent commission exploded in acrimony last night thanks to the stance of the QRL.</p>


<a href="http://www.silvertails.net/news/4532-qrl-against-independent-commission.html">Read the full article</a>
 
Queenslanders likely to push for ARL control at commission meeting
Brad Walter smh.com.au

QUEENSLAND directors are expected to push at today's meeting for the ARL board to formally seek 50 per cent control of a new independent commission to run rugby league during negotiations for News Ltd's withdrawal from the game.

Although the chief executives, coaches, captains and chairmen of the 16 NRL clubs last month unanimously passed a resolution calling for the establishment of an independent commission before the premiership kick-off on March 12, the ARL and News Ltd are not yet ready to finalise a deal. At a meeting last Thursday, News Ltd chief operating officer Peter Macourt and representatives of the ARL and QRL are understood to have discussed a variety of proposals, including the NSW and Queensland bodies each being given one vote to help determine the eight independent commissioners.

With each of the 16 clubs also having a vote, the NSWRL and QRL would collectively have only 11 per cent of the vote but those two votes would provide the constitutional safeguards ARL officials have been seeking as any more than one vote is enough to block any future change to the constitution - regardless of the size of the competition.

NSWRL officials are believed to have accepted the argument that votes do not translate into power (as the new body would be an independent non-profit organisation) but they are unlikely to formally propose any deal that erodes the ARL's 50 per cent stake in the game until told by News Ltd that such terms are unacceptable.

However, the QRL is determined that the status quo remain and the ARL form a 50-50 partnership with the premiership clubs if News Ltd departs the game.

Should News Ltd refuse to do so while their fellow protagonists from the Super League war have any position of power, NSWRL directors hold the balance of power on the 10-man ARL board to force a compromise through the votes of chairman Colin Love and chief executive Geoff Carr.

After a report in last Saturday's Herald that such a move might be close to fruition following talks between Macourt, Love, Carr and QRL directors Terry Mackenroth and Bruce Hatcher, it is understood that at least one NSW member of the ARL board has been approached for his support if a vote is taken at today's meeting.

The approach and the QRL's refusal to compromise on its position is likely to spark some heated exchanges at today's meeting.

Highlighting the division between the state bodies, the QRL had wanted NSWRL directors John Chalk and Terry Quinn to attend last week's meeting with Macourt instead of Love and Carr.

The QRL believed that by sending Mackenroth and Hatcher, who are not on the ARL board and do not hold any paid position in the game, it would dispel claims that the opposition to the proposed model for an independent commission was driven by officials not wanting to lose their jobs.
 
i dont blame them,it sounds like we are just going to go back to the bad old days of NSWRL running everything again.

The Queensland Cup is a bloody strong comp with entertaining footy, they need to be a bigger part of the overall game
 
Do we really want Rugby league in australia run solely by the 16 NRL clubs?

They are bussinesses, and at the end of the day all they are really worried about is what is best for them. They don't really give a rat's about the junior clubs in far north QLD or the far flung NSW country.

NRL is not the be all and end all of league.

Why are the clubs afraid of a 50-50 split? Because they want sole control maybe?
 
Renewed hope despite doubts
GLENN JACKSON AND GREG PRICHARD
smh.com.au

There is renewed hope an independent commission can be established before the start of the NRL season.

Today is a month from the opening match of the year, and while it had appeared there was little chance the 16 clubs would achieve their wish of a commission in place by March 12, there is renewed hope after yesterday's board meeting of Australian Rugby League, which resolved to expedite the process, even if officials from News Limited remain unconvinced.

Heavyweights among the clubs believe the establishment of a commission could be as easy as - or as easy as easy gets when it comes to the long and drawn-out negotiations so far - getting all parties to sit down in a room and agree to it.

It is believed that once an agreement is reached between the ARL and News, the process of the actual establishment of the commission is comparatively simple.

ARL chief executive Geoff Carr admitted there had been passionate debate at yesterday's lengthy board meeting in Sydney, but the fact that the resolution at the end of it was to ''reinforce its commitment to move towards a commission'' was taken as a positive sign.

Of course, there is also still the prospect of a catastrophic breakdown in negotiations, and it remains clear the Queensland Rugby League is seen as the last major obstacle between the ARL and News agreeing to hand over ownership of the game.

The Herald understands that News's reaction to the QRL's push for the ARL to form a 50-50 partnership with the clubs if News exits the game, as revealed in the Herald yesterday, is that the media company simply won't let it happen.

News genuinely wants to relinquish its 50 per cent share of control and help establish a commission, but won't move aside to allow what it would see as a situation in which one dysfunctional structure replaced another.

Its determined view is that independence means independence, and that if it agreed to the forming of a commission that was not free of vested interests then it wouldn't work because reform would be stifled.

That said, the company feels that while negotiations have been going on for a long time without the final result having been achieved, there has still been significant progress made and many obstacles removed. News officials are not counting on an agreement being in place by the start of competition, but remain confident that, in the end, the commission will be formed and will take the right shape.

Since the Super League war in the mid-1990s, News has - rightly or wrongly - been blamed for many of the game's ills, and is sensitive to that.

If it wasn't totally convinced about the structure but signed it just to get a commission formed, and if it were to subsequently fail, News would risk being blamed, even though it was no longer in charge.

The ARL has formalised a negotiating committee - made up of two representatives from both NSW and Queensland - to ''try and expedite negotiations with News''.

''We're committed to it,'' Carr said. ''We're trying to get on with it.''
 
nodd link said:
Do we really want Rugby league in australia run solely by the 16 NRL clubs?

They are bussinesses, and at the end of the day all they are really worried about is what is best for them. They don't really give a rat's about the junior clubs in far north QLD or the far flung NSW country.

NRL is not the be all and end all of league.

Why are the clubs afraid of a 50-50 split? Because they want sole control maybe?
An understandable concern, but the proposal is not that the clubs will run the game. It will be run by an independent commission. True, the proposal is that the clubs will have to appoint members to the commission, but the commissioners will be charged with responsibilty for all levels of the game and the welfare of the game overall, not just the welfare of the NRL clubs. Individual clubs won't be appointing commissioners, each commissioner will have to receive a majority backing as I understand it.
 
nodd link said:
Do we really want Rugby league in Australia run solely by the 16 NRL clubs?

Not me !

nodd link said:
They are businesses, and at the end of the day all they are really worried about is what is best for them. They don't really give a rat's about the junior clubs in far north QLD or the far flung NSW country.

My thoughts exactly. This is one of my main concerns as I pointed out in the other Independent Commission thread.

nodd link said:
NRL is not the be all and end all of league.

Agreed.

nodd link said:
Why are the clubs afraid of a 50-50 split?

Loss of $$$ to them.

nodd link said:
Because they want sole control maybe?

Yes, for their own self-interests as they can then restrict further expansion of the NRL etc. The salary cap comes to mind as if a new media deal comes into reality and increases income, why then would they want to water down whatever their salary cap can be increased to by introducing say a team from Central QLD or Gosford or another interstate team.

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I have no problem with an independent body to look after Rugby League in Australia but the main thing that I want is to see is News Ltd out of ownership of our game. I have no problem with them handing over their 50% share of the NRL to the 16 clubs. The ARL should not be forced into giving up their share of the company. I believe that there should still be the 50/50 partnership agreement in the company (under a new name i.e. Rugby League - Australia) and that both the ARL & the Clubs should have equal voting rights with an independent chairman (or committee) overseeing everything and who has voting rights (with one vote) only when there is a voting deadlock in normal company voting circumstances.

By giving the 16 NRL teams full control would be like getting a class full of kids and saying okay kids, here is your classroom and all of your books and all of the information that you will require to learn. If you want to learn, teach yourselves as nobody will be here to teach you. Can you really see them teaching themselves? Some probably would go on and try and teach themselves but the majority would be just looking after their own self interests by doing whatever they felt like doing whereas if there was a teacher present (the governing body), they would be more inclined to do the right thing and learn.
 
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4 3 1 28 6
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4 2 2 39 4
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3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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