What's wrong with League?

[Matabele]

The SMH has asked the question and opened itself up for comment.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/sinbin/archives/2008/08/whats_wrong_with_league.html

This is my contribution:

I have been a passionate league supporter for for quarter of a century but I'm on the verge of switching off.

The reason?  I cannot live any longer with the stench of conflict of interest that hangs over the game.  It is simply untenable that one of the partners that "own" 50% of the game also have a controlling interest in several of the participants.

This has far reaching ramifications.  There is no doubt that the News Limited teams get the  rub of the green on any number of issues:

1.  On field the referees and video officials favour the News Limited teams on the vast majority of 50/50 calls.  I would go as far as to say Tony Archer is a "specialist" referee to favour the Storm in big games.  Refereeing errors contributed a 12 point turnaround to the Manly vs Storm game last Friday and Archer is also lenient on the Storm standing offside and with their wrestle.  He is the "number one" referee for a reason.

2.  These News associated teams are also heavily favoured when it comes to match scheduling.  Their teams are afforded greater recovery time and the time slots that guarantee larger crowds. 

The NRL is NOT a level playing field.  Games are being decided off the field by dollars and politics, not on the field by toughness and skill.

And the average league fan is not the mug that some assume.

 

[clontaago]

Well put Mata.

 

[The Wheel]

Couldn't agree more - I also believe the Video ref is ruining the game

 

[Matabele]

I doubt it will get published by the way.

 

[clontaago]

What's wrong with the ref at the game calling for the video replay, and then making the call himself?

Or have 3 video refs, and they all sit in seperate rooms and press a button yes or no. 2 out of 3 is taken as the call.

I know both options have their problems but its not working as is.

 

[Matabele]

Or have 3 video refs, and they all sit in seperate rooms and press a button yes or no. 2 out of 3 is taken as the call.

If one of the 3 is Russell Smith each game will take 4 hours.

 

[DSM5]

I certainly agree Mata that refereeing is the pain in the backside of league.  As is Gallop and his merry men of mediocrity.  There's no vision thing happening.  And, pleeese can we just leave the SBW thing alone and get on with our game. 

 

[weev]

I doubt it will get published by the way.

It could cause it's Fairfax. If it was News Ltd there would be no mention at all, and that's the sneakiness of mass media.

To quote Noam Chomsky, 'the media doesn't tell you want to think, it tells you what to think about'.

This country has cross-media laws to stop one organisation owning too many different types of media in one location. But there are no rules for cross-industry ownership, so a behemoth like News can own Sports without any question of conflicts of interest.

Ok, I am not against News having a part interest in the game, it does help get better promotion and coverage, but it has a real, controlling interest and worse, its outright ownership of teams is about as dubious as you can imagine in the contexts of sports (ie, in the spirit of fair competition).

The Storm get the rub of the green for this reason. The players, the coach, and the referees all receive their pay cheques from the same boss.

I find this incredible!

The Storm reportedly lose between $5-8 million a year (reported in Fairfax, you would not of course see this in the Telly) and are a biggish investment for News who wants to build the brand in this region. So oodles of money are thrown at all the non-salary cap stuff like coaches, facilities, wrestling coaches, etc etc. Because its an investment essentially you need to see returns. Let's bring the refs in to help, they know who butters their daily bread - it's  Lord Rupert.

This makes Manly an incredible club. They get no favoritism from the boss (and you could argue the opposite) but produce a team equal to the favoured Storm.

This is also incredible, but in a good way!

The Superleague war has left permanent scars on the game. Our team was slated for merger not because it wasn't good enough, but as punishment for not going to the dark side!

The Storm are part of the dark side of this game. There ongoing on-field success over many years is the only way you'll get Melbournians (and I live there) to adopt the team, and thus make News more money.

Yes, professional sport is money, but its also Sport. A concept understood in the locker rooms but not fully understood in the board rooms.

 

[Dan]

Yet they dont think to put the games on live in Melbourne. Idiots, having a team there wont win over fans if they can't see them

 

[The Gronk]

What's wrong with the ref at the game calling for the video replay, and then making the call himself?

Too true - in the NFL dont they have a screen on the sideline for the ref to run over and look at?

 

[eagle_predator]

I certainly agree Mata that refereeing is the pain in the backside of league.  As is Gallop and his merry men of mediocrity.  There's no vision thing happening.  And, pleeese can we just leave the SBW thing alone and get on with our game. 

SB who ?

 

[Matabele]

What's the point of asking for comments when nothing is published?

 

[weev]

What's the point of asking for comments when nothing is published?

Some posts up there now.

I put my 2c in:

Scrums. Will someone make them meaningful and competitive, somehow.

If not then lets rename Hooker, since he no longer is one.

Add the element of strength and guile to scrums and you have more unpredictability. All the fans will be glued to them ... is it a red zone attack or will the defenders win against the feed, spread the ball quickly and go around the outside? Who knows, keep watching.

As it is the attacking team will have 5 shots and then a kick.

Please, make it interesting.

It's boringly predictable.

-

 

[Canteen Worker]

There are two main problems with the game at present.

First is that the game is run by a media company with mixed interests that don't always coincide with what is best for the future. That the same company owns some of the clubs in the comp and props them up is ridiculous. An independent board is needed to administer the game. TV rights are underpriced but why would News charge themselves (or their interests and part interests) any more. A most ridiculous thing is that the actual draw is only released between 5 and 3.5 weeks ahead, meaning that fans cannot plan ahead and there is no guarantee of TV exposure for clubs. Many people are inconvenienced by this, such as the decision to have Steve Menzies last game at Brookvale on Monday night despite a special request from the Manly club. The AFL can produce a full draw at the start of the year and still charge more for TV rights despite an inferior product.

The second problem is the predictablity of the game. All the contests for the ball have been taken away. Uncontested scrums, no one on one strips, no striking for the ball at dummy half etc leaves teams playing safety first, dummy half running and cutting down on the flair and creative play that makes the games exciting. One positive though is the 40-20 rule but maybe a 50-20 would be even better, giving sides with skill a chance for more possession or surprise fifth tackle plays.

In general the product is basically good but the admin needs to be focussed on the game, not media profits or club self-serving interests.

 

[deadlyeagle]

The News Ltd issue is an obvious one. For myself I find the whole media itself is an issue, consistently for example i would here the channel 9 commentators such as Gould pay the S*** out of the rules of the game, tv replay, players ect there is such a great lack of support it is not funny.

Example the question itself.

The question itself resembles my concern. SMH ask "What is wrong with rugby league" but i NEVER hear anyone ask "What is right about rugby League". My point is the channel 9, Foxtel, News Ltd should promote the game not destroy it.



Let me just say, this is an example of how ironically blind some people are and im sick to death hearing it (regarding tv replay, video referee and getting rid of it completely).

Lets Just say we got rid of the video referees decision on try or no try, Someone scores and on the replay on the television it actually shows they had dropped it. The media, commentators & fans would go crazy, call it an injustice, unfair, biased referees, stupid, controversy ect. Therefore it creates more problems than solution and people would want the whole system reinstated. Yet today the media consistently pay the crap out of this tool and live in the past in their "glory days" and yet can not accept the modernisation of TODAYS world.

 

[Matabele]

So they didn't publish my comment.  all they published were the comments of a bunch of Phil Gould clones who can't get their syntax and punctuation right, whingeing about the video ref.

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Admission prices are a rip off.

 

[gomanly]

Mata, on the surface i agree with what you say, BUT, can you provide, round by round, game by game proof of which you write? I would love to see it.

 

[Matabele]

Mata, on the surface i agree with what you say, BUT, can you provide, round by round, game by game proof of which you write? I would love to see it.

  I have a life.