Play Nice 2019 Non AFL Admin, Crowds, Ratings, Participation etc thread

[Kwality]

Another blow to RU in Australia

HSBC Australia has been the "official banking partner" of the Wallabies for six years but has opted not to renew the deal with the national rugby team, instead announcing partnerships from 2020 with the Sydney Swans, Opera Australia and Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.

Hopefully Mr Clyne gets this message of lack of confidence. For the code HSBC retain sponsorship of the HK7s.

HSBC won’t extend Rugby Australia sponsorship beyond 2019

Rugby Australia has begun its search for a new banking sponsor after multinational HSBC opted not to renew its contract with the national governing body. The pair’s association dates back six years…

www.sportbusiness.com

 

[Rob]

Gallop has had tough gigs at the NRL and FFA. No question about that.

He isn't incompetent but he isn't a visionionary either. To use a old footy phrase about players - he is a good ordinary footballer type - not a star, but a solid team man type - he does what the coach wants ie what his bosses Murdoch and the Lowys wanted, but he is never going to be the player that wins you the game when its on the line.

Gallop has never really connected with fans of either code. He called Melbourne Storm supporters terrorists after they attacked him constantly after the Brian Waldron Salary cap scandal and their premierships were taken away, and then when the FFA gave long term, and I think even life bans, to soccer fans kicked out of games, and there was no appeal mechanism for some fans who were incorrectly kicked out as they were caught in the area where trouble was, it caused fans to boycott of the game in 2015-16 season.

Its not a great thing for the CEO of the national league to go out of his way to antagonize fans, and he did it in 2 sports.

Re the side on the GC for the NRL, that's because it was a private consortium, knocking down the door to get in, not a GWS or GC funded by the league type team, and the Qld government happily put up the $160m to build the stadium at Robina.

I lived in the GC in 2003 and Brisbane in 2004, when Michael Searle and his group were pushing hard to get a licence for their GC bid. They were knocked back once, maybe a second time, and finally got in, in the late 2005 for a start in 2007 season.

If Gallop was a true visionary he would have put a 2nd team team in Brisbane, but that would have upset News Ltd who owned 68% of the Broncos. Brisbane deserves a 2nd NRL team just like Adelaide and Perth do in the AFL. If it was set up right, it guarantees more $$$ for Lang Park Stadium viability, more TV ratings in a RL strong hold and also good for the Qld State of Origin team. But no way is News Ltd going to give up its monopoly and no way was Gallop going to fight News Ltd on this front.

With the benefit of hindsight, Gallop's crowning glory will be the 6 year, 2017-18 to 2022-23 TV deal, which was a 40% increase in the average annual value over the previous 4 year deal.

But given he knew every serious player at Fox Sports and Foxtel given his close relationship with News Ltd executives at the NRL, he should have been able to see their weak spots better than other major sports administrators looking to squeeze monies out of Fox Sports / Foxtel.

The A League has a lot of stakeholders to juggle and I agree with you it is near impossible to unite them all, but I'm not sure how hard he as well as the Lowys and other board members really tried.

The A League team owners have lost between $250-$300m since the first season in 2005-06 and they deserve a bigger say in the running of the A League. Sure the FFA should run national teams and the rest of the game, but the model in Europe is the national league is run by a consortium of teams and owners in the national league, and the Football Association controls other aspects of the game outside of the national league.

The A League owners might find a dud to be the CEO of the A league but at least he/she wont have a conflict of interest like Gallop had. But they could also find a Larry Kestelman type CEO. And if the owners have more control, they might be prepared to put more $$$ in for marketing the League. Who knows.

But either way, the A League needed a change especially after FIFA forced them to change the voting structure of the stakeholders of the game, late last year.

Fair post.

The problem for a CEO is that he has to manage expectations from all stakeholders - fans, players, owners, broadcasters - and they're all different. It's an impossible job to keep them all happy, and the fans are generally the ones that don't get their way.

In soccer, there seems to be a groundswell of support from the hardcore fans that they need to expand and bring in promotion & relegation. But that's something other stakeholders aren't necessarily going to be in favour of - and they just about all have veto power.

 

[Kwality]

In soccer, there seems to be a groundswell of support from the hardcore fans that they need to expand and bring in promotion & relegation. But that's something other stakeholders aren't necessarily going to be in favour of - and they just about all have veto power.

So many of these fans want Australia to be Europe & see duplicating the set up where the game is the major sport as a necessary step, even getting rid of the GF.
Who pays, someone else !
I've heard some of the Fox Sports guys talk about expansion as the way to get local kids exposed at a younger age thus reducing the talent going off to Europe as the path to professional soccer.
The game has problems, a good CEO would be a good start to addressing them.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

Fair post.

The problem for a CEO is that he has to manage expectations from all stakeholders - fans, players, owners, broadcasters - and they're all different. It's an impossible job to keep them all happy, and the fans are generally the ones that don't get their way.

In soccer, there seems to be a groundswell of support from the hardcore fans that they need to expand and bring in promotion & relegation. But that's something other stakeholders aren't necessarily going to be in favour of - and they just about all have veto power.

That’s the problem, many seem to want P&R which obviously means abolishing the salary cap. Then you end up with tiny clubs with absolutely no chance of success trying to stay financially viable in a professional competition that is a minor sport in this country.
The money and support is just not there to support it. I really don’t think they can get their head around the costs to run a professional club in this country. The salary cap is only a small part of it, not to mention franchises have spent millions paying for licenses for a closed league.

 

[Rob]

That’s the problem, many seem to want P&R which obviously means abolishing the salary cap. Then you end up with tiny clubs with absolutely no chance of success trying to stay financially viable in a professional competition that is a minor sport in this country.
The money and support is just not there to support it. I really don’t think they can get their head around the costs to run a professional club in this country. The salary cap is only a small part of it, not to mention franchises have spent millions paying for licenses for a closed league.

That's the thing - why would owners want promotion and relegation when they can sell licences for $15 million a piece (or whatever it was). Never mind the threat of getting relegated and virtually dooming the club. And with the owners now running the league the chances of that coming in are pretty much zero.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

That's the thing - why would owners want promotion and relegation when they can sell licences for $15 million a piece (or whatever it was). Never mind the threat of getting relegated and virtually dooming the club. And with the owners now running the league the chances of that coming in are pretty much zero.

And rightfully so, they didn’t pay up for the possibility to be relegated

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

So many of these fans want Australia to be Europe & see duplicating the set up where the game is the major sport as a necessary step, even getting rid of the GF.
Who pays, someone else !
I've heard some of the Fox Sports guys talk about expansion as the way to get local kids exposed at a younger age thus reducing the talent going off to Europe as the path to professional soccer.
The game has problems, a good CEO would be a good start to addressing them.

Getting rid of the "ethnic" clubs to increase the professionalism of the game, has had an impact on junior development IMO.

Kids would start at U/8's or U/10's at an NSL clubs, then progress through their teenage years and have a pathway to play in the NSL for that club and then maybe the Socceroos and maybe get picked up by an international club in Europe.

Plus those clubs had people involved with the club, that had links to clubs in the old country, so they would talk to those foreign clubs to look at their players. In the 1980's and 1990's a lot of players who played for Serbian, Croatian and Greek based clubs in the NSL, in particular, ended up going and playing in those Euro leagues ie the nationality of their NSL club was based on, did well there, and then moved on to the bigger leagues in England, Italy, Germany and Spain. Not many seemed to ended up in the French league but a lot seemed to end up in Belgium. Plus the transfer fees the NSL club got selling their players, helped finance the club. The A League clubs don't seem to collect much from transfer fees these days like the old NSL days.

So there was a pathway or stepping stone revolved around both the NSL club and the Euro league of their parents/club. And you had the case of kids playing together for 5 or 10 years before they become regulars in the NSL side, so when they made the NSL national league side, they jelled together rather quickly.

The A League clubs don't do that sort of development with juniors, because hey don't have the $$$, don't have the local grounds and community club set up like the old NSL clubs and don't have those connections to international clubs. They drag kids in from all over the place, in their late teenage years, and they haven't build that long term repore together, like they did at the old NSL clubs.

Its why it was interesting last year to read the bid documents of the Southern Expansion team in south Sydney and have the backing of the St George Football Association, Sutherland Football Association and South Coast Football Association down the Illawarra to Wollongong and Dapto. They were trying to bring that holistic approach that the old NSL community clubs had of juniors in the area being developed by the club from U/8's - U/10's all the way thru to the A League.

Promotion and relegation wont work financially in Oz, as its too small a market with huge distances to travel that you don't get in Europe. Those small distances and more $$ in the game is why in the big Euro leagues its possible for small teams from towns of 50k-100k with a stadium of 8k-12k can qualify for the Div 1 league and stay there for a couple of years. They don't last a decade there, but they have a chance to get to Div 1.

However the FFA is hurting itself by ignoring those community clubs that built the game in Oz. Maybe a 2nd division involving 8 or 10 of those clubs could participate in a national league. Unfortunately costs would probably mean a team from Perth wouldn't be viable, but I don't know the wealth of clubs in the WA state league to say that for sure.

They don't get promoted to the A League, but you could have promotion and relegation in and out of that league, it could happen for other community clubs, not just the ethnic ones, and they have an incentive to get into a national league. Some of those ethnic clubs have built some fantastic facilities over the years, and pokies have provided some decent revenue streams. They feel neglected and have only had the FFA Cup for a few years now to get back onto a national stage.

A 2nd division only needs to get average crowds of 4k-5k, most of the potential clubs own their venues / stadiums, and/or pay peppercorn rents to the local council. So to be profitable with these new travelling and accomodation costs, they have to have salary caps of maybe 1/3 to 40% of an A League club. Most of these community clubs employ professional players and pay players now, obviously not like A League club salaries, but there are people earning good money out of soccer leagues at the state level. No different to players making good money playing Aussie Rules in leagues other than the national league and the premier state league in each state.

It would require some vision, realistic budgeting and expectations, and goodwill on all parties, but it would be one way to bring soccer people who feel they have been ignored by the FFA, back into the fold and improve pathways for players without making the main national league an even riskier proposition than at the moment.

 

[Colonial]

Getting rid of the "ethnic" clubs to increase the professionalism of the game, has had an impact on junior development IMO.

Kids would start at U/8's or U/10's at an NSL clubs, then progress through their teenage years and have a pathway to play in the NSL for that club and then maybe the Socceroos and maybe get picked up by an international club in Europe.

Plus those clubs had people involved with the club, that had links to clubs in the old country, so they would talk to those foreign clubs to look at their players. In the 1980's and 1990's a lot of players who played for Serbian, Croatian and Greek based clubs in the NSL, in particular, ended up going and playing in those Euro leagues ie the nationality of their NSL club was based on, did well there, and then moved on to the bigger leagues in England, Italy, Germany and Spain. Not many seemed to ended up in the French league but a lot seemed to end up in Belgium. Plus the transfer fees the NSL club got selling their players, helped finance the club. The A League clubs don't seem to collect much from transfer fees these days like the old NSL days.

So there was a pathway or stepping stone revolved around both the NSL club and the Euro league of their parents/club. And you had the case of kids playing together for 5 or 10 years before they become regulars in the NSL side, so when they made the NSL national league side, they jelled together rather quickly.

The A League clubs don't do that sort of development with juniors, because hey don't have the $$$, don't have the local grounds and community club set up like the old NSL clubs and don't have those connections to international clubs. They drag kids in from all over the place, in their late teenage years, and they haven't build that long term repore together, like they did at the old NSL clubs.

Its why it was interesting last year to read the bid documents of the Southern Expansion team in south Sydney and have the backing of the St George Football Association, Sutherland Football Association and South Coast Football Association down the Illawarra to Wollongong and Dapto. They were trying to bring that holistic approach that the old NSL community clubs had of juniors in the area being developed by the club from U/8's - U/10's all the way thru to the A League.

Promotion and relegation wont work financially in Oz, as its too small a market with huge distances to travel that you don't get in Europe. Those small distances and more $$ in the game is why in the big Euro leagues its possible for small teams from towns of 50k-100k with a stadium of 8k-12k can qualify for the Div 1 league and stay there for a couple of years. They don't last a decade there, but they have a chance to get to Div 1.

However the FFA is hurting itself by ignoring those community clubs that built the game in Oz. Maybe a 2nd division involving 8 or 10 of those clubs could participate in a national league. Unfortunately costs would probably mean a team from Perth wouldn't be viable, but I don't know the wealth of clubs in the WA state league to say that for sure.

They don't get promoted to the A League, but you could have promotion and relegation in and out of that league, it could happen for other community clubs, not just the ethnic ones, and they have an incentive to get into a national league. Some of those ethnic clubs have built some fantastic facilities over the years, and pokies have provided some decent revenue streams. They feel neglected and have only had the FFA Cup for a few years now to get back onto a national stage.

A 2nd division only needs to get average crowds of 4k-5k, most of the potential clubs own their venues / stadiums, and/or pay peppercorn rents to the local council. So to be profitable with these new travelling and accomodation costs, they have to have salary caps of maybe 1/3 to 40% of an A League club. Most of these community clubs employ professional players and pay players now, obviously not like A League club salaries, but there are people earning good money out of soccer leagues at the state level. No different to players making good money playing Aussie Rules in leagues other than the national league and the premier state league in each state.

It would require some vision, realistic budgeting and expectations, and goodwill on all parties, but it would be one way to bring soccer people who feel they have been ignored by the FFA, back into the fold and improve pathways for players without making the main national league an even riskier proposition than at the moment.

Skyblues have academies from under 12's on.
Fairly certain the majority of other clubs do to.

Saying they have zero grassroots involvement would be wrong.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Skyblues have academies from under 12's on.
Fairly certain the majority of other clubs do to.

Saying they have zero grassroots involvement would be wrong.

That's why I didn't say, they do zero development. Different A League clubs do different things, because of different level of resources the private owners are prepared to put in, and how much profit remains to be ploughed back into junior development.

The one thing about the old NSL community clubs, was that they all did pretty much the same sort of thing, and it wasn't unusual for the juniors of one NSL club to play the juniors of another NSL club a few times each year and those players play against each other for 5 or 10 years, before they played against each other at NSL level.

 

[BobbyMorri]

You would have to change the whole premise of the A-league to fit in a 2nd division. Everything would have to be smaller, clubs would need to be more profitable as there would be more "licenses". In an age where we are already struggling to sign talent from overseas due to competition like the J-league or MLS, this would mean no more marquee signings, no chance of winning the ACL and further down the pages in the major newspapers as the numerous clubs would have a smaller footprint.

That is a lot of hurt for some hope gains. I don't know. If the former NSL clubs want in, they should make a 2nd div themselves and try to showcase what a 2nd div league in Australia would look like. Keep it simple, have only NSW/VIC/Qld teams in it. It is up to them to convince the FFA and the clubs that it won't be a sinkhole.

As for youngsters. I think soccer and Australia have changed since the days of the NSL. For one, we are in Asia now. And not as many kids are from 1st gen European parents in Australia. Our migrant intake is a lot less white Australia nowadays. Or it just seems that way anyway. I don't think the A-league is a worst system than the NSL was. It just seems that way due to time

 

[Rob]

You would have to change the whole premise of the A-league to fit in a 2nd division. Everything would have to be smaller, clubs would need to be more profitable as there would be more "licenses". In an age where we are already struggling to sign talent from overseas due to competition like the J-league or MLS, this would mean no more marquee signings, no chance of winning the ACL and further down the pages in the major newspapers as the numerous clubs would have a smaller footprint.

That is a lot of hurt for some hope gains. I don't know. If the former NSL clubs want in, they should make a 2nd div themselves and try to showcase what a 2nd div league in Australia would look like. Keep it simple, have only NSW/VIC/Qld teams in it. It is up to them to convince the FFA and the clubs that it won't be a sinkhole.

Without the prospect of promotion, who's going to care? The NPL is the closest thing there is to a 2nd division, and if you have a look at highlights from the grand final there's ******* nobody there. The last one was in Wollongong played at some tiny ground with what looks to be a crowd of about 1000. And that's the grand final! What are the chances of regular season games getting 4 or 5000? Zero.
The only possible way it would work is if it leads to promotion, and even then it's a marginal proposition at best. Hard to see how crowds likely to be in the hundreds is going to support professional teams and national travel around the country. The AFL couldn't even make the NT Thunder work and that was just one club.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

the whole premise of pro rel is that bigger clubs will financially make the league/leagues viable because they have the ability to bring in huge dollars and interest into the league which the smaller clubs can then feed off. The problem with Australia is that we will never have a side big or good enough that will drive any real interest. You’ll just have smaller clubs going broke while getting flogged by Melbourne City in front of 3,000 supporters. The A league clubs are already losing millions year after year and will soon have less income coming in from TV. Throwing smaller clubs into the mix isn’t going to change that.

(also that the league gains interest from the entire soccer community because it is an extremely inclusive system. The problem is we just do not have the market in Australia for it)

 

[Aussie in exile]

Another blow to RU in Australia

HSBC Australia has been the "official banking partner" of the Wallabies for six years but has opted not to renew the deal with the national rugby team, instead announcing partnerships from 2020 with the Sydney Swans, Opera Australia and Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.

RU in Australia is sinking faster than the Titanic.
I really cant see from afar how it can stop the decline.

 

[Kwality]

RU in Australia is sinking faster than the Titanic.
I really cant see from afar how it can stop the decline.

At the same time we simply produce players for the international game.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Without the prospect of promotion, who's going to care? The NPL is the closest thing there is to a 2nd division, and if you have a look at highlights from the grand final there's ******* nobody there. The last one was in Wollongong played at some tiny ground with what looks to be a crowd of about 1000. And that's the grand final! What are the chances of regular season games getting 4 or 5000? Zero.
The only possible way it would work is if it leads to promotion, and even then it's a marginal proposition at best. Hard to see how crowds likely to be in the hundreds is going to support professional teams and national travel around the country. The AFL couldn't even make the NT Thunder work and that was just one club.

the clubs themselves have to care. They would play in a better league with better talent, be more successful in cups and be generally "bigger". It is how these expansions or run off leagues work. Better soccer=better viewing=more fans. Heck, it doesn't have to be professional. The A-league is barely supporting 11 professional clubs. They can't support 20 odd.

As I said, it is up to the NPL clubs(you know the ones) to prove that it could be successful or at least not a failure. If they are unwilling to even test the waters without promotion as a carrot, why should anyone else believe it would work with it. all this sooking on the sidelines will not convince the A-league clubs they should care. They are self-interested and rightly so. If a potential promotion is the only thing which entices fans to come and watch, then the league would be already dead on arrival. Not every club will be in the race for promotion every year after all.

 

[Kwality]

Heck, it doesn't have to be professional.

Listening to the Fox guys it seems to me that being professional is very much needed. Its aspirational.

 

[Rob]

the clubs themselves have to care. They would play in a better league with better talent, be more successful in cups and be generally "bigger". It is how these expansions or run off leagues work. Better soccer=better viewing=more fans. Heck, it doesn't have to be professional. The A-league is barely supporting 11 professional clubs. They can't support 20 odd.

As I said, it is up to the NPL clubs(you know the ones) to prove that it could be successful or at least not a failure. If they are unwilling to even test the waters without promotion as a carrot, why should anyone else believe it would work with it. all this sooking on the sidelines will not convince the A-league clubs they should care. They are self-interested and rightly so. If a potential promotion is the only thing which entices fans to come and watch, then the league would be already dead on arrival. Not every club will be in the race for promotion every year after all.

Fair call. There is a group of clubs that is talking the talk, I guess it's up to them to prove it's viable.

But I suspect clubs like Marconi and South Melbourne aren't going to get much interest against other clubs that they have no history or rivalry with.

 

[Dagwood Merkin]

Anyone else sick of this nrl bullshit? Everyone knows the fake news media will always say it ia better than our anglo derived sport.

Fancy liking a sport that gives you no points if you miss?!?!?!

May as well give up....

 

[NoobPie]

Anyone else sick of this nrl bullshit? Everyone knows the fake news media will always say it ia better than our anglo derived sport.

Fancy liking a sport that gives you no points if you miss?!?!?!

May as well give up....

Nah, we've got to talk about it and how amazing a sport it is. How they took rugby union and stripped all of the contested ball situations out of it and all the logic in the process. Brilliant!

It would definitely be more popular globally than union too if it wasn't for the French Vichy government in world war 2 persecuting it.

People think it is a stupid monotonous sport for the most stupid and they're probably right - but remember how many stupid people there are out there?

 

[Gigantor]

There's a certain fairness to rugby league. The other team gets the ball after the team in possession kicks it to them on the 6th. The process repeats shortly after. At it's heart, it's a caring and sharing game. Everyone gets a fair suck of the saucepan.

 

[NoobPie]

There's a certain fairness to rugby league. The other team gets the ball after the team in possession kicks it to them on the 6th. The process repeats shortly after. At it's heart, it's a caring and sharing game. Everyone gets a fair suck of the saucepan.

You're under selling it. What about the gift of having the defending team drop back ten metres after a tackle?

"Everyone back ten metres ......gaaaarrn give 'em a go....a few more tackles and it will be your turn"

 

[NoobPie]

Fair call. There is a group of clubs that is talking the talk, I guess it's up to them to prove it's viable.

But I suspect clubs like Marconi and South Melbourne aren't going to get much interest against other clubs that they have no history or rivalry with.

That's the thing - they wouldn't.

The only value would be if it was in a "premier" division or provided potential access to the premier division. Essentially you lose the lower costs and larger number of local rivalries that comes with the state league.

Make no mistake, recent developments in the governance / control of Australian soccer are a disaster. 15 years ago the Australian taxpayer committed many tens of millions of dollars to allow it to "restructure" along the lines of a licenced franchise league.

The franchise owners willingly purchased a licence to operate in a closed shop. Because Australian soccer is so gullible, the franchises were able to wrestle control and ownership of the closed shop franchise league seed funded by the Australia taxpayer.

In what universe should the A League franchises get to say " show us you can start an un-viable 'second division' before we'll even consider letting you in our tax payer seed funded league"? In the universe where city group have ridiculous power in the corrupt corridors of FIFA, of course

Promotion and relegation has next to no chance of working in Australia. But a second division without it has even less. The future of Australian soccer is the same as its past - violent unhinged frustration at its lack of progress and minor status in this country

 

[Kwality]

That's the thing - they wouldn't.

The only value would be if it was in a "premier" division or provided potential access to the premier division. Essentially you lose the lower costs and larger number of local rivalries that comes with the state league.

Make no mistake, recent developments in the governance / control of Australian soccer are a disaster. 15 years ago the Australian taxpayer committed many tens of millions of dollars to allow it to "restructure" along the lines of a licenced franchise league.

The franchise owners willingly purchased a licence to operate in a closed shop. Because Australian soccer is so gullible, the franchises were able to wrestle control and ownership of the closed shop franchise league seed funded by the Australia taxpayer.

In what universe should the A League franchises get to say " show us you can start an un-viable 'second division' before we'll even consider letting you in our tax payer seed funded league"? In the universe where city group have ridiculous power in the corrupt corridors of FIFA, of course

Promotion and relegation has next to no chance of working in Australia. But a second division without it has even less. The future of Australian soccer is the same as its past - violent unhinged frustration at its lack of progress and minor status in this country

You'd swear getting a good CEO is a must, particularly for those who put up their own money ($lots) to buy an A League franchise. It'd be cheaper to be into owning horses, sailing or motor sport on a grand scale.

 

[BringBackTorps]

Make no mistake, recent developments in the governance / control of Australian soccer are a disaster. 15 years ago the Australian taxpayer committed many tens of millions of dollars[?] to allow it to "restructure" along the lines of a licenced franchise league.

1. What were the amounts the taxpayer committed for the A League restructure in 2004? And what were these moneys spent on?




2. On unrelated topics, the WA Premier M. Mc Gowan has lambasted the recent comments of NRL CEO P. V'landys ("We want to dominate the market in Queensland. Forget wasting millions in rusted-on AFL states" post #1751) that a Perth team should not be added to the NRL- only Brisbane 2.

How NRL killed WA’s dream for new league club

Premier Mark McGowan has hit back at the new supremo of the NRL after he declared a second Brisbane team and not a resurrection of a Perth team was the future expansion plans of the code.

thewest.com.au

(behind a paywall -can anyone open this?)

V'landys stated he also wanted to strengthen RL's State Of Origin (whose 3 game Series is already the obviously dominating series in Qld. & NSW).
It appears the NRL has decided to protect the Qld. & NSW RL heartlands, where GR AF is growing- & regards WA etc. as simply too difficult/too expensive/too uncertain to expand into.


3. Perhaps V'landys real motivation for Brisbane 2 was to support male GR contact RL club nos. in Qld., which (with also NSW & ACT) have been on a long term decline.

This link is the 2017 NRL Retention Report. It is a very detailed academic study (by Dr. W. Usher, Brisbane's Griffith Uni.) of players who quit RL in 2017, after playing in 2016- & the reasons given by players in the survey for discontinuing (the biggest reason given by players was that c.40% answered they had less fun playing). Of those who quit (the total wasn't stated), 2310 snr & jnr RL players actually volunteered to answer the survey.

AFAIK, no MSM outlets have ever analysed, or even reported, this very comprehensive survey, which was commissioned by the NRL. This is surprising, as it is the most comprehensive, academic survey I have ever seen,commissioned by any sport, analysing its decline in player nos.

NRL Chairman P. Beattie, in September 2018, said he was concerned at the decline in teenage male GR contact nos.

Investigating motives that influence Australia’s Rugby League retention rates: Players' experiences and the impact on retention rates

research-repository.griffith.edu.au

4. Male GR contact RU nos. are also in decline in NZ, but female contact nos. are growing strongly (soccer has far greater male & female nos.).
On 29.11.19 NZ announced more Rip Rugby (non-contact), smaller team sizes etc. to arrest the decline.

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions

Digital newsstand featuring 7000+ of the world’s most popular newspapers & magazines. Enjoy unlimited reading on up to 5 devices with 7-day free trial.

www.pressreader.com

 

[Kwality]

2. On unrelated topics, the WA Premier M. Mc Gowan has lambasted the recent comments of NRL CEO P. V'landys ("We want to dominate the market in Queensland. Forget wasting millions in rusted-on AFL states" post #1751) that a Perth team should not be added to the NRL- only Brisbane 2.

Mr McGowan was raised/educated in NSW & Q so I'd guess League would appeal given the N in NRL is National.

strengthen RL's State Of Origin (whose 3 game Series is already the obviously dominating series in Qld. & NSW).

3 of the top 5 TV audiences nationally?