r/rugbyleague

I see alot of very imbalanced coverage of the Super League war, and how "it was all about Pay TV", etc. Obviously, the 2 moguls on either side were motivated by money, whether it was Packer or Murdoch, but in terms of what was best for the game it's hard to argue change wasn't necessary.

Back in the mid-90s players were getting jobbed on the amount of salary they received. You hear that from the players. The Johns brothers were on 15k and 20k a year. All of a sudden, Matthew Johns could have gotten a million a year from Super League, and the ARL and Packer all of a sudden had hundreds of thousands of dollars they could pay him. Players almost all had part-time jobs, even stars. It was basically a pub sport. Stars like Bradley Clyde would go work as landscapers in the morning, then play Rugby in the evening. There was no insurance for players. Contracts weren't guaranteed. If you got hurt, the club could just cut you the next day with no pay out. Today this kind of thing is taken for granted thanks to Super League forcing the game to become more professional, but at the time the players union had gotten nowhere in talks with the ARL over many years.

The situation was basically like World Series cricket, except this time Packer was on the side of the status quo, and of course he was. As the monopoly holder he was getting away with paying a fraction of the value of the TV rights, because he had a relationship with the old boys club who were unreceptive to a more progressive league. John Quayle, former ARL CEO, will talk about how tough it was to get more money, and how the ARL was already expanding, but reality shows otherwise. As soon as Murdoch arrived, Packer changed his tune about how much the broadcast rights were worth, and spent fiercely to try and retain them. This is what happens when a mom and pop shop of amateurs tries to negotiate with a media mogul, instead of having a professional corporate group like today's administrators.

As for the game already expanding; yes, it was, but it was trying to expand a mom and pop pub sport (which is easy), not a professional league. A professional league needs to expand in an intelligent way, and yes that means examining if your league really needs so many Sydney clubs. In effect, the big markets were subsidising impoverished clubs, which you can't do in the multi-billion dollar league we have today. Super League had the right idea, trying to get clubs into the right markets, and then consider expanding from there, which is what has happened.

We still have too many Sydney clubs truth be told, but at least some of the dregs were removed or merged. I think it was a mistake to try and get rid of South Sydney as it happens, they had alot of fan support, but come on the game doesn't miss the Western Magpies or North Sydney Bears. St George should be the next to go; move them to Wollongong full time, and in the future rethink teams like the Sharks. It makes no sense for there to be 9 teams in Sydney, but only 2 in Brisbane (which is Rugby mad). It was only 4 years ago we got a 2nd Brisbane team, and we're only now getting new teams in NZ and PNG. The expansion to such newer markets, and the massively increased international exposure on Pay TV and Vegas, is something that would never have happened under the ARL. Crowd attendance at many of these Sydney games is tiny, and it's because fan support is split over too many teams. Today's game makes it's money primarily from broadcasting anyway, which again begs the question of what value these perpetual loser teams like the Tigers or Dragons are bringing. I'd rather a team in London or Japan.

The rules became more modernised thanks to the Super League War too, with many of the innovations Super League pioneered becoming mainstays of today's game, from the video referee through to cleaning up scrums. It would have been nice if all these innovations and improvements could have happened without a huge fight and league split, but it now seems obvious that was impossible. The nepotistic old boys club that ran things were never going to seriously consider changes until they had no choice, and now the game is so much better off for it.

Title. If a six-again is given on tackle 0 is it still tackle zero? or is it tackle 1?

Ok hear me out but I lowkey kinda miss the Super League and I feel so nostalgic about it. Things really were so much different back then and it was really cool.

The fact that we got to see two pro Australian rugby league competitions play alongside each other 1997 was incredible. Not only that but the constant drama and disputes between the competitions made things interesting. Nowadays it seems too sanitised now.

This leads to the crazy idea of mine - we need to bring back the Super League. Think about the enormous potential it would bring. Here are my reasons:

1. The NRL is too dominant of an organisation and yields too much power over rugby league. The clubs and players don’t have any alternatives if they disagree with administration. A second comp keeps the NRL in check.
2. Super League could more aggressively expand instead of NRL. The NRL is arguably expanding too quickly.
3. A rugby league Super Bowl. Premiers of the NRL and Super League could face off to become the premiers of Australian rugby league.
4. More rugby league for fans.

Doesn’t have to be from your team or country. Can be retired.

Rugby League can grow from at an organic level, especially at the street level, if the game can be quickly repurposed to fit in ANY futbol/soccer pitch. Currently rugby pitches are about 120m total while soccer pitches are 100m. This prevents soccer stadiums from quickly switching to rugby due to size and run off lanes, in addition to needing to purchase uprights. Instead, a compact variant of the game can be pushed to futbol heavy countries which would allow any group of people play Rugby League on an existing soccer field

• 80m play area with 10m in-goal area or 90m play area with 5m in-goal area designed to fix EXACTLY into a modern futbol field with some leeway for adjustment as futbol fields are not 100% standardized. Only a try line needs to be painted and the soccer field can keep its markings on the field

• Soccer 6yd box as landing zone instead of uprights for kicks means no equipment cost. Enables the game to be played in any soccer field without uprights as long as the goals can be dragged away. Changes the game slightly but the core principle of Rugby League remains. No additional cost to play Rugby League

• 10-11 player squads - easier to roster teams

• Ball can be round or oval, for very poor areas that might not have a rugby ball but have a soccer ball available

my suggestion would be to first encourage dual club seasons. Currently college is Fall 15's and Spring 7's, maybe they can squeeze league into there. USA is much less political about the union league divide. Another option would be to do league summers, but the kids would be out of school