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Facing extinction Struggling Rugby League should face-up to reality
Posted: Monday April 24, 2000 03:25 PM
At the start of the new millenium, the sport of Rugby League is fighting a losing battle for survival. The pathetically one-sided Rugby League Test between Australia and its closest rival New Zealand last weekend (the Aussies won 52-0) is further proof that the sport is dying at an international level. More than ever, it threatens to be swallowed up by its big brother, Rugby Union. Even in Sydney, the unofficial home of Rugby League, there was a crowd of only 26,023 in the 110,000 capacity Olympic stadium for Friday night's Test. Rugby league officials will argue that the sport is growing and point to the Rugby League World Cup in Europe this October, featuring 20 nations including the likes of Lebanon and Fiji. Unfortunately, this tournament will give a misleading impression of international representation, with many of the teams from the "expanding nations" comprising of expatriates from the sport's traditional power-bases. The truth is that Rugby League is truly popular in a few pockets around the world: the English counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, some suburbs in Australasian cities like Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland and Wellington, and, perhaps surprisingly, Papua New Guinea. In Australia and New Zealand, the success of Rugby Union's Super 12 and Tri-Nations is highlighting the inadequacies of Rugby League's NRL competition and that is reflected in match attendance. Attempts to streamline the championship by eliminating traditional teams have merely alienated many loyal supporters. In most of Britain and France, Rugby League is no more than a minor curiosity, overwhelmed by football, Rugby Union and many other sports. Despite repeated attempts, the code failed to establish itself in Paris and is still struggling to generate a supporter-base in London. Rugby League was established a century ago in England when some players wanted to be paid for their skills and broke away from amateur Rugby Union. The size of teams was reduced from 15 to 13 players and some rules were changed to make games more open and attractive. Growing up in Sydney in the 1960's and 70s, I played the sport with a passion and most of my heroes were Rugby League players. Their toughness and athleticism were admirable and the stories of their achievements were legendary. The sports pages were filled with Rugby League and the talk at school and on the street was always about the much-loved working-class sport. Sadly, even in Sydney, Rugby League seems to be fading with the changing times. After years of clandestine payments for players, Rugby Union finally turned professional five years ago and that was the beginning of the end for Rugby League. Since then a growing number of international players have turned their backs on Rugby League for the obviously brighter prospects in Union. It's not yet a "bed of roses" for Rugby Union, despite efforts to make the sport more entertaining. The organization of last year's World Cup left a lot to be desired, the nationality issue needs to be resolved and doddering administrators in Europe must follow the lead of the more dynamic Southern Hemisphere nations to develop interest in the game. But Rugby Union, for all its faults, is much healthier than Rugby League, which promises to become even more of an obscure pastime in the next decade or so. Rugby League officials would be well advised to approach their counterparts in Rugby Union with the view of creating a unified sport. Australian-born Jason Dasey is co-anchor of World Sport, a global sports news and highlights program shown on CNN International and CNNSI.
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