Cat-o'-Nine tails: Broadcaster's lashing of NRL raises serious questions

Bloody hell! Talk about a kick in the teeth. In the global history of sport, does anyone recall a broadcaster giving the administrators of the main game it puts to air such a public bashing? Channel Nine didn’t miss the NRL with the statement it released on Thursday afternoon and if you will hold them still for a moment, I’ll give it a quick burst.

“This health crisis,” a Nine spokesperson said, clearly with the imprimatur of the Nine CEO Hugh Marks, “has highlighted the mismanagement of the code over many years. Nine has invested hundreds of millions in this game over decades and we now find they have profoundly wasted those funds with very little to fall back on to support the clubs, the players and supporters. In the past the NRL have had problems and we’ve bailed them out many times ...”

Hold them still, I said! And stop writhing you leaguies, there is only a bit to go.

“It would now appear that much of that has been squandered by a bloated head office completely ignoring the needs of the clubs, players and supporters.”

Nearly there! One more lash for the road ...

“We now find ourselves with a contract that is unfulfilled by the code. We hoped we could talk though a long-term plan.”

Lashed like a convict caught with the governor’s wife, yes? Within an inch of their life and then a couple more inches for good measure. The question is, why?

Why, when you present yourself as the rugby league station and have broadcast the game as your winter mainstay for decades; when the rugby league brand is a good part of your own brand; why be so publicly savage, humiliating the game and its administrators in such a manner? It fits with no obvious corporate strategy I can think of, unless ...

1. Unless Nine would rather not broadcast rugby league at all this year, preferring to keep in its own pocket the $130 million it has committed to paying the NRL for the full-blown product, because there’s no way they’ll get anything like that revenue for broadcasting a half-arsed product in empty stadiums. If that is the case, a possible reason for venting your angst is to make it clear to the public that the fault for no games on free-to-air this year lies with the NRL not Nine.
2. Or, you give the NRL such a public bashing that it will accept any money you throw its way, and be grateful for it.

Either way it confirms that once the plague leaves us, it will not be business as usual for the league, any more than it will be for the other major sports.

To hell with safety

As to suddenly announcing the start of the whole NRL comp again at the end of May, that’s easy. No. I tell you nothing you don’t know in saying it is so totally against the government’s diktats that it ... takes the breath away. But do consider that we are in a week where police are patrolling beaches, insisting the public stay home or face heavy fines.

But it’s OK to train, cheek by jowl by towel with another 30 players in your squad?

We are in a week where a NSW government minister is fined $1000 for travelling between his Sydney base and his Central Coast holiday home, as the official government position is that this behaviour puts the public at risk.

But no problem with players travelling to and from training and crossing state and international lines for games?

We are in a week where the most important institution in the country, the Federal Parliament, meets at only half-strength because it is important not only that they stay safe, 1.5 metres apart, but are seen to stay safe, setting the example for the rest of us.

But, full-on rugby league, wrestling, tackling, spraying sweat and bursting breath all over each other as the cameras roll? Great idea!

We are in a week, where families across the country are split up, and are frequently conversing between glass, or on FaceTime, for safety’s sake.

But the NRL wants government and public blessing to have its players train and play, and go back to their own families.

Friends, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

True, the Deputy Premier John Barilaro has made risible blandishments that “the NRL is the tonic we need to get through this virus,” but for that comment and $5 you can maybe get a cappuccino.

So let’s look to the Prime Minister and the Premier. In recent weeks both have been strong in setting the tone on this, in underlining the gravity of what is at stake. If they allow this to go ahead now – which will obviously include full-on training now, not in seven weeks time – it is not just their credibility in insisting on social distancing that will be shot to pieces.

If they start up rugby league again now, while the rest of us are in veritable lock-down, it will be a blackening of the league brand they will take years to overcome.

Yes, yes, yes – I get that this is all seven weeks away, that things will hopefully have settled down by then. But if that is the government’s view, can all businesses be told and given the green light to get their crews tightly together in preparation for re-opening at the end of May?

And another thing

But the NRL has medical advice on this you say? From who specifically?

Why can I see dozens of medical professionals put their names and professional standing behind the notion that public safety demands we all stay 1.5 metres apart, while the only biosecurity experts backing the league in the public domain are anonymous? When Peter V’landys opened the competition at the start of the season it was, he told us, because the NRL's expert said it was safe. He then shut it down because the league's expert said it was not safe. Both times, by his own account, her word was law and we the public had to trust her expertise.

That might just pass muster if that was still the case. But now the NRL has moved on from her and found another expert to rely on, because the former expert was not on board with starting up again.

Get it?

You can’t veritably say “Trust Professor X, because she knows more about it than any of us,” and then say “We have moved on from Professor X, because we were not happy with her advice.”

As for that other virus

Dear TFF, writes Tom Chapman:

Just a thought on the opportunities that may arise with a societal reset on the cards with coronavirus ... If sport is able to rebuild post-COVID we as a society shouldn't let gambling, a toxic family wrecking virus, anywhere near it.

This also goes for pokies and casinos. This is our opportunity for a societal reset on gambling.

Just a thought. Looking for a silver lining.

What They Said

NRL chairman Peter V’Landys: “It is in the best interests of our clubs, our players, our stakeholders and importantly our fans that the competition resumes as quickly and as safely as possible.” And everyone else?

Nick Farr-Jones on Rugby Australia’s woes: “Sadly, because we don’t have a broadcasting deal, which the other codes do have, we are basically, in my opinion, unbankable.”

Famed All Black winger John Kirwan on criticism by former Wallabies of Rugby Australia: “They should be working together. As ex-All Blacks, we very rarely go outside with our criticism before we’ve said it inside ... Some of these famous ex-Wallabies maybe need to knock on her door or have a Zoom, and just say ‘these are my concerns and these are my solutions’.” For the record, Sir John, Nick notes he did sit down with the RA CEO Raelene Castle, as well!

Qatar's World Cup mob lies through its teeth: “Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy strongly denies the allegations contained within the court papers made public in the US on 6 April 2020 ... Despite years of false claims, evidence has never been produced to demonstrate that Qatar won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup 2022 unethically or by means that contravened FIFA's strict bidding rules.”

In a week of no news, Mark Viduka made headlines with his interview: “Do I regret stopping? No. Because my problem was that my generation of players that I grew up with were a different breed to the new generation, and to be the honest, I wasn't a big fan of the new generation of players. A lot of them were more interested in how many deals they were doing on the side, through sponsorship and getting their heads on the television, than actually playing for the national team.”

Viduka: “There are so many moments. Everyone assumes scoring four goals against Liverpool would be my highlight or captaining Australia at a World Cup. But I'd have to say kicking the ball in the family backyard with my dad will always be my greatest football memory.” I like that!

English soccer star Kyle Walker apologising for hosting a party with two sex workers while urging all to stay home: “For the choices I made last week which have resulted in a story today about my private life in a tabloid newspaper. My actions in this matter are in direct contrast to what I should have been doing regarding the lockdown. And I want to reiterate the message: Stay home, stay safe.”

Usman Khawaja on the behind-the-scenes documentary, The Test, on the Australian cricket side: “We could have had Spielberg producing it and it could have been the greatest show since Braveheart, and someone will still pick holes in it.”

MCG arena manager Michael Salvatore on a dormant MCG: “What was surreal was that I was in there the other day and it was dead quiet. I was standing in the middle of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and there wasn’t a soul there. That was like a movie.”

Salvatore on his relationship with the MCG turf: “Of course you have a special relationship with it. We get no greater joy that seeing it being used. It’s a living thing, so it’s not like a normal office cubicle. It lives and changes and you grow fond of it. It’s like your favourite grandma.”

NSW Swifts coach Briony Akle: “The netballers went straight to a 70 per cent pay cut, they asked very little questions and just got on with it. If we’re comparing codes ... the guys they’re still doing really well and I understand that they've got mortgages to pay as well ... but when you compare – our top salary is probably $100,000. Toughen up and see the bigger picture for what it is.”

John Fitzgerald on Serena Williams missing the chance to break Margaret Court’s record: “We don't know. It remains to be seen – can her body hold up at her age? And I'm not being disrespectful here. It's an ageing, athletic body.”

Team of the week

Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Among those announced as NBA Basketball Hall of Fame inductees.

Richie Benaud. As extraordinary as it might seem, he passed away five years ago this week.

Wayne Pearce. Has guided Project Apollo to get rugby league back on the field by the end of May. It is madness, but he remains a good man and these are thin times for Team of the Week, so he’ll do!

Mark Viduka. His take-down of former teammate Lucas Neill this week shows some old sporting wounds just never heal.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz