NRL supremo Phil ‘Gus’ Gould has revealed that NRL clubs have been approached by Super League clubs in the past 12 or 18 months to merge or join.
Yesterday, it was revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald that the NRL was considering a plan for a 33 percent buy-in stake of the Super League competition.
That would see the Australian competition take full administrative control of the northern hemisphere game from 2028, with one league of ten teams spread across the UK and France.
For Gould, he has revealed the ins and outs of what is happening regarding that groundbreaking story.
“We’re getting snippets of this story coming through and yesterday was the most significant,” he said on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles With Gus.
“I got several calls from prominent people saying that if the NRL ever wanted to take over the game, they would be pushing against an open door.
“It would be very well-received, perhaps not by the administration in the UK, but certainly by the big club owners. Peter V’landys is always open to new ideas to grow and expand the game and has probably thought about that for a while.
“The prominent owners have got their heads together. They’ve been a bit disillusioned with the Super League administration and management. They are looking for the NRL to show the way and invest. There needs to be some sort of revolution across there.
“There have been enough rumblings over the last 18 months. There has been an acknowledgement that something drastic has to happen and they have to change the way the game is administered … it would be a rebuild of the Super League.”
Gould also revealed that NRL clubs have been approached to partner up with Super League sides.
“Over the last 12 or 18 months, there have been approaches to NRL clubs – we’ve had approaches [at the Bulldogs] – to merge or join Super League clubs,” Gould continued.
“I’ve been trying to encourage the NRL to buy the Super League and the management over there, but they’re not going to go into it and waste a bunch of money.
“If the report is right of a 33 per cent stake and all management rights, that would be a good way to start that relationship.”
