Rugby League Yearbook co-editor TIM BUTCHER found Rugby League at last in the weekend paper.
WE’VE become resigned to the fact that we won’t be reading much, if anything about our game in the national press these days.
Since I returned from a life in the Rugby League desert of the Gers, in south-west France (thank goodness for the online version of League Express), I’ve restricted my newspaper buying to the Saturday edition of the Guardian, which costs about the same as I not so long ago paid for a full week’s supply.
Every Saturday for three out of the past four months, the first section I have read is the sport’s. It doesn’t take long before it ends up in the recycling bin. There has not been one word on the fourth estate’s forgotten sport.
But this weekend that all changed. Half a tabloid page. The headline? “Historical sexism and misogyny complaints add to turmoil at RFL”.
“The Guardian has learned that:
“Several formal complaints have been made in the past fortnight alleging a historical sexist culture and the use of misogynistic language.
“Sport England, which is providing £11.9m of government funding to the RFL over five years until 2027, has been made aware of the complaints, with senior officials expressing concerns.
“Australia’s National Rugby League is unhappy about the RFL’s board changes, leading to fears they could jeopardise its plans to buy a stake in Super League.
“The International Rugby League board is considering removing England’s seat from the 10-strong board that runs the international game…..
“….The complaints are understood to have been made anonymously a fortnight ago via the RFL’s whistleblowing email address. The RFL chief executive, Tony Sutton, is aware of the complaints and is taking them seriously.”
It’s a valid story, although there is a fair bit of “anonymous allegations” going on – a story that must surely have been penned by someone in the know and with a keen interest in Rugby League?
I’d never heard of the writer, a freelancer called Matt Hughes, so I had to google him. Up came a site called ‘Muck Rack’ that listed his profile and all, yes all, of his 2,655 published articles.
After the first three pages (about 200 articles) of the search I got a bit fed up looking but came across nothing, as I expected, about Rugby League.
No mention of the upcoming Ashes series, that Super League had played its 5,000th game, the re-emergence of the top-level rivalry of the two Hull clubs set to explode this weekend. Certainly nothing about anything so incidental as the great matches that are played out every week.
Bad news is good news for sports editors. But when it’s broadcast in total isolation, it has you questioning what it is about Rugby League that makes the media want it to go away.
Somebody at the RFL ought to give the prolific Matt Hughes a ring and get him on our side.
Who Wood have thought it?
And it is all because of Nigel Wood. Who would have dreamed he could stir up such worldwide enmity?
Trump, Putin, Erdogan… And now Nigel Wood.
Hughes wrote: “A new interim board was therefore appointed by the RFL last week to ensure compliance with the code, with Wood, Sutton and the finance director, Rob Graham, becoming executive directors alongside five independent non-executive directors. The new board will meet for the first time on 1 April.
“The Guardian has learned, however, that rugby league’s Australian powerbrokers are distinctly unimpressed with the RFL’s board changes.
“This is a pivotal moment for the sport given the NRL is seriously considering buying a stake in Super League after the successful Las Vegas roadshow this month involving four NRL clubs, plus Wigan and Warrington. Significantly, the latter clubs abstained from a Super League vote to appoint Wood to lead the strategic review.”
I’d like to know who made the phone call to Hughes.
Several people have had their noses pushed out, in other words they’ve lost their remunerated positions, by the events of the past months and would have the motivation.
I don’t know if the Rugby Football League was the best governed sporting body in the world.
I only know that Rugby League, and its brilliant players and coaches, does not get anywhere near the recognition they merit. So something had to be done.
The first time I met Nigel Wood was at a touch Rugby League game in Halifax in the mid-nineties. I’ve met him many times since and one thing I do know is that he believes in and loves Rugby League, something that I perceive has been missing at the top for a while.
Is it just me?
Super League’s 5000th game has been played and from the highlights it looked a decent match which certainly had a good finish.
I confess, I didn’t see the game. I was watching Leigh-Wakefield on Sky Sports+. I know it’s on the red button but because of current domestic circumstances the red button doesn’t work for me and I had to watch it on the app.
The app is not compatible with my laptop. Phone or iPad are the only options. Not ideal but better than nothing. The coverage was good with excellent commentary from Dave Woods and Jon Wells.
I’d like to see the Warrington-Leeds game in full too, although I know I’ll only get the highlights, just as for the Wakefield-Hull FC game last week. I was at that match and I’m sure I’m not the only person who goes to a game and wants to see it again on TV or computer. Even the Sky Sports app has only highlights.
Highlights don’t tell the story of a game.
Astoundingly, there is a platform called Kayo that shows live Super League games (as well as just about every other sport worldwide) and keeps the full games for replay. On holiday in February, I saw live Sky broadcasts on a 65-inch TV in the comfort of what turned out to be a luxurious rented home.
In Adelaide!
Paris in the springtime
Charléty Stadium, Paris, Friday 29th March 1996. Though I missed number five thousand, I was lucky enough to be there for number one.
What a game it was, what a night it was. The official attendance was 17,873 which made for a great atmosphere and a wave of optimism for the future of Rugby League.
Of course, the game was in ‘crisis’ (irony, it is always in crisis) at the time and ten minutes before kick-off it looked like being a hugely disappointing event, with a thousand or so happy Sheffield Eagles fans making up the bulk of a meagre crowd. Then suddenly the hordes just flooded in, as if they had just been shipped in on a huge fleet of Rupert Murdoch-chartered jumbo jets. It was wondrous.
Make a note that Super League I kicked off on this very weekend 35 years ago. Summer rugby was meant to be played in summer.
It was freezing cold by the way.
First steps
Anyway, here is my checklist for Nigel Wood.
Get clubs to design away kits that reflect their club colours; make sure that groundsmen obliterate soccer markings on shared pitches; get the fans to cut out abusive chants against their opponents, it’s disrespectful; sell out their home games, ie fill the stadiums (not an easy one this but some clubs are doing it).
In general: turn down the referee’s microphones except when they are saying something interesting, ie talking to players or to the video referee. Forget about the referee sending ‘try’ or ‘no try’ to the video ref. I’ve seen Wakefield aggrieved by this one week and benefit from it the week after at Leigh. Think hard about timing all fixtures to get maximum attendances and TV audiences.
I’m excited. I’ve registered for Ashes tickets. Have you? If you do, you get first dibs from Wednesday. According to the RFL, over 30,000 people are poised.
