RFL & Super League to reunite

[Man of Kent]

RFL planning to restore Rugby League governance

‘[The RFL] wants the Super League clubs to agree to return the administration of Super League to the RFL, ideally involving a vote at a Special General Meeting of the Super League clubs.

‘It then wants to be able to cut the £3 million per year that is currently being spent by SLE on running its own organisation.

‘And it wants to create a new commercial entity, ideally a joint venture with the Super League clubs, which will handle its commercial properties with staff who can focus on generating income in various forms.’

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

RFL planning to restore Rugby League governance

‘[The RFL] wants the Super League clubs to agree to return the administration of Super League to the RFL, ideally involving a vote at a Special General Meeting of the Super League clubs.

‘It then wants to be able to cut the £3 million per year that is currently being spent by SLE on running its own organisation.

‘And it wants to create a new commercial entity, ideally a joint venture with the Super League clubs, which will handle its commercial properties with staff who can focus on generating income in various forms.’

[Damien]

I thought this was a done deal anyway. Anyhow a whole lot of deja vu there and returning to things that didn't work before.

[Man of Kent]

Tricky bit for the RFL might be convincing Super League clubs to vote  for less TV money (which would go to Championship/L1). 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Man of Kent said:

Tricky bit for the RFL might be convincing Super League clubs to vote  for less TV money (which would go to Championship/L1). 

That's surely going to be a major sticking point. Perhaps that is why chairmen like Pearson and Carter have advocated for a 6 man Super League board to run the competition.

[Man of Kent]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

That's surely going to be a major sticking point. Perhaps that is why chairmen like Pearson and Carter have advocated for a 6 man Super League board to run the competition.

The story dangles the carrot of a united front could secure more government support.

Not convinced about that myself. We’ve already had two chunks. 

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

The story dangles the carrot of a united front could secure more government support.

Not convinced about that myself. We’ve already had two chunks. 

Quite, and in any case I see no reason why the Super League clubs could be stopped from splitting again in future if they so wished.

Ultimately this is a position based on attitude and the attitude of the majority of the SL chairmen is that they do not want the RFL running their competition and trading the lower divisions directly off the back of them.

[Smudger06]

Very sensible idea. Get everyone singing off the same song sheet. 

[Whippet13]

Getting the government to pay for all the Covid testing is a good piece of work by someone, that will save the RFL clubs a tidy sum.

[DoubleD]

1 hour ago, Smudger06 said:

Very sensible idea. Get everyone singing off the same song sheet. 

No one ever sings off the same song sheet in rugby league 

[Hela Wigmen]

 

[M j M]

32 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

 

Einstein never said that.

Which is good in this context, because some of the most productive years in the sport's existence happened with unified control by a strong governing body.

[Tommygilf]

12 minutes ago, M j M said:

Einstein never said that.

Which is good in this context, because some of the most productive years in the sport's existence happened with unified control by a strong governing body.

And some of the most destructive too. 

Its a comparison about people not systems I find.

[Hela Wigmen]

34 minutes ago, M j M said:

Einstein never said that.

Which is good in this context, because some of the most productive years in the sport's existence happened with unified control by a strong governing body.

Whether he said it or not it’s completely correct in this instance. Conversely, the most damaging and destructive years was under the same unified control of a weak governing body. 

[The storm]

3 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Tricky bit for the RFL might be convincing Super League clubs to vote  for less TV money (which would go to Championship/L1). 

There are now several clubs in the championship that are better managed than super league clubs 

 

Let's look at the positives 

[EastLondonMike]

Reverting to type won't improve anything.

change and improvement would have to be significant.

[frank]

7 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Tricky bit for the RFL might be convincing Super League clubs to vote  for less TV money (which would go to Championship/L1). 

After the Toronto fiasco not much chance of that happening.

[gingerjon]

I don't think there's enough detail here to say whether the RFL proposal is a good one - which isn't a criticism, it's to be expected when this much is under consideration - but I do have a red flag about the desire to get it done quickly, rather than get it done right.

That said, and *if true*, it is a major coup if the RFL has got the government to fund the required covid testing. Failure to commit to this in other sports is causing major issues.

[Yakstorm]

I personally feel that the Super League / everything else split really doesn't work for the sport in the UK and either everyone needs to be together (similar to the NRL) or the split has to be Professional / Amateur or all Pro Clubs / everything else.

It really feels counterproductive that certain aspects of the game, which do impact Super League clubs, such as a number of sponsorship properties, Challenge Cup, structures below SL, referees, are controlled by a separate body, whilst on the flip side Super League has control over certain decisions which drastically impact other Pro Clubs, such as P/R and distribution of funds.

Naturally I know why the split has been like that in the past (SL clubs thinking their competition is the RL equivalent of Premier League and to help a few clubs maintain the power), but it isn't a good structure for the sport to legitimately grow.

In terms of the RFL's proposal, considering there appears to be zero appetite in the UK for a Commission style of governance, the MLB BAM approach isn't bad, give all the key assets to a new company which is allowed to run independently and then lock the clubs into shareholder style arrangements, where their influence is dramatically reduced.

It then at least means any commercial decisions are in the best interest of all the shareholders, not just the clubs which hold the most weight.

The RFL then manages everything else, and honestly, based upon the last few years, Rimmer has done a better job than anyone SL has put forward recently.

[Spidey]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

I don't think there's enough detail here to say whether the RFL proposal is a good one - which isn't a criticism, it's to be expected when this much is under consideration - but I do have a red flag about the desire to get it done quickly, rather than get it done right.

That said, and *if true*, it is a major coup if the RFL has got the government to fund the required covid testing. Failure to commit to this in other sports is causing major issues.

I don't think we're a big enough sport to have splits/divisions in the game.  The RFL may be in a great position to enforce their will, the covid testing you mention would be top of the list, but access to the Challenge Cup for SL Clubs would be another, use of RFL Resources - Referees & Administrators.  If SL is taking £3M to run that division, I'm sure that's on top of the other resources.  The RFL will absorb a lot of those duties quickly.   Maybe its £3M that can be then distributed to lower division clubs

[dkw]

8 minutes ago, Spidey said:

 If SL is taking £3M to run that division, I'm sure that's on top of the other resources.  The RFL will absorb a lot of those duties quickly.   Maybe its £3M that can be then distributed to lower division clubs

Oh sweet deluded child, you think theres any chance of that happening? It will be given to SL clubs to waste on player wages and agents fees as usual.

[Damien]

30 minutes ago, Spidey said:

I don't think we're a big enough sport to have splits/divisions in the game.  The RFL may be in a great position to enforce their will, the covid testing you mention would be top of the list, but access to the Challenge Cup for SL Clubs would be another, use of RFL Resources - Referees & Administrators.  If SL is taking £3M to run that division, I'm sure that's on top of the other resources.  The RFL will absorb a lot of those duties quickly.   Maybe its £3M that can be then distributed to lower division clubs

But much of that money was shuffling chairs and staff transferring from the RFL to SL. When it comes to some of the improvements that have been made, like the magazine shows and increased marketing, then that is spending that should be done anyway if an elite competition wants to progress and be more appealing to sponsors and TV companies. It does not mean there is an extra £3 million.

[Hela Wigmen]

I still think the split was the right decision at the time. However, it become clear that the lack of autonomy allowed to Elstone and the execution of certain areas during Elstone’s tenure left a lot to be desired. 

Sadly, it’s looked inevitable for some time now that we’d eventually revert to type and go back to The RFL. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

£3m a year, that’s unbelievable, is that solely for Elstone and his team? 

[Dave T]

As with all of these things, we need to understand what it is we need to fix. What is the root cause of any issues. Without understanding that, you will generally implement the wrong solutions.