Absorbing Pacific RL Into NRL

[Sports Prophet]

Interested to gauge the opinions of posters on the Aussie page about the entire Pacific being absorbed into the NRL. Similar to the way NSWRL grew to become the ARL and absorbed QRL to become a feeder league.

I don’t expect to hear much favourable opinion on this from the General page, but wondered if opinion here would be different.

In my opinion, ownership of the international game in the Pacific will give the NRL the incentive to deliver a credible international product that they can reap the rewards from and assume entire responsibility for developing talented players across the entire Pacific region to participate at the highest professional club and representative level.

[Graham]

14 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

Interested to gauge the opinions of posters on the Aussie page about the entire Pacific being absorbed into the NRL. Similar to the way NSWRL grew to become the ARL and absorbed QRL to become a feeder league.

I don’t expect to hear much favourable opinion on this from the General page, but wondered if opinion here would be different.

In my opinion, ownership of the international game in the Pacific will give the NRL the incentive to deliver a credible international product that they can reap the rewards from and assume entire responsibility for developing talented players across the entire Pacific region to participate at the highest professional club and representative level.

Interesting SP.

Does this initiative stop here, or would the NRL like to spread its influence and control further? 
This view of RL as a product is at odds with what I think of the game after a lifetime of supporting the great game.

[Sports Prophet]

2 hours ago, Graham said:

Interesting SP.

Does this initiative stop here, or would the NRL like to spread its influence and control further? 
This view of RL as a product is at odds with what I think of the game after a lifetime of supporting the great game.

Cheers G. Sport is a funny thing. I hear you loud and clear and struggle with the whole commercialisation of sport (any sport for that matter) myself.

We want the best for our sport and to demonstrate it to as many new fans as possible. Yet in the same breath, remember days gone by where there were characters in our sport. Outspoken and honest.

The whole NRL vs the rest of the world debate that is taking place on the other page is the epitome of these mixed feelings. Most if honest with themselves would admire the commercial strength of the NRL, even if they disagree with the prioritisation the NRL places on the domestic game at the expense of all other opportunities.

The crux for me is that most fans expect a socialist governance of the game but at least understand, if not expect, that the best capitalist techniques are delivered to showcase and expand the game. 

It’s an oxymoron of political ideals applied to sport governance.

[Farmduck]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Interested to gauge the opinions of posters on the Aussie page about the entire Pacific being absorbed into the NRL. Similar to the way NSWRL grew to become the ARL and absorbed QRL to become a feeder league.

 

No, the NSWRL and QRL formed the ARL in 1924 and neither NSWRL nor ARL has ever absorbed QRL. As every good Queenslander knows, the function of NSW is to pay for everything, not control it.

As for the topic, it's a bit of a toxic issue at the moment and I would find it hard to outline my stance in less than a few pages. Some of my views will be very unpopular and I couldn't be bothered arguing on the internet for days on end so I'll pass.

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Interested to gauge the opinions of posters on the Aussie page about the entire Pacific being absorbed into the NRL.

Could give you plenty of opinions on this, but not when it involves second-guessing what might be deemed "personal digs".

I`ll make arguments my own way, or not at all.

[Sports Prophet]

10 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

No, the NSWRL and QRL formed the ARL in 1924 and neither NSWRL nor ARL has ever absorbed QRL. As every good Queenslander knows, the function of NSW is to pay for everything, not control it.

As for the topic, it's a bit of a toxic issue at the moment and I would find it hard to outline my stance in less than a few pages. Some of my views will be very unpopular and I couldn't be bothered arguing on the internet for days on end so I'll pass.

Pardon, I more meant around the NSWRL competition morphing into the national competition, similar to the VFL to AFL competition. Thanks for picking that up though, I didn’t describe that properly.

It is indeed a subject that can be discussed in lengthy text books. Wouldn’t mind hearing that opinion of yours though. I have recently decided that I won’t waste a lot of time arguing my points endlessly on this forum. I make my point and willing to have enlightened discussion on the topic and nothing else. Give us a short

[Futtocks]

3 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

In my opinion, ownership of the international game in the Pacific will give the NRL the incentive to deliver a credible international product that they can reap the rewards from and assume entire responsibility for developing talented players across the entire Pacific region to participate at the highest professional club and representative level.

It would also give them more control over the Pacific nations if/when the Australians decide to nobble another World Cup.

[Spotty Herbert]

My somewhat jaundiced opinion at the moment is that the NRL should be dissolved as being unfit for purpose, rather than being allowed to have any further influence.

Why? The contempt shown for international rugby league, disguised as concern for player welfare (despite their actions being the opposite of what the vast majority of NRL players wanted), means the organisation cannot be allowed to have any influence beyond its current remit.

The fumbleball discussion on this forum highlights the fact that the AFL has much greater penetration than the NFL within Australia. The only positive in the NRL's favour is the potential for international competition. If this isn't realised there will come a time when AFL is more appealing to Australian TV than the NRL, leading to a reduction in income and the gradual disintegration of the NRL competition - all because there is no appetite amongst the clubs for expansion or an international element to the game.

RTS has left the Warriors to try and play meaningful international games for his country. There are suggestions that Ponga could go the same way. If Rugby Australia and the All Blacks got their heads out of their ***** the Pacific Islands could become real RU powerhouses, attracting all the best talent currently living on the eastern seaboard of Australia and playing in the NRL. In turn, this would encourage players currently representing NZ to return to their heritage nations to add to their strength.

The NRL, like the Superleague teams in Europe are happy to maintain the status quo. The rest of us recognise that to stand still is to go backwards and we HAVE to expand our reach, particularly internationally, to avoid contracting further. The NRL does not want to expand internally within Aus / NZ or internationally, so should be allowed no influence over the Pacific islands.

God, I am depressed after writing that. Please can someone tell me it is all ###### and there is hope for the future for rugby league.

[R L Winger]

Great idea, Get it developed and let the NRL version of Rugby League evolve to further Shores plain and simple......That's my take on it, my opinion and like stated above by other posters, I'm not prepared to argue or debate about it. Interested to read every ones take on the subject. 

[The Rocket]

On 09/08/2021 at 20:45, Sports Prophet said:

Interested to gauge the opinions of posters on the Aussie page about the entire Pacific being absorbed into the NRL. Similar to the way NSWRL grew to become the ARL and absorbed QRL to become a feeder league.

I don’t expect to hear much favourable opinion on this from the General page, but wondered if opinion here would be different.

In my opinion, ownership of the international game in the Pacific will give the NRL the incentive to deliver a credible international product that they can reap the rewards from and assume entire responsibility for developing talented players across the entire Pacific region to participate at the highest professional club and representative level.

I think we have to be wary of expecting the Pacific to be the answer to the woes of international Rugby League. As I pointed out on the thread ` Future of the Pacific Nations` the main reason that Samoa and Tonga have relatively strong national teams presently is largely a result of their large ex-pat populations living firstly in NZ and secondly Australia, approaching 400 000 people between them. 

Eventually, or rather very soon, the off-spring of these peoples will no longer be able to use the grandparent rule to be able to represent the nation of their forebears.

It will be at this point they will be relying on either emigration out of the Island nations to replenish the ex-pat populations with first generation immigrants or the strength of their local competitions to produce players of international standard.

To the first point, given the small population size of most Pacific nations emigration levels are proportionately small as well, certainly no where near enough to provide the numbers to maintain the numbers that they currently have that call themselves first and second generation immigrants.

On the ability of domestic competitions to produce competitive national teams, we can use Queensland as a rough  yardstick. With about 60 000 registered participants it gives a rough idea about how many players you need to produce a competitive representative team, that would be more than one quarter of Samoa`s total population and more than half of Tonga`s.

Now I`m not saying that if League thoroughly infiltrates the sporting culture of those countries that it won`t produce a lot of talented players that can be picked up by NRL scouts, but ultimately numbers and the number within that of international quality players could be an issue, especially if they are going to match it with big tier 1 nations long-term.

PNG 8m, Fiji 900 000 and the Solomon Islands 680 000 may prove more productive in producing large amounts of players.

So getting back to your question I would say it is more likely than anything that your first observation will eventuate, that they will become a ' feeder League" to the NRL.