NRL fans have lost respect for their code

[Beaussie]

Gee hard to disagree with what Patrick has to say eh?

NRL fans have lost respect for their code
The Australian
12:00AM September 13, 2017

Patrick Smith
Senior sports commentator
Melbourne


The NRL is in a right mess. Four ­finals over the weekend drew just 75,361. In the AFL, that many rock up to the local park for kick-to-kick. Come the finals and it gets serious. A total of 235,328 fans watched AFL footy finals over the weekend. On Friday night 95,028 fans alone watched Richmond wallop Geelong at the MCG.

You can interpret that anyway you like. Sydney folk aren’t watchers of sport. Or anything else. Watching the NRL live is even more boring than sitting through a game of American football. And in the US replays of NFL games are commonly prescribed as sedatives.

Maybe Sydney fans reckon the stadiums are no good. Maybe rugby league is a better sport to watch on television than plonked in row 238 seat 31.

The coaches whinge from one kick-off to the next. Never stops. Certainly not a thought for the image of the sport.

Not even money stops the verbal moping. The criticism of match officials is reckless, irresponsible and dangerous. It threatens the status and safety of officials in lower grades. Thus Shane Flanagan and Trent Barrett show their fundamental lack of class and sportsmanship by weeping about the standard of refereeing.

All of this drew a response from NRL boss Todd Greenberg: “We’ve just had one of the most exciting rounds of finals footy I think of all time. Every game went down to the wire, two games were decided by two points and another game went into extra-time. We’re very fortunate to have a sporting contest as even as this,” Greenberg said this week.

“And yet, in a fantastic round of finals, it’s been marred by the response of some of the losing teams. Unfortunately, we’ve developed a culture in our game of blaming match officials for a loss. It sets a terrible example for fans and a terrible example to grassroots and it’s got to stop. It’s time for the game to grow up.”

As history shows rugby league talks but baulks. Flanagan and Barrett have been fined a combined $50,000. If the NRL is to make any ground in eliminating boorishness, both Flanagan and Barrett should be suspended. A month at the start of next season would seem appropriate.

And so it goes. The sexual agenda of one NRL player was plastered all over a newspaper yesterday. It was none of anybody’s business but follows regular, gaudy reports of NRL players and their sexual exploits thus it was considered fair game.

All winter colleague Brent Read has kept readers informed of the destabilising behaviour of club presidents as the imperative for an independent commission continues to be thwarted.

There is one overriding reason for the NRL’s tribulations. Self-­respect. The lack of it. It permeates the competition from fan (what’s left of them), player, club official to competition administrator.

There can be little doubt that fans have lost respect for their sport. They see the lack of discipline from top to bottom of the code. Some will never lose their passion for rugby league but others are making tough judgments. Why cannot the competition come up with an independent commission? Why cannot club ­officials and NRL administrators facilitate a ruling body free of ­direct rugby league ties which is clearly the only appropriate way to run a sport in 2017.

Regularly players get drunk or take drugs or both and do something anti-social but newsworthy. And just about as regularly the community gets to hear and see it. The reaction? Just dumb footballers doing what they always do. The image of the game takes a whacking. If the footballers truly respected the game that feeds them and quenches their thirst they would ensure they stayed out of that spotlight.

Coaches rip away at referees when they know it hurts the game. But still they attack the integrity of referees and therefore the game. And then, full of bravado and not a jot of sense, they rail against criticism and penalty.

Clubs scoff at their own competition and have schemed to cheat rivals and the code itself. No clubs learn from another’s experience. This year Parramatta was still reckoning with the aftermath of its previous $3 million salary cap rort. Player managers came under close scrutiny as well.

If the clubs were not so selfish they would have brokered in an independent commission. But they make selfish decisions, not prepared to give an inch of parochial ground even if it comprehensively accelerates the NRL’s inability to compete in an aggressive market place.

The best commission is one that has no ties or responsibility to any stakeholder. Therefore no commissioner should be appointed on the behest of the players or clubs. Fans or broadcasters. Throw out John Coates’ flawed review — what gravitas does it warrant now anyway? — and model the league on sports that have a proven past of success and expertise.

Rugby league does not have the courage for that. Administrators lack strength and presence. They appear timid; to not respect the game enough to stop squabbling about their own lot and never care about the broad vision of how league can become the dominant and prestigious code in the country.

All of this means that once again John Grant and Todd Greenberg appear reactionary; scrambling to catch up. There is no sense of control and wisdom at the top and it seeps deep down into the system.

Someone needs to stand up and show their sport the respect it both requires and is owed.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/o ... b60823a213

[AFLcrap1]

Lol a fumble loving hypocrite journo having a shot at RL
Lol

[King-Eliagh]

sheezus beaussie, this pat smith is all over the shop! The fans just love rugby league. The crowds will build as the finals roll on, all is well.

I must admit tho, Todd Greenberg needs an uppercut saying what he's stated in the article above! Match officials are and should not be placed above the sport. When they fuck up, like all other people in the workforce, they should be held accountable and those affected by their fuckups should be able to make comment without fear of massive fines. That's a definite problem

[leagueiscrap]

Fatprick smith dies make. Ale a few good points
The Sydney nrlol numptys throwing trantrums because they don't get their own way! But buts and a Whinging all about me mentally!

Typical Sydney

[King-Eliagh]

Fatprick smith dies make. Ale a few good points
The Sydney nrlol numptys throwing trantrums because they don't get their own way! But buts and a Whinging all about me mentally!

Typical Sydney

are you on the metho again!?

[AFLcrap1]

Fatprick smith dies make. Ale a few good points
The Sydney nrlol numptys throwing trantrums because they don't get their own way! But buts and a Whinging all about me mentally!

Typical Sydney

[leagueiscrap]

sheezus beaussie, this pat smith is all over the shop! The fans just love rugby league. The crowds will build as the finals roll on, all is well.

I must admit tho, Todd Greenberg needs an uppercut saying what he's stated in the article above! Match officials are and should not be placed above the sport. When they fuck up, like all other people in the workforce, they should be held accountable and those affected by their fuckups should be able to make comment without fear of massive fines. That's a definite problem

Yep the fans apparently do! As it's shown. By their attendances even after heavily discounted tickets the nrlol crowds in nsw are now lower than union and aye league on averages


But but but

[AFLcrap1]

Lol
Union has one team representing NSW
How about a fair comparison dickhead
NSw SOO team V THE NSW UNION team .
Go back to the bottle