NRL CEO responds to suggested return of England vs Australia in Ashes Series by Mal Meninga

[josie andrews]

Recently, Australia boss and St Helens legend Mal Meninga has expressed interest in the return of the Ashes Series against England.

It is a series which hasn’t happened since 2003 though it was supposed to take place in 2020 prior to the pandemic.

Now, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has had his say on but seemed to be more interested in the countries in and around Australia rather than an Ashes Series.

However, he did underline a want to ensure that the game is thriving in England and France.

“The commission is right behind international football. We’ve been working with the clubs and the players recently on how that can work,” Abdo told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“Creating a dedicated international window in October-November is critical to that – the right amount of content in the right markets.

We want to foster what we see in the southern hemisphere a great opportunity to connect with communities across Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and PNG.

“Our focus is on how we foster rugby league in this part of the world. Obviously, we want to see rugby league thrive in the northern hemisphere, England and France and surrounding countries. A tour is a possibility and all of that is going around what the next five years looks like.”

Perhaps England and France should also look to also focus on games against teams nearby to help the development of rugby in the northern hemisphere.

It was suggested last week when the two sides met that the more they meet the closer France will come to being one of the big boys in international rugby and an annual meeting is something IMG have recommended.

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/nrl-ceo- ... nga-61123/

[DaveO]

Funny how the biggest international games in RU are when the All Blacks and South African’s tour.

[up the junction]

IMO He will want to promote the the Southern Hemisphere as this will create more talent for the NRL !!
They couldn’t give a monkeys about our game over here . Typical Aussie NRL Arrogance .

[moto748]

As I've said before, if we seriously want more international rugby league, the ball is entirely in the NRL's court. So I'm not holding my breath.

[fozzieskem]

As I've said before, if we seriously want more international rugby league, the ball is entirely in the NRL's court. So I'm not holding my breath.

I’ve said it the other day on here,pointless having a thrash a thon against France in the middle of the year that does no one any good the real meat of the international game is down under and u til they’ll play ball then the international game will stagnate,I’d love to see more tours but it’s clear the Aussies and their tv paymasters would sooner see origin.

[the pieman]

As I've said before, if we seriously want more international rugby league, the ball is entirely in the NRL's court. So I'm not holding my breath.

I’ve said it the other day on here,pointless having a thrash a thon against France in the middle of the year that does no one any good the real meat of the international game is down under and u til they’ll play ball then the international game will stagnate,I’d love to see more tours but it’s clear the Aussies and their tv paymasters would sooner see origin.

there should be nothing stopping the northern hemisphere teams setting something up mid-season if IMG do take over and get the calendar right. Perhaps a 3 week window where there are internationals, and the nations get competitive action more regularly

The issue, isnt so much England, but France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland etc, in that they get no international fixtures, so when it comes to something like the world cup, they arent going to be competitive. There was a bit of a discussion after the game yesterday and all commentators said, that the game in Scotland needs to grow root / branch, not the other way round. It wont happen over night, but if the international game is going to grow, then it needs to happen. Jammer also mentioned that he knew the next world cup is in 3 years time in France, but had no idea about any other international fixtures between now and then, and that just says it all about international RL, not planning and seemingly no idea