Rugby league's big problem - and it's not Nigel Wood
Another day, another power struggle in British rugby league: when or will it ever end?
The year is 2042 and some big-hitters in English rugby league have called for a strategic review. It’s been coming. It’s been three years since the last one so the sport is in disarray and alarmed by the lack of direction.
Some other big-hitters, though, are already concerned by what the strategic review will deliver. So there’s mutterings about a counter strategic review to be immediately launched the day after the other strategic review has delivered its findings. If it delivers its findings.
This may seem far-fetched. But, in truth, it probably isn’t. Sadly, this is what rugby league does here. It’s become a laughing stock.
The news that Bradford Bulls’ part-owner Nigel Wood has returned to the RFL as its interim chair, parachuted in by many of the same figures who forced him out of the governing body’s CEO role seven years ago, has left many perplexed. A number of clubs, led by Leigh and Leeds, were disillusioned with the way the sport was heading under Simon Johnson and they gained enough support for the RFL chair to fall on his sword on Tuesday.
This was after non-executive director Sandy Lindsay had also already stepped down. Admittedly, the governing body has had a fair few issues of its own of late, not least its shoddy handling of the on-going Salford takeover and the financial issues gripping that club.
Then there’s the Rob Hicks situation, the RFL director of operations and legal whose "mutually agreed departure" was announced this week, five months after being suspended while an investigation took place.
It’s understandable why some clubs, already panicked by the financial state of the declining broadcast deal, might want change. And those perturbed want more people with a deeper knowledge, experience and understanding of how rugby league works to be at the helm. Full-time. Not part-time.
Wood ticks the boxes in many regards. For all his critics, he did oversee plenty of positive change during his long term in charge as RFL chair and CEO. But the landscape is different today: the days of negotiating improved broadcast deals with Sky are gone and many cash-strapped clubs are still recovering from the after-effects of the pandemic.
And it’s staggering to think that someone who, although standing down as Bradford chairman for the phase ahead does actually remain a co-owner of a Championship club intent on gaining a Super League spot, is now running the gig.
Some fans will remember how Wood was RFL CEO when the governing body bought the lease for Bradford’s Odsal stadium for around £1.2m in 2012. That was to help alleviate the fallen Super League giants’ latest financial crisis - and ensure the ‘iconic’ venue wasn’t lost from the sport.
After his RFL exit, though, Wood and his family became the major shareholder of Bulls in 2019 and he became chairman two years later. Just a couple of months ago, Bradford bought back the Odsal lease from the RFL for a fraction of the cost they paid 13 years ago.
There is a theory, however, that the initial purchase of Odsal by the governing body was actually a masterstroke: it became an essential bargaining tool for Wood when helping negotiate £25m of government backing in winning the rights to host the 2021 World Cup. Wood, whose love of and passion for the game is unquestioned, has always divided opinion.
Yet this piece isn’t even aimed at him even though the decision for Wood to be back at the RFL - having received a hefty six-figure pay-off when forced out previously - has left many incandescent . It’s at the sport’s powerbrokers as a whole for continually falling short in its attempt to grow the game by relentlessly making the same mistake over and over again.
The countless strategic reviews have achieved nothing. This one won’t either. It would be no surprise if it just decided to plonk Wood back in charge. Let's not go there...
IMG was supposed to launch rugby league into a new stratosphere. They are, no less, the ‘strategic partner’ of the RFL and Super League so they’d be well within their rights of undergoing a strategic review.
After all the sport, and all its different clubs and owners and CEOS, agreed to hand over the keys for 12 years to let them do just that. But it soon materialised that those very same clubs got to vote on anything of substance: They could ignore IMG if they so desired.
When RFL CEO Wood and chair Brian Barwick were overthrown by top-flight clubs in 2018, essentially so Super League could take control of its own commercial activities, Robert Elstone was brought in as the chief executive officer.
With his experience in Premier League football, it was hoped he’d be the dynamic figure to drive Super League forward. Much like the NRL has Peter V’landys, the Australian Rugby League Commission chair, leading the charge for them, the general hope was Elstone could be bold and autocratic for Super League, cutting out all the petty squabbling that bogged the sport down.
Yet in his opening address to the media he was flanked by the owners of Wigan, Warrington and St Helens. Once more the clubs ruled the roost. Nothing much changed. Some of those who helped oust Wood are now rejoicing at his return.
In fairness to Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington, a big supporter of the administrator throughout, at least he warned of that 2018 coup going pear-shaped, a solitary voice insisting the grass might not be greener on the other side.
Sure enough, four years later, after much more navel-gazing - although no official strategic review that I recall - the RFL and Super League realigned. Three years on from that, the sport is at it again.
What must the NRL think? It is widely reported that the NRL are interested in taking over Super League. Arguably, it would be the best thing to happen to the sport here since the summer era began. By taking a game to Las Vegas alongside the NRL double-header earlier this month, Wigan and Warrington know only too well the power of that behemoth down under.
The NRL, a multi-billion dollar competition that is the envy of many, could take Super League under its wing and teach it all it needs to know about finally making the most of its potential. But somewhere along the line, the clubs here, inevitably, would have to allow that to happen.
Unfortunately, the fear is many would likely wince at the prospect of ceding such control. Maybe all of this is, in fact, the masterplan. Either way, they would at least insist on lobbying for a strategic review to ponder about it and procrastinate before, yet again, opting for inertia.
https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/new ... 48a1cfd938
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
show 
