You don’t know him, I don’t know him, but Dave Smith just stepped into the highest profile sports administration job in Australia. Having watched the press conference announcing David Smith as the new NRL CEO a few things came out of it for me. Firstly, Smith, a Welshman based in Sydney in his role in…
Any international sporting competition is incomplete unless it has one very important element….mascots! Personally I don’t even watch an international sporting competition unless I have been marketed a mascot that I can buy in various forms. I like to think back over the history of sporting mascots…they really do complete the entire sporting experience! So…
Cricket Australia has made major changes to the traditional summer format next season in a move to give the Australian test team the best chance possible to win The Ashes. With the series signally the beginning of a new broadcasting deal Cricket Australia had the ability to go into next summer with a few changes that include…
Ever wondered how much damage one little lie could do? One Newcastle player certainly found out the hard way. Before the salary cap was introduced, players had to play for the team representing the area they lived in. If a player residing in Sydney wished to change clubs, he had to leave the suburb he…
The Salford City Reds are currently fighting financial problems after a number of people, including former players, had to fight the club to get money they were owed. In this environment, youngster Joel Moon decided to leave the club and play for the much more financially sound Leeds Rhinos. One that back for this Salford…
The Penrith Panthers have been rumoured to be after him for nearly a year, and he has been photographed taking a tour of the Canterbury Bulldogs training facilities. At the end of all of this, Johnathan Thurston is expected to become the NRL’s first $1 million dollar a year player. There is no doubt at…
For the last two weeks Rugby League fans have been promised that the NRL Draw would be released “Tomorrow”. We have all waited patiently, all looking forward to see the make up of the season and finally having the luxury of being able to play trips to away games well in advance. We are all…
When you cross the white line and onto the playing surface of a Rugby League field, the risk level rises. Rugby League is a tough sport and there are about a million ways to get injured playing the game. When you take the field, you know the risks, and you accept them. When you become…
Thanks to funding from the New South Wales government, Sydney will host two games in next years State Of Origin series with Brisbane hosting the other match. Over the last few years the NRL has been pushing for more funding to host these games. Ironically it was Victoria’s willingness to pay to host matches that…
What type of journalist would call George Piggins up and allow him to spew his ridiculously opinions completely unchallenged? As Russell Crowe stands down as an owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, having saved the clubs from financial oblivion, George Piggins took just hours to try and lay the boot in. He claimed that Crowe…
Russell Crowe has made the decision to sell his controlling interest in the South Sydney Rabbitohs to focus more on his family. When Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court took over the South Sydney Rabbitohs the clubs was a mess. On the field they were not worthy of a place in first grade. Off…
Rugby League simply does not play star players what they are worth to the game. With the NRL’s salary cap used to keep costs down, keep clubs financially viable and give us a competition that is as even as any competition in world sport, it is difficult to find way in this system to reward…
The 2013 World Club Challenge between the Melbourne Storm and Leeds Rhinos will be played at Headingley Stadium in Leeds. Shocking I know… It was mid October when the same old people in England started talking about trying to play the World Club Challenge in Australia. I wrote that The World Club Challenge Won’t Be…
Former English soccer captain David Beckham is reportedly being shopped around to A League soccer clubs for a ten game guest stint to after he has completed his Major League Soccer commitments in the United States in two weeks time. The 37 year old’s presence would be a huge boost to the A League and…
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney is reporting that Benji Marshall will ask for an immediate release from his contract with the Wests Tigers to take up a deal to play Rugby Union in Japan. This was always going to happen in the wake of the move by the Sydney Roosters to sign Sonny Bill Williams…
I have just sat down and watch the press conference in Sydney in which the Sydney Roosters announced that they had signed Sonny Bill Williams to a one year deal. The contract has yet to be forwarded to the National Rugby League and there is some concern about the way it come about, with no…
Lets face it, the off season is boring. With the sad demise of international Rugby League we are left with nothing to look forward to until March when the NRL season kicks off and once again we are all back into being Rugby League tragics. The problem is, its only November. What do we do between…
Parramatta fans hopeful of seeing squad improvement during the offseason will have been pleased with the news that Isreal Folau is set to join the club. However, further news that the Eels are about to pluck Gareth Hock from Wigan Warriors may not appeal to fans so much. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald last…
Once upon a time I could name you every single player in the Australian Cricket team. I could name everyone in the NSW Cricket team and even players on the fringes who played Sydney club Cricket. I could name most of the players in other state teams too. It was easy! Then something happened. Cricket…
Ian Schubert, the NRL’s salary cap chaperone, has had some devilishly intricate contracts to review over the years. However, there is one from a different kettle of fish and loaves that stretches his abilities more than most, and with Israel Folau’s return to the land of league imminent, he’s about to tussle with its particulars…
Note: This deal fell through after the NRL salary cap auditor could not give the Eels a ruling on Folau’s true value under the cap. After waiting a while, Folau chose to sign with the Australian Rugby Union. Israel Folau has quit the AFL and will return to Rugby League. Brent Read of The Australian…
Well its that time of the year where we all dress up as our favorite monsters and go from house to house asking for sweets and chocolate. If you are not given anything you are then allowed to beat the home owner to death with sticks. I’m pretty sure thats how it works anyway. I…
Scott Prince will be playing for the Brisbane Broncos next season after securing a release from the Gold Coast Titans. Prince’s contract is for two years and its is an interesting signing by the Broncos because they have Peter Wallace and Corey Norman who play in the halves for them last season. I’ve said a…
The problem a lot of Super League teams are faced with is spending more money than they make. That is the simplistic answer to the financial issues dogging the likes of Salford, Castleford and Hull KR. The salary cap sits at £1.65m. That means that clubs can spend up to that limit on wages and…
For well over a decade now the game of Rugby League in Australia has been crying out for a strategic plan. Something that the game can work towards to give fans, players and various investors in the sport something they can look forward to. Basically the game needed to build towards something, and so today…
It is an issue that fires up a lot of fans and one I think is pretty clear cut. What happens when a clubs finds itself in a perilous financial situation and is fighting for its life. Should a governing body step in and take control of the situation, or should they stand back and let things…
Mick Potter has finally been announced as the next coach of the Wests Tigers after ridiculous amounts of speculation by the media. There were no less than three other coaches who were “signed and sealed” according to some journos, and none of them were Mick Potter. Potter has had stints at the Catalan Dragons, St…
With the Salford City reds currently await a winding up petition hearing and the recent spate of big clubs going bust, it begs the question, what does the future have in store for Rugby League in England? Last season we saw one of the biggest clubs in English RL History, the Bradford Bulls arrive at…
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have announced that they will take on Papua New Guinea in their Return To Redfern clash at Redfern Oval on Saturday 9 February next year. It it one of three pre season games they will play including a game the following week against the Knights in Gosford and of course the…
I always find it interesting to look at crowd numbers in Australia sports because they are influenced by so many different variables. One thing I have never been able to understand is the way Rugby League in Australia looks at crowd numbers, and more specifically, growing those crowd numbers. Considering that Rugby League in Australia is…