Rugby League World – For a sport with a mind of its own…

Wests Tigers superstar five-eighth and New Zealand Test captain Benji Marshall has received one of the game’s greatest accolades in winning the 2010 Rugby League World Golden Boot Award.

Now in its 25th year, the prestigious award is presented to the game’s greatest international player. Marshall beat fellow nominees Shaun Kenny Dowall (NZ), Paul Gallen (Australia), James Graham (England), Billy Slater (Australia) and Sam Thaiday (Australia).

“To win this award, after coming back from three shoulder reconstructions, winning the Four Nations, and having my best ever year since I’ve started in the NRL, is pretty overwhelming,’’ Marshall said.

“I’m pretty excited. It is something I definitely won’t take for granted.”

The voting panel included three former Golden Boot winners in Wally Lewis, Hugh McGahan and Stacey Jones, former Great Britain international Garry Schofield, former England Rugby League coach Phil Larder, ex NSW coach turned broadcaster Phil Gould, former France coach Louis Bonnery, as well as journalists and supporters from both hemispheres.

In announcing the winner, Rugby League World magazine editor John Drake declared Marshall a dominant victor.

“It was a landslide victory for Benji Marshall who achieved maximum points from 11 of the 13 members of the voting panel,’’ Drake said.

“The Golden Boot award recognises a whole year of performances at domestic and international level.

“Benji’s match-winning performance in the biggest game of the season, the Four Nations final against Australia, proved his undoubted class. The very best players produce their very best performances on the biggest stages.”

Marshall was a key figure in Wests Tigers reaching the preliminary final in 2010, having played every game this season. 

Wests Tigers and Australian Coach Tim Sheens said Marshall had to overcome some hurdles this year.

“I’m delighted for Benji and it is richly deserved,’’ Sheens said.

“Things were not always going his way. There was a time in the middle of the season when people were on his back and the pressure was really on him.

“To come through that and win this award is a credit to him and it exemplifies his determination and perseverance to get the job done.”

Read more on Benji’s award plus the 25 year history of the Golden Boot in issue 357 of Rugby League World, on sale from 3rd Dec.

2012 is the year the Olympics come to London, but ANTHONY REYNOLDS argues it is also the perfect opportunity to revive another great sporting event: Rugby League’s Ashes series.

‘I planned my trip down under this year to take in the first two Ashes tests’ a friend said to me just a few weeks ago. Yes, he was talking about Rugby League and following England to the Four Nations series in Australia. The Ashes reference, however, was not directed at the oval ball game but to the cricket test series starting at the Gabba in November.

Interestingly, one can name the dates for the next ten England-Australia Ashes series to the nearest month. Despite the Twenty20 phenomena and the Indian Premier League the cricket authorities have steadfastly held on to the game’s longest held traditions. There was a time when Rugby League held similar principles and, on the face of it, there seems little standing in the way of a return to a full-blown Ashes Series. So what’s holding things back? 

2012 is the obvious choice for an Ashes revival with no Four Nations series scheduled and the World Cup taking place the following year. It is rumoured that the Australians would like to rest their representative players in this ‘gap year’, a notion almost as ill conceived as the decision to phase out the Ashes series in the first place.

The last Rugby League Ashes series, once as regular as clockwork but now as long ago as 2003, was a closely fought affair; Great Britain falling just short in the final moments of each of the three Tests.
There will never be a better opportunity to put the Ashes back on the map than the one that exists in 2012. A re-introduction of a century-old concept could finally put the distant rumblings of the Super League conflicts to bed and celebrate everything that is great about our game.

My earliest memory of watching Rugby League on television was seeing Mal Meninga line up his torpedo-style conversions at Boothferry Park in 1982. It seemed like these players were playing a different sport to the one I had recently become accustomed to. I later discovered that these ‘supermen’ would visit our shores every four years and we would reciprocate in the intervening periods. I was 10 years old when Great Britain toured in 1984. It was another disappointing showing but my lasting memory of that tour was watching televised highlights of spectacular tries by Garry Schofield and Ellery Hanley, curiously, featuring a brown leather ball and barber-style corner posts. That was it. Everything was mapped out from here. It would be Old Trafford in ‘86, The Sydney Football Stadium in ‘88 and on to Wembley in 1990 – mouth watering occasions with the world’s best doing battle for international Rugby League’s greatest prize.

What was even more exciting was discovering that greats like Billy Boston, Reg Gasnier, Alex Murphy, Clive Churchill and Dick Huddart had been slugging it out in these fabled contests for over 50 years previously – and for much of that time Great Britain had dished out as much as they’d got. And not only did Rugby League fans understand the format of the Ashes, for the print and broadcast media it was a concept easily grasped: Brits against the Aussies? It’s got to be the Ashes. Always has been, always will (or should) be.

How will teenagers today describe their introduction to international Rugby League? A reference to a memorable win in a Four Nations group game at an under-capacity Huddersfield or another disappointment at Wigan, perhaps, in a tournament in which the name Great Britain does not even feature and in which England may not even make the final.

This is not a slight on the introduction of the Tri Nations (now Four Nations) series. It’s a great concept; the best nations clashing in a round-robin format with a final to decide the champions. I am also in favour of England as our main side for international competitions. For most of the time, anyway.
Opinion is divided which is best: England or Great Britain; Four Nations or the Ashes. With a little imagination, a format could be devised that would accommodate both.

2012 presents the opportunity to make that happen with no events currently planned involving the three major Rugby League playing nations. It’s the perfect time to acknowledge our own sporting heritage while adding an extra dimension to the international calendar.

Ideally that would involve the re-formation of the Great Britain side for an Ashes Test series in Australia. This has to evolve as a separate concept from our other international competitions, perhaps (grudgingly) based along the lines of rugby union’s British Lions set-up. The existing Four Nations & World Cup schedule means that an Ashes series could only take place every four years: 2016, 2020 and onwards with venues alternating between the two countries. 

Rather than hinder the momentum of the series, the four-year cycle could actually work to increase anticipation ahead of the event. Could departing or retiring players continue to use the term ‘I’ve won everything there is in the game’ if an Ashes series was just around the corner?

A series coach could be separately appointed to that of England (paving the way for a legend of the game to take-up a short-term challenge). With it would come a revival of the famous blue and red chevron and a newly appointed captain.

The first Test would naturally lend itself to the Sydney Cricket Ground with Melbourne and Brisbane obvious choices for the remaining games. As for promotion, the Ashes series has to be sold through the legends of our game. Imagine it: Artie Beetson and Billy Boston, Alex Murphy and Bobby Fulton, Ellery Hanley and Mal Meninga taking part in promotional campaigns and pre-match parades. These icons of our sport can’t tell you what it’s like to play in a Four Nations final. What they can do, however, is describe the blood and thunder of Ashes battles of yesteryear.

Detractors will argue that Great Britain would be made up of just England players anyway and the Aussies aren’t interested in the Ashes anymore. So are we to assume that Crusaders and the South Wales Scorpions will never produce an international standard Welsh player in the future? Don’t the NRL insist on a round celebrating its heritage every season? They also regularly laud the legends of their game such as Clive Churchill, Wally Lewis and Brad Fittler. One suspects that they may have instigated a revival much sooner had Great Britain hung on to their advantage and won that 2003 series.

Rugby League often fails to recognise the very things that make it great. There ought to be no more excuses for ignoring the opportunity that 2012 presents. The next generation of fans and players deserve to enjoy the Ashes tradition that was once an integral part of our international calendar.

First published in Rugby League World Issue 353 (Sept 2010)

Now tell us what you think! Do you want to see an Ashes revival in 2012? What are your favourite memories of previous encounters? Email feedback@rugbyleagueworld.net with your views and we’ll publish a selection of the best in the next issue.

FEATHERSTONE Rovers’ achievement in topping the Championship this season has deservedly earned accolades across the game.

The experienced Daryl Powell has had a significant impact at the club since arriving just under two years ago, and to top what is a hugely competitive division in his second season in charge is a significant achievement.

Rovers have been unbeaten away from home all year, and their only two losses – against Toulouse and Sheffield – have been narrow affairs on their own ground.

Pre-season pundits, including this one, tended to overlook Featherstone’s title prospects in favour of Halifax or Barrow, but Rovers have led the pack virtually from the off.

Their feat was hailed by RFL chief executive Nigel Wood last week.

“This is a terrific achievement by everyone at Featherstone Rovers and on behalf of the RFL I would like to extend my congratulations on their success,” said Wood.

“The Co-operative Championship has been as competitive in 2010 as we have grown accustomed to and Featherstone have had to work very hard to win the League Leaders’ Shield.

“What is particularly pleasing is the way in which Daryl Powell has built his team around a group of very talented young English players who have represented Featherstone with pride all year long.”

Wood makes a good point. The likes of Zak Hardacre and Sam Smeaton have come through the club’s blossoming youth structure to make a big impact in the Championship.

Powell has also taken on a host of young players released by Super League clubs – including Matty Dale, Liam Welham and Dane Manning – who have really found their feet under his tutelage. 

Featherstone’s reward is now pole position in the forthcoming Championship play-offs, and the knowledge that one home victory will see them tick the Super League licence box of reaching a Grand Final.

But should finishing top of the league warrant a tick in the box itself? That question has been raised over the last week or so, and is certainly something that needs debating.

To top the division over 20 league matches is arguably a greater achievement than winning the Northern Rail Cup final, which current earns that coveted tick.

But Powell and his troops cannot worry about that at present, and must now instead refocus on the play-offs challenge that lies ahead.

Halifax and Barrow will be keen to repeat their Grand Final exploits of 2009, and Leigh, Sheffield and whoever else qualifies for the top six cannot be discounted.

But Featherstone Rovers will start the play-offs as clear favourites – and their outstanding 2010 campaign could yet get even better.

by Gareth Walker

There’ll be an in-depth feature on Featherstone Rovers in issue 354 (Oct 2010) of Rugby League World, published on 3rd Sept. Don’t miss it.

This article was first published in Rugby League World – Issue 352. Subscribe to future issues here.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE?

Welsh rugby union legend Gareth Thomas has been interviewed about many things, many times but here, for the first time ever, he talks publicly to a fellow professional player, our resident Super League star JAMIE JONES-BUCHANAN about his life on and off the field and his enthusiasm for his newly chosen sport of Rugby League.

Rugby union has cropped up way too much for my liking in my recent interviews. This month it was impossible to avoid when I caught up with Gareth Thomas, a legend in the other code now playing Rugby League with Crusaders. I have to say, Gareth is one of the nicest people I have ever interviewed. It is not too hard to understand why he has had such a successful career given that he is constantly on the look out for a new challenge and has the kind of mental toughness to adversity that you tend to read about in the typical sport star biography. It is rare for a top rugby union player to make the switch to Rugby League at all these days but Gareth has made the move wholeheartedly.
The rough and tumble, organised chaos of union had once caused him to have a stroke, so the first thing I wanted to know was which game was actually the toughest both physically and mentally and how he dealt with the transition.
“For me, league is more physical without a shadow of a doubt. Particularly in my position because where I played in union (centre, wing or fullback) you make maybe six or seven carries a game whereas in league you’re doing 15 to 20, the contact is more frequent and what I found in league is that even on the wing you can never rest.
“In union there’s a lot of kicking and set plays going on which seems to take ages to play, whereas in league if you shut down for a few seconds the players are so talented in recognising that you’re up or you’re out of the line and they put the ball into the air into a gap and score. It’s 80 minutes of working whereas in union you can rest and have a look at what’s going on in the crowd a lot of the time.

Disastrous start

“It was tough at first, my first game was a little disastrous. I had only been training for a week. I don’t know what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting that. They gave me a bit of a battering but I’m into it now and I am really enjoying the challenge. I’m just really enjoying the game, it’s so different to union but in a weird way it’s so much the same, but it was refreshing for me to do something different and try something brand new.
“I don’t have a great deal of spare time. I’m on the field constantly and I have never trained so much in my life. It’s fairly intense and because the training is tougher than it is in union a lot of my time I’m spending in the jacuzzi or pool or eating more food trying to put the energy back into me. In my spare time I like to chill out, ride my motorbike, listen to a bit of music or meet up with friends for a coffee.
“I used to have a lot more time. I think league training is a little more specific to the game. I mean because, in my opinion, league is more physical game, training is up a notch because the games are up a notch. So much goes on in the tackle with league players trying to manipulate people, get them on their backs, the wrestle on the floor. I never realised all this went on, especially when you’re on the ball and you want to wrap the ball up or you want to wrap their arms up. We do a lot more wrestling and technical stuff but to do that you have to get physical with each other. At the Cardiff Blues maybe once a week we did a live contact session for five or ten minutes. There are lots of technical areas in league and to properly benefit from practicing them you have to do it full on.

Nobby & Iestyn: Perfect combination

“It’s not easy talking your coach up because you feel like a butt-kisser, but one of the reasons I came here was Iestyn (Harris). I had played with him at union, I knew what he is like, he had flair about him, and I thought I could understand the way he coached and I do. He’s got a bit of openness about him, a lot of skill and that’s the way he likes to coach. Then you have Nobby who is absolutely outstanding to me learning the game. He’s been around for a long time, he’s strict on his ways because they work. We have a great combination with a contemporary coach who has played in the modern era in Iestyn and a tough, intelligent, experienced coach in Brian Noble, it’s a perfect combination.
“I have been impressed with the boys and I think we will get better as we have more time together. We will get better and better. The youth is important too. The more quality young Welsh players we have coming through wearing the jersey the more it’s going to promote the club and the game and give them a choice between Rugby League and rugby union. We have a lot of heroes and role models playing union that the youngsters like to emulate. The more heroes we get coming through to play league the more kids will come along trying to emulate them in this game.
“I would say the tough thing I found on the wing – and it might seem basic – was counting the tackles. Obviously having to drop back on the fourth tackle for the kick as a winger, I wasn’t used to counting the tackles and was expecting the kick on second or third play because it can come at any time in union. Also, just being switched on all the time, because in union I had a habit of letting my mind wander for five minutes then I would get back in the game. Even if there’s nothing for me to do in the game now I have to constantly keep talking to the guys inside me and stay switched on.
“The neck I did about four years ago. I got punched whilst playing and bruised one of the main arteries to the brain. It collapsed and I had a stroke. I was in hospital which was a pretty horrible experience and they said that it was my choice whether I played or not. They weren’t going to say I could or I couldn’t. I wasn’t ready to finish. Without rugby in my life there wasn’t very much else for me to do. It worried me for a while and I couldn’t do anything for six months and I came back after eight. At the start it was playing on my mind, then I just thought if I’m going to play with it constantly on my mind then I may as well not play with it at all. I would rather be out there playing, good or bad but not having that there as an excuse, so it was like ‘whatever will be will be,’ really.”

Alf and the Ayatollah

I’ll be honest, I’m not the most literate when it comes to league so I have no chance when it comes to union players. It doesn’t take long though to discover that Gareth is a real iconic sports star, particularly in Wales and the wider reaches of the other code.
I was interested in his nick name, ‘Alf’. Looking at a shot of him in action, I was reminded more of the Skull carrying the blood of Kali Ma in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ rather than the 80s kids TV character but before he gets his own back by comparing my head to a giant coffee bean, I’ll allow him to explain the story behind ‘Alf’ and also, given that he is a massive Cardiff City football fan, what the ‘Ayatollah’ try scoring celebration is all about.
“The nickname is from when I was about 10 years old. There was a TV programme called Alf, it was about this alien ginger furry cat-like thing. I had long hair as a kid, so the kids at school started calling me Alf and it stuck with me. My parents and grandparents started calling me Alf. All of a sudden, if I was on the street and people shouted Gareth I wouldn’t respond, I started answering to Alf and it became my name.
“Yes, I’m a massive Cardiff City fan and when I’m down there they’re always singing and doing the ‘Ayatollah’ and slapping their head. It came in with a Muslim guy who joined Cardiff City a few years ago. I haven’t been able to do it whilst playing at the Crusaders because when I signed for them, the first thing they asked me, with Wrexham having their own football team was, ‘are you going to do the Ayatollah whilst playing on Wrexham’s football ground?’ I had planned to do it but I wanted to buy into the whole Crusaders thing and get people through the turnstiles here so I thought I’m not going to do it if I’m going to offend people. I don’t think it would but I would rather people talk about something else than whether I was going to do the celebration or not and annoy the locals here.”

The meaning of support

I looked up the word “support” in the dictionary recently following all the drama of the football World Cup and Wayne Rooney’s outburst at the fans after their booing of the England team at the Algeria game. I giggled a little at the incident because as a sportsman I have been in that type of situation where there is objective and subjective criticism from the home fans at the performance they have just witnessed, so in a way I understand where it came from. The fact that the outburst happened at all to me shows that he really cares, but as a professional player you just can’t vent it like that. It has to be taken on the chin, particularly if you’re happy to accept the pat on the back when all is rosy.

Support:- “to undergo or endure, esp. with patience or submission; tolerate.”

Sporting pressure is fairly generic. We all get it at some point and I think England’s downfall against Algeria was in some part due to the pressure imposed after the anti-climax of the USA game. As someone who has played on the biggest international stages in the sporting world, I wondered what Gareth’s take on all this was.
“I have been watching the World Cup. I’ll tell you what is mad, because I have been a Wales fan for so many years, as a typical Welshman I always want England to lose, for the first time ever I was watching them in a pub in Chester when they were playing USA and I have never been in a pub where everyone is devastated when the other team scores. When USA scored I was like “Yes!” and all the pub around me was just staring at me (laughs), but yes, I’m into the rest of it, I love the World Cup
“The thing with Rooney – and we have both been there – as a player all you want is vocal support from the supporters and when things ain’t going well and the supporters are on your back it doubles the pressure. I think as a professional player you never want to have a go at anybody, especially your supporters because when things are going good you feel like you can walk on water but when things are bad you still have to be good to the supporters, otherwise they can make your life worse. Rooney should have kept himself to himself and his thoughts for the changing rooms. When there are so many fans, and ultimately England didn’t play that well, he’s put himself into a sitting duck situation. It is similar in every sport. England were in a position where they were expected to beat USA but you could almost feel the pressure through the TV during the Algeria game, the pressure as the clock ran down and the longer it went on the more they where tightening up the more the supporters expected a goal.”

Rugby League Barbarians

One thing Rugby League cannot claim to have over rugby union is the quality of the international game. Everyone has their opinions about this but the main focus has to be on its development. Following the recent England v France Rugby League international in Leigh, there was a suggestion about using some of the high quality overseas players currently playing in Super League to make up a team to play England in the mid-season game instead of France. This reminds me of the Barbarians in rugby union where players of various nationalities are picked to make up a team to play against other international sides. I asked Gareth about this. He knows the Barbarians situation as well as anyone, so I pitched to him the idea of a Super League Barbarians team to take on England, consisting of New Zealand, Australian, French and Welsh players currently playing in Super League whilst an England ‘A’ or Under-20s took on the French.
“I would desperately love to play for Wales in Rugby League and say that I have played international in both codes. The boys say that Wales play at small grounds with a couple of hundred people watching. When I look at it I don’t understand because I see teams like Hull and Leeds play with big crowds week in week out but can’t fill a stadium like Twickenam with 60 or 70,000 for an international game. I think that’s because in Super League the players are more associated with their clubs than they are with their country and so the support for the clubs is a lot stronger. I think it is up to the people who run the game in England to promote the game a lot more and have more games against the likes of Australia and New Zealand.
“I think the Super League Barbarians is a fantastic idea! The supporters would be able to see the players from the same clubs play against each other, like the State of Origin in Australia. It makes for a super tasty game and could create a lot of interest just from having all these great players from the same teams playing each other. People would want to come and see it. Sky TV could play a big part in advertising it. They have managed to turn darts into something amazing, so the Barbarians would be a good idea.
“Maybe the reason crowds in the England-France games are so bad is not because people don’t want to watch England, but because they think it’s just going to be a one horse race and they don’t want to pay money to see that. There’s so much commitment in club support that if you had players from clubs like Hull or Leeds playing against each other in representative games instead, you would have thousands coming to see them, as well as the rest of Super League.”

Hostility

Many have questioned whether Rugby League can be truly developed in Wales given the deep roots rugby union has there. I asked Gareth about the attitudes towards the two codes in Wales and if there were any signs of hostility towards those like him who switch between the two, or if he thought any other high profile union players might follow his lead into Rugby League.
“I don’t know its weird, I think because union is such a big sport down here, people feel threatened by league coming in because they want to keep union as the main sport, so it seems to them that any players who go to league are turning their back on union.
“I think that both codes can learn from each other. I hope Wales embraces league and players can even begin to move back and forth. Maybe some are suited for league and some for union but until both codes are strong we will never know. Since I made the move a lot of union boys have spoken to me and a few of them are interested in the game and hopefully the profile of the game will rise. I have spoken to Andy Powell and he’s a big strong thing and has great qualities for league. He’s got good feet, he’s fit, can tackle and runs hard. He’s got the basic qualities of a league player. He has approached me and asked me about it and I told him he would be good at it but its up to him to try it.
“I love league so much that when people ask me about the game I give my true opinion and one to promote that it’s a marvellous game to play. I’m not going say something because I want union in Wales to be less, it’s just the truth of my experiences.
“There hasn’t been any resentment towards me but there have been people asking me the question ‘which game is the best’ and I say well, at this moment in time, I’m enjoying what I’m doing in league but then they’ll say to me you’re only saying that because you’re playing it now, if you were still playing union it would have been different. So it is tough but I’m hoping that’s just some people being a little bit small minded. I’m hoping that players would understand that if they were to play and watch and understand the sport then I am sure they would understand why I am enjoying it more than my final days in union.”

Risk-taking

Gareth Thomas was set to finish his playing career as a union legend and could have walked into a media or coaching job, so why at the age of 35 did he decide to take a risk in doing something he’s never done before?
“I was going to stay with the Blues for one more year or I could have gone into coaching and the media but Brian Noble and Iestyn Harris rang me and I still had the appetite to play. Everyone after playing union for Wales goes into coaching or media and I wanted to do something different. I still had a hunger but I wanted a fresh challenge. I had done rugby union all my life and I wanted something that was going to test me and get me my mojo back for the game and I thought what better challenge than something I had never done before. I wanted to challenge myself one last time. Some people would say what a stupid time to do it, you’re 35, you have got a big career behind you, why would you want to risk doing something that could make you look like a clown, but all my life I have enjoyed a challenge and doing this at 35 could make me feel like an 18 year old again. To be honest that’s what it has done for me. I feel like I have something to prove again. I have come into the game with a reputation in union, not league so I have to try and prove to people that I am good enough and deserve the jersey I’m playing in.
“I don’t know exactly what I want to do yet after playing but I do know that by playing league, if I do go into coaching it will make me a better coach because if I go back into union I know I would have learnt a hell of a lot from league that I think union could benefit from. I don’t think I would ever qualify to be a Rugby League coach, even if I played for another three or four years so if I did coach it would be back in union.
“I started union early as a kid, that’s what everyone does around here as soon as you can tie your shoe laces your playing union. All I ever knew as a kid was union, it has given me a fantastic life and I love the game, but I love playing league at this moment in time so much. There are so many different positions and things I would like to try in league that if it had been as big as union it would have had a massive pull on me because it’s great to be involved in something so fast and at a constant speed for 80 minutes it’s a real addictive thing to be a part of. It would have definitely had a big pull, but whether it would have been bigger than union I don’t know because the people down here eat and breathe union.
“We used to watch Rugby League as a family because my family were rugby fans, league or union, so we used to watch the sport a lot. I remember when Jonathan Davies, Scott Gibbs and Scott Quinnell left union for league and we always watched it in Wales, but never super-supported it because people have always supported the union team. I watched it but never thought I would ever play it. When those guys went it upped the profile of league big time in Wales. It stayed a big sport in Wales because we had the Crusaders where I’m from last year and it’s always been a well known sport down here in South Wales.”

No room for abuse

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by an old acquaintance from the past who was doing an official study on institutional racism in Rugby League. I thought it was odd and I was a little annoyed. I can honestly say I have never been subject to, or witnessed, any kind of abuse whilst playing. To clutch at straws, someone once shouted ‘it’s Al-Qaeda’ when I had the massive beard in 2007 and I can tell you the staff at the ground dealt with it very swiftly, despite me personally finding it very amusing. One thing we can say, in my opinion, is that our game is 100% family orientated and gets 10 out of 10 for keeping it that way.
In some ways though, Gareth brought something new and rare to the game, being the first – which I know of – openly homosexual person to play professional Rugby League in this country. In one particular game he was subject to homophobic abuse. I believe we are not commissioned to judge each other and there is no room for abuse in life. Given that this was all relatively new to the game and needed dealing with in its infancy I wondered where this incident had gone and how Gareth felt about it.
“You know what, in fairness, when the abuse happened I didn’t think too much of it but after the game I was upset and felt a little embarrassed. The RFL have come in and there was a hearing which has just been adjourned. There’s something going to be done about it so I thought ‘good on them’.

A family sport

“Something that really impressed me in my first game in Super League was that before the game it came over the tannoy that Rugby League is a family sport and they won’t tolerate any abuse of any players of any sort and if there is you will be ejected from the ground. So what I thought was it’s real good, as far as I know I am the only gay person playing the sport for the moment, so when people sign up to the agreement that there isn’t going to be any abuse I hope there isn’t going to be. So it’s good that it happened in one way, because by signing up to this they proved that they didn’t just do it for the sake of it, they’re saying that if it is there, we are going to stamp it out and fair play to Rugby League for that.
“Hopefully that makes it easier if there’s another gay player that comes through after myself. Life would be easier for him because something was done when the abuse happened to me and it hopefully won’t happen again. I feel safe, I really do, I feel safe playing Rugby League because I do think that the governing bodies in Rugby League are standing up and doing something about it. It’s a big sport on TV with big crowds and it would give a bad name to the sport if people where allowed to get away with racial and sexual abuse so I feel like I’m in a safe sport and that’s one of the reasons I am enjoying it too.
“I don’t feel uncomfortable about it at all, because when it came out I knew that this is how it was going to be and that’s part of the reason I did it. I want to be able to live my life as I should but I want to make it comfortable for people if there are any others after me if they want to carry on with sport and the fact that they’re gay won’t be an issue because I have come through and answered all the questions and taken all the flak or shown the way, for want of a better word.”

England captain Jamie Peacock made an interesting suggestion recently that the RFL ought to employ a publicist like Max Clifford to raise the national profile of England’s star players. Peacock is clearly frustrated that Rugby League players do not enjoy the same kind of profile as their counterparts in other sports despite their deeds on the pitch more than justifying it. He has a point. It is somewhat ironic that perhaps the most famous person playing the game in this country right now is Gareth Thomas, not because of his achievements to date with Crusaders RL, but because of his achievements in Welsh rugby union and with the British Lions before switching codes.

I had the privilege of meeting Alex Murphy for this month’s Guest Room feature and it struck me at the time, even before learning that Alex had the opportunity to become a professional football player with Everton before choosing Rugby League, that given his sporting achievements Alex should be right up there at the top table with England’s footballing legends Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton. The two Bobs are always well remembered whenever a World Cup rolls around for their deeds in winning the trophy in 1966. Alex won the Rugby League equivalent along with a host of other accolades, the Ashes, the Challenge Cup and the League Championship which are arguably a damn sight harder to win than any round ball tournament but, well known though he is within Rugby League circles, at least amongst those of a certain age who remember first hand his days as a player and a coach, to the majority of people in this country he is not.

Perhaps things might have been different had he managed to appear on Michael Parkinson’s legendary Saturday night television chat show in the 1970s to sit alongside people like Geoffrey Boycott or Brian Clough. They never seemed to be off that show from my recollection, perhaps because Parky was a fellow Yorkshireman and they were controversial figures with a store of great anecdotes guaranteed to make good TV. Parky was supposed to be a Rugby League fan though, and Alex could certainly have given ‘Boycs’ and ‘Cloughie’ a run for their money. Now if he’d played football for Everton…

A similar case is another great Rugby League figure, Frank Myler. It is almost exactly forty years ago since Frank lifted the Ashes trophy for Great Britain in Australia on the 1970 tour. How many people watching Rugby League these days know that, let alone those members of the general public who would have no hesitation in naming Bobby Moore as the last England captain to lift football’s World Cup, even if they have never watched a single game from start to finish in their lives or were born many years after the event.

Rugby League will never have the same kind of profile in this country as football. That’s a given, and we shouldn’t worry about that too much, but Peacock is right when he points out that Rugby League has had its moments in the glow of national publicity in the past when the names of its stars transcended the innate parochialism of our sport and the stifling ignorance of the wider media. Ellery Hanley is the most obvious, even though he hung up his boots in 1997 and spent part of his time as Great Britain captain refusing to speak to the press. In many ways, his awkwardness in that regard only added to his allure, though it didn’t seem like that at the time. Martin Offiah is another. Both were lucky in terms of timing. Their deeds on the field coincided with a period when Rugby League’s international profile was at its peak. Games against Australia and New Zealand were broadcast live on the BBC on Saturday afternoons. They played in the biggest venues such as Wembley and Old Trafford in front of huge crowds. That matters enormously when it comes to turning good sportsmen into national celebrities. Nowadays, their modern day counterparts simply do not have the same kind of opportunities to shine on the national stage. Even our biggest international games are played in the sport’s own backyard and broadcast live to a much diminished audience to suit the demands of pay-TV. The sport may be financially richer as a result, but it is poorer in terms of profile. Hanley appeared on ITV’s top rating show ‘Dancing On Ice’ while Offiah took part in the BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ years after their playing careers ended, but it is hard to imagine any current international player being invited on these type of shows for fear the audience might wonder who they are, and that is a real shame. It may be easier to get them on something like ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ but I think they’d be better keeping a low profile along with their dignity than resorting to chomping on a dead kangaroo’s genitalia in the quest for 15 minutes of fame.

Max Clifford might be able to manage the fall-out from a football star’s messy divorce or turn a drug habit into a cry for help through the pages of the Sunday tabloids or Heat magazine, but he tends to handle the careers of the notorious, the talentless or the already famous on the way down. He and his ilk are good at what they do, which is why I can mention names like Kerry Katona and Jade Goody here and be quite certain that most of the readers of Rugby League World will be aware who they are, even if they have no idea what made them famous in the first place. Celebrity, especially the empty kind can be a fickle mistress and it is hard to see someone like Clifford being the sole answer to reversing Rugby League’s decline into the backwaters of national media awareness in this country. Not without the game doing something to help itself first. But what?

There’s no doubt that Rugby League is a great game and those who play it are capable of exceptional deeds on the field of play. Anyone who doubts that only has to watch the recent Wigan-St Helens derby which had everything anyone could ever wish for in a classic sporting encounter. A more dramatic contrast to the turgid sterility of many of the games in the football World Cup in South Africa would be hard to find. The problem for us is that millions are engaged watching the latter and are absorbed by every stultifying moment. Although Wigan and Saints will have thrilled everyone who saw it, that only amounts to a few hundred thousand people, most of whom will already know how good they are anyway.

The club game is not the passport to national identity and profile. It never will be. The national side is. Though Rugby League will never match the profile of football, we can learn some significant lessons from it, and from a player now within our own game, Gareth Thomas, who built his name playing in another sport but, more crucially, through playing for his country.

Rugby League must establish for itself a regular series of meaningful international events that are played on the biggest stages in front of the biggest crowds and broadcast live on as many television sets as can be mustered. That is far from easy challenge, but until it happens, not even the dark arts of media manipulation employed by Max Clifford will be able to turn our star players into household names. At least not for the right reasons anyway.

Page XIII Editorial – First published in Rugby League World Issue 352 (Aug 2010)

THERE can have been few more popular cup triumphs in recent years than Batley Bulldogs’ Northern Rail Cup win on Sunday, outside the town of Widnes of course.

The Bulldogs, one of the founder members of the Northern Union over a century ago, had not lifted a major trophy since 1924, when they won the old Championship by beating Wigan 13-7.

But their popularity this year has grown courtesy of their amiable coach Karl Harrison and the fact that the club has placed such faith in locally-based players.

Despite having won at the Vikings just a matter of weeks earlier, the Bulldogs were fairly significant outsiders before the final, with most bookmakers giving them an eight point start.

They would have been even longer odds when they trailed 15-24 in the closing stages of a gripping match at Bloomfield Road.

But two late scores by winger Alex Brown – the second with less than four minutes remaining – clinched a famous win, and sent their 2,000 army of supporters into raptures.

It also put tears into the eyes of their long-serving chairman Kevin Nicholas, and no doubt several other of their loyal supporters.

But unlike the Vikings in 2009, their win is unlikely to be followed by a Super League application. The Bulldogs have been constantly and publicly realistic about their ambitions, stating their desire to establish themselves further in the Co-operative Championship.

So could Batley be a model for other clubs in a similar position?

Clubs like – and without wanting to offend anyone – Dewsbury Rams, Keighley Cougars and Whitehaven, whose facilities and supporter base are not at the required standard for Super League at present.

There are several others in Championship One who could aspire to be a strong outfit at the higher level, without harbouring genuine hopes of a top-flight licence.

But can such ambitions work? Many people’s objections to the licence system surround a belief that it kills off dreams, for three years at a time at least.

But Batley may be able to show that they can grow as a club – the 2,000 traveling fans was a major boost given their average home attendances – even if they are not aiming for the bright lights of Super League.

Harrison has spoken openly about his belief that the Championship is the level where Batley Bulldogs can thrive, and it will be fascinating to monitor their progress in the wake of the NRC triumph.

They may just be able to prove that Super League isn’t the be-all and end-all that some people would have you believe.

by Gareth Walker

Batley’s Northern Rail Cup triumph will be featured in Rugby League World, issue 353, on sale 6th August. Don’t miss it!

IS it time for the Rugby Football League to take a more draconian approach to policing the salary cap at Championship level?

John Stankevitch, the Rochdale Hornets coach, certainly thinks so.

In a revealing interview in this month’s Rugby League World magazine, Stankevitch outlines exactly how Rochdale’s player payments are structured, and claims that rival clubs are guilty of paying their players outside of their own books. 

Practises like that are hardly new in professional sport, of course, but Stankevitch believes the situation has become such that Hornets’ current stance is the best one for a viable long-term future.

This season Hornets only pay the 17 players that take the field every Sunday – something that is replicated by Doncaster and Gateshead among others.

But it is the structure of payments at other clubs in the division that concerns the former St Helens second rower.

“Anyone in the right mind just has to look at the rugby papers on a Monday and look at the amount of fans that clubs are getting through the gate at this level – common sense says that those attendances don’t even pay the match fees of the players, never mind contract money,” Stankevitch told RLW.

“The RFL must surely be looking at things and saying ‘look okay, this club are only getting 200 people through the gate and yet they’ve got contracts submitted for £10,000 plus match bonuses’. 

“I know players that live local to me that are picking up three different cheques a week. What does that say – that can’t be through the books. 

“It doesn’t make sense at all, and it definitely needs to be more stringent, the process of actually examining what money is paid out.

“At Rochdale we do everything down the line, and at the start of the season I signed all the players on the same day at the same time, and they could have a look at each other’s contracts. Every contract was exactly the same. The only guys that get paid are the 17 that play on a Sunday, and they all get paid the same – £250 a win, £100 a loss.”

So should the RFL look harder into how some players are paid at part-time level? Is it possible to activity prevent clubs from making payments outside of their own books?

Something certainly needs to be done to stop clubs getting into positions that jeoparidse their futures so regularly. Stankevitch has called for guaranteed payments at Championship One level to be stopped all together, with match payments only being permitted, and that may be one way forward.

You can read more on this story in the August edition of Rugby League World, online now and on sale from Friday 2nd July.

By Gareth Walker 

The RFL are coming in for a lot of stick over the England v France international. Wrong time, wrong venue are two of the most often aired criticisms. June 12th also sees the England football team’s first game in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, an event that will dominate the sporting media for its duration, unless and until Fabio Capello’s team fail to make the desired progress, in which case we’ll have to endure the inquest into his failure for the next four years. Meanwhile, whatever happens in the Rugby League international at Leigh that day will pass almost unnoticed except for the few thousand fans inside the stadium and those who read the dedicated Rugby League media.

The argument over the venue itself is not that Leigh Sporting Village is not a great Rugby League venue, it clearly is, but that it is too small and too far off the beaten track to make much of an impact in terms of flogging extra tickets or raising additional interest.

I can sympathise with both viewpoints, though with reservations.

On the face of it, it does seem crazy to have England in Rugby League action on the same day as the national football team. But then, what other alternative dates were available? The season is already packed with club fixtures and runs from February to October. Shoe-horning a mid-season international in there at any time will meet with a complaint from some quarter or other and face a challenge for public interest from other rival sporting attractions. If not football, maybe Wimbledon tennis or the cricket.

At some stage, a line has to be drawn, a decision has to be taken, and Rugby League must assert – if only to itself – that our own international fixtures are important enough not to have to worry constantly what else is happening around them, otherwise they will not happen at all.

It is unfortunate that the game clashes with FIFA’s World Cup on this occasion whatever the reason, but despite all that, if there are not at least 10,000 people more interested in watching a live international Rugby League match for only a tenner a ticket and prepared to tear themselves away from a football game on the television, just how great is this game we keep moaning at the media for not paying sufficient attention to? If we don’t care enough about it, why should anyone else?

I’ll be at Leigh on June 12. Not because I have to be, as editor of a Rugby League magazine, but because I want to be, as a fan. I’ve bought my own ticket and I won’t even be recording the football to watch later. I’m sure it’ll be hard to avoid, however much I try.

All that said, allowing a Super League game to take place on the same day too, particularly one that involves the reigning Champions does suggest that this international fixture is not considered the highest priority by those charged with the responsibility of organising it, which can only undermine its credibility within our sport, let alone beyond it.

As for the venue, we should not be ashamed to acknowledge that games against France do not have a history of attracting massive crowds. Selecting a stadium – particularly a new build stadium – in an area which is not already sated with Super League action can add to the attraction of attending this event, rather than detracting from it. There would have been little to gain from putting this game in a bigger, more iconic venue apart from lots of empty seats, unless and until France are seen to have a better chance of beating England and the RFL are prepared to speculate to accumulate in terms of spending more money – any money, in fact – to promote it to a wider audience.

It’s true that rugby union has had some success in playing club games at Wembley that have pulled in significantly more people to watch them than if they had been played in their more regular venues, but then, as we know, rugby union does not have to work quite as hard in achieving publicity for these events as we would need to do in Rugby League.

However, on a slight tangent, when it comes to those international Rugby League games that do have a history of pulling huge crowds in places such as Old Trafford and Wembley, primarily against Australia but also on occasion New Zealand, they should be back there on the biggest stages as soon as possible. One size does not fit all.

On balance, the RFL have made a good choice to host France in Leigh, just as they did in taking a game against the same opponents to Doncaster in last year’s Four Nations.

The aspect of the game against France that disappoints me most is not the timing or the venue. It is that its status is so unclear. I think this contributes to the general lack of interest and excitement surrounding it far more than when or where it is played.

When England – or Great Britain – play Australia, it has either been for The Ashes or more lately the Four Nations trophy. Against New Zealand, outside the Four Nations they contest the Baskiville Shield. But against France, what? Last year’s French game had the benefit of being a Four Nations group match at least, but this year’s is being sold short as not much more than a warm up game, an opportunity for the new England coaching team to test out a few options, rather than a full-blooded Test in the traditional sense with not just honour and pride at stake, but a trophy and a prize fund too.

If this game is to have a regular place in the international calendar – and I believe it should – it is time to invest it with some real meaning and stop treating it as a glorified friendly. Perhaps then we can begin to develop it into an event that will stir the blood of those taking part and those watching far more than it is doing right now.

Page XIII Editorial – First published in Rugby League World Issue 351 (July 2010)

Our Guest Room session with RFL Match Officials Director Stuart Cummings generated a massive response, so much so that we couldn’t fit it all in the mag! As Stuart was kind enough to answer every question we received, it seemed a shame to let any of it go to waste so we decided to publish the rest here on the website.

Don’t forget, this is just a taster. You can read the rest of the Q & A in the current issue of Rugby League World, on sale now.

A few weeks ago Widnes played Sheffield and there was an incident where a Widnes player flattened a Sheffield player, the Sheffield coach then came out and had a go at the ref and his appointment, completely neglecting to mention the player who committed the offence. How and why do you put up with it? Sam (web)

I hear a lot of different comments and opinions about incidents in games and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I also have an opinion but mine is based on the Laws of the Game and the Referee Policy that we apply. As long as the referee has acted and based his decisions in line with these documents then I am happy. I cannot however support a referee who applies a Law incorrectly or acts contrary to our policy. We do get periods, like a lot of the clubs do, when pressure is building on the department and the only option is to work harder making sure that things are done correctly on the field and that we do the basic things really well.

With around half the year gone already, have any interpretations or problems occurred that may be reviewed for next season? hindle xiii (web)

It is difficult to say. The coaches are always challenging us with the way they coach their teams in the tackle. The weather is getting better and the grounds are getting firmer so we are getting a much quicker game so lets see what the game delivers over the next few weeks before looking to see whether or not we need to change anything.

If match officials had their own piece of music to run out at games, what would you choose? Neil Blower (email)

They are all different characters so they would have their own individual music:

Steve Ganson – Loves ABBA so he would have SOS.
Ian Smith – He likes Status Quo so Rockin All Over The World.
Richard Silverwood – I Predict A Riot – Kaiser Chiefs.
Ben Thaler – Julio Iglesias – Una Paloma Blanca. He likes Spanish music.
Phil Bentham – Anything by The Carpenters.
Thierry Alibert – Je ne regret rien – Edith Piaf.
James Child – Tina Turner – Simply the Best.

In my view we do not get enough input from linesmen. A lot of the time they are away from the action which means they miss forward passes etc or simply seem reluctant to get involved. Surely it will help our refs if the linesmen are that bit more on the ball? Johnoco (web)

I am not so sure how often you watch the touch judges. Tony Brown watches them regularly and coaches them and if you did watch what they do you will see that they are constantly moving and altering their position based on the game situation. They will then give input to the referee who will decide whether or not to act on it.

And finally…

Cheese or chocolate…? Definitely cheese.
Lager or bitter…? Neither!
Night or day…? Days, especially in summer.
Leg or breast…? Chicken leg, turkey breast!
Lion or tiger…? Tiger.
Pudding and chips or fish and chips…? Fish.
Harry Sunderland or Lance Todd…? Lance Todd – Challenge Cup!
Grand Final or Challenge Cup final…? Challenge Cup – Nostalgia.
Carpet or wood floors…? Depends on which room.
Bath or shower…? Shower.
Kylie or Dannii…? Definitely Kylie.

Sam (web)

Our next Guest Room Q & A is with Rugby League legend Alex Murphy OBE

You have to hand it to the Aussies. They don’t do things by halves. If you’re going to have a salary cap scandal, might as well make it a big one. The salary cap transgressions of a handful of Super League clubs a few years back look piffling in comparison. But then, the sanctions handed down to those clubs by the RFL were equally piffling, almost laughably so in comparison to the punishments handed down by the NRL to Melbourne Storm. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. The NRL has a track record of whacking errant clubs with the big stick, as the Canterbury Bulldogs  discovered in 2002 when they were docked 37 (count ‘em) points in the league table for breaching the salary cap.
That doesn’t seem to have acted as much of a deterrent to those at Melbourne Storm who cooked the books so deliberately for so long, presumably convinced they’d never get caught.
In contrast, Super League hasn’t seen any scandals of a similar nature since it dealt with its own problems with what many criticised at the time as being too light a hand. That may be just good luck, or that there simply isn’t the same kind of money sloshing around the game in Britain. Or perhaps the Super League salary cap is just more effectively policed in the first place. Let’s hope so. Prevention is usually better than cure and it is hard to imagine any British club surviving the level of penalty or critical onslaught that has befallen Melbourne Storm.
Some have criticised the NRL for being too harsh. That the penalties punish innocent third parties too much: the players and supporters, rather than those who perpetrated the crime. That it undermines the expansion of Rugby League in Australia by hammering a successful club in an AFL stronghold. However, it is hard to see what else the NRL could have done in these circumstances. The rules are there, they have been broken, quite spectacularly so, and severe punishment is therefore inevitable. It would be unfair to the players and supporters, not to mention the backroom staff keeping their own books in good order at the other clubs in the competition, to pussyfoot around the issue and contrive a punishment that didn’t match the severity of the deception that has taken place. Nobody loves a cheat, and cheats shouldn’t be allowed to prosper.
The players and supporters at Melbourne may be innocent bystanders to what was going on behind the scenes at their club, but had the club kept within the limits of the salary cap, as their competitors were doing, it is fair to assume that this formidable, world-beating squad of players would not have been able to be assembled in the first place, and the rewards capable of being attained by a team with fewer of those highly paid stars may have been somewhat harder to come by.
None of us will ever know for sure. But any sympathy should be reserved for the battered image of the game of Rugby League, which has been badly tarnished by the greedy, unsporting and downright deceitful actions of a handful of people who, if they have not already gone, ought to be driven out of sport – not just our sport, any sport – forever.
All that said, Rugby League is nothing if not resilient. It is a quality that has enabled it to endure as long as it has in the face of so much adversity over the years, both of the external and self-inflicted variety.
None bar the most short-sighted Sydneysider would wish for this calamity to result in the eventual demise of Melbourne Storm and the further geographical contraction of Rugby League in Australia. It was tragedy enough losing Adelaide Rams and Perth Western Reds as bargaining fodder in the deal that ended the Super League war a few short years ago.
Up until now, the success of Melbourne Storm has shone like a beacon to those of us who believe that Rugby League is a sport that can appeal to anyone, in any part of the world, not just the historical enclaves of the north of England or the suburbs of Sydney. On paper, the AFL dominated territory of Victoria is perhaps as unwelcoming a place as it could ever be imagined to attempt to establish a top-flight Rugby League club. Yet the Storm pulled it off. They did more than simply exist. They put the city of Melbourne somewhere most of its residents could never have imagined they’d ever be: at the centre of the Rugby League map, as domestic Premiers and World Champions. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, if Rugby League can make it there, it can make it anywhere.
To discover that to a disappointingly large extent, they ‘made it’ by cheating makes the betrayal all the harder to bear. But the game has to move forward now, particularly in Melbourne, and there are already encouraging signs that it will. Sure, sponsors may have bolted and who can blame them. A hostile media will do its best to twist the knife as hard and as long as possible. But the club’s supporters appear to be rising to the challenge. It has made them confront the question as to whether they want a Rugby League club anymore. It seems they do. In that sense, though they may not realise it, they have become as one with Rugby League supporters around the world who, at different times in different places and for different reasons have found themselves in similar danger of losing their club through no fault of their own, and have stood up to fight for its survival.
The achievements that follow may not be as great as those enjoyed before, but at least they will be honestly deserved.

Page XIII Editorial – First published in Rugby League World Issue 350 (June 2010)