I recently wrote a blog about Jamie Peacock's idea that Super League should be reduced to 10 clubs. On Twitter, Jamie replied and outlined in a bit more detail the direction the game should go in. Within this, he included an extended World Club Challenge including the top 3 clubs to be played before the season. He is certainly not alone in calling for changes to the current format.
What direction should the World Club Challenge go in?
The Status Quo
Currently the World Club Challenge is played as a one-off game between the winners of Super League and the NRL. In the UK it enjoys good attendances, viewing figures and a high profile. It is viewed in sufficient esteem that the RFL start the season a week earlier than usual to accommodate the match. In press conferences this week, Rob Burrow said it was: "As big as it gets." The atmosphere at the games is usually excellent and the action intense. Last year there were a number of high profile celebrities tweeting about the game including Rio Ferdinand. However, the image in Australia couldn't be more marked.
Apart from 1994, all the one-off events have been held in the UK. The official reason for this is that the interest is higher in the UK, which is of course true, but you can't help but suspect it is also to give the British clubs an advantage; the fear being that in Australia they would suffer a big defeat. Perhaps more damaging to the credibility of the event is that it is a pre-season game in Australia, coming two weeks before the start of the season. The British club on the other hand is usually 2 or 3 games into the new season. With regards to how it is viewed by the public, it is not on regular Free To Air television any more, which almost all big games in Australia are. Also, in the past Australian teams have been criticised for not taking the event seriously, although recently this has been much less the case. The result is a situation where the Australian fans and media either criticise the British clubs for losing at home to a team still in pre-season or claim that the clubs were not taking it seriously if they lose.
So you can see that as event there is certainly call for it to change, or at least be straightened out. The easiest way to do this would be to ensure that the game alternated between the two hemispheres and to give it a more prominent place in the calender. This would not satisfy most people however, many of whom are calling for an expanded World Club Challenge.
Expansion
A couple of years ago, Rugby League's most high profile fan, Russell Crowe, made the headlines by calling for an 8-team end of year tournament to be held in Las Vegas. Whilst at first appearing radical even for RL, it gained much support, even from a number of NRL bosses.
The benefits of an expanded competition could be huge for RL, especially in Britain. At the moment, we have a successful domestic league, one that is comparable to what the much higher profile Rugby Union can offer. However, where it suffers in comparison to Union and other sports such as Football is the lack of a second-tier competition. The Heineken Cup has been a revelation for Union since the advent of professionalism and gives Union another international dimension that attracts outsiders to the sport. I believe that it is an important factor to a number of RL players when considering the switch. We are of course hindered by the fact that the game in Europe is nowhere near big enough to attempt a European competition of this sort. In reality the only thing we could have to recreate this second tier of competition is an expanded WCC. If for instance, it was a top 4 competition, it would place greater importance on finishing in those positions and then give those clubs a genuine reward, with a genuine event to look forward to. It would also add variety to the league. With the rewards so obvious, why hasn't this been done sooner?
It has, and on a much greater scale; it was a disaster. There will be few of us who can forget the ill-fated WCC 1997. Even taking into account the 2000 World Cup, I doubt there has ever been a RL tournament that did more damage to the game. After the 1994 WCC and the advent of Super League, the plan was devised to create a tournament including all of the clubs of SL Australasia and SL Europe. The result was worse than could ever have been envisaged. European clubs won just 8 out of 68 matches, suffered some huge defeats and despite a system that guaranteed 4 clubs from each hemisphere in the quarter finals, not 1 European club made the semi-finals; this was made worse because it was against only half the strength of the domestic Australian game. It is perhaps no surprise then that the powers that be have been reluctant to face our best 4 clubs against their best 4 clubs again. Another competition where we were humiliated could potentially damage the image of Super League.
Despite this, I think it is time for it to be expanded. If we are ever to create a competition close to theirs, we need to play them regularly. In hindsight (and probably even at the time), the WCC 1997 was always going to be a washout, standards across the board were never going to match the Australians. However, we now have 16 years of full-time professionalism behind us and you would hope that our top 4 would be able to put up respectable displays. It would take some inevitable adjustment but there is no reason why it couldn't raise standards across the board and create some essential exposure for the game.
A logistical nightmare?
Perhaps the bigger problem to creating a respectable competition is timing and geography. You have essentially 3 options: play it as a pre-season competition; have it during the season or have it as an end of season series. None of these are without problem.
If it is pre-season, then it will always be viewed as a pre-season tournament, similar to one of those Football tournaments like the Emirates Cup. Whilst it may be fun, it would not quite be the reward that clubs would be after. It would also be unlikely to encourage the southern hemisphere teams to treat it seriously. We would probably see a situation where weak teams were put out, similar to when Warrington played South Sydney a few weeks ago.
Post-season has an equal number of problems. In the early days, it was played after the ARL Grand Final and their clubs didn't treat it particularly seriously. The reason was obvious, the GF was the real prize for Australian clubs and they treated the trip to England as an end of season jolly. You cannot usurp 100 years of tradition with a new competition. The same would be true today. It also begs the question as to what happens with the international game; you cannot play both at the same time.
Unfortunately for those hopeful of change like myself, mid-season doesn't fare much better either. The reality is that due to the geographical and time differences, it is most plausible to hold the tournament in one place - requiring a probable 3/4 week period away from the regular season. This creates all sort of problems with regular season games and having to catch up, especially for the travelling sides. It would only be possible in the UK with a big reduction in the number of games teams play. Alternatively, it could be spread out over the season but this would be more expensive and prove a great distraction for those clubs involved when you factor in issues such as jet lag. Are clubs going to be willing to risk their regular seasons for a new tournament?
A pipe dream?
A 4-team tournament would require a huge amount of desire on both sides of the world for it to work. Whilst the benefits could be great it would still need big TV interest; a changing to both the NRL and Super League seasons and potentially a change to the international structure of the game, just to get off the ground. The cynic in me doesn't think this is likely to happen. The main opposition as usual is likely to come from the NRL clubs who would see less benefit and would see victory in it as less prestigious. Also, whilst the new independent commission could be great for the game down-under, I've heard rumours that a number of influential people on the commission are not great supporters of international RL.
Perhaps our greatest hope is to build some momentum. We need to make them sit up and take notice and believe that it is worth while. This could start tonight with Leeds hopefully giving Manly a beating. Maybe then it will be given a chance in Australia with a more prominent date; if our clubs continued to compete well maybe then that would wake up the NRL to the benefits of an expanded competition.
It's a lot of maybes but let's take it one step at a time. Good luck to Leeds tonight, do it for European Rugby League!
Currently the World Club Challenge is played as a one-off game between the winners of Super League and the NRL. In the UK it enjoys good attendances, viewing figures and a high profile. It is viewed in sufficient esteem that the RFL start the season a week earlier than usual to accommodate the match. In press conferences this week, Rob Burrow said it was: "As big as it gets." The atmosphere at the games is usually excellent and the action intense. Last year there were a number of high profile celebrities tweeting about the game including Rio Ferdinand. However, the image in Australia couldn't be more marked.
Apart from 1994, all the one-off events have been held in the UK. The official reason for this is that the interest is higher in the UK, which is of course true, but you can't help but suspect it is also to give the British clubs an advantage; the fear being that in Australia they would suffer a big defeat. Perhaps more damaging to the credibility of the event is that it is a pre-season game in Australia, coming two weeks before the start of the season. The British club on the other hand is usually 2 or 3 games into the new season. With regards to how it is viewed by the public, it is not on regular Free To Air television any more, which almost all big games in Australia are. Also, in the past Australian teams have been criticised for not taking the event seriously, although recently this has been much less the case. The result is a situation where the Australian fans and media either criticise the British clubs for losing at home to a team still in pre-season or claim that the clubs were not taking it seriously if they lose.
So you can see that as event there is certainly call for it to change, or at least be straightened out. The easiest way to do this would be to ensure that the game alternated between the two hemispheres and to give it a more prominent place in the calender. This would not satisfy most people however, many of whom are calling for an expanded World Club Challenge.
Expansion
A couple of years ago, Rugby League's most high profile fan, Russell Crowe, made the headlines by calling for an 8-team end of year tournament to be held in Las Vegas. Whilst at first appearing radical even for RL, it gained much support, even from a number of NRL bosses.
The benefits of an expanded competition could be huge for RL, especially in Britain. At the moment, we have a successful domestic league, one that is comparable to what the much higher profile Rugby Union can offer. However, where it suffers in comparison to Union and other sports such as Football is the lack of a second-tier competition. The Heineken Cup has been a revelation for Union since the advent of professionalism and gives Union another international dimension that attracts outsiders to the sport. I believe that it is an important factor to a number of RL players when considering the switch. We are of course hindered by the fact that the game in Europe is nowhere near big enough to attempt a European competition of this sort. In reality the only thing we could have to recreate this second tier of competition is an expanded WCC. If for instance, it was a top 4 competition, it would place greater importance on finishing in those positions and then give those clubs a genuine reward, with a genuine event to look forward to. It would also add variety to the league. With the rewards so obvious, why hasn't this been done sooner?
It has, and on a much greater scale; it was a disaster. There will be few of us who can forget the ill-fated WCC 1997. Even taking into account the 2000 World Cup, I doubt there has ever been a RL tournament that did more damage to the game. After the 1994 WCC and the advent of Super League, the plan was devised to create a tournament including all of the clubs of SL Australasia and SL Europe. The result was worse than could ever have been envisaged. European clubs won just 8 out of 68 matches, suffered some huge defeats and despite a system that guaranteed 4 clubs from each hemisphere in the quarter finals, not 1 European club made the semi-finals; this was made worse because it was against only half the strength of the domestic Australian game. It is perhaps no surprise then that the powers that be have been reluctant to face our best 4 clubs against their best 4 clubs again. Another competition where we were humiliated could potentially damage the image of Super League.
Despite this, I think it is time for it to be expanded. If we are ever to create a competition close to theirs, we need to play them regularly. In hindsight (and probably even at the time), the WCC 1997 was always going to be a washout, standards across the board were never going to match the Australians. However, we now have 16 years of full-time professionalism behind us and you would hope that our top 4 would be able to put up respectable displays. It would take some inevitable adjustment but there is no reason why it couldn't raise standards across the board and create some essential exposure for the game.
A logistical nightmare?
Perhaps the bigger problem to creating a respectable competition is timing and geography. You have essentially 3 options: play it as a pre-season competition; have it during the season or have it as an end of season series. None of these are without problem.
If it is pre-season, then it will always be viewed as a pre-season tournament, similar to one of those Football tournaments like the Emirates Cup. Whilst it may be fun, it would not quite be the reward that clubs would be after. It would also be unlikely to encourage the southern hemisphere teams to treat it seriously. We would probably see a situation where weak teams were put out, similar to when Warrington played South Sydney a few weeks ago.
Post-season has an equal number of problems. In the early days, it was played after the ARL Grand Final and their clubs didn't treat it particularly seriously. The reason was obvious, the GF was the real prize for Australian clubs and they treated the trip to England as an end of season jolly. You cannot usurp 100 years of tradition with a new competition. The same would be true today. It also begs the question as to what happens with the international game; you cannot play both at the same time.
Unfortunately for those hopeful of change like myself, mid-season doesn't fare much better either. The reality is that due to the geographical and time differences, it is most plausible to hold the tournament in one place - requiring a probable 3/4 week period away from the regular season. This creates all sort of problems with regular season games and having to catch up, especially for the travelling sides. It would only be possible in the UK with a big reduction in the number of games teams play. Alternatively, it could be spread out over the season but this would be more expensive and prove a great distraction for those clubs involved when you factor in issues such as jet lag. Are clubs going to be willing to risk their regular seasons for a new tournament?
A pipe dream?
A 4-team tournament would require a huge amount of desire on both sides of the world for it to work. Whilst the benefits could be great it would still need big TV interest; a changing to both the NRL and Super League seasons and potentially a change to the international structure of the game, just to get off the ground. The cynic in me doesn't think this is likely to happen. The main opposition as usual is likely to come from the NRL clubs who would see less benefit and would see victory in it as less prestigious. Also, whilst the new independent commission could be great for the game down-under, I've heard rumours that a number of influential people on the commission are not great supporters of international RL.
Perhaps our greatest hope is to build some momentum. We need to make them sit up and take notice and believe that it is worth while. This could start tonight with Leeds hopefully giving Manly a beating. Maybe then it will be given a chance in Australia with a more prominent date; if our clubs continued to compete well maybe then that would wake up the NRL to the benefits of an expanded competition.
It's a lot of maybes but let's take it one step at a time. Good luck to Leeds tonight, do it for European Rugby League!
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