May you live in interesting times, the old Chinese curse goes. It could be applied to English rugby league right now.
The sport has been rocked by two big developments in the space of just four days with the departure of Rugby Football League (RFL) chief executive Nigel Wood and executive director Roger Draper. Wood’s exit was not exactly a huge surprise, considering he was ousted from his Super League board role late last year and is staying in rugby league as the CEO of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF), albeit in a global role.
But Draper’s shock exit not even a week later, after only 12 months in his role, means two of the most powerful figures in the UK game are gone. And they have left at a key moment in the sport, as Super League clubs clamour to reassert control of the competition and make major changes, and England is left without a national team coach.
There is also the small issue of the future of the Super 8s format, the application of a New York franchise into the league, along with others from the United States and Canada, and a mid-season Test with New Zealand in Denver to sort out, along with a World Cup on British soil in 2021 to plan for. Complicating things further somewhat is the news that two of the likely top candidates to replace Wood, former RFL executives Sally Bolton and Blake Solly, won’t be applying for the job.
The winds of change are blowing across rugby league. The sport is at a turning point and who takes control at the RFL now is critical. A mistake with the next appointment cannot be afforded.
Crowds in Super League along with TV ratings are stagnant. Several clubs in the Championship and League 1, the tiers below Super League, are teetering on financial oblivion and struggling to attract fans. Amateur participation has plunged. The stadia of many clubs is crumbling and archaic. Hard decisions need to be made in the next 12 months about what the future of Super League, indeed of rugby league in the UK, will be like.
- Does Super League need to go to 14 teams and split from the rest in a Premier League/NFL style move?
- Should the three divisions be scrapped and a consolidation of just two professional competitions be created?
- Does a form of licensing need to brought back?
- Should this path of North American expansion, which saw the introduction of Toronto Wolfpack last year, be continued?
- How can the sport be better marketed and more kids encouraged to pick up a Rhino or Steeden ball?
Many within the sport are hoping now is the opportunity for change, for fresh leadership and innovation. Not a time for someone from the old guard or blazer brigade to continue down the same road, but a chance for a new face and leader to take rugby league forward. Someone not only with charisma who is media-savvy, brave and experienced but a person who will make the RFL more transparent and engage better with its key stakeholders.
For the first time since perhaps 29 March, 1996, which saw the birth of Super League in Paris, has rugby league as ripe for change. Time will tell if we entering a new era or whether it is just another false dawn.