This Month
Inside the battle for control of racing and rugby league
This week on The Fin podcast, Mark Di Stefano on the rise of Peter V’landys, one of Australian sport’s most powerful administrators, and the campaign to bring him down.
April
Dutton’s EV backflip purely about ideology
Readers’ letters on the opposition leader’s electric vehicle stance, political advertising, teal priorities, lack of Coalition policies, housing affordability, and the sale of Rosehill Racecourse.
Inside the plot to ‘get rid’ of Peter V’landys
In his climb to the top of racing and rugby league, Peter V’landys has broken the rules and challenged the system. But now some in the system are fighting back.
Racing royalty launch broadside against V’landys leadership
Champion trainers Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller are among the authors of a scathing letter about racing governance.
February
Cook’s message for V’landys: WA doesn’t need the NRL
WA premier says NRL brass must understand rugby league is a relative minnow west of the Nullarbor, and his government won’t bend over backwards to secure a team.
January
Rebekah Giles adds to her bulging workload
The lawyer has shown up on an arcane racing body created to negotiate revenue from Tabcorp.
December 2024
Rear Window’s year in review: scoops, scandals, and power plays
This week on The Fin podcast, Rear Window editor Myriam Robin on the megalomaniac trying to solve Australia’s housing crisis, the column’s scoop of the year and the Clubland rebellion.
NRL team confirmed for PNG in $600m deal that comes with a catch
The deal, bankrolled by taxpayers, will collapse if the Pacific country signs a security agreement with China. Anthony Albanese argues it’s an investment in Australia’s security.
Peter V’landys bogged down in a multibillion-dollar property play
The influential CEO of Racing NSW is staring down allegations aired confidentially by purported whistleblowers to a parliamentary inquiry.
November 2024
V’landys slams gambling probe, claims NRL betting is least damaging
Peter V’landys doubled down on past claims racing and sports betting are less harmful than lotteries and slammed all 31 recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry.
October 2024
The Everest is becoming a Victorian’s nightmare
Rival horse races meant high-powered executives had to choose: Sydney or Melbourne. The King didn’t make it, but many others voted with their feet to Randwick.
From dead quiet to $100m economic boost: How Everest is changing racing
It was a move to get the media’s attention and take on the Victorian racing elite. But Australia’s richest horse race has achieved far more.
The media storm behind the NRL’s next billion-dollar play
Peter V’landys and his chief executive Andrew Abdo want a mammoth broadcast deal to shore up the code’s future. Will they bring an NFL-style model to Australia?
Who’s up and down in this year’s Power List – and who wanted to get out
This week on The Fin podcast, political editor Phillip Coorey and AFR Magazine editor Matthew Drummond take us behind the scenes of the 2024 Power Issue.
August 2024
Plan for 25,000 homes on racecourse site a ‘fantasy’: inquiry
Peter V’landys and Mark Latham clashed in a fiery hearing as the Australian Turf Club blamed a “high Indian population” for declining Rosehill racecourse crowds.
March 2024
Not even 100,000 Americans watched the NRL’s Las Vegas matches
Rugby League boss Peter V’landys says the key to success in the US is TV audiences, but the sport’s big splash in Las Vegas struggled to attract viewers.
Glitch and glitz as NRL kicks off Las Vegas gamble
The NRL’s ambitious launch of the 2024 season in Las Vegas suffered a TV hitch, but otherwise met expectations, as some 40,000 turned out for the double header.
Manly put on second-half show to beat Souths in Vegas
In the city of bright lights and late-night shows, Manly’s 36 points gave them the equal-highest score by a team in a season-opener in nine years.
February 2024
Audacious V’landys outlines plan to turn NRL towards Britain, hotels
The NRL chairman has set his sights on expanding to England and turning the league into a major hotel operator – and handed his board a big pay rise
State leagues preparing legal action against NRL over funding
The NSW and Queensland rugby league bodies are fighting the NRL over money. The dispute is expected to escalate.