OPINION: NRL pay dispute a disaster

OPINION: Why has it taken so long for the carve up of telecast rights money to NRL clubs?

Ashley Robinson at Alexandra Headland Surf Club. Picture: John McCutcheon

AS MY Grandson says when I bugger something up: "It's a disaster Pa Pa".

Well he would be absolutely right about the dispute between the ARL Commission and the NRL clubs.

If you missed it, they can't agree on how the funds from the telecast rights are to be cut up and, to be fair to the NRL clubs, why the Hell has it taken this long to try to decide?

The game from the bottom up is hurting financially and some of the pain at the grass roots level comes from the fact the NRL is telecast live.

On another note, has anyone noticed the parking inspectors across the Coast have been covering more ground than Usain Bolt these days?

Last week I was quoted in the Daily complaining about the two-hour parking signs at Alex. Mooloolaba has four-hour parking, so I can't understand why Alex isn't the same.

I thought Alex might have been getting unfairly targeted by inspectors but I stopped feeling hard done by after I attended the Queensland Police Awards Ceremony.

The ceremony itself was enlightening and I enjoyed hearing what some of our finest officers had achieved. So when I left, I was pretty pumped.

That was, at least, until I saw parking inspectors fining police cars that were parked illegally on the grass around the packed Lake Kawana Community Centre, which the Queensland Police had hired for the ceremony.

This week, I was also lucky enough to help a young bloke in Nambour who needed a hand to move house.

The plan was to get our board training squad at Alex to all help rather than training. That was all good but we still needed a truck.

Enter former Melbourne Storm, NSW and Australian Rugby League player Scott Hill who has just recently bought Combined Coastal Removals. He jumped at the opportunity to lend a hand, which was just wonderful. I think as a group we all got something out of the move - the young bloke got some help and, in my opinion, there is nothing better for the soul than giving a hand to someone who needs it. If you need a good removalist get on Scott at Combined Coastal Removals, he is a champion.

I spent some time at a meeting the other day with some members of Brothers Rugby Sunshine Coast, which was very enlightening.

Now most would know that I am not a big rugby fan but in reality I am a fan of kids playing sport so it is probably irrelevant what code they are playing.

It sounds to me that we could all learn something from this club as they have strict guidelines about player behaviour, how the kids deal with officials and, most importantly, how they deal with on-field incidents internally which is fantastic, but even better is the monitoring of parent behaviour which is really good news.

It reminds me of that old chestnut that we all should live by: "Your child's success or lack of success in sports does not indicate what kind of parent you are. But having an athlete that is coachable, respectful, a great teammate, mentally tough, resilient and tries their best is a direct reflection of your parenting."

Amen to that.