Supporters cop an economic hit from Erina Eagles’ forfeit

The Erina Eagles’ disgraceful display of sportsmanship is a stain on the club’s rich history and has an economic impact on many those who support the club, from sponsors to referees, writes Brenden Wood.

The disappointing thing about the disgraceful act by the Erina Eagles to forfeit important final-round games on the Central Coast over the weekend is that their team may kick-on and win the premiership and, sadly, the greatest media headline that will come from the 2024 Rugby League Central Coast season won’t be that the Eagles won the premiership but that the club chose not to play all their key grades for one whole day during the season.

Rugby league on the Central Coast has struggled to receive positive media coverage this season and the forfeiture of these games has delivered only negative news.

The Erina Eagles’ decision disrupted the plans of more than 100 players and their families, volunteer canteen staff, volunteer bar staff, volunteer administrators, the Old Boys and loyal supporters.

And, also disrupted, rugby league referees who had been appointed to officiate the games.

Rugby league struggles to cover all local footy games with referees, and for a club to deliberately sabotage a full series of matches was an arrogant display that had little regard for the stretched officiating resources available on the coast.

Will the Erina Eagles be paying the officiating fees for the referees and touch judges who were assigned the games?

Erina players at a training session despite forfeiting across five grades.

The club’s credibility has been damaged and will impact their future player recruitment.

The final item, but important item, that may not have been considered by the Erina Eagles when forfeiting the games, is the economic cost.

It appears as though the football club has 10 sponsors.

These clients pay money for exposure of their brand.

The more games that the Eagles compete in, the more exposure they bring to their sponsors — and, on the reverse, the less games they play, the less exposure their sponsors receive.

The Erina coaches allegedly forced their club to forfeit their games against Toukley. Picture: Michael Gorton

If no one at the Erina Eagles wanted to stand-up for the good of rugby league and their club, someone should have at least stood up for their financiers, the club’s sponsors.

I hope the NSW Rugby League steps in to assist the Board of Directors of Rugby League Central Coast to ensure the full force of the league’s disciplinary processes are applied to the Erina Eagles.

Overall, this was a disgraceful display of sportsmanship and is a stain on the club’s rich history.

Brenden Wood began his rugby league refereeing career on the Central Coast in the 1980s and retired in 2016 after officiating games in the NSW Cup, Qld Cup and the NRL.