NRL 2020: Craig Bellamy’s opinion a dangerous philosophy, Paul Kent
All opinions have been banned on the strict orders of Craig Bellamy, the Melbourne Storm coach who decreed this week that any verdict on players is irrelevant unless you have actually played rugby league, writes Paul Kent.
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No opinions in the opinion column today.
Any and all opinions have been banned on the strict orders of Craig Bellamy, the Melbourne Storm coach who decreed this week that opinions on players like, say, his captain Cameron Smith, are irrelevant unless you have actually played in the NRL.
So, unless you have done it yourself, you are not allowed an opinion on it.
That is Bellamy’s Decree.
So don’t tell me who you think wins the Melbourne Cup this year unless, by Bellamy’s Decree, you have ridden in the Cup yourself.
That movie you saw last week? I don’t care if you thought it was boring or if you loved it so much you want to tell all your friends they must go see it. Bellamy’s Decree states that unless you have actually acted in a movie, or at least written a script, your opinion really doesn’t matter too much at all.
And that means here, too. None of you, under Bellamy’s Decree, are allowed an opinion on this newspaper column unless you have actually opened a vein over a keyboard and put down a thousand words you hope might make a difference.
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The irony is that Bellamy’s Decree — don’t speak about it unless you have done it yourself — seems to apply to all, it seems, except Bellamy himself.
Just a few days back Bellamy used his pre-game press conference to defend his captain once again with a defence that was last used in the Keating administration.
The opinion, hereby known as Bellamy’s Decree, was flawed and dangerous back then and it is even more so now.
“I don’t know whether it spurs him on or not but it’s funny, the criticism comes from some people that haven’t really played the game and they haven’t coached the game,” Bellamy said of Smith.
“All of a sudden, they’re experts.
“Cameron has played 400 NRL games, almost 50 Origins and so many games for Australia.
“But people that have never played the game, never coached the game, never really been involved in a footy club come out and bag him all the time.
“Most guys that have been in the game as players or coaches — whether they like Cameron or they don’t like Cameron — I think they have a lot of respect for Cameron. Because of what he’s done in the game.
“But most of this criticism comes from guys that have never been involved in footy clubs except for when they were in under-8s or under-12s. They’ve never coached in the game, they’ve never played the game at NRL level.
“I don’t really understand it. I think there should be a lot more respect for a guy that’s the only guy in our game’s history to play 400 games. If they want to make it personal — and they probably do — that’s their business.”
It is a dangerous philosophy that says unless you have played the game you have no right to an opinion on the game.
There are hundreds of thousands of rugby league fans who buy memberships and season tickets and spend thousands of dollars on merchandise every year — who have never played the game at NRL level.
Surely they deserve the right to an opinion, right?
Millions more watch the game on the very televisions that justify the big broadcast deals, that add up to something like 80 per cent of the game’s revenue, and they do so with a view on the game.
They either like something or they don’t like it, that is our nature. Surely they are entitled to share it with someone?
People have opinions because they care. It is impossible that every opinion will be in agreement and, to be honest, it would be dull if they were.
That clubs foster this thought that nobody is allowed an opinion on them unless they have played the game reveals how insular clubs really are, and this lack of understanding must be greatly alarming for the NRL.
Some of you might have noticed, but the game has just emerged from one of the most difficult periods in its history.
A huge financial reset has taken place. Chairman Peter V’landys rescued the broadcast deal that shaved tens of millions of NRL income.
Part of those negotiations centred on the fact that there has been a worrying trend in ratings in recent years which has failed to justify the richness of the broadcast deals. That is not an opinion, but economics.
Channel 9 chairman Hugh Marks told the game it was “boring”, mostly because of the wrestling tactics that originated at the Storm and which have been allowed to evolve, unhindered, for almost a decade.
It was a comment that received widespread support.
V’Landys emerged from the negotiations determined to make the game more attractive.
He introduced a six-again call to replace a penalty — aware teams were deliberately conceding penalties to buy time to restore their defensive line, artificially slowing the game down — which immediately quickened the game’s pace and made it more attractive.
V’Landys knows the game must make itself more attractive to the wider public to put the game in a position to demand more broadcast money next time around.
Instead of dismissing fan concerns because they have not played the game V’Landys is doing the opposite and listening to them. They should be the priority, not the enemy.
Sports surge and fade in importance all the time.
Boxing is no longer the sport it once was, reduced to tier two importance. Mixed martial arts barely existed 20 years ago but is now the fastest growing sport in the world.
Rugby once ran neck and neck with rugby league in Australia.
And sports most often fail, it is generally believed, because they failed to engage the next generation.
And it has taken the COVID-19 crisis for the NRL to concede it has allowed the game to become less attractive over so many years.
A club chairman claimed V’Landys told all the clubs at Wednesday’s phone hook-up that the clubs must start looking beyond their own backyard and begin looking after the interests of the game as a whole.
Clubs are adopting negative tactics to win the premiership (and remain employed for the short term) without a thought for their long term benefit of the game. In fact, it is to the detriment of the game’s going term ambitions, but few care because they will not be around by then.
Some clubs will argue, with legitimate claims, that is the club’s job to do what it can to win premierships and that it is the NRL’s job to protect the overall integrity of the game.
So the NRL has done that.
New rules designed to break the grip wrestling has on the game and to make it faster and more dynamic were introduced.
Yet after just three weeks some clubs have examined how the referees are adjudicating and begun to work out ways around the rules.
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It is a cynical, distressing indictment on what the game has become. Clubs once again testing the game’s nerve.
The Storm, for example, challenged the NRL last weekend, laying all over the tackled player for the next two tackles after a six-again call, almost daring the referee to double up his call.
This extra time in the tackle allowed the Storm to then restore the integrity of their defensive line.
It was exactly the kind of cynical tactic the game has declared it will stop.
Instead of copping it sweet, though, the Storm immediately claimed they were being picked on.
It is a strategy so overused it has become boring.
Publicly they claimed innocence while, behind the scenes, senior club figures campaigned to be left alone, claiming an agenda against them because they are from Melbourne. Apparently, this opposition to neck cranks is being driven by simple state jealousy.
The Storm forget the many number of players and assistant coaches who have left their organisation for other clubs and who take that information, what they did and how they did it, with them to those clubs.
Fans do not like wrestling and the way it has shaped the game and the NRL should be commended for acting.
Here is my question, though. If the Storm is so sensitive to criticism about their wrestling tactics, why does the club invest so much time inventing new ones?
Maybe someone who has played a few games can tell me why.