NRL clubs left disgruntled by idea of weighting financial support to clubs that need more money
Tuesday’s phone meeting between all 16 NRL clubs was a chance for the game to plot a course through the unknown waters ahead. Instead, a proposal to give greater funding to clubs in need has left divisions exposed, writes PAUL KENT.
NRL
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Solidarity among the NRL and its 16 clubs has been greatly exaggerated, with some clubs threatening to sue the NRL if they proceed with an unequal funding model to save troubled clubs.
Tuesday’s phone hook-up between the NRL and all 16 club bosses was presented as an NRL in solidarity but public messages conveyed in the conference quickly shifted afterwards.
NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford proposed a funding model last Thursday that would see more money delivered to clubs in greater financial stress, at the expense of other NRL clubs.
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Clubs are still divided on the issue and NRL boss Todd Greenberg said “there are as many for it as they are against it. The clubs are split on this.”
Greenberg and ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys have both declared they will do everything to ensure all 16 clubs survive.
Their message goes in the face of the NRL’s declaration several years ago, when the club grants were raised to a staggering $13 million, that clubs would no longer be bailed out by the League if they got into financial trouble.
And it has angered some clubs.
Crawford’s proposal quickly drew a protest from South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly, who as a result later withdrew from the committee formed to counter the coronavirus crisis.
“Why should we take less in funding because we have been able to manage our affairs?” one club boss said.
“It’s not our fault those clubs are in that position. It’s their fault and it is the NRL’s fault.”
Threats of legal action were made if the NRL persists with the planned unequal funding model.
It is quintessential rugby league, a show of solidarity presented one day and which lasted, oh, basically the weekend.
The code has now agreed to a different funding model which will see standardised funding but also unequal bail out funding and unequal cost reductions given the different circumstances of each club.
It is far from the end of the game’s problems, though.
When most of us dream of going dollar for dollar in the pay stakes with NRL footballers we usually dream of weekend benders and speed boats in the garage, of annual holidays to Las Vegas. Admittedly, they were your men’s dreams.
A meeting on Wednesday will change much of that.
The NRL players will begin negotiations to take a pay cut that could save all their jobs, which will come around quicker than they can imagine, but which will be the first step in a sharply changing world.
Another whose pay-packet will take a haircut is NRL boss Todd Greenberg.
Greenberg and his executive have already agreed to take a pay cut that matches the players.
If the players lose 20 per cent from monthly wages, so will Greenberg and his team.
It is a sign of new-found solidarity between the NRL and the players.
“The players and the game have never been closer,” Rugby League Players Association chief executive Clint Newton said on Tuesday.
Caught somewhere in the middle are the clubs, who tried their best to present a solid front in a phone hook-up with the NRL but who frayed a little around the edges as the day wore on.
The clubs debated their positions, with some stunned the NRL plans to fund clubs more than others.
The hook-up was intended to be an information meeting.
How much cash did the NRL have stashed away?
It’s $153 million.
How long will the competition be suspended for?
Nobody knows.
What are the plans?
The NRL has preliminary plans for a season restart on June 1, July 1, August 1 and September 1.
If the completion does not resume by September 1 then it will be cancelled and players can begin preparing for next season.
Clubs are trying to navigate their survival. The two State leagues, the NSW Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League, are also nervous they have so far been left out of negotiations.
With different ownership models among the clubs each had different suggestions for how the clubs should be funded.
Greenberg and the NRL executive will match whatever pay cuts the players are forced to take.
Wednesday’s meeting includes the NRL executive, Greenberg and chief financial officer Tony Crawford, club representatives Blake Solly (Souths), Joe Kelly (Roosters), Paul White (Brisbane) and Andrew Hill (Canterbury), and the RLPA’s Newton and his chief operating officer Tim Lythe.
Under the agreement, splits the financial upside and downside evenly between four stakeholder groups. They are the NRL, the 16 clubs, the States (NSW and Queensland) and the players.
“The players absolutely accept they will share in the downside,” Newton said.
“How much they have to sacrifice is going to depend on what the financials look like and the information that they will provide.
“Until we get that we don’t know how much it will be.”
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The first chunk of money affected will not be the players’ wages but their benefits and entitlements. These include annual payments for retirement, marketing, injury hardship, leave and prize money.
Annually, the players have raked in somewhere in the vicinity of $15-$17 million in recent years.
That amount will be minimal, at best this season. So the next sacrifice is the big one, from their wages.
Until the RLPA knows exactly how much money is being lost to the game it is unsure
It will be at least 20 per cent.
The AFL players have accepted a 50 per cent pay rise but the difference is the detail.
The AFL pay cut is while the competition is suspended, which goes through to May 31. It will rise to 75 per cent when they resume playing and stays at 75 per cent when they start playing.
The NRL will pay cut being discussed is until the end of the NRL financial year, October 31.
Potentially, the NRL’s cut could be significantly bigger.