NRL’s Big Brother plan to save bush rugby league from a slow death
Bush footy legend Noel “Crusher” Cleal opens up about his emotional plea to Peter V’landys for help to save grassroots rugby league, writes Paul Crawley.
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Bush footy legend Noel “Crusher” Cleal has opened up about an emotional email he sent to Peter V’landys this week pleading for help to save grassroots rugby league.
It comes as The Daily Telegraph can also reveal the NRL’s secret plan to fast-track a bush rescue package that is expected to be up and running next year.
The NRL’s plan will involve every club taking on a big brother-type role to help reinvigorate the game at the country and regional level.
As part of this clubs will be expected to take at least one ‘home’ game to their designated regional area every season.
On top of that, they will also be told to make top line stars available to promote the game in these towns, while helping out with junior development to create a clear pathway to the top.
CRUSHER’S FEARS
This is Crusher’s heartfelt appeal.
Right now, he says, rugby league is in such a perilous state in some country areas that unless something isn’t done to dramatically turn the tide, the game could be dead in the bush within a decade.
And that is why Cleal sat down this week and made direct contact with the Australian Rugby League Commission chairman to ask for help.
“This is out of frustration,” Cleal said on Thursday.
“Because I have been involved in the game at a senior level for nearly 50 years and I have never seen it in poorer shape.
“And I am thinking, gee, our great game is going to suffer irreparable damage over the next five to 10 years.
“It might not even be played in the bush.
“That is my biggest concern.”
And that would mean no more Crushers, no more Steve Mortimers or Peter Sterlings, Laurie Daley or David Gillespie, Nathan Blacklock to Jamie Lyon. The list just rolls on.
Even of the current crop the likes of Isaah Yeo, Brent Naden, Blake Ferguson and his backflips, Cody Ramsey and young Matt Burton. You could keep rattling them off until the cows come home.
Yet at a time when there is all this talk about possible expansion and the NRL giving the green light to a new franchise based in Brisbane in 2023, one of bush footy’s most iconic figures worries about where the future at the top might be if the game is not producing at the grassroots country regions.
Yet in some towns, like where he grew up, Crusher fears it may be already too late to save.
“There is only six teams in Group 10 now,” Cleal explained.
“There is only five teams in Group 21.
“Warialda, my home town, has produced two internationals and 13 NRL players over the years, they don’t have one senior team now.
“And rugby league is the golden thread that runs through the town.
“Rugby League is in its DNA.
“And in the 60s and 70s and 80s in the bush rugby league was a lifestyle.
“That is what people looked forward to.
“Every second weekend there would be a home game and everyone in the town would go to it.
“But that doesn’t happen anymore.”
SAVING THE GAME
To his credit V’landys not only listened but almost immediately got back in touch with Cleal.
And that was after V’landys and chief executive Andrew Abdo had already been involved in some serious discussions about what can be done to try and fix the game in country areas.
Among the people they have spoken to is Wayne Bennett who expressed his own concerns about the lack of attention the grassroots has been getting for too long, and what needs to be done to put rugby league back on the map in bush areas.
Incredibly, Cleal revealed how it would have been “15 or 20 years ago” that former NRL executive Ian Schubert put together an almost identical plan to the one the NRL is now investigating but “it fell on deaf ears”.
At another time Cleal and former Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald also came up with a separate plan to divide up regions of the state but again it was a wasted effort.
But if something doesn’t happen this time Cleal reckons it could end up being the final nail in rugby league’s coffin in respect to its survival in bush towns.
“The coastal areas are not doing too bad because there is plenty of work there so you are always getting players from out west coming over to play on the coast,” he added.
“But I think there is something like two under 18 teams in Group 21 and two from Group 4 which is crazy, crazy, crazy.
“Something needs to be done.”
But to get it right it can’t be a token gesture, and all the club’s will have to buy in.
It would need the NRL to divvy up the regions and while that will naturally have some complaining about who gets what, at the end of the day they all have to just remember this is not about winning but survival.
“Everyone can see what is going wrong but we need to come up with solutions rather than problems,” Cleal added.
“There is no magic wand that is going to fix it.
“It needs an injection of cash and probably more community people.
“It is nice to have coaching and development people out there but once they leave the town it is virtually all forgotten.
“The smaller towns will always struggle because of limited employment opportunities, but I just can’t believe some of the bigger places.
“It was only a couple of years ago Inverell and Armidale didn’t have a team. Places as big as that not having a footy team. It has been neglected.
“I love the game.
“It has been so good to me for a long time.
NRL’S $1.5M BUSH FOOTY RESCUE PACKAGE
The NRL is preparing to fast-track a $1.5 million bush footy rescue package that Peter V’landys wants up and running within the next 12 months.
The urgent stimulus for bush footy has been triggered following the revelation that six proud footy clubs from the NSW Country Rugby League will fail to field enough players for an under-19 competition this year.
There are not enough players between the ages of 16 to 19 for previously strong bush footy clubs including Walcha, Uralla, Warialda, Bundara and Bingara while Tenterfield have been forced to pack up and go play in the Queensland competition.
The Tingha Tigers — famous for being the junior club of former NRL stars Preston Campbell and Nathan Blacklock — have folded.
The rescue package will involve every NRL club taking on a ‘big brother’ role to help save the game at the grassroots level.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that, as part of the plan, clubs will be expected to take at least one ‘home’ game to their designated country or regional area every season.
On top of that they will also be told to make top-line stars available to promote the game in these towns, while helping out with junior development to create a clear pathway to the top.
“We’ll do what it takes,’’ V’landys said.
“One of the reasons why I got on the commission in the first place is that I want the country rugby league healthy again.
“It’s definitely sick at the moment and the impact of COVID-19 hasn’t helped our regional competitions either. We need to invest in these areas, we need our NRL players to play their part for the entire code.
“The NSWRL have a strategic plan that we are working towards’’
NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden and chairman George Peponis recently met V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo to discuss the urgency surrounding the code’s need to support bush footy participation.
Included within the NSWRL strategic plan that part of the stimulus will cover is the funding of bus travel for teams that exist and have to travel in excess of 150km.
Trodden said the game also needed to cater for a decrease in population in some regional centres by constructing nine-a-side competitions instead of 13-a-side competitions.
“One thing we won’t be doing is giving up on these towns,’’ Trodden said.
“George Peponis and I have met with Andrew and Peter and Peter has invited us to come to him with a strategic plan to form a stimulus package to get bush footy vibrant again.’’
V’landys is also understood to have already spoken to several clubs about his vision during recent meet-and-greet sessions to discuss expansion plans and other new ideas to take the game forward.
He also spoke at length with Wayne Bennett about it on Tuesday with Bennett outlining what he believes need to be done.
Guyra Super Spuds skipper Jack Armatage spoke about the impact of being unable to field an under-19’s competition this season.
“It is gut-wrenching really,” he told local media last week.
“They’ve just said ‘there’s no comp’ which just hurts.
“I don’t understand how there can be a town like Armidale with like 30,000 people and they can’t get 15 young fellas to play footy.
“Where the roots of the NRL are, like where do they get their talent from if people don’t keep playing? Someone has to pull their finger out and do something about it.
“Rugby league in the country has been dying for a while now and it has got to the point where we can’t even get a bloody comp.’’
GOING BUSH
The NRL’s regional/country games in 2021
R6: Manly v Gold Coast, Mudgee
R7: Parramatta v Brisbane, Darwin
R8: Penrith v Manly, Bathurst
R9: Canberra v Newcastle, Wagga
R11: South Sydney v Penrith, Dubbo
R12: Cronulla v Gold Coast, Coffs Harbour
R19: South Sydney v New Zealand, Sunshine Coast
R23: Wests Tigers v Cronulla, Tamworth
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Originally published as NRL’s Big Brother plan to save bush rugby league from a slow death
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