ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys reveals vision for the NRLW competition

ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys has revealed his vision for the future of the NRLW competition in this exclusive interview with Dean Ritchie.

ARL chairman Peter V’landys has predicted the formation of a historic full-time professional women’s rugby league competition, but warned of “concerns” over immediate expansion.

“You have to have vision and ambition,” V’landys said. “I don’t want to put a long-term time frame on it to have some breathing space. I don’t want breathing space. I want to expedite it now.

“Every person on the commission wants the women’s game to grow and prosper.”

Check out V’landys’ views on a range of issues involving the women’s game as debate rages over pay parity issues between men and women.

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ARL chairman Peter V'landys says development of the women’s game is ‘high on the list. Picture: Jonathan Ng

PAY PARITY

It’s been the big issue of the week: Should women be paid the same as men?

“From my perspective, women should be compensated for the loss of income while training and playing; compensated the same as men, no two-ways about it,” V’landys said.

“But, in saying that, and we want to increase the pay for women, naturally, but we also have to ensure we look at all levels of the women’s game, not just the elite.

“We have worked very hard at the NRL to make the game viable. Clubs were making million-dollar losses – there was going to be a train crash. So our first port of call was to make it viable. Once we did that, then we can spend on the women’s game, absolutely.

“Our priority was to consolidate and have a lower cost base and bring in new revenues while building assets for the game. There is a lot of call for the money we are making but the women’s game is high on the list.”

PAY MISMATCH

At Origin level, the men attract sponsorship worth $5 million while the women’s one-off game pulls a little more than $100,000.

Asked whether the women’s game should be generating all its own income rather than receiving money from the men’s game, V’landys said: “At the moment, they can’t because they are in a growth period. Until they get to a point where that growth has reached its maximum, that’s when they’ll generate the revenues.

“There are many levels so if you want to grow the game then you have to invest a lot of money – and I mean a lot of money – into the participation, development and pathways.

“I agree we have to make the elite well-paid but at the same time we’ve got to make sure we put sufficient resources into participation and encourage girls and other women to play.”

V’Landys acknowledged the women’s game is in a revenue development phase. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

WHY SUPPORT WOMEN

V’landys was direct.

“Like everything else, women’s rugby league is an investment. Sometimes your investments get repaid in the long-term, not the short-term. No doubt in the short-term, the women are heavily subsidised, no two-ways about it,” V’landys said.

“But that won’t be forever. You have to start somewhere. Not putting money in because it isn’t generating the same money as men is shortsighted. I’m sure as the women’s game grows and increases in popularity it will return revenues.

“You have to have a long-term plan. We want to look ahead 10 to 20 years. I’m sure in 10 or 20 that time the women’s game will be generating significant revenues which will allow it to sustain itself.”

Supporting NRLW is supporting the growth of the game. Picture: Brendan Radke

FULLY PROFESSIONAL

While the NRLW is expanding next season, salaries are not high enough to allow stars to make it a full-time career.

V’landys foreshadowed a future full-time professional female league.

“That will happen,” V’landys said. “That’s the end game, absolutely. You have to have vision and ambition. Of course we want that.

“You always have to go to the best level you can go to. That’s the aspiration. I want to expedite its growth. I don’t want to put a long-term time frame on it to have some breathing space. I don’t want breathing space. I want to expedite it now.

“But we do have to take steps into that by building your base and then working your way up to the top.

“It’s no good just having the same players. You’ve got to have a pathway and encourage women to play. And naturally you have to increase the payments to elite players because that then encourages the younger players to want to play.

“I don’t want to put a time frame on it but all I will say is that the women’s game is one of our priorities. We have had a slow start but we are certainly doing things to expedite the game’s growth by putting more resources into the game.”

Providing for elite players to be fully professional will encourage girls to stick with the game as they progress. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

EXPANSION WARNING

The NRLW has increased to six teams with two competitions to be run in 2022, making up for the postponement of the 2021 premiership. V’landys is a supporter of eventual expansion – but it comes with a warning.

“I’ve been promoting expansion since I have been on the commission,” V’landys said. “But the women themselves didn’t want an increase in the competition until there was more professionalism in the sport.

“They were concerned that other players who weren’t up to that elite level would get injured. It was the elite women themselves that didn’t want the expansion.

“However we have gone up two teams and the aim is to keep increasing it. But we respect the input of the women so if they believe there is an exposure to injury then we don’t want to do that.

“We have to finely balance it between making sure we have enough players who can train and be semi-professional so we can expand the competition. That’s why we gave an incentive for players to transfer between clubs – to give some of those elite players an opportunity to help train some of the up-and-coming players.

“That way we spread the talent around and give the experience to the players coming through and that will expedite expansion.”

V’landys warned against expanding the NRLW too quickly. Picture: Brett Costello

CRITICISM

The NRL was criticised for abandoning the women’s competition due to Covid. Instead, two competitions will be run next year.

“There’s probably some justification (to the criticism) in that but you can’t look back, you have to look forward and we will rectify it,” he said.

“Then again, I think the criticism was a little harsh because you’ve got to start from a low base and then work your way up. Rugby league is a little harder than other sports because it’s a tough, contact sport.

“There is no-one more committed to the women’s game than this current commission. I can tell you that the commission’s most enthusiastic discussion has always been the women’s game. Every person on that commission wants the women’s game to grow and prosper.

“I have challenged a lot of the reasons why it hasn’t grown and we’ve got to rectify that.”

SIMPLY THE BEST

V’landys spoke of the importance for elite sporting athletes to spurn AFL, football and rugby union for rugby league.

“That’s the beauty of rugby league is that you participate at so many levels,” he said. “We’re discussing the elite level at the moment but women can also play casually in a tip or tag competition. And then they can go to a contact competition.

“So, naturally, we want the best athletes but we also want to encourage participation. It’s about crawling before you can walk.”

Originally published as ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys reveals vision for the NRLW competition