Re: What now? : Tue Oct 12, 2021 8:22 am
Long winded but last but one paragraph is the kicker.rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads
Discord: Fork it; rugby league finds itself at another fork in the road
By STEVE MASCORD
SEEING a narrative where others see none is something that I’ve always done. That’s handy in my line of work but when I met my biological relatives after being an adopted kid, I also saw that it ran in the family.
My late uncle John literally once described crossing the road as like it was a celestial miracle.
These days, change is apparent everywhere. Covid, the rise of populism, identity politics. Although some people do manage it, it doesn’t take me or Uncle John to convince most people that these things are real and that society is changing in fundamental ways.
Likewise in rugby league, we have had many long periods since 1895 when not much has changed. But the things that have happened in recent years have been seismic by almost any fan’s measure: the birth and death of Toronto, the impact on our major competitions of Covid, the postponement of the World Cup and, at the weekend, one French team playing in the grand final and another qualifying for Super League next year.
I want you to imagine all these events on a timeline - the dates on top of the line and a brief description of the events on the bottom. Now zoom out.
In 1996 we had the first overseas team in Super League. In 1998 we had the first grand final. In 2009 Toulouse joined the Championship.
On one hand we can see progress. The British system expands across the channel, a French club goes bust, it’s replaced by another, the club becomes successful, another club joins it in the top flight.
But when we talk about real significant change, it goes beyond that. It goes to actual definition of success changing. As an example, will professional sports clubs still be travelling in the years ahead, due to the Climate Crisis, like they were before Covid? Has the wave of Northern Pride made it acceptable to brandish that which once made us embarrassed?
The NRL is only now retracing one of its four big steps from 1995 by re-adding a second Brisbane team. Thirty years ago, we had a team in Perth. Now there is not more than a passing thought of doing so.
The very definition of success in professional sport is flickering and under debate.
On Saturday I attended the Super League grand final between Catalans and St Helens as a fan. Truth be told, Old Trafford has seen better days. Even with category one tickets, it was apparent the seats were cramped and the concourses basic.
To the left and behind me were the Catalans fans, to whom we sell no satellite dishes or away pies and pints. To my right a sea of St Helens fans - but still only a big enough sea to fill their end.
The narrative I saw was another fork in the road for the game. The game is not just deciding whether to go left or right but which way is left and which way is right. Two days later we all read colleague Ross Heppenstall’s story in which an unnamed club official said every club would secretly be against even one team in France, let alone two.
Think about that: Catalans are actually less popular than Toronto. Then again, the ‘report’ into the viability of North American expansion found that Catalans bring no commercial benefit to Super League - so we shouldn’t be surprised.
The next day I stood with my wife and my best friend, a rugby league nut home from the United States where he lives, and cheered on Toulouse as they convincingly secured their place in Super League.
This seems like progress to us but, as I said, the very definition of progress is up for debate now.
And the people whose definition matters will soon not be Wigan or St Helens or Warrington but the Private Equity group ploughing £70 million or £100 million into the sport. They will decide if two teams in France is going to make the sport money or not, whether it’s an opportunity or a pipe dream.
And my story, your story and Uncle John's story will not matter.
