Why COVID-19 could be more damaging than Super League war

The last time the game faced a crisis of similar magnitude to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kerry Packer’s right hand man Graham Richardson famously asked if the Australian Rugby League had any assets.

Told that the ARL had $22 million in the bank,  Richardson questioned what the money was for.

“We’re saving it for a rainy day,” ARL chairman Ken Arthurson replied.

“Well put your head out the window, it is pissing down,” Richardson said.

That conversation took place in the office of ARL CEO John Quayle after the 1995 outbreak of the Super League war that bought the game to its knees in a way that the coronavirus is now threatening to.

Television deals were jeopardised, the survival of clubs was in doubt, players had differing views about playing and fans turned away.

By the time the ARL and News Corp agreed to a peace deal after the split season of 1997 that led to the formation of the NRL, the landscape of the game had changed considerably.

They were crazy days and it was a time of great uncertainty as no-one knew what was going to happen next.

Anything and everything was possible – from Sydney Roosters, South Sydney and Balmain officials meeting to discuss a three-way merger, St George moving to Adelaide and clubs providing players for a draft to bolster new teams.

There was even talk of rugby league and rugby union re-uniting as one code after Packer responded to Rupert Murdoch’s raid on the ARL ranks by signing Wallabies and All Blacks players for his breakaway World Rugby Championship.

The NSW and Queensland premierships continued to be played in 1919 during the Spanish ‘flu pandemic that killed about 15,000 Australians and up to 50 million people worldwide but the Super League war is the best comparison to the challenges the code now faces.

The COVID-19 pandemic may even be more damaging, with ARLC chairman Peter V’landys warning of “catastrophic” consequences for the game if the competition can’t continue.

The “second bunker”

The NRL has established a “war room” at Rugby League Central, labelled by CEO Todd Greenberg as the “second bunker”, where staff members consider all possible scenarios for a draw comprising of less than 16 teams.

If a player contracts the virus, his team-mates will also be isolated until cleared along with their previous opponents so two matches could be effected for that round.

The NRL is prepared for the other matches to go ahead and those teams to play catch up games later in the season.

A similar scenario has already occurred in Super League after Leeds did not travel to France last weekend to play Catalans after one of the Rhinos players was being tested for COVID-19.

If the match had gone ahead and he tested positive, all Leeds and Catalans players would need to be isolated but the two teams are now free to play and can re-schedule their match.

“We've got a small room here, call it the ‘second bunker’, with staff literally running through draw after draw and permutations of lower numbers of teams,” Greenberg said.

“We're working through all of that so we can try and deal with it when it's presented.”

There is also the capacity to suspend the competition for two-to-four weeks and push back the grand final, possibly as late as November.

The uncertainty over each match is frustrating but during the Super League war there was uncertainty over the entire competition, with a Federal Court injunction lifted only hours before kick-off in the season-opening game between Illawarra and Western Suburbs in Wollongong.

Seven of the 10 matches in the opening rounds were forfeits after players at Super League clubs refused to play, but the Warriors claimed the two competition points by flying a team of players from the Auckland competition to Brisbane, who forfeited.

It has been proposed that other NRL clubs lend the Warriors players to enable them to continue playing in Australia until New Zealand lifts travel bans requiring anyone entering the country to undergo two weeks of isolation.

"Rainy day" fund

Under the terms of the $1.8 billion broadcast deal with Nine and Fox Sports, the NRL has agreed to provide eight Telstra Premiership matches each round.

It has been reported that the value of each round is $13 million so each game is therefore worth more than $1.6 million.

For that reason alone, the NRL hopes that the Warriors can continue playing. A 15-team competition would mean one less game and over the course of the season would cost the game about $35 million.

The ARL was faced with a similar predicament when Gold Coast Seagulls folded at the end of the 1995 season and after taking control of the licence the league established the Gold Coast Chargers to fulfil their broadcast commitments of 10 matches per round.

The huge increase in wages from a bidding war with News for talent saw the ARL’s “rainy day” fund quickly evaporate and loyal clubs received Optus Vision grants to enable them to keep afloat.

With each game played in a closed stadium estimated to cost about $500,000 in gate receipts, the NRL has already handed out grants totalling more than $6 million to clubs and promised to help keep them afloat.

However, if the crisis continues for most of the season the cost could rival the $1 billion spent by the rival factions during the Super League war – resulting in severe cuts across the game as the NRL has limited cash reserves.

Greenberg said agreements with the RLPA and other bodies included a material adverse change clause.

“In the funding agreements with every constituent in the game, when the revenues drop there’s an ability for us to renegotiate some of the deals,” Greenberg said.

“We’re not suggesting that is what we are doing, but we’re saying that is our contracts.”

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of the NRL, ARLC, NRL clubs or state associations.