Published: 4 May 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
WHILE THE AUSTRALIAN RULES AFL season has suffered, the Rugby League’s NRL is more at risk of toppling over, the Age’s sports writer Daniel Cherny said during an on online panel discussion on Sunday.
“Michael Chammas, my colleague at the Sydney Morning Herald, put it best when he wrote: ‘for the AFL not to be playing at the moment, it’s like losing a limb. And for the NRL it’s like being decapitated’,” Cherny told the panel, hosted by senior sports writer Ashley Browne.
“I think that’s about right. For the AFL, not playing has cost them a lot of money and a lot of people will lose their jobs. Obviously, players have had to take pay cuts too. But for the NRL, not playing poses an existential threat.”
Sydney-based reporter Daniel Garb, who spent nearly a decade with Fox Sports, held grave fears for the future of Rugby Union.
“There are massive concerns for rugby union in this country. Australia’s the most difficult sporting market in the world, bar none. Sports underneath AFL, NRL and cricket can’t afford to make mistakes.
“Rugby Australia have made so many errors, including at grassroots level. They are low on participation numbers, low on TV numbers, low on crowds. And this has all happened in the year of an expiring TV deal. Where on earth do they go to from here. Who knows?”
Carly Adno, who writes mainly on football and the A-League, said recent months nearly turned disastrous for the competition.
“The A-League was reaching the business end of the season (when COVID–19 restrictions began) and a season when crowds have been quite low, with quite a few negatives.
“It was the worst possible time for the football season to be interrupted.”
But news that Fox Sports had recently paid the $12 million instalment of its broadcast deal with FFA offered hope.
“At least the FFA can begin planning the rest of the season.”
The reporters all rejected suggestions that canned noise should replace the sound of empty stadiums – if and when seasons resume.
On the various scenarios for competitions to resume, they urged players to consider – including quarantine hubs.
“If this is their job and they’re required to isolate in a hub for a few weeks – and I totally understand the sacrifice involved – but if this is one of the requirements to continue a season, then it’s one of those things that has to be done,” Adno said.
Cherny agreed. He said the unexpected nature of events, demanded adjustments for everyone “there is no ideal solution. The rule book has been thrown out the door.”
Photo: Carly Adno speaking at the The Jewish Independent online discussion on Sunday
