bonaire wrote:
Super League clubs hold all the cards.
RFL will have to get realistic.They play second fiddle now in every aspect of Rugby League so will have to get used to it.
Sky may pay the money now but without the Super League Clubs there is no game so they will do nothing,
The interesting thing for me will be the negotiations for TV rights when they come up which i think will be negotiated by Super League and not the RFL
In this scenario, the current RFL effectively becomes an adjunct of SL, or withers away or there’s a split (again). Whatever, there’s still a need for a governing body - if this an attempt to effectively replace the existing one it could work. If there’s a genuine effort to work together seamlessly as co-equal partners... that’s a nice thought.
If there’s an assumption that everybody will fall into line because they’ve no other option, then you underestimate how little some stakeholders have left to lose, imo.
I like the image of Elstone smacking down Sky though, on a number of levels.
I don’t think the RFL have done a great job in recent years. Not remotely. However the optimal number of decision making bodies is one, imo. if there is more than one there needs to be a clear hierarchy or an agreed and precise division of responsibilities. I’m not sure we have that - yet.
Maybe SL clubs tried to implement reforms through the RFL and grew frustrated and gave up. I’m not blaming them; maybe this was the best feasible option. But I don’t think it’s the best imagineable.
SL clubs might hold all the cards, but you can bet that soon enough some will want to play them differently to others.
