Push by Alan Jones to remove rugby league supremos
SYDNEY, Australia - One of Australia's most respected broadcasters has thrown his weight behind News Corp's push to oust rugby league chief Dave Smith.
Jones has also taken aim at ARL Commission Chairman John Grant as News Corp started to step up efforts to oust him along with Smith, following Rupert Murdoch's personal disquiet at being sidelined in the code's recent broadcast rights negotiation, notwithstanding they only applied to free-to-air television rights, which do not directly affect Mr Murdoch's interests.
In a touch of irony, two decades ago Mr Jones was firmly in the Australian Rugby League's corner when it was last at war with Mr Murdoch's News Corporation.
News Corp continued to promote the idea of a rebel competition on Tuesday despite a meeting on Monday of all 16 rugby league clubs which backed the NRL and Smith, issuing a joint statement after their meeting saying they were united.
Yet Jones, who has a national radio audience greater than any other presenter, was on the warpath. Like News Corp's journalists he did not name any sources beyond News Corp's Phil Rothfield, the sports editor of The Daily Telegraph who he referred to as the source of his information time and time again.
Jones was commenting on his breakfast show on Tuesday morning on the high standard of rugby league being played at the moment and the closeness of the competition. "But it has to be said its no thanks to the administration of the game," he said. "Its fair to say the administration is a complete mess. There are too many people in head office. You don't need a team of 150 people to run the game of rugby league. This is not BHP. And too many in charge know nothing about the game," he said.
"It appears as though the clubs have had a gutful. Reports that the ARL Commission Chairman John Grant has been making frantic phone calls to angry club chairmen to prevent a new Super League style war. Now I am not too sure its gone that far or not, but the 12 clubs not aligned to the NRL are threatening a vote of no confidence in John Grant, the boss of the Commission. Some club chairmen say it is the first time he has contacted them. Its not just the botched NRL broadcast rights deal, which is a disgrace, but that anyone could be so dumb and nave is beyond belief, but David Smith and his team imagine this will past muster."
"It seems quite clear that the TV negotiations last week which saw Fox Sports and Telstra cut out of the deal is but one in a growing list of frustrations that the clubs have both with the CEO David Smith and the Australian Rugby League Commision Chairman John Grant," Jones said. "People are talking about a breakaway 12-team competition whether you like it or whether you don't. Four teams would be left out because they are propped up by the NRL. The West Tigers, St George Illawarra, Newcastle and the Gold Coast, they'd be left out but the push is on. And it's accelerated when News Corp partnered Channel 7 to give the AFL a record $2.5 billion television deal while David Smith is getting hairs on his chest announcing a 5 year $925 million deal with Channel 9 saying it would give fans four live free-to-air matches a week, the biggest deal in history, but Fox Sports who do a terrific job with Foxtel were left completely out of the negotiations, and so was Telstra," said an angry Jones
"Telstra is now threatening to withhold its sponsorship of the game, $8 million a year. Its been associated with the NRL for 17 seasons. Who's going to get a new naming rights sponsor? asked the 2GB broadcaster, notwithstanding that a day earlier Telstra said the claims by News Corp were untrue. "Reports that Telstra is looking to not renew our NRL naming rights are untrue," a Telstra spokesperson told the Australian Financial Review on Monday. "We are proud of what we have built with the NRL to date and are in negotiations to continue our partnership beyond 2017. We are unable to comment further as negotiations are ongoing."
Jones was clearly unaware of this statement as he was sourcing his material from News Corp newspapers which continue to convey the view that Telstra has puled or is 'threatening' to pull the sponsorship.
"Phil Rothfield has written about this game for years and years. He made the very valid point yesterday that David Smith's 3 year reign in charge of rugby league must end. He said the clubs and the fans have had enough, crowds are at their lowest for more than a decade. He made the point that Telstra's deal worth $8 million a year they won't renew it. And as Phil Rothfield said noone wants another breakaway competition like Super League but a rebel competition has certainly been discussed amongst disgruntled clubs," said Jones. "They're refusing to sign the NRL participation agreements beyond 2017 and Phil Rothfield makes a very valid point that the rebel competition would be easy. Twelve of the 16 clubs will be off contract by the time the next television rights deal kicks in . They wouldn't need to spend billions this time because they would already have everyone on board bar the four who are tied to the NRL. Sell the rights to Channel 10 and Fox Sports and you've got a $2 billion deal," Jones said
"Wrote Phil Rothfiield on Sunday, it's become clear that Dave Smith and members of the independent commission have lost the confidence of the clubs. He said the anger and the frustration over Smith and chairman John Grant are growing every day. Either they go or the clubs take matters into their own hands, " Jones added.
At odds with Jones views, which to be fair were largely echoing the views of The Daily Telegraph Sports Editor Phil Rothfield, all 16 club chairmen issued a joint statement after their Monday afternoon telephone conference, which despite being touted as a crisis meeting to discuss the TV rights deal, had been scheduled well before either broadcast rights deal was announced.
"Despite speculation to the contrary, all 16 clubs are united in our approach and we look forward to continuing these discussions with the NRL in a timely manner," the joint statement said.
"Given recent developments the meeting was timely, even though it had long been planned."
"As has been the way since our June meeting, positive discussions continue," the 16 clubs chairmen said.
Phil Gould, head of the Penrith Panthers club who fought News Corp alongside Alan Jones to defend rugby league against News Corp's Super League War is having none of the Jones rhetoric this time round. "While we all have varying reservations about the competency of the current NRL administration, we would be playing into the hands of News Limited's campaign if those of us who are not part of the News propaganda machine were to join them in putting the boot into Dave Smith and the NRL. There will be time for that at a later date if Smith and the Commission can't deliver. But we should give them their chance," he wrote in his regular Sydney Morning Herald column on Wednesday.
He was also supportive of the current TV rights deal negotiated by the National Rugby league.
"The NRL's free-to-air deal was lauded only a week ago for giving those fans without pay TV an increase from two games to four live games in prime time viewing slots. It also delivered a huge increase in the value of the TV and digital rights packages," Gould wrote Wednesday. "Add that to the fact the NRL is taking back control of the scheduling from the broadcasters and this is a great deal for everyone in our game, especially the fans. It's four live games a week for FREE!!!"
"We can presume also that there are people in the NRL involved in these dealings who have a strategy. One part of that strategy would be free-to-air TV rights. That part of that strategy has been successful. I assume they are now working toward an end goal that will give the game a deal it deserves. We should wait until then before passing judgement," said Gould.
"It's simply amazing that the same journalists currently slamming NRL CEO Dave Smith, were completely silent during the years of the previous administration when they signed pay TV deal after pay TV deal with broadcasters that were grossly below market value because their employers owned the game. The minute the media company was removed from the ownership of the game, the TV broadcast rights for rugby league more than doubled. Go figure, eh! The massive underfunding that occurred within the game during the period rugby league was owned by a media company did far more damage to the game than anything that could be thrown up at this current administration," Gould added in his Sydney Morning Herald column.
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