Are you not entertained? NRL walking a fine line between integrity and mass appeal
Like most major professional sports, the NRL sits uneasily in the middle of a dilemma: enhance entertainment or preserve its integrity?
More specifically, is the dominant responsibility of a sports administration to delight fans through a high-scoring, close contest that generates record attendance revenue and broadcast revenue?
Or is it to ensure that officials strictly comply with the sports rules, regardless of the situation of the match?
Todd Greenberg, a former NRL boss and now chief executive of Cricket Australia, says: “All sports leaders continue to be faced with the need to grow the revenues that ultimately fuel all of their sports from top to bottom, while ensuring the integrity of the sport is maintained and remains true.
“This is a delicate balance that requires careful thought and a long-term approach that recognizes both history and heritage.”
It’s a topic of particular relevance to the State of Origin series, which kicks off in Sydney on Wednesday.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has frequently declared that the game is primarily for entertainment and could channel Russell Crowe. gladiator, Crowe, as Maximus, after defeating a team of warriors, turns to the stunned and silent Roman crowd and asks, “Didn’t you have fun?” when you ask.
Perhaps Blues officials had expected a similar reaction from the NRL when they protested the penalty strike in the first half. second Origin match in Perth last year. The match ended with a win for Queensland and a large crowd in Sydney for the decider.
The last two Origin series opened the middle game. The Blues’ first try at the MCG in 2024 came in the 11th minute after five repeated sets, taking a 34-0 lead at half-time and eventually winning 38-18 to send the series to a decider in Brisbane.
That doesn’t mean the replay sets at the MCG or the penalties in Perth weren’t justified. Often the ones that make the difference are the ones that aren’t inflated, and players lose their cool in the face of a perceived injustice.
Rugby League Central ran a campaign aiming to capture a TV audience of four million in the lead-up to Origin; This is an understandable strategy at a time when the game is preparing to sell publishing rights.
Asked to comment on the issue of Entertainment v Integrity in the context of referee decisions in competitive Origin matches and the push for TV attention, V’landys said: “Integrity is paramount and always No. 1. Naturally, entertainment is crucial to the success of a sport for mass audiences. The two can co-exist. Implementing that is a challenge. I believe rugby league has been able to achieve the marriage between them.”
Umpires and umpires are expected to regulate the action, not dictate it. However, referees in my time at the Sydney competition later admitted that officials would occasionally come into their rooms at half-time and give them a pack of cigarettes. On the inside of the cover was written the penalty number in case an adjustment was needed in the second half.
Nearly 40 years later, game equalization became normalized in anticipation of fans. Referees have even more power in the NRL, where the scope for replayed sets has been expanded and they are rewarded without explanation.
The home team groans as they score another six on the away team and then try to cut the lead to 12-6, while their coach complains: “If we’re good enough to go 12-0, why does the 50-50 score prevent us from going 18-0?”
As one reader commented in a column I recently wrote about the impact of the six-repeat call: “Excitement is a strange emotion, credibility is a very solid state.”
Rugby union prides itself on its pedantic application of the rules and is the least susceptible to game manipulation of all football rules. Last year’s second Test between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions resulted in a penalty not awarded.
Australia led 26-24 when the Lions scored a late try to take a 2-0 series lead. There was significant debate ahead of the final try as to whether the referee should have awarded a penalty to the Lions.
His colleague Peter FitzSimons, a former Wallaby, wrote an article for this imprint in which his delight at the huge crowd and the interest in the match from Melbourne heavyweights such as Eddie McGuire was evident.
FitzSimons quoted a message McGuire sent him immediately after the game, congratulating him and his code for putting on a great display, but added: “I’m not sure why we didn’t take the last penalty. The referee has no idea how to set up a big result and a big final game. Another enthusiastic tax inspector ruins the game!”
Some might read this as removing the possibility of the umpire deciding a Test, without implying that the umpire does not understand his responsibility to create a Test.
The AFL recognizes its role in the entertainment industry. Its new rules for the 2026 season are designed to increase action and ensure more goals are scored; Likewise, the NRL claims the ball’s time in play is twice that of rugby union, yielding more tries. AFL fans are calling the fixture lists a “correction”.
They have long been accustomed to draws where the top teams are forced to play each other twice to reduce the number of unbalanced contests and achieve higher TV ratings.
However, the cost of greater entertainment through constant action leads to fatigue and increased injuries, shorter playing careers, and fear that the integrity of the game is being compromised.
Even cricket is not immune to the temptation to maximize commercial returns. Managers usually place India and Pakistan in the same group for an ODI or Twenty20 World Cup and ensure they play each other at least once. A T20 match between these two countries could fetch US$300 million ($420 million) in broadcast rights and an ODI match could bring in US$250 million. “This isn’t cricket” has come to mean something that isn’t fair, fair or decent.
Greenberg hinted that his management may have to adopt a more hands-off role in preparing wickets after the two Tests in last year’s Ashes series lasted two days. But Greenberg is aware of cricket’s reputation as the last bastion of fair sport, especially in the wake of the 2018 sandpaper scandal in South Africa.
“Test match cricket continues to innovate and evolve, but we are acutely aware of the need to preserve the essence of the game and the rules and regulations that make it so respected and loved by so many around the world,” Greenberg said.
Roy Masters is the Sydney Morning Herald’s Sports Columnist.Connect via email.
