New Zealand produced arguably the biggest ever shock in international rugby league history when they defeated the “invincible” Australian side last weekend. Does this mean that the sport has re-established its reputation in the international arena? Sport.co.uk takes a look at what the last month means for rugby league’s future.
Regionalised interest
Historically one of rugby league’s greatest problems is that it has been a sport mainly based in northern England and Western Australia. The authorities have tried many ways of trying to spread the word with regional sides in the Super League and a New Zealand side in the NRL, however this has already had its problems. In the UK, the sport is dominated by imported players. Even as this article is being written, the new Celtic Crusaders franchise, based in Wales, has signed nine Australian journeymen players for their first season in the Super League. With Super League teams suffering from a small catchment area of local talent, it is, to a certain extent, understandable, but the international game will continue to suffer as a result.
Huge quality divide
Many of the officials will say that the rugby league World Cup has been a great success; given the surprising outcome, with the Kangaroos finally being toppled, the organisers appear to have a valid point. The problem still remains that barring the three major teams, all of the other nations competing are still amateur. How can you have a World Cup semi-final with one team destroying the other by 50+ points? The Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) needs to work with the smaller teams such as Ireland, Samoa and Tonga to ensure that their games develop so that they are capable of competing with the best ranked sides. Perhaps getting some of the larger teams to send their “A” teams on tour to these countries would be a suitable short-term compromise rather than have them compete in a World Cup environment where they invariably sink or swim.
Another problem with international rugby league is the qualification criteria for nations. Mark Calderwood was originally selected in the Scotland squad until a vacancy arose in the England squad. Quick as a flash, the kilt came off and he was wearing the English shirt. Indeed a number of the nations, when you look at them closely, were made up of player who are really English or Australian, but were not good enough to get picked for their home nation.
A bright future?
On the positive side, it was fascinating seeing these sides, from normally Rugby Union strongholds, trying their arm at League. The minnows almost had their own little tournament. With no chance of winning the tournament outright, they were grouped together and played out some fine battles. One of the best was watching Samoa vs Tonga – a reason why internationals at any sport can be so compelling. The prize for winning their own “mini-tournament” was a thrashing by Australia in the semi final and that was won by the fantastic Fijians.
Fiji are a great example of a nation that has some fantastic natural talent and one that if the RLIF are serious about international rugby league, should ensure are carefully managed; it is not beyond the realms of impossibility that this little nation could become a major banana skin in future international rugby league.