Money trail unlikely to placate clubs as NRL posts $2.6m loss
The crucial question asked by rebelling NRL clubs -Â where has the money gone? - Â was answered at Rugby League Central on Monday when financial reports for 2016 were revealed.
Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald
The crucial question asked by rebelling NRL clubs -Â where has the money gone? - Â was answered at Rugby League Central on Monday when financial reports for 2016 were revealed.
The NSWRL and its independent chairman, George Peponis, are in a catch-22 position if the state body proceeds with its plan to nominate him to the ARLC.
Recommendations by AOC president John Coates for a review of the Australian Rugby League Commission constitution have met with broad acceptance by stakeholders, opening up the possibility of a future board of directors with rugby league experience nominated by the states and the 16 NRL clubs.
While John Coates, as IOC vice president, found a solution to the Russian problem on the eve of the Rio Olympics, he may find rugby league more challenging.
In most professional sports, tailored suits with delicately woven club motifs have replaced those old striped jackets with wired pocket insignia but the blazer mentality lives on in rugby league.
The reign of Peter Betros as the QRL's possible delegate to a revamped ARLC lasted only a week when the former referee resigned as the state president ahead of Friday's annual general meeting.
In a move to shut down possible communication between NRL players and gamblers, mobile phones will be banned from dressing rooms on game day.
The first of the official non independents seeking a position on the ARLC was decided on Thursday when the QRL board met and agreed president Peter Betros, a former referee, would be the state's representative.
Disappointed at the direction the ARLC has taken in the past 18 months, particularly the recent surrender by chairman John Grant to NRL clubs over funding, two of Australia's most prominent businessmen have resigned as commissioners.
A secret meeting of rugby league's once-warring state leagues agreed in Brisbane on Monday to demand a representative each on the ARLC.
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