tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/rugby-league-1646/articlesRugby league – The Conversation2023-05-25T22:30:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062732023-05-25T22:30:03Z2023-05-25T22:30:03Z‘Whose side are you on mate?’ How no one is free from bias – including referees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527926/original/file-20230524-17-w6g0dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C2968%2C1980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Jason Paris, head of the company that sponsors the New Zealand Warriors NRL team, <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2023/05/nrl-one-nz-chief-executive-jason-paris-stands-by-accusations-of-referee-bias-against-warriors-despite-nrl-investigation.html">complained recently</a> about Australian referee bias, more than a few heads will have nodded in agreement. </p>
<p>Sports fans often think the ref is biased against their team – penalising them for the very same actions the other side is getting away with.</p>
<p>But taking the element of trans-Tasman rivalry out of the argument for the moment, it’s worth asking whether it’s even possible for referees to operate without being unconsciously influenced by factors beyond their immediate control. </p>
<p>The honest answer is probably not – despite most professional sporting bodies <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2022/04/nrl-2022-referees-boss-graham-annesley-denies-unconscious-bias-against-nz-warriors-but-experts-disagree.html">regularly rejecting claims of bias</a>.</p>
<p>It’s clear from a wide range of research that, while it’s unlikely professional referees consciously cheat, they are likely to be affected by unconscious biases. In fact, referee bias has been reported in pretty much <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/doi/full/10.1080/17461391.2020.1845814">every aspect of most sports</a>, including the use of yellow cards, red cards and penalty kicks. </p>
<p>None of this is surprising, or even particularly critical of referees. Humans are all subject to unconscious bias, and it’s very difficult to overcome.</p>
<h2>Confirmation bias is real</h2>
<p>We all use a range of reasoning shortcuts – also known as “heuristics” – to make decisions and assessments. While useful, many of these shortcuts can lead us astray, despite our best efforts. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.donchristoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/nickerson1998.pdf">one such heuristic</a> leads us to notice evidence that confirms positions we already hold and to overlook evidence that is inconsistent with those views. </p>
<p>This tendency – known as confirmation bias – has its uses. It lets us make quick decisions when we don’t have the time to consider all the evidence. And it may reduce mental conflict and increase self-esteem, since it reduces how often we have to acknowledge we were wrong. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-refs-are-better-than-one-so-why-does-the-nrl-want-to-drop-one-138722">Two refs are better than one, so why does the NRL want to drop one?</a>
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<p>However, confirmation bias can also be problematic. In one striking <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/science/article/pii/S0379073805005876?casa_token=Y9036DWsDzMAAAAA:8v5PA8G2_llUk5uCyPLZ-TYlWqCwDplgNboc2ZbWKn3dTP-uxjA8PPG_pTSkG2KcEpd6jJEthRLC">non-sports experiment</a>, researchers asked five fingerprint experts to say whether a suspect’s fingerprints matched those from a crime scene. They didn’t tell the experts that they’d seen those same fingerprints five years earlier. </p>
<p>The experts had no reason to remember them, and they didn’t realise that five years earlier, they’d said they were a match. This time they were told they were looking into a probable case of mistaken identity; that the prints taken from the crime scene probably didn’t match those taken from the suspect. </p>
<p>Now only one of the five experts said they matched. Given exactly the same prints, but primed to look for evidence that the fingerprints didn’t match, their judgement changed.</p>
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<h2>Expectations influence outcomes</h2>
<p>What does all this have to do with referees? Well, they’re only human. Even if not consciously biased, they will have expectations about how players and teams will perform, and there is evidence that this influences their judgements.</p>
<p>In one <a href="https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/auckland/reader.action?docID=819267&ppg=144">experiment</a>, researchers took advantage of the common practice in gymnastics of coaches ordering their competitors from weakest first to strongest last. </p>
<p>Films of competitors were reordered and the judges asked to rank them. Where in this lineup the the competitors appeared significantly affected the scoring, with the same routine receiving a higher or lower score depending on where it was positioned.</p>
<p>We suspect those expectations are one reason dominant teams and players tend to have close calls go their way. </p>
<p>Referees expect to see some players pull off moves that bring them close to infringing but which don’t cross that line. They are more likely to make a call against a journeyman player who they don’t expect to pull off the miracle play. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/split-second-decisions-with-little-praise-so-what-does-it-take-to-ref-a-game-of-nrl-57553">Split-second decisions with little praise: so what does it take to ref a game of NRL</a>
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<h2>Refs aren’t superhuman</h2>
<p>Just like the fingerprint experts, confirmation bias leads them to see the same evidence differently. And if referees do have these kinds of expectations, it would be very difficult for them to factor these out of their decision making. </p>
<p>The fingerprint experts didn’t intend to tailor their judgements to suit the views they’d been primed to hold. Further, they made their judgements under calm laboratory conditions, with the evidence in front of them and plenty of time and equipment to examine and consider it.</p>
<p>It would be truly remarkable if referees – obliged to make calls in the heat of the moment, with pressure from players and crowds – were not at least equally affected. Referees would need to be superhuman to be immune to these dangers.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/cognitive-biases-and-brain-biology-help-explain-why-facts-dont-change-minds-186530">Cognitive biases and brain biology help explain why facts don’t change minds</a>
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<p>There are also more straightforward sources of bias. <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/science/article/pii/S0165176520303815">Recent research</a> into the Bundesliga, German football’s highest division, took advantage of empty stadiums during the COVID pandemic to explore the influence of vocal crowd support on referees. Unsurprisingly, the evidence suggests it does have an influence. </p>
<p>Pre-COVID, referees gave fewer fouls and yellow cards for the home team relative to the away team. These differences changed during the crowd-free matches, so that home teams were treated less favourably than before.</p>
<p>None of this is meant as a dig at referees. They are surely aware of the research on bias, and receive training and support to address it. But confirmation bias is difficult, if not impossible, to beat. Maybe we just have to accept it as part of the game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Referees would need to be superhuman to be immune to the risk of bias – maybe that’s something all sports fans could agree on.Tim Dare, Professor of Philosophy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauJustine Kingsbury, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004372023-03-30T20:03:22Z2023-03-30T20:03:22ZMore Pacific rugby league stars are opting to play for their homelands over Australia or NZ – that’s good for the game<p>With this year’s National Rugby League (NRL) season now up and running, the prevalence of Pacific players in the tournament is again obvious to see. All NRL teams now feature stars with Pacific nations heritage – indeed, it’s hard to imagine the game without them.</p>
<p>That pride in playing in the top leagues is now extending to which nation those Pacific players choose to represent at the international level. </p>
<p>In 2017, the International Rugby League (the sport’s global governing body) <a href="https://www.intrl.sport/media/2wkkftdm/irl-eligibility-rules-2020-to-publishpdf.pdf">changed the eligibility rules</a>, allowing players with ancestral lineage from more than one country the right to choose which nation they represent. </p>
<p>The ripple effect has been significant. Many Pacific players have decided to play for their motherlands. This is despite many of them being eligible to play for Australia or New Zealand, traditionally the more conventional career goal for these elite athletes. </p>
<p>On the field, the impact has been evident too. Last year’s Rugby League World Cup saw Toa Samoa become the first Pacific nation to <a href="https://www.nrl.com/draw/rugby-league-world-cup/2022/final/game-1/">reach the final</a>. Samoa’s success built on the <a href="https://www.journal.mai.ac.nz/content/cultural-pride-exploring-indigenous-athlete-culture-and-wellbeing">rise of Mate Ma’a Tonga</a> at the previous world cup in 2017. </p>
<p>It has been a validation of the decision by so many Pacific players to pull on their ancestral home’s jersey – and an inspiration for younger, ambitious footballers now kicking off their own seasons at the grassroots level.</p>
<h2>Hearts before bank balances</h2>
<p>For many of those top players, changing allegiance during the peak of their careers has meant sacrificing the substantial monetary rewards of contracting to the Australian or New Zealand national sides. </p>
<p>It has also meant choosing their ancestral homeland over their country of birth. As New Zealand–born Tongan <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu0xheFXKXY">Sio Taukeiaho has said</a>, it is a tough decision but one that involves following their hearts: </p>
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<p>It shows how much they want to put this jersey on, and how much they want to represent their family and people back in Tonga.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rugby-leagues-relaxed-rules-for-diaspora-players-gave-the-sport-a-new-lease-of-life-88104">How rugby league's relaxed rules for diaspora players gave the sport a new lease of life</a>
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<p>The choice to represent that inter-generational familial legacy also highlights the role of cultural values in the arena of professional sports. As <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41978-022-00122-w">we have written</a> about this phenomenon, “Many [players] are forced to work in an environment which privileges individual capitalism over their cultural values of service.”</p>
<p>One player who knows what this means in practice is Michael Jennings, former NRL star and seven-time Australian international, who <a href="https://www.athletesvoice.com.au/michael-jennings-tonga-world-cup-revolution/">chose to play for Tonga</a> in 2017:</p>
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<p>It’s been an honour and a privilege to represent Australia in seven tests […] I’ll always cherish those memories. But it’s a very different feeling playing for Tonga. There’s more emotion in the Tonga jersey. You know what your family has been through, and you think about them every time you put it on. We’re not representing ourselves. We’re representing our families and our heritage.</p>
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<h2>Growing the game</h2>
<p>To put this revolution in context, at the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, 22 of Toa Samoa’s 24-strong squad would have been eligible to play for Australia or New Zealand; all but one of the Mate Ma'a Tonga squad had dual eligibility.</p>
<p>While not all of these players might have made the bigger nations’ national sides, of course, several notable players opted to choose their heritage nation over Australia or New Zealand, including <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/au/rugby-league/news/state-origin-star-brian-too-pledges-allegiance-samoa-ahead-rugby-league-world-cup/kjotyqkgymtvxli7hgmwy5zm">Brian To'o</a>, <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/martin-taupau-pledges-allegiance-to-samoa-after-24-tests-for-new-zealand/news-story/80fc6164c52cf4449c70d278b7f56714">Martin Taupau</a>, <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2022/09/rugby-league-sydney-roosters-wonderkid-joseph-suaalii-rejects-australia-to-play-for-samoa-at-world-cup.html">Joseph Sua'ali'i</a> and <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/113595085/addin-fonuablake-believes-more-kiwis-will-make-the-switch-to-represent-island-nations">Addin Fonua-Blake</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-both-schooling-and-sport-australia-has-slowly-come-to-recognise-its-aboriginal-talent-pool-93637">In both schooling and sport, Australia has slowly come to recognise its Aboriginal talent pool</a>
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<p>In turn, high-profile Pacific players who choose to play for their homelands increase awareness of the game’s place in the Pacific, and help grow the code internationally – something commentators have long said <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-winners-of-rugby-league-are-not-trying-hard-enough-to-expand-the-international-game-86498">needs to be a priority</a>.</p>
<p>All of these trends within the modern game were evident in February this year, when Rotorua hosted the first NRL Indigenous and Māori <a href="https://nzrl.co.nz/new-zealand-to-host-2023-all-stars/">All Stars tournament</a>, featuring both wāhine (women) and tāne (men). </p>
<p>For wāhine Māori All Star and Parramatta Eels player Kennedy Cherrington, pulling on the Māori jersey was the “<a href="https://www.teaomaori.news/pinnacle-my-career-cherrington-commits-all-stars-despite-nrl-uncertainty">pinnacle of my career</a>”. For tāne Māori All Star and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs regular Hayze Perham, returning home to Rotorua to debut for a national Indigenous side in front of his family was a “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/maori-all-stars-debut-in-rotorua-a-dream-come-true-for-rising-league-star-hayze-perham/SKC6Y63RLND7NM534WHWW3RUMY/">dream come true</a>”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-winners-of-rugby-league-are-not-trying-hard-enough-to-expand-the-international-game-86498">Why the winners of rugby league are not trying hard enough to expand the international game</a>
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<p>For New Zealand-born players now based in Australia, as well as visiting Indigenous players, the tournament’s emphasis on te reo Māori (Māori language) and cultural protocols such as pōwhiri (welcoming ceremonies) can only have deepened the game’s connection to values beyond the purely commercial.</p>
<p>If the trend continues, and more top players make decisions based on factors other than pay and country of birth, the chances of a Pacific nation winning the World Cup will only increase. That will be cause for celebration at home, of course, but it will also be good for the game on the global pitch, now and for future generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sierra Keung has worked as an adviser to the NRL's wellbeing programme, including evaluating the inaugural Pacific Advisory Wellbeing Group conference.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dion Enari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By choosing to play for their ancestral homes, Pacific footballers might lose the chance of bigger pay checks, but they still win at a cultural level. And the payoff for the game is immense.Sierra Keung, Lecturer in Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of TechnologyDion Enari, Lecturer in Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1961232022-12-08T00:34:08Z2022-12-08T00:34:08ZSport NZ’s transgender guidelines are a good start – but can they filter up from grassroots to elite competition?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499664/original/file-20221207-20-v6q07a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C291%2C3244%2C1936&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The release this week of Sport NZ’s new <a href="https://sportnz.org.nz/diversity-and-inclusion/transgender-inclusion/guiding-principles-for-the-inclusion-of-transgender-people-in-community-sport/">Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport</a> caused a minor and predictable controversy. One former parliamentarian called the guidelines “woke ideology”. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson responded that such opposition was “petty and small-minded”.</p>
<p>In reality, the guidelines are the result of <a href="https://sportnz.org.nz/media/okjhw2n2/summary-of-feedback-final-1.pdf">extensive consultation</a> over two years. They’re a response to national sports organisations calling for help in navigating the uncharted waters of imagining sport beyond the gender binary. </p>
<p>They recommend supporting athletes to participate in community sport in the gender they identify as. Sports organisations are now tasked with developing new or revised policies that prioritise inclusion.</p>
<p>While some, such as <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/128052313/who-gets-to-play-how-nz-rugby-is-navigating-transgender-inclusion">NZ Rugby</a> and <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/08/30/boxing-nz-to-create-open-category-for-transgender-athletes/">Boxing New Zealand</a>, are already working on transgender policies, the guidelines offer a clear road map for the consultative process, with the support of Sport NZ.</p>
<p>Recognising this will be different for each sport, Sport NZ CEO <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/300757598/transgender-athletes-can-participate-in-community-sport-says-sport-nz">Raelene Castle says</a> the guidelines are simply a good “start point for conversation”. At their core is the principle of inclusion, based on wellbeing and safety, privacy and dignity, and removing discrimination, bullying and harassment.</p>
<p>By gaining confidence through this process, it’s hoped sports organisations will recognise that making sport safer and more inclusive is ultimately beneficial for all. The question now, however, is whether change at the grassroots level can filter up to elite sports, which are most often governed and directed by policies set by international bodies. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499659/original/file-20221207-21-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Sport NZ CEO Raelene Castle speaking at the World Conference on Women & Sport in Auckland in November 2022.</span>
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<h2>A blurry line</h2>
<p>Sport NZ and High Performance Sport New Zealand have committed to supporting national sporting bodies navigate the rules and regulations applied by international sporting organisations. In practice, however, the boundaries between community and national and international elite sports are blurry. </p>
<p>Access to sport is a <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Human_Rights_in_sport__CAS_report_updated_16.04.2021_.pdf">human right</a>. It has many social, psychological and physical benefits that should be available to all. The <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/19/1064">principles and practices of inclusion</a> don’t observe boundaries between community and elite sport, and many sports organisations are struggling to balance competitive fairness with inclusiveness, and <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80262-985-920221005/full/html">governance with human rights law</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-way-we-talk-about-olympian-laurel-hubbard-has-real-consequences-for-all-transgender-people-163418">Why the way we talk about Olympian Laurel Hubbard has real consequences for all transgender people</a>
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<p>Some international organisations continue to reinforce gender binary norms in elite sport with policies based on <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32764-3/fulltext">increasingly outdated views of biological sex</a>. Others are working towards policies that recognise changing understandings of gender in wider society.</p>
<p>A year ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released <a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/News/2021/11/IOC-Framework-Fairness-Inclusion-Non-discrimination-2021.pdf">updated guidelines</a> for inclusion of transgender and intersex athletes. No athlete should be excluded from competing based on an “unverified, alleged or perceived unfair competitive advantage due to their sex variations, physical appearance and/or transgender status”.</p>
<p>The guidelines recognised decades of significant harm caused to athletes who have experienced unethical and “medically unnecessary” procedures and treatments to meet previous selection criteria. Indeed, the widespread use of so-called “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p081682">sex testing</a>” justified by sporting criteria has been a gross <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/12/04/theyre-chasing-us-away-sport/human-rights-violations-sex-testing-elite-women">violation of human rights</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499663/original/file-20221207-23-ct0mb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lia Thomas competing at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in the US in March 2022.</span>
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<h2>Resistance and reaction</h2>
<p>The media attention and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21674795221116884?casa_token=gcxflDs8rj8AAAAA%3Ara_7QtvkzPGwulsi9ktbjI75cGHjRNmt72IxxKE7m4wRkIFw_tkUdxPQaV-dloKjNgYl2gGx5kh5Lg">polarising debates</a> surrounding high-profile transgender athletes like New Zealand Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and US swimmer Lia Thomas have prompted some sports organisations to revise their policies, often under duress. </p>
<p>Rowing USA, for instance, has just announced a new <a href="https://usrowing.org/documents/2022/11/28/USRowing_GenderIdentityPolicy_20221201.pdf">Gender Identity Policy</a>. Domestic athletes can now participate based on their “expressed gender identity”. </p>
<p>Some are concerned that opening competition in this way essentially eliminates the “women’s category”. Others see such initiatives as a move towards <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1012690219889621">reimagining sport</a> as safe, supportive and inclusive of people across the gender spectrum.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-debate-over-transgender-athletes-rights-is-testing-the-current-limits-of-science-and-the-law-162593">The debate over transgender athletes' rights is testing the current limits of science and the law</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Other sports have taken a different stance. World Rugby <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80262-985-920221006/full/html">banned transgender women</a> from women’s rugby in 2020. And earlier this year the aquatic sports federation FINA banned transgender swimmers, <a href="https://resources.fina.org/fina/document/2022/06/19/525de003-51f4-47d3-8d5a-716dac5f77c7/FINA-INCLUSION-POLICY-AND-APPENDICES-FINAL-.pdf">reintroducing measures</a> <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/378/bmj.o1843.full.pdf">described by one critic</a> as “an unacceptable erosion of bodily autonomy for women and girls”.</p>
<p>And various other sporting bodies have introduced trans-exclusionary policies, including the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/rugby-league-joins-clampdown-transgender-athletes-womens-sport-rcna34734">International Rugby League</a> and the <a href="https://www.bicycling.com/news/a40320907/uci-transgender-policy-2022/">International Cycling Union</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1600226617363927040"}"></div></p>
<h2>From guidelines to policies</h2>
<p>Bans on trans athletes are often justified on the ground of biology and science. The counter-argument is that the research on transgender sports performance is <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/469578/too-early-for-bans-with-research-on-trans-women-athletes-in-its-infancy-academic">too new</a> to make definitive calls this early. But one <a href="http://www.athleteally.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The-Future-of-Womens-Sport-includes-Transgender-Women-and-Girls-Statement_11.15.21.pdf">analysis of the literature</a> concluded “the future of women’s sport includes transgender women and girls”. </p>
<p>As the new book <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/9781802629859">Justice for Trans Athletes</a> shows, transgender athletes experience many challenges, including stigma, discrimination and gender-based violence. Sport NZ is to be commended for recognising its responsibility to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00918369.2019.1696104?casa_token=yYrLzA4R-sgAAAAA%3Aoh6v1dKmYymG7riM70mxi-Zq7gxDkJ88ewzvHo8fD1lEbD_j1x1amEOG_FDVTgOtP5Ys-PA76hfk6w">take such trauma into account</a>, given the harm that can be done during “debates” about the participation of an already <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19419899.2021.1897033">marginalised and often vulnerable</a> group.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/polarising-sensational-media-coverage-of-transgender-athletes-should-end-our-research-shows-a-way-forward-187250">Polarising, sensational media coverage of transgender athletes should end – our research shows a way forward</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Local sporting bodies will not lose funding if they don’t adopt the principles within their inclusion and diversity policies, but the Sport NZ guidelines clearly identify expectations for best practice. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen how national and international sports organisations implement and regulate such guidelines if and when some sporting bodies refuse to voluntarily adopt them. Given the onus is on organisations to carve their own paths, there is a lot of room for alternative interpretations of what are essentially still only recommendations.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/Fulltext/2019/06000/Transgender_Policy_in_Sport,_A_Review_of_Current.10.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2AGlQBfbUmpZBRCLk9PLC0IqA2F7Uu9qkuXslpQrUt0ZxgEjd_etz0DXs">sports medicine</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10126902211072765?casa_token=llo2C9lmzXkAAAAA%3A3inLslv0PgbBlwHtZLQ7v4rR_vmSM4JDgqWWy7SbFpV69FlpYPkfKWOxtxwyv7uvahsTz8f0mtbGEg">social science</a> scholars acknowledge, developing overarching policy on transgender participation in sport remains complex and messy. Introducing guidelines and frameworks rather than enforceable policy may be a lighter touch, but it sends a clear message of an organisational commitment to change.</p>
<p>Starting from a place of inclusion is an important sign of progress. But it will be a shame if this important human rights issue becomes tangled and lost in the all-too-familiar power plays and politics of global sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196123/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Holly Thorpe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It remains to be seen how sports organisations implement and regulate transgender guidelines if some sporting bodies refuse to voluntarily adopt them.Holly Thorpe, Professor in Sociology of Sport and Gender, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851322022-07-15T00:28:49Z2022-07-15T00:28:49ZThe Barassi Line: a globally unique divider splitting Australia’s footy fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471991/original/file-20220701-16-ue86sm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C1140%2C848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikidata Fellowship</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A particular eccentricity of the Australian sporting landscape is that, culturally, our football codes remain strongly tied to their geographic origins. </p>
<p>Australian rules originates from Melbourne, with the southwestern states as heartlands. The rugby codes made their Australian sporting debut in Sydney, with northeastern states as heartlands.</p>
<p>This phenomenon was dubbed “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barassi_Line">the Barassi Line</a>” in 1978, describing a cultural dividing line based on football preference proposed to run from Eden, NSW, through Canberra and up to Arnhem Land. The term was first used by historian Ian Turner in his Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture that year.</p>
<p>The Barassi Line has been a focus of <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.405891829523236">my research</a> and has recently been <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">plotted and visualised</a> by Brett Tweedie as part of his <a href="https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Inaugural_Wikidata_Fellows_announced">Wikidata fellowship</a>.</p>
<p>In a country that has largely avoided political and cultural hyper-partisanship, the <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">Barassi Line</a> is perhaps our strongest sociogeographic dividing characteristic, and certainly novel in the global context.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1177727116110024707"}"></div></p>
<h2>Red states and blue states</h2>
<p>Where one is raised has a remarkably strong bearing on likely football preferences.</p>
<p>If you walked down the streets of Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart or Perth, every third person you walked by would be interested in Australian rules and no other football code.</p>
<p>If you entered a Melbourne pub filled with people interested in football (of any variety), <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.143058285756777">82% of them would AFL supporters</a>. </p>
<p>In a similar Sydney sport pub, <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.143058285756777">73% would support a rugby code</a>. Notably, however, support for the rugby codes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2020.1807953">varies significantly across Sydney’s geographic subregions</a>. For example, rugby league interest is nearly half as prevalent in North Sydney (28%) as compared to Sutherland (52%).</p>
<p>If you’re Australian, you might be thinking, “Yeah – of course!” But this is not the international norm.</p>
<p>In the United States, for instance, where terrain can range from snow fields to desert landscapes, the variance in popularity between mainstream professional sports leagues is comparatively minimal. </p>
<p>While basketball’s popularity is linked to inner-city urbanisation and baseball <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Wpg6AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT15&dq=a+companion+to+american+sport+history&ots=ehVE6bWB12&sig=x7X2EoOhYBmpAzQol_alxZH622s#v=onepage&q=a%20companion%20to%20american%20sport%20history&f=false">retains a rural stronghold</a>, <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=AU">Google search volume data</a> nonetheless reveals that 48 of America’s 51 states exhibit an identical hierarchy of sport league popularity (being gridiron, basketball, baseball and ice hockey).</p>
<h2>Where is the Barassi Line and how has it changed?</h2>
<p>Australian rules authorities have actively attempted to shift the Barassi Line. </p>
<p>As early as 1903, Australian rules administrators began investing in game development, <a href="https://www.fairplaypublishing.com.au/products/code-wars-the-battle-for-fans-dollars-and-survival">spending more than £10,000</a> on footballs, jumpers, and school coaches to promote the code in Sydney. </p>
<p>In the past decade, the AFL has distributed <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-funding-ladder-revealed-100m-gap-between-top-and-bottom-clubs-20220304-p5a1yp.html">A$220 million in additional funding</a> to its four northern expansion clubs (the Sydney Swans, GWS Giants, Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns).</p>
<p>Yet despite ever-increasing media coverage and professionalisation, it is remarkable how intact the line remains.</p>
<p>Come 2019, AFL free-to-air telecasts averaged <a href="http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=142139">261,000 Melbourne viewers</a>, compared with 21,000 and 23,000 in Sydney and Brisbane, respectively (when not featuring a local team). </p>
<p>Similarly, NRL matches held an average rating in Sydney of <a href="http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=145474">about 197,000</a>, compared with ratings typically between 5,000 and 20,000 across southern markets. </p>
<h2>Mapping the battlefront</h2>
<p>Given the Barassi Line represents a metaphorical battlefront, however, real progress is perhaps best measured at the frontline.</p>
<p>Here, the <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">Wikidata fellowship work visualising community football clubs</a> is insightful. This mapping identifies 1,504 Australian rules and 861 rugby league clubs nationally. (Of course, as primarily a creative work, it is possible some clubs were missed in this mapping project). But the distribution of clubs is particularly illuminating, noting:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>where Aussie rules was dominant, it was clearly dominant, with league making up just 15% of the two-code-preferred at most in Aussie rules states […] League on the other hand, even when the dominant code, still had a much higher percentage of Aussie rules clubs.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471992/original/file-20220701-14-jjfh4j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This mapping identifies 1,504 Australian rules and 861 rugby league clubs nationally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikidata fellowship</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The conclusions outlined in this <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">data visualisation</a> align with those in my book <a href="https://www.fairplaypublishing.com.au/products/code-wars-the-battle-for-fans-dollars-and-survival">Code Wars</a>. </p>
<p>Australian rules is successfully creeping the Barassi Line northward, with the border-straddling region of Murray in NSW aligned with Australian rules. </p>
<p>Significantly, this <a href="https://thepeoplesrepublicofcouch.org/the-barassi-line/">mapping</a> work suggests Australian rules is also advancing in the adjacent Riverina region.</p>
<p>These regions, while small in population, are of high strategic importance to the football codes because such regional areas produce a disproportionate amount of elite athletes. </p>
<p>Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina is known as the “City of Good Sports”. It not only produces a very high number of elite athletes per capita (<a href="https://www.waggawaggaaustralia.com.au/visitor-information/city-of-good-sports/">“the Wagga effect”</a>), but does so across an amazing diversity of sports.</p>
<p>Luminaries include Mark Taylor, Michael Slater, Alex Blackwell, Wayne Carey, Paul Kelly, Peter Sterling, Nathan Sharpe, as well as the Mortimer and Daniher families.</p>
<p>The Barassi Line is hence not just of academic interest, but of vital importance for our football codes in terms of maintaining vibrant junior participation bases. This helps secure the nation’s best future athletes.</p>
<h2>The Barassi Line and the broader NSW-Victoria rivalry</h2>
<p>A noteworthy feature of the Barassi Line is how it reflects more broadly upon New South Wales and Victoria, which remain fierce cultural, political, and economic rivals more than 120 years after federation.</p>
<p>This was brought into particular focus by political barbing over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2021/jul/20/victoria-premier-daniel-andrews-takes-swipe-at-nsw-for-not-implementing-ring-of-steel-video">COVID management</a>, but is otherwise most regularly overt in <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsport/formula-one/a-loss-for-f1-nsw-premiers-gibe-over-really-disappointing-melbourne-news-drivers-debate-supercarsstyle-penalty-system-pit-talk/news-story/703226c411767e4e74d8eb5ef7c82f22">sport</a>. </p>
<p>Sporting barbs fuel the state rivalry because Melbourne consciously targeted becoming Australia’s sporting capital in the 1980s. This was a means of <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.7202/029575ar">economic salvation</a> by diversifying from manufacturing. Sydney, by contrast, positioned itself as the nation’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2012.746816">preferred financial centre</a>.</p>
<p>While Melbourne’s sport attendance culture is <a href="https://theconversation.com/aussies-are-sports-mad-but-victorians-are-the-clear-winners-45761">widely lauded</a>, Sydney advocates have previously quipped this reflects the city’s otherwise <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/19911890225">dullness</a>. </p>
<p>Irrespective of our individual sporting preferences, the Barassi Line is something to honour. </p>
<p>It not only puts Australia among the world’s most unique sports cultures. It also explains why we have so many professional football teams and leagues to support. </p>
<p>That Australia’s relatively small population can sustain such an abundance and diversity of football is worth celebrating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hunter Fujak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a country that has largely avoided political and cultural hyper-partisanship, the Barassi Line is perhaps our strongest sociographic dividing characteristic, and certainly novel globally.Hunter Fujak, Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1732502021-12-12T19:08:21Z2021-12-12T19:08:21ZRugby player Dennis Tutty went to the High Court and changed Australian sport – but there’s still a tough issue left to tackle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435810/original/file-20211206-17-pijros.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=176%2C0%2C1067%2C534&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/09/11/dennis-tutty-paved-way-for-modern-day-free-agency/">www.nrl.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Monday 13 December marks the 50th anniversary of a decision by the High Court of Australia that fundamentally altered the playing field for professional athletes in this country. </p>
<p>The case concerned 25-year-old rugby league star Dennis Tutty, who wanted to be freed from playing for the Balmain Tigers, to whom he was tied under the NSW Rugby League’s “retain and transfer” rules. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/1971/71.html">ruling</a> is “one of the more important human rights decisions of the High Court”, according to noted industrial relations academic <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ANZSportsLawJl/2009/7.html">Braham Dabscheck</a>. </p>
<p>He ranked it among a handful of formative legal cases globally to do with economic and employment freedom in professional team sports. It has been cited in hundreds of Australian court cases involving football, cricket, rugby union, Aussie rules and hockey players.</p>
<p>In essence the High Court ruled professional athletes could not be treated as indentured labourers. They had the right, like other workers, to pick their employers and negotiate contracts freely. </p>
<p>However, the modern professional rugby players’ claim to equal human rights still isn’t quite the same as other employees, as more recent events have shown.</p>
<h2>Tutty’s complaint</h2>
<p>Dennis Tutty had made Balmain’s first grade team in 1964, as a 17-year-old. He’d played in his first grand final that season, another in 1966, and had gone on to represent Australia in 1967. He was Balmain’s player of the year in the 1966 and 1967 seasons. </p>
<p>But he was aggrieved by what he considered to be a lack of recognition (and money) at Balmain. At the end of the 1967 season his contract with the club expired, and he was put on its “retain” list. He would have to play for what the club was prepared to pay, or not play at all. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436294/original/file-20211208-23-7s3vmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dennis Tutty playing for the Balmain TIgers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.rlpa.com.au/rlpa-history/">Rugby League Players Association</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Effectively he was bound to the club a bit like a serf to the land. The NSW Rugby League’s rules precluded him from negotiating a new contract with Balmain or with another club.</p>
<p>Tutty thought that was unfair. He decided to sit out the 1969 season and initiated legal action in the Supreme Court of NSW against the Balmain Tigers and the NSW Rugby League to set aside those rules.</p>
<h2>The High Court decides</h2>
<p>The Supreme Court heard the case in May 1970 and handed down its decision in October 1970, in Tutty’s favour. NSW Rugby League, through its then president Bill Buckley, then appealed to the High Court. </p>
<p>This was the first case involving rugby league to come before the High Court. Led by Chief Justice Garfield Barwick, five judges heard the competing arguments over several days in April and May 1971. </p>
<p>Tutty’s lawyers argued the player contracting rules amounted an unreasonable restraint of trade. NSW Rugby League argued it was a voluntary association whose rules had no contractual effect, that its rules did not restrain trade, and if they did it was no more than was reasonable.</p>
<p>The High Court agreed with the lower court. The ruling is close to 10,000 words long but its essential point was that the rules binding Tutty to Balmain were “a restraint of trade which is unreasonable and unjustified”. </p>
<p>In the past 50 years <em>Buckley v Tutty</em> has been cited in more than 200 decisions by Australian courts, including every state and territory supreme court. </p>
<h2>Jack de Belin’s stand-down case</h2>
<p>But one case the ruling hasn’t positively affected is the 2019 Federal Court proceedings brought by St George Illawarra player Jack de Belin against the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC), the governing body of the National Rugby League. (The NRL is the elite competition successor to the NSW Rugby League.)</p>
<p>The NRL had stood down de Belin in February 2019 (with pay from his club) after it introduced a “<a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/02/28/arl-commission-to-announce-new-policy-for-player-misbehaviour/">no-fault stand-down</a>” policy for players charged with serious criminal offences. This followed police charging de Belin (and a friend) with aggravated sexual assault in December 2018. </p>
<p>De Belin maintained the sexual encounter with the woman was consensual. His lawyers argued that the NRL standing him down was an unreasonable restraint of trade, because it went further than was reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the NRL, was imposed for an indefinite period, was done in retrospective way, and de Belin had no opportunity to make submissions or appeal.</p>
<p>He lost that case, with the Federal Court’s Justice Melissa Perry <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCA/2019/688.html">ruling</a> in May 2019 that the stand-down rule went no further than was reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the NRL and ARLC.</p>
<p>The first of four reasons Justice Perry gave for why the NRL and ARLC had grounds to regard de Belin’s playing as a “clear and present danger to the legitimate interests” of the ARLC and the NRL was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“while mindful of the presumption of innocence, an ordinary reasonable member of the public is likely to conclude from the fact that Mr de Belin has been charged with a serious offence that he is a person suspected by the police of having committed the offence and that the police have reasonable cause for laying the charge against him.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You could be forgiven for interpreting this as saying that while the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the fact people might suspect de Belin was guilty was enough grounds for the NRL to stand him down.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/footy-crowds-what-the-afl-and-nrl-need-to-turn-sport-into-show-business-139471">Footy crowds: what the AFL and NRL need to turn sport into show business</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>De Belin ultimately had all charges against him dropped <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-star-jack-de-belins-sexual-assault-charges-dropped/news-story/0b74283758f84e665b6e3c39e2187593">in May 2021</a>.</p>
<p>We may not think of professional athletes as being just like other workers, but should that mean the fundamental right to a presumption of innocence is trumped by the primacy of the commercial rights of a governing body? </p>
<p>To resolve that question we may need another Dennis Tutty to take the matter all the way to the High Court.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David William Trodden is the chief executive of NSW Rugby League and a past chairman of the Balmain Tigers.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Adams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A 1971 High Court ruling on rugby league contracts set an important Australian precedent on human rights. Fifty years on, we need to decide if players deserve the right to a presumption of innocence.David William Trodden, Chief executive of NSW Rugby League and PhD candidate, University of New EnglandMichael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Head UNE Law School, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1678792021-09-15T06:42:47Z2021-09-15T06:42:47ZCan Queensland cash in on the NRL finals? It’s all about ‘event leveraging’<p>Queensland’s love of rugby league, and the fact the state isn’t in lockdown, has won it the right to host the 2021 NRL finals series. </p>
<p>But it was economic gains as much as love of the game that Premier Annastacia Pałaszczuk spruiked when announcing Queensland would host all eight finals games plus the grand final at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. Six of those games are being played outside Brisbane — two in Townsville, two in Mackay, and one apiece in Rockhampton and Sunshine Coast.</p>
<p>“It’s a tremendous gesture from the NRL and will provide an economic boost spread over our regional cities,” Pałaszczuk <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/93155">said in a statement</a>. Her minister for sport, Stirling Hinchliffe, was even more effusive. “It will invest millions of dollars into local economies and boost intra-state tourism into regional Queensland cities,” he said.</p>
<p>But will it? </p>
<h2>Uncertain gains</h2>
<p>Research shows that hosting sport and other events rarely delivers the economic and tourism benefits commonly claimed. In fact, studies around large-scale events often fail to show any positive economic impact at all. </p>
<p>The financial hangover from hosting events such as the Olympics is well-documented. It took Montreal 30 years to pay off the debt incurred from hosting the 1976 Olympic Games. The 2004 Athens and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games also failed spectacularly to deliver on their promises of economic benefit. </p>
<p>The Olympics, though, is in a league of its own, due to the scale of competition, sheer number of venues required and being a one-off. </p>
<p>Hosting a seasonal sporting event using existing infrastructure should be of greater economic value. The outlays aren’t anywhere near as much, and local hotels, restaurants and other businesses get a boost from the influx of sport tourists.</p>
<p>The problem is that this year’s NRL finals won’t see thousands of footy fans flying from interstate and injecting money into local economies through transport, accommodation, dining and other touristy activities. </p>
<p>So Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Sunshine Coast may benefit from intrastate visitors, but perhaps not to the extent of the promised millions.</p>
<p>Rockhampton Regional Council, for example, has estimated the economic value of the September 12 elimination final between Parramatta Eels and the Newcastle Knights to be $680,000, with about a quarter of the 5,000 spectators from outside the region. That estimate depends on assumptions about those visitors spending money on accommodation, and all spectators spending money on local retail and in hospitality businesses.</p>
<h2>Event leveraging</h2>
<p>So how does an economic return occur from hosting smaller-scale events like the NRL finals? </p>
<p>The answer is “event leveraging”. It is not enough just to hold an event; organisers must implement strategies to achieve the benefits touted — encouraging visitors to spend more, and using the occasion to promote the host area as a tourism destination.</p>
<p>For example, French towns and regions that attract Tour de France fans <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2020/09/01/why-this-tour-de-france-is-one-of-the-most-important-ever/?sh=5d307d0c10b7">use event-themed activities</a> to keep visitors around longer. </p>
<p>Spreading the NRL finals games between Brisbane and four regional centres can also be seen as a leveraging strategy — spreading any economic benefits more evenly throughout the state — particularly to areas hit hard by the loss of international and interstate tourism. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/footy-crowds-what-the-afl-and-nrl-need-to-turn-sport-into-show-business-139471">Footy crowds: what the AFL and NRL need to turn sport into show business</a>
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<h2>Media exposure</h2>
<p>This also helps what is, given closed borders, the even more important component for Queensland to leverage the NRL finals: media attention that showcases the host region as a future place to visit.</p>
<p>During the Sydney 2000 Olympics, for example, a program encouraged media organisations to cover tourism destinations such as the Blue Mountains and Uluru, by providing visiting journalists with video <a href="https://library.olympics.com/default/digitalCollection/DigitalCollectionInlineDownloadHandler.ashx?parentDocumentId=176158&documentId=176163&_cb=20201101172943">and other resources</a></p>
<p>Even with the more modest NRL, media attention isn’t just confined to the hours before, during and after the actual games. There is an intensive industry generating content in the days leading up to game, and in the wash-up. </p>
<p>This occurs through general media coverage and the well-developed communications channels of the NRL and its respective clubs. Now players also cultivate their own audiences through social media. Melbourne Storm star Cameron Munster, for example, has <a href="https://www.instagram.com/munster94/?hl=en">158,000 followers on Instagram</a>.</p>
<p>The biggest audiences, though, come from game broadcasts. These typically are replete with aerial shots of the ground and other imagery showcasing the host city. </p>
<p>Queensland’s premier and minister for sport must therefore be relieved the NRL has rescheduled the preliminary final (at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane), originally set to coincide with the AFL grand final on September 25. One of the teams in that preliminary final is Melbourne Storm. The broadcast would have denied the NRL, and Queensland, thousands of television viewers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nrls-unrivalled-equality-means-back-to-back-premierships-are-very-rare-92666">The NRL’s unrivalled equality means back-to-back premierships are very rare</a>
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<p>So the NRL finals should provide some immediate economic benefit to the host cities and towns, though perhaps not as much as the Queensland government would like to think. They also provide a great opportunity to promote regional Queensland as a tourist destination to interstate audiences. </p>
<p>But without the time to implement strategies to really leverage these events, the extent of economic benefits that will flow to Queensland in the longer term is hard to estimate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that hosting sport and other events rarely deliver the economic and tourism benefits commonly attributed to them.Sheranne Fairley, Associate professor, The University of QueenslandDanny O'Brien, Associate Professor, Sport Management, Bond UniversityVitor Sobral, PhD candidate, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387222020-05-15T07:50:39Z2020-05-15T07:50:39ZTwo refs are better than one, so why does the NRL want to drop one?<p>Plans to kick-start the sporting season with a <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/04/22/nrl-definitely-restarting-on-may-28-clubs-to-resume-training-soon-pearce/">return to rugby league games</a> later this month could be stalled by a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-14/coronavirus-nrl-referees-union-lodge-complaint-to-fair-work/12248350">row over referees</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/05/13/commission-makes-call-one-ref-plan-finalised-for-2020/">NRL confirmed this week</a> it wants to drop the two-referee system that has been in play for more than a decade.</p>
<p>But referees are not happy about the last-minute decision. They have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-14/coronavirus-nrl-referees-union-lodge-complaint-to-fair-work/12248350">lodged a dispute with the Fair Work Commission</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/split-second-decisions-with-little-praise-so-what-does-it-take-to-ref-a-game-of-nrl-57553">Split-second decisions with little praise: so what does it take to ref a game of NRL</a>
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<p>While they are mindful of the wider interests of all stakeholders in the game, they say reverting to a single referee has enormous implications for the pace of the game.</p>
<h2>Not one but two refs</h2>
<p>Under the two-referee system, a lead and an assist referee make decisions in partnership with their two touch judges.</p>
<p>A matchday referee coach and a senior review official in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nrl-video-refs-can-still-make-the-call-even-if-theyre-not-at-the-game-51897">centralised video bunker</a> in Sydney provide further support.</p>
<p>During play the lead referee manages roughly 80% of the time, and the assist (or “pocket”) referee 20%. This system was introduced in 2009 to lessen the physical stress on referees and to try to eliminate the grapple and wrestling holds that happen in the ruck when players are tackled.</p>
<p>The two-referee system certainly ticked all the boxes to begin with, as it <a href="https://theconversation.com/split-second-decisions-with-little-praise-so-what-does-it-take-to-ref-a-game-of-nrl-57553">allowed NRL referees</a> to physically manage around 282 rucks per game, 36 kicks in play and 38 restarts.</p>
<p>It provided immediate clarity and confidence at key times for both the lead and assist referee.</p>
<p>The game was <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/06/29/nrl-referees-boss-gerard-sutton-defends-one-ref-system-and-offside-penalties-crackdown/">played faster</a> by having the pocket referee handle the ruck. This meant the lead referee didn’t have to continually glance or run back to control this space.</p>
<p>Furthermore, under the two-referee system, the game became more fluent as it allowed each player’s athleticism to entertain the fans.</p>
<h2>Drop that second ref</h2>
<p>So why does the NRL and Australian Rugby League Commission want to scrap the two-referee model? What evidence has been put forward to judge whether reverting to a one-referee system will work?</p>
<p>ARL Commission chairman <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-14/coronavirus-nrl-referees-union-lodge-complaint-to-fair-work/12248350">Peter V'landys says</a> the overwhelming majority of fans in a 2019 survey wanted the competition to return to using one on-field referee to make the game more <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-2020-peter-vlandys-vs-referees-onereferee-rule-rugby-league-rule-changes-may-28-restart/news-story/e5c9b47842513309ff5ab1d7bd588783">unpredictable and entertaining</a>.</p>
<p>That’s hardly solid evidence to say the game would be better played with one referee rather than two.</p>
<p>The notion put forward by V'landys that two refs are a luxury is underscored by estimates that reverting to one referee could save the NRL about <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-referees-head-to-court-and-threaten-strike-action-over-rule-change-20200514-p54swo.html">$3 million</a>.</p>
<h2>Not happy refs</h2>
<p>But the Professional Rugby League Match Officials (PRLMO) say they were <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-2020-peter-vlandys-vs-referees-onereferee-rule-rugby-league-rule-changes-may-28-restart/news-story/e5c9b47842513309ff5ab1d7bd588783">not consulted</a> about replacing the two-referee system.</p>
<p>In defence of this system they also say the assist referee calls more than 80% of illegal tackles and play-the-ball infringements (a method for bringing the ball back into play after a tackle, in which the tackled player is allowed to stand up and heel the ball behind them to their team-mate). </p>
<p>Furthermore, <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/06/29/nrl-referees-boss-gerard-sutton">figures published by the NRL</a> in 2018 show 38% of all play-the-balls in World Cup games, where a one-referee system operates, were classified as very slow and took more than four seconds to complete.</p>
<p>So what’s best for fans and those who love the game? How should the NRL settle the debate about whether the one- or two-referee system should be the way of the future?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/blow-that-whistle-seven-reasons-you-should-respect-the-ref-in-the-nrl-grand-final-103770">Blow that whistle: seven reasons you should respect the ref in the NRL Grand Final</a>
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<p>We need a proper examination that includes the experiences of current and past NRL referees, combined with their physical and technical data, as authentic evidence for the NRL to decide whether a one-referee system will be any better than the two-referee model.</p>
<p>The NRL must be prepared to invest in this research to provide real-world insights into any benefits and limitations of both referee systems. That would allow any future developments to be based on fact.</p>
<p>Without a sound base of knowledge and a complete picture of what constitutes the work of NRL referees, I believe any attempts to select, develop and promote one system over the other will be limited at best and fundamentally flawed at worst.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Kath O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The two-referee system was introduced to improve the flow of the game. So where’s the evidence to say dropping one ref would be any better for the game?Dr Kath O'Brien, Lecturer - QUT - Faculty of Health (School Exercise & Nutrition Sciences), Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1181752019-06-03T20:07:24Z2019-06-03T20:07:24ZThe Blues have to battle the numbers if they’re to make it two-in-a-row in State of Origin<p>The 2019 State of Origin rugby league series kicks off with <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/05/31/maroons-v-blues-game-one-origin-preview/">game one in Brisbane</a> on Wednesday – and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/state-of-origin-game-1-2019-head-to-head-matchups/news-story/023fa8c177962c5df307f7f422b70d32">bookies and many experts</a> are tipping the New South Wales Blues to win consecutive series for the first time since 2005.</p>
<p>Queensland’s Maroons side had 11 series wins in 12 years. But mainstays of that team – Cameron Smith, Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater and Greg Inglis – are <a href="https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/5464542/qld-era-may-never-be-seen-again-walters/">all retired</a> and there is optimism south of the Tweed that in coming years the Blues will reverse recent fortunes.</p>
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<p>But a quick glance at the numbers suggests the Blues will have to buck a few historical trends if they are to retain the shield for the first time in almost a decade and a half.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gamers-use-machine-learning-to-navigate-complex-video-games-but-its-not-free-114906">Gamers use machine learning to navigate complex video games – but it's not free</a>
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<h2>Home sweet home advantage</h2>
<p>As well as the traditional games in the capital cities of New South Wales and Queensland, game two of the 2019 series will be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-15/perth-to-host-2019-state-of-origin-rugby-league-clash/7631410">played in Perth</a> on June 23. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C0%2C5071%2C3378&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277531/original/file-20190603-69075-1rzx4t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Queensland Maroons player Ben Hunt during team training in Brisbane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Glenn Hunt</span></span>
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<p>This model of each side having one home game, one away game and one game at a neutral venue has been used 11 times before, always previously with the neutral game in Melbourne. It will be repeated next year too, <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/02/14/adelaide-to-host-holden-state-of-origin-in-2020/">playing at Adelaide Oval for the first time</a>.</p>
<p>Given the partisan nature of local crowds, it is perhaps unsurprising that both sides have won the majority of their home games (NSW 24 wins from 45, Queensland 35 wins from 55).</p>
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<p>The Blues do have that advantage of winning more of the neutral venue games.</p>
<p>But, looking at the margins of victory, these games at a neutral site have typically been closer. The average margin of victory (around 6.3 points) is lower than for games in Sydney (around 8.1 points) or Brisbane (12.2 points).</p>
<p>Only once has the margin of victory been greater than ten points for games outside the traditional locations, a 14-0 Blues victory at Melbourne’s MCG in game two in 1994.</p>
<h2>First in best dressed</h2>
<p>It is easy to note that the strongest predictor of winning a series is getting off to the best possible start with a win in game one.</p>
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<p>Only eight times in the 37 best-of-three-era series has a team lost game one but come back to win the series. Of those eight comebacks, only two were Blues series wins (1994 and 2005).</p>
<p>In most of these years, hosting game one also meant hosting game three, so much of this effect is attributable to simple home advantage.</p>
<h2>Maroons finishing strongly</h2>
<p>Where the record books provide more worrying reading for New South Wales supporters is their rival’s record when it matters most.</p>
<p>If the series is not decided before game three in Sydney in July, then history is even more firmly on the Maroons’ side. The Queenslanders have won the final game in the series more than twice as often as their southern counterparts (11 NSW wins, 2 draws, 24 Queensland wins).</p>
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<p>If you exclude dead rubbers – games when the series winner is already decided after game two – the history books are even sweeter reading for Queensland. Of the 19 times that the final game has been a series decider, the Blues have walked away with the shield just four times.</p>
<p>To win the series this year, the Blues will either need to improve on this ugly record in deciders or to win two games out-of-state, which they have managed just four times in 27 attempts.</p>
<p>After a successful debut series as coach in 2018, NSW coach Brad Fittler will be looking to overcome Kevin Walters’ Queenslanders again this year. If he does so, he will be breaking new ground for a Blues coach. </p>
<p>Of the eight previous coaches who faced the same Maroons coach for their first two series, none of them managed to walk away with two series victories.</p>
<h2>Hail the returning hero?</h2>
<p>One of the most intriguing storylines hanging over this year’s series is currently nothing but a rumour. Despite retiring from the Origin arena two years ago, stories have circulated that <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/05/07/why-smiths-fairy-tale-origin-comeback-should-become-reality/">longtime captain Cameron Smith may consider making himself available for selection</a> once more.</p>
<p>Such dramatic returns are not without precedent and, in both cases, have resulted in series wins for their respective sides.</p>
<p>After losing 2005 game one, New South Wales recalled Andrew Johns despite his <a href="https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/maroons-origin-masterstroke-revisited/3447014/">having barely played at all in the previous 18 months</a>. He took man-of-the-match honours in game two en route to a 2-1 series win.</p>
<p>Even more dramatically in 2001, Queensland sneaked 35-year-old former Brisbane Bronco <a href="https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/maroons-origin-masterstroke-revisited/3447014/">Allan Langer back into the country</a> after he had first <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/allan-langer-retires-again-20021203-gdfwmz.html">retired from the sport</a>, then gone to Europe to play in Super League with Warrington Wolves. </p>
<p>Langer’s vintage performance helped a Queensland side that has been whitewashed 3-0 a year before to clinch a decisive game three victory.</p>
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<h2>Don’t believe the hype</h2>
<p>Given the once-in-a-generation talent Queensland has lost in recent years, it is not surprising the Maroons enter the series as underdogs.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-long-and-complicated-history-of-aboriginal-involvement-in-football-117669">The long and complicated history of Aboriginal involvement in football</a>
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<p>But the favoured Blues must be keenly aware that Australian rugby league’s showpiece and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/most-watched-programs-of-2018-revealed-20181130-p50jdk.html">television ratings behemoth</a> has thrown up many twists and turns over the years.</p>
<p>A quick glance at the record books might provide more sobering reading for the Blues than some <a href="https://www.theroar.com.au/rugby-league/longform/state-of-origin-great-shift-new-south-wales-ended-queenslands-dynasty-start-empire-604373/">recent sports journalism</a> or bookmakers’ odds.</p>
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<p><em>Andrew Ferguson of <a href="https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/">Rugby League Project</a>, rugby league researcher and historian, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118175/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Woodcock is an Associate Investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS)</span></em></p>A look at the past results shows there is some advantage to a team playing at home and winning the first game in State of Origin.Stephen Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1037702018-09-27T01:51:26Z2018-09-27T01:51:26ZBlow that whistle: seven reasons you should respect the ref in the NRL Grand Final<p>This weekend’s rugby league Grand Final sees the <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/09/23/sydney-roosters-v-melbourne-storm-grand-final-preview/">Sydney Roosters face the Melbourne Storm</a> in front of a stadium crowd of thousands – and even more on television. All eyes will be on the referee to make sure the play is fair.</p>
<p>Like elite athletes, the reputation of these full-time professional refs is often summarised by their performance in high-pressure, high-stakes events – watched by people they can never impress.</p>
<p>Over the past three years, I have spent countless hours studying how NRL referees learn their craft. </p>
<p>So, ahead of this year’s NRL grand final, here are some aspects that might help you see the game from a ref’s point of view.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/split-second-decisions-with-little-praise-so-what-does-it-take-to-ref-a-game-of-nrl-57553">Split-second decisions with little praise: so what does it take to ref a game of NRL</a>
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<h2>1. Mt Everest moment</h2>
<p>The Grand Final is the ultimate. It is the pinnacle of a referee’s work over the course of the year. Everyone wants to make it, to earn the right to rule.</p>
<p>But they may never reach that pinnacle again. </p>
<p>So remember that they want the best: they really want to represent the game, the two teams involved, the fans and those referees who didn’t make the final, to the best of their ability. </p>
<h2>2. You only see it once</h2>
<p>Referees make split-second decisions. They only see things once, often only a small movement, and usually at speed.</p>
<p>They have to calculate the right moment to strike. They don’t have the luxury of multiple video replays to get it right.</p>
<p>Even without the involvement of the bunker – a centralised facility that records the game from several angles and to which refs can refer decisions for review – consider how hard this is to maintain faultlessly (and fearlessly) over two 40-minute blocks.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FR7XPA2-vrg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Refs can call on the bunker for help.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. They never fly solo</h2>
<p>During the course of a game, lead referees have to cope with listening to their assistant referee, two line judges, the matchday referee coach, players yelling at them, and occasionally spectators who provide their own helpful advice.</p>
<p>They also have to call for assistance, knowing that this may overrule something on which they have already made a ruling. </p>
<p>Remember, few of us hold jobs where people are simultaneously speaking to us, where we have to demand a second opinion, and where we can be called out for our mistakes on national television. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T-KaLWb6gdE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Everyone’s a critic of the refs.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Reading their mind</h2>
<p>Each referee’s decision-making prowess is strongly predicated on their ability to read the game. They need to “feel” situations as they dynamically unfold with respect to players’ actions, movements and tensions.</p>
<p>Refs need to internally interpret, process and recall important variables and situations and to then blend these into accurate, constructive decisions that affect a given action or outcome both now and into the future of the game.</p>
<h2>5. Collectively attuned</h2>
<p>The lead and assistant refs in a Grand Final know their roles individually and collectively. On match day, they are tightly woven, well-attuned to each others nuances and thoughts.</p>
<p>Their thinking in action also imperceptibly defines and shapes a tone and rhythm for how the game unfolds.</p>
<p>But remember, they constantly formulate these actions in the context of the whole, never as individuals, but rather as part of the overall fabric of the game. </p>
<h2>6. Refereeing is hard work</h2>
<p>NRL referees run about <a href="https://playnrl.com/referee/referee-latest-news/the-science-of-officiating/">8.2km per game</a>. They consistently manage around <a href="https://theconversation.com/split-second-decisions-with-little-praise-so-what-does-it-take-to-ref-a-game-of-nrl-57553">282 rucks and 36 kicks in play</a>.</p>
<p>They also spend a <a href="https://theconversation.com/split-second-decisions-with-little-praise-so-what-does-it-take-to-ref-a-game-of-nrl-57553">staggering 31% of their game time</a> in high anaerobic heart rate sectors of 170 beats per minute (BPM) or above.</p>
<p>At the same time, referees are dynamically adjusting their field positions to continually remain alongside the play, all while making decisions at speed.</p>
<p>When was the last time you ran this far while also completing several intermittent sprint efforts, and making mentally taxing decisions all the while?</p>
<h2>7. They love the game</h2>
<p>Referees are passionate about rugby league. Many played the game as juniors, while others have family members involved. </p>
<p>They also love the challenge and excitement of league and the camaraderie that comes with such a high-profile sport.</p>
<p>But referees are expected to look serious, lack personality and ignore the distractions from both participants and spectators. </p>
<p>Remember, they are not permitted to publicly express their support, or otherwise, for particular teams or results, or provide insights into how they feel about their sport.</p>
<h2>Be gentle</h2>
<p>So, remember that referees are just people – albeit people who are extremely driven, focused, energetic athletes who are strongly anchored to performing the perfect game. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whether-teams-win-or-lose-sporting-events-lead-to-spikes-in-violence-against-women-and-children-99686">Whether teams win or lose, sporting events lead to spikes in violence against women and children</a>
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<p>They work as hard as elite players, both physically and mentally, to store and retrieve rules, learn new rules, learn every player’s name, stay fit, and make correct decisions at lightning speed.</p>
<p>Remember too that on Grand Final Day, most fans’ satisfactions are often driven by how well their team performs – which means it is often easier (and more acceptable) to ignore the loss if it can be blamed on the referees, rather than your own team’s play.</p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Kath O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s not easy being a ref. Everyone’s your critic, and you have to run more than 8km each match to keep up with the play.Dr Kath O'Brien, PhD Candidate - School of Human Movement & Nutrition Sciences, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/936372018-04-13T03:14:20Z2018-04-13T03:14:20ZIn both schooling and sport, Australia has slowly come to recognise its Aboriginal talent pool<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211100/original/file-20180320-31633-l4xl8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous Australians – just on 3% of the population – comprise at least 10%, and generally 12%, of elite footballers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Julian Smith</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The year was 1979, not 1879, when Fr Eugene Perez, a Catholic priest in the Kimberleys, <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/6358728?selectedversion=NBD7514875">asserted that</a> “his” Aborigines “correspond to the Palaeolithic age”, “primitives who remain dwarfed to the bare essentials of human existence”, “undeniably immature” as members of “a decomposed society”.</p>
<p>A decade earlier, my book, <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21215655?q&versionId=39691856">Aborigines and Education</a>, had analysed Aboriginal schooling opportunities and progress: there were nine Aboriginal people at university in 1969. By 2014, between 30,000 and 35,000 had a degree.</p>
<p>Sport, too, has changed entirely. Before the 1960s, no Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person made it into the Commonwealth or the Olympic Games. Between 1962 and now, 31 Aboriginal athletes have represented Australia in the Commonwealth Games and 68 in the Olympics (and Paralympics). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-harley-windsor-australia-has-its-first-indigenous-winter-olympian-why-has-it-taken-so-long-91309">In Harley Windsor, Australia has its first Indigenous Winter Olympian – why has it taken so long?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>In Australian football, no more than six Aboriginal players appeared in the first 80 years of that game. Today, we know of 276 players who have made it in senior football.</p>
<p>In AFL and rugby league, just on 3% of Australia’s population comprises at least 10%, and generally 12%, of senior footballers. In a Gold Coast-South Sydney rugby league match in 2016, 12 of the 26 players on the field were Aboriginal.</p>
<p>So what have been the propellants, the dynamics of change? The whispering in our hearts, white largesse, fundamental shifts in Australian racial attitudes, Closing the Gap strategies, nicer missionaries than Perez?</p>
<h2>Giving Aboriginal athletes a chance</h2>
<p>Opportunity rather than affirmative action is one answer. </p>
<p>Opportunity often means chance — and some luck. Thus, a purely Spanish-speaking Benedictine monk, Dom Rosendo Salvado, introduced cricket to the people from the New Norcia Aboriginal Mission he described as “these poor natives, so hideous to look at”. He thought it would “civilise” them. </p>
<p>Daisy Bates, an early anthropologist, wrote about the hundreds of spectators who flocked to see the players from New Norcia Mission in Western Australia at the start of the 19th century. Nicknamed “The Invincibles”, coached only by a local grazier, H S Lefroy, the team walked 120 kilometres each way for matches in Perth and Fremantle.</p>
<p>In the Depression, and certainly by 1944, Aboriginal men in New South Wales resisted being shifted to country towns as indentured and unpaid apprentices. They also fought the policy of “assimilation” that sought to break up Aboriginal clusters. They created the Redfern All-Blacks rugby league team as a fulcrum of identity, a way to claim space and place in the social mainstream.</p>
<p>The rest, as the saying goes, is history.</p>
<p>In the 1950s, the armed services recruited Tiwi Islanders to work in Darwin. Sexy uniforms notwithstanding, the Tiwi men were servants. </p>
<p>The Catholic bishop was anxious about their undue seduction by the pale glitter of 1950s Darwin, and sought help from a patrol officer, Ted Egan, a flock member. He duly founded the St Mary’s Australian football team, subsequent winner of dozens of Northern Territory premierships, and the nursery of football clans like the Burgoynes, the Riolis and the Longs.</p>
<p>A worthier priest than Perez, Dave Perrett in Armidale, helped found the all-Aboriginal Narwan rugby league team in the 1970s. This was despite howls from the townspeople and the academics who insisted such a team was redolent of South African apartheid and was unconscionable.</p>
<p>Narwan won several major competitions, and did more for race relations than any other single activity.</p>
<p>On occasion, a rare mission teacher has inspired a cohort of youth to pursue education, as at the mission station once known as Roper River (now Ngukurr) in the NT.</p>
<p>Early on, at several missions, at least one youngster was sent south to a leading private school — to return as a role model. The schemes didn’t work out well, for anyone. But later, in the 1990s, smarter heads brought small groups south, housing them together and counselling them with sensitivity and cushioning not so much the cultural change but the shock of geographic dislocation.</p>
<p>Aboriginal nostalgia for home and country is a vital force, and often defeats the best-intentioned programs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-land-we-play-on-equality-doesnt-mean-justice-62101">The land we play on: equality doesn’t mean justice</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The results are there</h2>
<p>Private sponsors and religious groups began to accommodate to Aboriginal realities, and programs started to work.</p>
<p>The Gamararda scholarships program at UNSW’s Shalom Institute has led to 18 Aboriginal medical graduates. Special university centres, like Shalom and the Monash Indigenous Centre, have shown just how accommodating (and “unassimilating”) one can be.</p>
<p>Most of these successes have come about by hard-won trial and error – lots of error – but in the end the results are there. In both schooling and sport, we have slowly come to recognise the talent pool.</p>
<p>There is, however, a wrinkle. Back in the 1960s, I wrote seemingly endless pieces about sport being a better pathway for Aboriginal youth than education. That remains true: where else but on the sports field can an under-educated and even a troubled youth pit their skills against opponents, get paid enormous sums, manage their own brand names, have entourages, achieve celebrity status and social mobility – and get to publish memoirs before reaching the age of 30?</p>
<p>But what happens to life after sport is another story.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Colin Tatz and Paul Tatz’s new book, <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/black-pearls-sports-hall-of-fame/">Black Pearls: The Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame</a>, published by Aboriginal Studies Press, will be available in May.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Tatz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Where else but on the sports field can an under-educated and even a troubled Aboriginal youth achieve celebrity status and social mobility?Colin Tatz, ANU Visiting Professor, Politics and International Relations, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/926662018-03-08T01:19:51Z2018-03-08T01:19:51ZThe NRL’s unrivalled equality means back-to-back premierships are very rare<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208777/original/file-20180303-65529-16f9wlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The NRL's controversial salary cap has clearly played a role in keeping the league so equal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Craig Golding</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the 2018 NRL season kicks off, few of the game’s supporters will be aware it is enjoying a run of competitive balance unequalled anywhere in major world sport.</p>
<p>By the time of the Grand Final at the end of September, it will be more than 25 years since a team last retained the NRL crown (or that of its NSWRL/ARL predecessors).</p>
<p>You have to cast your mind back to the heady days of the Brisbane Broncos in 1993, and <a href="https://youtu.be/TagzL11fWoc?t=1h51m22s">their Tina Turner-fuelled celebrations</a>, to find the last back-to-back premiers. The subsequent run of 24 seasons without a repeat champion is not just unprecedented for top-level rugby league in Australia – it’s unparalleled in any major sporting competition anywhere in the world.</p>
<h2>The cap fits</h2>
<p>Since its introduction in 1990, the NRL’s salary cap has not been without its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bulldogs_RLFC_season">controversy</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Storm_salary_cap_breach">scandal</a> or <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/titans-henry-says-salary-cap-not-working">criticism</a>. Many detractors argue it isn’t working and is failing to <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/roosters-roster-proves-the-nrl-salary-cap-isnt-working-and-its-time-to-consider-how-it-can-change/news-story/08a1f2ccb469acdc63208f3acdef71ba">distribute the league’s talent evenly</a>. </p>
<p>Some cite the seeming inevitability of seeing Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith’s face <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-02/nrl-title-caps-off-superb-era-of-melbourne-storm-success:-boland/9008176">on Grand Final day</a>. Others will quote the common joke that some teams seem to be operating more under a <a href="http://thecumberlandthrow.com/2017/10/31/hola-amigos-roosters-salary-sombrero-saves-nrl/">salary sombrero than a cap</a>, such is the amount they are able to squeeze under it. </p>
<p>However, the simple fact is the numbers show that no major sporting competition in the world has enjoyed such a long run of diverse champions.</p>
<p>It wasn’t always this way. In the last years before the salary cap’s introduction, between 1980 and 1990, Parramatta and Canterbury-Bankstown won four premierships each and Canberra secured a couple. Just one other side got a look-in during those 11 years.</p>
<h2>Crunching the numbers</h2>
<p>Imagine a competition with <em>N</em> teams that compete each year, with one side declared premiers. If, each year, all teams were equally likely to win the title, then – on average – you’d expect to wait about <a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GeometricDistribution.html"><em>N minus one</em> years</a> to see back-to-back premierships.</p>
<p>Repeat successes would be less common in larger competitions.</p>
<p>In reality, for a more realistic competition, you’d expect repeat champions to come around more frequently than under this assumption. </p>
<p>Common sense suggests a team good enough to be premiers one year will have a better-than-average chance of repeating their success. This is the pattern seen in all sporting leagues across the world.</p>
<h2>A global anomaly</h2>
<p>Examining results from 26 elite competitions across 12 different sports, involving teams from five continents, the NRL’s run of competitive balance stands out as an exception to the global trend. </p>
<p>I calculated the current run without a back-to-back champion for each competition. Different competitions have different numbers of teams, so this needs to be taken into account for any like-for-like comparison.</p>
<p>Under the very conservative assumption of equal strength teams, the odds of such a repeat title drought occurring can be calculated according to the equation below, where <em>d</em> is the number of years since the last repeat champion in a league with <em>N</em> teams.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=113&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=113&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=113&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208783/original/file-20180304-65507-1y4rp9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Equation to calculate a repeat title drought.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><iframe id="qukI4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qukI4/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A historic run</h2>
<p>It isn’t simply that the NRL’s current run stands out among trends from other contemporary leagues. Dusting off the history books, none of these other competitions has ever seen a drought of back-to-back titles quite like the modern NRL.</p>
<p>Of the leagues included here, the NRL is one of only three that has ever had a drought of back-to-back premiers stretching for more years than there are teams in the competition. </p>
<p>The other two – the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the US and the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship – are both much younger competitions. The Rugby Championship has only been a three- or four-team competition, and the WNBA is riddled with instability and many defunct teams. Of the well-established leagues, the NRL stands alone.</p>
<p><iframe id="EEgkl" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/EEgkl/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>An apology to Broncos fans</h2>
<p>There are probably some keen Queenslanders disputing that the NRL’s drought is quite as long as claimed here. In 1997, the Broncos were one of the clubs that broke away from the NRL and played in the rival Super League competition. </p>
<p>After winning that competition during its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Super_League_(Australia)_season">one and only season</a>, Brisbane then rejoined and claimed the 1998 NRL crown.</p>
<p>Even if you include the triumph in a rival competition followed by NRL success as a back-to-back title, the run of 19 years and counting still stands as statistically anomalous.</p>
<h2>True to its roots</h2>
<p>Statistically speaking, there is no major sporting competition in the world that has enjoyed such a run without crowning back-to-back champions. </p>
<p>For all its critics, it is difficult to believe the salary cap hasn’t worked better than in many other leagues at promoting competitive balance and parity.</p>
<p>In many ways, this seems fitting for the game’s history. Rugby league is, after all, a game born <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/08/why-rugby-league-still-patronised-mud-splattered-parochial-throwback">out of a staunch egalitarian</a> rebellion more than a century ago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Woodcock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is no major sporting competition in the world that has enjoyed such a run without crowning back-to-back champions as the NRL.Stephen Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/864982017-12-05T14:10:26Z2017-12-05T14:10:26ZWhy the winners of rugby league are not trying hard enough to expand the international game<p>The <a href="http://www.rlwc2017.com/">Rugby League World Cup of 2017</a> ended with victory for Australia. Untouchable throughout the tournament, they beat England 6-0 in a tense final, winning the competition for the 11th time. In three of the four world cups they haven’t won, Australia were runners up.</p>
<p>The country’s dominance of international rugby league reflects a series of dilemmas the sport’s authorities have struggled to navigate. </p>
<p>Historically, rugby league is restricted to provincial prominence in its two strongest nations. In England, the game has been concentrated in the north, ever since its inception 120 years ago. Despite numerous attempts to develop the sport outside this area (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/29192021">most notably in London</a>) the amateur and professional powerhouses of rugby league are defiantly northern.</p>
<p>Similarly, in Australia, the sport’s strongholds remain <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/27584764">New South Wales and Queensland</a>. Australia’s top tier domestic club league (National Rugby League) also shares notable similarities with its English counterpart (Super League). </p>
<p>Neither feature conventional promotion and relegation processes. The English Super League has a convoluted format of play-offs, with lower-ranked Super League teams playing a round-robin against stronger teams from the league below, culminating in a winner-takes-all promotion play-off match, <a href="http://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12204/11061903/coaches-call-for-million-pound-game-to-be-scrapped">the £1m game</a>. </p>
<p>Both leagues boast lucrative international broadcast contracts, and both include foreign teams. A team from New Zealand travels across the Tasman sea to fulfil Australian NRL fixtures, and the French side Catalans Dragons is one of 12 teams in the English Super League.</p>
<p>This anomaly highlights an issue currently restricting the domestic and international growth of the sport. Because while France and New Zealand both have flourishing provincial leagues of their own, they have to do without their stronger clubs. </p>
<p>Rugby league faces a further dilemma with the formation of a professional Canadian club (Toronto Wolfpack), seeking to establish itself in the Super League. The team entered the semi-professional third tier of the English game, gaining promotion in their first year, and aim to achieve Super League status in 2019. </p>
<p>The entrepreneurs behind this venture are seeking to establish clubs in other major north American cities. The Wolfpack negotiated its own television deal, and has <a href="http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Global/Issues/2016/05/06/People-and-Pop-Culture/Hangin-With.aspx">developed a business model</a> similar to those of successful American professional sports franchises. </p>
<p>In contrast, the national rugby league team of Canada is still in its infancy, and yet to appear in a World Cup tournament. A similar situation exists for the USA side (which did participate in the 2017 World Cup, suffering three defeats at the group stage), a third of whom were Australian or New Zealand nationals.</p>
<p>The struggle for domestic and international success in places like Canada and the US highlights the source of the expansionist dilemma for rugby league. While financially sustainable clubs find a home in overseas competitions (strengthening the financial reach and broadcast value of their host leagues overseas) their absence from domestic competitions has a detrimental effect. </p>
<p>This is beneficial in the short term for Australia and England, but hampers those earnestly trying to develop the game elsewhere. </p>
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<p>Meanwhile, the Rugby League International Federation, represented by the director of the Super League and CEO of the NRL, also oversees governance
of the sport internationally – and rules about players’ international eligibility. </p>
<p>These criteria enable individual players to be selected for multiple countries. This led to many smaller Pacific nations calling up players unlikely to make the 2017 World Cup squads of the three top-tier nations (Australia, New Zealand and England) and who were deemed eligible by parental/grandparental or residency criteria. </p>
<p>There were contrasting fortunes for these teams: while Wales, Scotland and Ireland failed to progress beyond the group stages, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Fiji reached the knockout rounds. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of these more successful nations’ squads play professionally in the NRL or Super League. </p>
<h2>Playing away</h2>
<p>This manipulation of international eligibility rules can have a beneficial effect in avoiding “walkover” results such as the 74-6 defeat for Scotland against New Zealand. But for smaller national federations, it places a disproportionate amount of power in the hands of the professional English and Australian league bodies. The current system provides an international platform to further promote the talent of their globally recognised and financially healthy domestic leagues. </p>
<p>For nations seeking to emulate that growth, their emergent domestic talent would likely be encouraged to compete overseas to reach elite level international competition. It is wholly conceivable that a young Canadian talent might be recruited by the Toronto team, end up competing exclusively against English opposition in the Super League – and then play <em>for</em> England because of eligibility rules. </p>
<p>Recent calls for the strongest nations to subsidise the growth of “tier two” rugby league nations and their developing leagues has gathered traction. But the sporadic and limited growth of domestic competitions seems to be mirrored in the stuttering growth of the international game. </p>
<p>As long as the strength of English and Australian professional rugby league is disproportionately distributed, growing the reach of the sport will remain restricted. Likewise, on the international stage, those two countries have become the axis of power in the sport, effectively excluding others.</p>
<p>So who won the Rugby League World Cup? The record books will indicate it was Australia, with their six points against England’s zero. But rather than the speed of the backs or the strength of the forwards, this victory could easily be attributed to the disproportionate power of the two professional leagues that dominate the sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Preston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rules favour the few.Andy Preston, Programme Leader, Sports Coaching, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/881042017-11-30T11:28:37Z2017-11-30T11:28:37ZHow rugby league’s relaxed rules for diaspora players gave the sport a new lease of life<p>When England and Australia walk out onto the pitch in Brisbane for the 15th rugby league world cup final on December 2, they will be competing to lift the Paul Barrière trophy. It is named after the <a href="https://culturalpulse.com.au/blog/2017/09/21/french-rugby-legend-paul-barriere/">man</a> who founded the tournament in 1954, a former leader of the French Resistance, who played a crucial role in reestablishing rugby league in France after it was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/24547273">banned</a> by the Vichy authorities in 1941. </p>
<p>Just <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwUV2Y30JVM&list=PLmdgDYMF5bdPOE67oOUJ4W_deXUKUXnu0">four nations</a> competed back in 1954, compared to 26 in 2017 with 14 qualifying for the finals, which were hosted by Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. </p>
<p>Whoever wins the trophy, the tournament’s real story is the rise of Tonga, Fiji, Lebanon and the other national sides whose players were drawn from diaspora communities in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. </p>
<h2>Class struggle in rugby</h2>
<p>Rugby league has come a long way since 1895 when leading clubs in England’s industrial north left the Rugby Football Union in protest at its refusal to allow working-class players to be paid compensation for taking time off work to play. </p>
<p>The Northern Union, as rugby league was originally known, <a href="https://www.bathrugby.co.uk/differences-between-rugby-union-and-rugby-league/">changed the rules</a> to make the game more attractive, reducing teams to 13-a-side, removing the line-out and introducing a rule that the ball must be played after a tackle. </p>
<p>Player revolts against rugby union’s amateurism took place in New Zealand and Australia in 1907 and league took root in the Antipodes. In 1934, French rugby too was torn apart over the question of payments to players, and <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rugby+a+treize&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=3bMeWuaMDMWLtgff3ZngDQ">rugby à treize</a>, as the sport is known in France, quickly challenged union for oval ball supremacy. </p>
<p>Any chance the split could be healed was firmly extinguished by rugby union’s worldwide ban on any contact with rugby league. Players were banned for life for even speaking to a rugby league club. In 1933, England rugby union full back Tom Brown was <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RweAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=%22tom+brown%22+AND+warrington+AND+full-back&source=bl&ots=e_RssTKtPK&sig=zlyUbNatYtlRyJkXz9VVZuvX3rE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig1fykzOTXAhXLOxoKHSKxAkwQ6AEIJzAB#v=onepage&q=%22tom%20brown%22%20AND%20warrington%20AND%20full-back&f=false">banished from the sport</a> for having lunch with officials of Warrington rugby league club. It was a division, explained Danie Craven, president of the South African Rugby Union, based on <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kvJ8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=%22the+strictest+form+of+apartheid%22&source=bl&ots=xET3XwGuza&sig=zw_w-yyY_mGCZNqmdqu5q4ojcxI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW5sHipdzXAhUHGOwKHVOiAo8Q6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=%22the%20strictest%20form%20of%20apartheid%22&f=false">“the strictest form of apartheid”</a>. </p>
<h2>Fair play for all</h2>
<p>Class snobbery has never been far from attitudes to rugby league. Four years after the 1895 split, a former Rugby Football Union president, Arthur Budd, declared that the sport’s problems “began with the advent of the working man”. </p>
<p>Even today, league is one of the few sports not played in middle-class private schools in England, while even in Australia not a single one of its elite public schools plays the sport.</p>
<p>League’s origins in a campaign for fair play for working-class players led it to a generally more inclusive attitude to minorities than other sports. Black league players first played internationals for England and Wales in the 1930s, and the British game saw black coaches from the 1950s.</p>
<p>In 2016, Australia’s National Rugby League became the first sport in Australia to have a majority of non-white professional players. <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2016/03/01/nrl-ahead-rivals-when-it-comes-indigenous-participation">Aboriginal players</a> accounted for 12% of elite players and <a href="http://www.nrl.com/nrls-pacific-strategy-grows-in-samoa/tabid/10874/newsid/101990/default.aspx">Polynesian players</a> a further 40%. </p>
<h2>Rise of the diaspora</h2>
<p>The changing face of southern hemisphere rugby league is having a profound effect on the international game. Although countries such as Tonga and Fiji have their own amateur-level competitions, the strength of their national teams lies in their diaspora players in Australia and New Zealand. </p>
<p>Their rise was facilitated by a 2016 revision to national qualification rules by the <a href="http://www.rlif.com/ignite_docs/20160920%20RLIF%20Eligibility%20Rules%20-%20Final.pdf">Rugby League International Federation</a>. This allowed players who had played for the “big three” of Australia, England and New Zealand to opt to play for a country of their heritage at the world cup, without losing the right to play later for a big three nation. </p>
<p>No country benefited more from this than Tonga, who acquired star <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/99252725/jason-taumalolo-calls-for-more-tests-in-new-zealand-as-tonga-target-annual-grudge-match-against-kiwis">New Zealander Jason Taumalolo</a> and Australian forward Andrew Fifita, both of whom have parents born in Tonga. Riding a huge wave of Tongan support, the team defeated New Zealand and lost a thrilling semi-final to England by just two points.</p>
<h2>A new league of nations?</h2>
<p>The RLIF decision reflected the fluidity of national identity today. As immigration and movement across national boundaries increases, national and regional identities become changeable and multi-layered.</p>
<p>There is nothing new in national sides harvesting players of immigrant heritage or those qualified to play through residency. In the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/33912430">2015 rugby union world cup</a>, my analysis found that a third of the players in the France, Japan, Scotland and Wales squads weren’t born in the country they represented.</p>
<p>But what makes rugby league different is the fact that much of the initiative for the Tongan, Samoan, Fijian and Lebanese diaspora teams came from the players themselves. Keen to honour their family and community heritage, players like Taumalolo, Fifita and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/20/lebanons-world-cup-is-about-more-than-simply-rugby-league">Lebanon’s Robbie Farah</a> have brought a new dimension to international sport.</p>
<p>Rugby league has always prided itself on its innovation and diversity, sometimes with too little justification. But the success of the 2017 world cup and its diaspora national sides may well point the way to a new model for international representative sport in the 21st century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Collins is a former trustee of Rugby League Cares, chair of the National Rugby League Museum steering committee and a member of rugby union's World Rugby Museum committee.</span></em></p>The rugby league world cup final on December 2 is between traditional heavyweights Australia and England. But the real story is the rise of diaspora national sides like Tonga, Fiji and Lebanon.Tony Collins, Professor of History, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/739682017-03-23T23:07:28Z2017-03-23T23:07:28ZSporting codes’ deals with gambling companies force them into a Faustian bargain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160448/original/image-20170313-19256-1u1q7hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sports betting has become a high-profile part of the rugby league's income and branding.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/karlmonaghan/515858509/in/photolist-MzMKq-MzMHf-6oC75t-MzUcT-cG14YA-MzUnn-MzUYX-MzLSW-MzLy1-MzU2e-MzMgN-MzM4j-MzLCU-MzV4M-MzUzD-MzLzb-MzUWF-MzULe-MzMfA-MzUh2-MzLtq-MzUkz-MzMAw-MzMsS-MzMFf-MzV2R-MzU18-MzMM9-dYEsRg-82qS4X-82tYTd-82tYA5-82tYis-82qNhH-82tUGS-82tUrY-82tTzE-6oGfsh-6oGezs-5hP8Kb-5aQnA3-MzV5x-MzMyh-MzMiL-MzUtr-MzLYY-MzLWN-Bt4bv-BsRNm-BsRDb/">Karl Monaghan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2014-15, Australians gambled <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">nearly A$7.2 billion</a> on sports betting (not including racing), in the process losing around $815 million. Sports betting is certainly a <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/agrc/publications/sports-betting-and-advertising/growth-sports-betting-australia">growth market in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Most professional sporting codes have business partnerships with betting providers; the <a href="http://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1573&context=tourism_pubs">sponsorship revenue</a> is attractive to them. However, there are risks for the organisations. Wagers about on-field results and variables during play have the potential to be a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Faustian-bargain">Faustian bargain</a>. Known as <a href="http://www.rugbyleaguebetting.com.au/betting/">“exotic bets”</a>, these include markets like the first player to score a goal in football, or the first to score a try in rugby league.</p>
<p>The National Rugby League is arguably in a Faustian position right now. Wests Tigers player Tim Simona recently admitted to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/wests-tigers/nrl-deregisters-wests-tigers-tim-simona-for-betting-against-own-team/news-story/a43e5f3a07e6b9a60a1603af20f8c384">placing bets on rugby league</a> – including against his own team and, most shockingly, that his direct opponent would score a try. The NRL has now deregistered Simona.</p>
<p>Gambling is not just a source of income for sports; it adds <a href="http://sportsthenandnow.com/2015/06/26/sports-betting-can-be-easy-and-fun/">entertainment value</a> for many fans. Betting can even bring in <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-2849-8">new supporters</a>, enticed initially by a punt. However, should confidence in the betting market be compromised, such as by fraud or corruption, the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/should-we-bet-on-the-future-of-professional-sport-20160330-gnu1yu.html">integrity of sport</a> as a legitimate contest is placed at grave risk. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9cFtq/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<h2>Normalising gambling on sport</h2>
<p>Rugby league used to rely almost solely on poker machines for gambling revenue. But recently, sports betting has become a high-profile part of the game’s income and branding. </p>
<p>Of the 16 NRL clubs, seven are sponsored by online sports betting companies; two more are sponsored by casinos, one of which is an online sports betting platform. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.seaeagles.com.au/">Manly-Warringah</a> club’s home ground has been renamed <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-03/manly-sea-eagles-homeground-brookvale-oval-renamed-lottoland/8239204">Lottoland</a> as part of a sponsorship deal with that online betting company. And the NRL itself has a <a href="http://www.nrl.com/nrl-renews-wagering-agreement-with-sportsbet/tabid/10874/newsid/95874/default.aspx">$60 million deal</a> with Sportsbet – its official gaming partner – until 2020.</p>
<p>NRL fans – whether at the game or watching a broadcast – bear witness to an unprecedented volume of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296315001174">sports betting promotion</a>: before the match, during game breaks, on player jerseys, ground signage, scoreboard displays, after the match and in highlight reels. NRL betting odds feature in newspapers and news bulletins, often with live crosses to a sports betting agency to discuss predictions and offer promotional bets.</p>
<p>Punters can place a bet – either prior to the game or in play – with a simple selection on a digital device. These apps are <a href="https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive">designed to be enticing</a> – socially and psychologically. </p>
<p>So, gambling on the NRL is <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-3610-z?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BMC_TrendMD">normalised</a> – not just for adults who bet, but <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12564/full">for children</a> who observe.</p>
<h2>Compromising the sport’s integrity</h2>
<p>Gamblers’ confidence in betting on the NRL has occasionally been compromised from an integrity perspective. </p>
<p>In 2010, Canterbury player <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-06/tandy-found-guilty-of-fixing/3317476">Ryan Tandy</a> instigated a spot-fixing operation in which the opposing team would be gifted a penalty at the start of the game. The sting failed, but Tandy was found out – and banned from the NRL for life. </p>
<p>In 2016, a New South Wales <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/bank-and-betting-anomalies-led-police-to-launch-strike-force-into-nrl-match-fixing-20160907-grb4kj.html">police task force</a> was established to investigate bank and betting anomalies related to suspected match-fixing in the NRL. That inquiry is ongoing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/tim-simona-sex-drugs-and-my-downfall/news-story/4dbf6be5c680be6e94d4959bd24964d9?utm_content=SocialFlow&utm_campaign=EditorialSF&utm_source=DailyTelegraph&utm_medium=Twitter#load-story-comments">Tim Simona’s admissions</a> have reinforced long-held concerns about the threat to game integrity by players’ engagement with, and even addiction to, gambling (and related behaviours, such as illicit drugs).</p>
<p>It is difficult to see Simona ever returning to the NRL. His addictions to gambling and cocaine certainly require the assistance of health professionals, so there is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-11/tigers-coach-says-club-to-be-supportive-of-banned-simona/8345890">some sympathy</a> about his state of mind. </p>
<p>But Simona’s reputation has been compromised beyond that. It’s been revealed that he pocketed money on the sale of signed NRL jerseys <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/wests-tigers/nrl-deregisters-wests-tigers-tim-simona-for-betting-against-own-team/news-story/a43e5f3a07e6b9a60a1603af20f8c384">auctioned for charity</a>, and that he implored his pregnant ex-girlfriend to have an abortion – <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/get-my-boobs-done-or-ill-tell-nrl-how-simonas-ex-blew-the-whistle/news-story/6ae5d8a20145df9ee4f6409b2bfb70ab">saying he</a> “wouldn’t be there to support them”.</p>
<p>While Simona needs <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-11/tigers-coach-says-club-to-be-supportive-of-banned-simona/8345890">support</a> – especially around risk of self-harm during a crisis – his lack of empathy for others suggests poor <a href="http://www.psychometriclab.com/adminsdata/files/Emotional%20intelligence%20-%20Elsevier%20NBP%20encyclopedia%20(2017).pdf">emotional intelligence</a>.</p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>Following the Simona scandal the NRL is trying to reduce its exposure to the integrity risks spot-fixing poses.</p>
<p>The number of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-01/nrl-bans-exotic-betting-options-and-under-20s-gambling/8314774">in-play activities</a> that punters can bet on has been reduced. For example, the option of placing a wager on the first scoring play of the first half has gone, and so too – one deduces – the temptation for someone like Simona to attempt a sting.</p>
<p>There is, inevitably, the prospect of match-fixing. But that is much more unlikely than a spot fix: it needs many people in the same team to be on side, and perhaps even a friendly referee. That is a much tougher Faustian bargain to pull off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The NRL is trying to reduce its exposure to the integrity risks posed by spot-fixing.Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology SydneyDavid Bond, Senior Lecturer, Accounting Discipline Group, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/705902016-12-20T23:31:13Z2016-12-20T23:31:13ZNo other recourse but to sue? The implications of Alex McKinnon’s lawsuit against the NRL<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150691/original/image-20161219-24299-16byhyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As the tackle that injured rugby league player Alex McKinnon shows, spinal cord injury can take place in a split-second.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alex McKinnon, who was left in a wheelchair following an on-field tackle in an NRL match in 2014, is <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/alex-mckinnon-is-suing-the-nrl-and-jordan-mclean/news-story/7948d2abe053897935e1d574ef9854fc">set to sue</a> the league and the player deemed responsible for his injury, Jordan McLean.</p>
<p>The legal circumstances are only part of the questions raised by a case like McKinnon’s. There are also discussions to be had over compensation and insurance, and the personal impact of spinal cord injury.</p>
<h2>A legal first</h2>
<p>McKinnon’s case marks the first time a player has directly sued rugby league’s national governing body over an on-field injury in Australia. </p>
<p>Previously, players <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/53132/1/53132P.pdf">have sued other players</a> over injuries deemed to have resulted from illegal play. In other cases, players have also <a href="http://www.mondaq.com/australia/x/55488/Personal+Injury/Case+Note+McCracken+v+Melbourne+Storm+Rugby+League+Football+Club+Limited+2007+NSWCA+353">cited the club</a> of the player regarded as having caused the injury.</p>
<p>These cases have tested the legal concepts of:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>duty of care: that is, to whom one is responsible for the negligent behaviour that resulted in the injury and why;</p></li>
<li><p>voluntary assumption of risk: that is, whether the injury arose from behaviour that was an inherent part of the activity and to which the injured party had tacitly accepted the risk, so therefore no-one was legally liable for the damage caused; and</p></li>
<li><p>vicarious liability: that is, the employer is legally responsible because the behaviour that caused the injury occurred while the employee was carrying out their work duties, albeit negligently.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2v2zPABBtF8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The tackle that injured Alex McKinnon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Workers’ compensation and sports insurance</h2>
<p>In any other sphere of life, if a person is injured at work they are covered by workers’ compensation.</p>
<p>In Australia, depending upon the state you live in, such claims have been limited with respect to monetary compensation. For example, in New South Wales a person acquiring a spinal cord impairment similar to McKinnon’s is <a href="http://www.sira.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/101579/WC-Benefits-Guide-final.pdf">limited to</a> a one-off lump-sum payment of A$231,000.</p>
<p>Under any circumstances this figure can be regarded as grossly inadequate when you consider home modifications, purchase of assistive technology, and ongoing care and medical expenses. </p>
<p>Any sportsperson taking to the field typically does so under their state’s sports injuries insurance scheme. However, it is open to the sporting organisation to opt for private insurance as a substitute or complement. </p>
<p>Under the <a href="http://workersinsurance.icare.nsw.gov.au/premiums-and-policies/sports-insurance/sports-injuries-insurance-scheme">sports injury insurance scheme</a>, payments of benefits are made in respect of deaths and certain injuries suffered by people participating in sporting and recreational activities.</p>
<p>Significantly, the benefits payable are predetermined and limited, with a maximum benefit for a single incident capped at $171,000. Hence – unless private insurance has been taken out – under workers’ compensation or the sports injury insurance scheme the degree of coverage for spinal cord injury is inadequate.</p>
<h2>Spinal cord injury</h2>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442468335">around 12,000 people</a> living with spinal cord injury in Australia, with some 370 new cases each year. Of these, some 80% are male and 20% female. Most occur through motor-vehicle accidents (23%), unprotected road users (23%, including cyclists or pedestrians), high falls (18%), low falls (10%), being struck by objects (9%), or water-related injuries (9%). </p>
<p>Of those injuries, some 20% occurred in sport or leisure activities and 15% in work-related environments. Once a person has a spinal cord injury their <a href="https://www.independenceaustralia.com/uploads/media%20releases/Spinal%20Alliance%20Fact%20Sheet%20%5bOctober%202014%5d.pdf">employment rate</a> declines from 78% pre-injury to 29% post-injury.</p>
<p>Any spinal cord injury is devastating to the person involved, their immediate family, and their circle of friends. At best it can be a lengthy hospitalisation, and end in a “miracle” story of the person walking out of the hospital. </p>
<p>Medically, spinal cord injury is at worst a lifelong change that <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/spinal-cord-injury/basics/symptoms/con-20023837">affects every daily function of the human body</a> – beyond merely walking. Socially it can mean a loss of job and income, the family home requiring major modifications if it can be made accessible, changes in family responsibilities, and the way members of the family relate to each other.</p>
<p>On top of all this, McKinnon has had his spinal cord injury and circumstances played out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jffgIp9asFQ">in the public realm</a>.</p>
<p>As the tackle that injured McKinnon shows, spinal cord injury can take place in a split second. Whether the person is an elite athlete or not, there is a massive psychological adjustment that takes place. This period of adjustment can go on for years.</p>
<p>Depending on level of injury, personal care is an ongoing cost that is essential to maintaining good health and a functioning family unit. Then there is transport, housing modifications, assistive technology, ongoing medical expenses and specialised equipment for work and leisure. These have been estimated at a <a href="https://www.tac.vic.gov.au/about-the-tac/our-organisation/research/tac-neurotrauma-research/vni/the20economic20cost20of20spinal20cord20injury20and20traumatic20brain20injury20in20australia.pdf">lifetime cost of $9.5 million</a> for a quadriplegic. </p>
<p>As McKinnon progresses in his recovery, the true cost of disability and his needs over a lifetime are only just starting to be realised. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jffgIp9asFQ">has said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s only been in the last few weeks that I have understood that it will cost $100,000 per year just to get me up out of bed in the morning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The love of McKinnon’s partner, family and friends can only do so much where professional allied health, medical and therapy interventions are required to lead an independent and dignified life as possible.</p>
<p>While the NRL has been supportive and offered McKinnon a <a href="http://www.nrl.com/nrl-pledges-job-for-life-for-alex-mckinnon/tabid/10874/newsid/78043/default.aspx">job for life</a>, he is starting to realise the real ongoing costs of disability may not be met by the generous charity that has already been provided.</p>
<p>McKinnon does not just want his basic needs met; he wants to be compensated for the life he envisioned a professional football career would give him, and what has been taken away through catastrophic injury. While the National Disability Insurance Scheme will provide for his basic needs, it does not provide for everything people with disability require to offset all loses because of their disability. Instead, it only meets requirements that can be regarded as <a href="https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants">“fair and reasonable”</a>. </p>
<p>Given these circumstances, McKinnon has been left with no other recourse than to litigate to receive compensation for his loss of lifestyle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alex McKinnon’s case marks the first time a player has directly sued rugby league’s national governing body over an on-field injury in Australia.Simon Darcy, Professor & Co-Director Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre - UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyPaul Jonson, Associate Professor, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622852016-07-25T19:44:46Z2016-07-25T19:44:46ZWho should be responsible for brain injuries in sport?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130634/original/image-20160715-2141-1283e8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are players victims of workplace hazards or willing participants in known dangers?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rowanbank/7146192515/">Peter Dean/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2016 State of Origin rugby league competition is over for another year and the focus has shifted to off-field events, with claims arising for compensation for brain injury. In recent times, football codes in Australia have had to respond to issues surrounding concussion and brain injuries with the question yet to be decided: who should be legally accountable and liable to pay compensation?</p>
<p>Sport in Australia does not operate in a law-free zone. The preliminary claim for compensation initiated in Queensland by former amateur rugby league player, Liam Cullen, has raised a number of legal issues in sport.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/toowoomba-man-liam-cullen-is-suing-queensland-rugb/2960018/">media reports</a>, Cullen was an amateur rugby league player for the St George local football club when he suffered a traumatic brain injury. The injury arose from an on-field incident in a game against Roma Cities in the Roma and District Rugby League amateur competition in 2014.</p>
<p>Cullen intends to sue <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/qrl/queensland-rugby-league-player-liam-cullen-seeks-millions-after-injury/news-story/f43599fd89a512f9eeb345ad8e9a2791">five parties</a> including the Roma Referees’ Association and Queensland Rugby League, as the sport’s governing body, for negligence. He is seeking millions of dollars in compensation arising out of an illegal head-high tackle and contact made by the opposing player contrary to the rules of the game.</p>
<p>According to these reports, Cullen is left with a permanent loss of brain function and lost earnings, with the incident significantly impacting himself and his family.</p>
<p>This claim brings into question the allocation of risk and responsibility in circumstances where participants voluntarily participate in dangerous contact sports.</p>
<h2>Voluntary participant or victim?</h2>
<p>A decision that has to be made here, is that in playing rugby league, is there a significant risk of physical harm or could the risk be avoided by the exercise of reasonable skill and care? </p>
<p>If the game (or a component of the game) can be classified as a dangerous recreational activity under Queensland’s <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/C/CivilLiabA03.pdf">Civil Liability Act</a>, then the defendant would not be liable for the materialisation of an obvious risk. An injured player would be regarded as having assumed responsibility for obvious risks arising from participation. </p>
<p>“Dangerous” under the Civil Liability Act refers to a recreational activity that involves a significant risk of physical harm. Rugby league is a full-contact sport and would fall under this classification. Similar provisions can be found in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. </p>
<p>This exemption is designed to force those who participate in dangerous recreational activities to accept personal responsibility for injury caused by known hazards of the activity. A <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/tas/TASSC/2011/19.html">Tasmanian case</a> decided “recreational activity” does not apply to sport played as an occupation or profession. This puts professional athletes into a different category from amateur athletes regarding their legal rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130635/original/image-20160715-2150-1ulx4s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=676&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We know rugby is a dangerous sport, so who should be held responsible for incidents that occur?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=rugby%20high%20tackle&license=2%2C3%2C4%2C5%2C6%2C9">Peter Dean/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who’s in charge and in control?</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2000/41.html">High Court</a>, the organisation and hierarchy within a sport are important considerations in determining liability. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2000/41.html">previous case</a>, two rugby union players who had been seriously injured on the field sued various parties, including the governing body and organisers at the local, state, national and international levels, the opponent club and the match referee. The High Court said the Australian governing bodies in that case did not owe a duty of care to the players on the basis that they were not in a position to amend the rules of the sport. </p>
<p>Who ultimately has control over the match in which the player was injured is a significant point. Who makes the rules and owes a duty to provide a safe sporting system? Rule-making responsibilities, including the capacity to amend the rules and enforce implementation of the rules, need to be established to determine liability.</p>
<p>There are various levels within the sporting hierarchy of rugby league in Australia, with the Australian Rugby League Commission being the <a href="https://www.nrl.com/about/nrlhq/arlcommission/tabid/10891/default.aspx">single controlling body</a> and administrator of the game. The Commission delegates certain functions to the Queensland Rugby League to organise the game across the state. </p>
<p>As the delegate of this responsibility, Queensland Rugby League publishes <a href="http://www.qrl.com.au/about/documents-and-policies.html">documents and policies</a> specific to the operation and management of the game in Queensland and adopts the Australian Rugby League Commission’s laws, including the “<a href="http://www.playnrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ARL-Rules-book-2015.pdf">Laws of the Game</a>” rule book. </p>
<p>Central to the new claim is whether Queensland Rugby League exercised control over the match when Cullen was injured.</p>
<h2>Other cases in contact sports</h2>
<p>A number of former Australian Football League (AFL) players have claimed <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/head-injury-payouts-revealed-20110331-1cngm.html">compensation for career-ending injuries</a> arising from concussions, with settlements having been handled internally by the AFL.</p>
<p>There are no reported cases in Australia setting a precedent as to what is expected from a sports governing body in the case of concussion and brain injuries in sport.</p>
<p>In the United States, the concussion cases against the National Football League were <a href="https://www.nflconcussionsettlement.com">settled out of court</a> and without a determination being made as to responsibility. </p>
<p>A number of Australian cases have demonstrated the challenges in mounting claims against governing bodies for other types of sporting injuries. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2002/114.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=haylen">one case</a>, a rugby player who suffered significant spinal injuries in a scrum sued the state-based organiser of the sport, the New South Wales Rugby Union. The court in that case decided the New South Wales Rugby Union did not owe a duty of care to make changes to eliminate injuries and no evidence was established proving it had control over the relevant match.</p>
<p>In another case, a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2003/749.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=country%20rugby%20football%20league">junior rugby league player</a> tried to sue New South Wales Rugby League after he suffered spinal injuries, rendering him a quadriplegic. </p>
<p>The claim alleged the League had created an unreasonable risk of injury and failed to amend the rules to protect players from injuries. The player was unsuccessful on the basis that the League did not, in a real sense, exert control over the match. </p>
<p>The Cullen case will be one to watch and, if it proceeds through the various stages of the civil litigation process, documents disclosed through the discovery stage should provide an interesting read as to what was known by the sport’s governing body in responding to the risks associated with brain injuries in rugby league.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62285/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annette Greenhow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2016 State of Origin rugby league competition is over for another year and the focus has shifted to off-field events with claims for compensation for brain injury.Annette Greenhow, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/575532016-04-20T20:08:54Z2016-04-20T20:08:54ZSplit-second decisions with little praise: so what does it take to ref a game of NRL<p>Whomever you support in any National Rugby League (<a href="http://www.nrl.com/">NRL</a>) footy game, it’s important to remember there’s always a third team in play that seldom gets much support: the refereeing crew.</p>
<p>For every knock-on, restart and try scored, this six-person unit deftly coordinates thousands of decisive calls and split-second decisions at match speed.</p>
<p>And all this is done while under intense player and public scrutiny.</p>
<p>NRL referees consistently manage around 282 rucks per game and 36 kicks in play. They adjudicate on approximately 20 player errors, 38 restarts and 14 penalties while covering a total distance of around eight kilometres per game.</p>
<p>Match officials spend a staggering 31% of game time in high anaerobic heart rate sectors of 170 beats per minute (bpm) or above.</p>
<p>How, then, under such demanding physical and mental circumstances, do these high-performance arbitrators effectively administer and communicate their decision-making outcomes?</p>
<h2>Close calls</h2>
<p>After spending eight busy days this month immersed in the business of NRL refereeing, I was extremely impressed with the professionalism and work rate of all involved.</p>
<p>It highlighted to me the lack of public knowledge about how these elite athletes operate. There is an enormous volume of communication taking place during each game, and technology’s had a huge impact on the role and responsibilities of the modern-day official.</p>
<p>The lead and assist referees facilitate match-day decisions in partnership with their two touch judges. Further support is provided each week by both the match-day referee coach and a senior review official located in the video ref’s bunker.</p>
<p>I attended the Eels v Panthers game at Parramatta Stadium in western Sydney. The referees’ coaching box was a small space in which the match-day official was required to effectively operate. It was already half-packed with equipment.</p>
<p>Noise and movement from broadcast boxes either side continually intruded while technical staff repeatedly entered and left as the game progressed.</p>
<p>And yet, the match-day referee’s focus in this small area was unwavering. Concentration was maintained as he astutely watched every play of the game and confirmed decisions and ruck counts.</p>
<p>By judiciously communicating with the other referees and touch judges on field, the match-day referee provided immediate clarity and confidence at key times throughout the match for both the lead and assist referee.</p>
<p>During the course of a typical game, lead referees have to cope with listening to their assist referee, two line judges, the match-day referee coach, players and occasionally spectators who attempt to provide their own “helpful” advice. </p>
<p>Hundreds of communications are taking place each minute. Few of us hold jobs where at least five people are simultaneously speaking at us and where split-second responses are required. Key decisions may also change the mood of a large group of people in their immediate vicinity from friendly to hostile in a short space of time.</p>
<h2>The video ref bunker</h2>
<p>This season has seen the set up of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/nrl-video-refs-can-still-make-the-call-even-if-theyre-not-at-the-game-51897">centralised video referee</a>, based in a bunker at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh, Sydney, where a team of officials are required to watch over all NRL games. </p>
<figure>
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</figure>
<p>In contrast to the on-field refereeing, scenes inside the video referee bunker were far more comfortable. With no interruptions and plenty of soundproofed space, match review officials clinically oversaw decisions being made at a distance.</p>
<p>Devoid of match-day emotions and distractions but just as busy as the match-day coaching box with little changeover time between games, an impressive array of touchscreen interfaces, zoom functions and enhanced camera angles were continually accessed in order to provide alternative sources of match-day information to the on-field referee team when required.</p>
<p>At the same time, in another section of the bunker, referee coaching staff were constantly editing key sections of decision-making plays in order to produce coaching segments designed to provide feedback and improve referee performance prior to the next round of games.</p>
<p>Who goes home from their day job to analyse their own performance for the next three hours? Which families get to continually hear about their job security in the <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/opinion/nrls-aim-to-stop-criticism-of-referees-and-bunker-eroding-public-faith-in-games-accountability/news-story/a4b9c7064ac8842b514148e861af3a8a">media</a>? And who gets their work statistically micro-analysed by a personal coach every week?</p>
<h2>When the refs get it right</h2>
<p>NRL refereeing must be one of the most high pressure and publicly scrutinised jobs on the Australian sporting landscape. And yet, data reveals that NRL referees had an 81.4% decision-making success rate for their round five games this season. It was an astounding 94% success rate for the Eels v Panthers game I attended. </p>
<p>Why then do we focus so strongly on referee mistakes rather than player mistakes?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119225/original/image-20160419-13905-kwvuas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ryan Hoffman of the Warriors speaks with the referee Matt Checchin during the round five NRL match between the Sydney Roosters and the New Zealand Warriors at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Mick Tsikas</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Realistically, they can only officiate the match that comes before them. If players are intent on committing penalties, then referees have no choice but to blow the whistle on them.</p>
<p>And yet, the performances of referees appear to be shaped quickly by strong opinions in the aftermath of games by players, coaches and media alike. This includes the new video referee bunker decisions that have also been <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-coaches-have-found-a-loophole-to-avoid-getting-fined/news-story/cca1688b5e245dc071eea921d82e52dd">subject to some criticism</a> this season.</p>
<p>If people only see the condensed <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/vossy-apologises-for-epic-channel-9-replay-rant/news-story/c7f79d8d0bdd9019a84ad95aedd4ecc3">footage currently being broadcast</a>, then it must be difficult to accurately assess and comment on referee mistakes at all. </p>
<p>In future, solutions might be to display the multiple camera angles available to bunker officials instead of the basic vision currently being shown. By combining broadcast vision with real-time lead and assist referee communications, angst currently being directed at referees might be further reduced. </p>
<p>Broncos coach Wayne Bennett believes the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/nrl/wayne-bennett-doesnt-want-nrl-grand-final-in-brisbane/news-story/481bf03a9c1b86afdfe219f7d676f4c7">bunker system has already shown its worth</a> when he said at the weekend:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The bunker has many plusses to it, but is it the perfect system? No it’s not, because there is human error there.</p>
<p>That’s the bottom line. I don’t know why we keep beating ourselves up about it, because it is better than what we had.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That’s something to consider next time you’re about to criticise the referee in any NRL game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Kath O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The data shows NRL referees get it right most of the time. So why do they still cop criticism?Dr Kath O'Brien, PhD Candidate - School of Human Movement & Nutrition Sciences, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/497412015-10-29T19:30:39Z2015-10-29T19:30:39ZFour reasons rugby union in Australia is struggling – despite the Wallabies’ success<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100052/original/image-20151028-21090-modntr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Wallabies may be flying high at the World Cup, but the picture for rugby union at home looks reasonably bleak.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s rugby union team, the Wallabies, might this weekend be <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/28/new-zealand-australia-basics-adventurous">crowned world champions</a> for a third time. But they will face stiff opposition in the form of the reigning world champions, New Zealand’s All Blacks.</p>
<p>Regardless of the result, in Australia’s competitive football landscape rugby union is dwarfed by the three other major football codes – Australian Rules football, rugby league and football (soccer).</p>
<p>While rugby union commands a fanatical following in certain geographical areas and parts of Australian society, and has a long and distinguished history, it has failed to keep pace with the other football codes on a number of levels. There are four main, interrelated reasons for this. </p>
<h2>Failure to connect with new fans</h2>
<p>In the <a href="https://theconversation.com/darts-rise-is-a-cautionary-tale-for-sport-in-a-commercialised-world-46172">hyper-commercialised era</a> of mediated sport, rugby union has struggled to attract new followers in substantial numbers.</p>
<p>While <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/11082305/Rugby-union-is-far-from-perfect-and-rules-on-trial-in-Australia-must-be-taken-seriously.html">rules</a> have been altered and new competitions (national and international) such as <a href="http://www.rugby.com.au/superrugby">Super Rugby</a> and the <a href="http://www.rugby.com.au/nrc/Home.aspx">National Rugby Championship</a> established, <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/07/22/super-rugby-numbers-tv/">TV ratings</a> have been disappointing, not to mention the crowds at games.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney was <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/rugby-union-match-centre/bledisloe-cup-2015-australia-v-new-zealand-anz-stadium-in-sydney-20150808-giupr5.html">not a sell-out</a>. The ill-conceived National Rugby Championship has attracted a handful of spectators to most games and <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/rugby/new-broadcasting-deal-ensures-future-of-national-rugby-championship-until-at-least-2020/story-fnii0ksb-1227248256811?sv=cc62b3abcc77460c15586b1448752518">low ratings</a> on pay TV.</p>
<p>Prospective rugby union fans have found little connection to the National Rugby Championship and even less identification with its various invented clubs, such as the “Stars” and the “Rays”. </p>
<p>What also hinders rugby union are issues associated with entertainment and understanding of rules. Unlike the three other codes – where the ball is consistently in play and the rules are simple – this is not the case in rugby union. For sustained periods there can be stoppages due to resets of scrums, time-consuming kicks out of play and constant streams of penalties that stop the flow of play.</p>
<p>Matches turn into kicking duels, and the team that scores the most tries doesn’t necessarily win. This is notwithstanding the lack of understanding of rules – especially at the breakdown of scrums, where refereeing decisions can perplex even the players and commentators. </p>
<h2>Not a national game</h2>
<p>Rugby union is not a national sport. Its support base primarily lies in NSW and Queensland. While the sport was introduced across Australia in the 1870s, by the end of the first world war its base was in these two states and in Sydney in particular. </p>
<p>For almost a century, the code’s administrators have been unable to broaden its appeal as the other three codes have. The NRL, AFL and A-League are competitions with large domestic followings across nearly all states and territories. The AFL’s <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/08/19/rupert-murdoch-says-afl-is-the-premium-code-in-australia-in-swipe-at-nrl/">new TV rights deal</a> clearly demonstrates its national reach.</p>
<p>Generally, the national appeal of rugby peaks during the World Cup or Bledisloe Cup matches against the All Blacks and hibernates between these periods. </p>
<p>This is similar to the periodic pattern of support for sports such as rowing, archery and yachting at the Olympic Games. Australians are fans of these sports because winning medals brings with it international prestige.</p>
<h2>At the grassroots</h2>
<p>At the grassroots level, rugby union has not made an impact on the competitive youth sport market. Low <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/76DF25542EE96D12CA257AD9000E2685?opendocument">participation rates</a> for youth aged between six and 14 highlight this picture.</p>
<p>These figures are even more alarming because in the heartland of the sport – the private school system – AFL and football have emerged as threats, taking away prospective players. At Sydney private schools, substantial numbers of students play football and AFL. </p>
<p>There are perhaps two main reasons for this. It would seem that the sport “played by all shapes and sizes” is now being dominated by early developers – in particular Pacific Islanders, who are larger and stronger in their youth. This discourages a number of players – and their parents – who fear injury. This has been exacerbated by recent findings <a href="http://dementiaresearchfoundation.org.au/blog/impact-impact-sports-%E2%80%93-concussions-brain-damage-and-dementia">related to</a> concussion and brain damage.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100102/original/image-20151029-15342-12uff9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Youth participation in rugby union is trending south.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, in the age of the talent identification program, players are identified and funnelled into elite programs. Novices, though, are neglected. Prior to this, the philosophy was that all students in “rugby” schools would play the sport. </p>
<h2>Class and race</h2>
<p>For many, rugby union is still a class-based game – and it hasn’t been able to break these shackles.</p>
<p>Since the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WVeAAgAAQBAJ&dq=rugby+split+1907&source=gbs_navlinks_s">rugby split</a> – when rugby league emerged – a class divide occurred. Union became a preserve of the middle and upper classes, so much so that its supporters were known as the “rah-rahs”. </p>
<p>When rugby union professionalised in 1995, the sport’s administrators failed to broaden its appeal. Many held onto and advocated for the sport’s “unique culture”. While sports such as Australian Rules encouraged Indigenous and other minority group participation, and the A-League welcomed Anglo-Celtic-background Australians to the fold by de-ethnicising the sport, Australian rugby has been reluctant to broaden its appeal. </p>
<p>For many inside the sport, what made rugby union so special was that it was the domain of the players, and the players were the focus of the sport. It was about loyalty and parochialism. Many traditionalists have found it difficult to adapt to the modern era. It would seem that professionalism does not sit well for those both inside and outside of rugby union.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Georgakis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Regardless of the World Cup final result, rugby union is dwarfed by the three other major football codes in Australia’s competitive football landscape.Steve Georgakis, Senior Lecturer of Pedagogy and Sports Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/483012015-10-01T02:20:21Z2015-10-01T02:20:21ZWho has the edge as the Broncos face the Cowboys in the 2015 NRL Grand Final?<p>Will it be the Brisbane Broncos or the North Queensland Cowboys who are crowned as 2015 National Rugby League (NRL) Premiers after Sunday evening’s Grand Final?</p>
<p>Whatever the result, this will be a historic Grand Final as it’s the first ever contested <a href="http://www.nrl.com/cowboys-lock-in-queensland-grand-final/tabid/10874/newsid/90153/default.aspx">between two teams from Queensland</a>.</p>
<p>The match-up underlines an era of dominance from the Sunshine State, coming at a time when Queensland has defeated New South Wales in <a href="http://www.nrl.com/queensland-clinch-2015-origin-series/tabid/10874/newsid/87758/default.aspx">nine of the last ten</a> State of Origin series.</p>
<p>That’s not a bad effort considering only three of the NRL’s 16 clubs hail from Queensland, compared to the ten from New South Wales.</p>
<h2>State of familiarity</h2>
<p>The Broncos and the Cowboys have much in common. Between them, they provide around a third of the first choice Australian Kangaroos squad and nine of the first choice 17 players for this year’s victorious Queensland State of Origin side.</p>
<p>Cowboys halfback <a href="http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/clubid/8/playerid/371/seasonid/43/default.aspx">Johnathan Thurston</a> was the top point scorer this State of Origin series. Broncos lock <a href="http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/playerstats/playerprofile/tabid/10898/clubid/1/playerid/266/seasonid/43/default.aspx">Corey Parker</a> was named <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/state-of-origin-iii-corey-parker-named-player-of-2015-series-20150708-gi83fy.html">Player of the Series</a>.</p>
<p>The Grand Final won’t even be the first time these sides have met in this year’s finals series, with Brisbane squeezing out a narrow <a href="http://www.nrl.com/broncos-win-thrilling-queensland-derby/tabid/10874/newsid/89746/default.aspx">16-12 victory</a> over the Cowboys in Week One last month.</p>
<p>Can anything be read into the result of that earlier game and the subsequent paths that the two teams have had to navigate to qualify for Sunday’s decider?</p>
<h2>In to the finals</h2>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.nrl.com/NRLHQ/ReferenceCentre/FinalsSystemExplained/tabid/10635/Default.aspx">NRL finals system</a>, teams finishing in the top four places in the regular season play in Week One of the finals for the right to earn a bye-week straight through to a Week Three Preliminary Final.</p>
<p>The losing sides from Week One have a second chance of qualifying for a Preliminary Final by playing off in Week Two against one of the sides who finished between fifth and eighth in the regular season, and who won in Week One (see diagram, below).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96788/original/image-20150930-5804-1k6i3hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diagram of NRL finals system and 2015 results. Unbroken arrows show the progression of winning teams. Dashed arrows show the progression of the two losing sides not immediately eliminated. Numbers in parentheses indicate teams’ final ladder positions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Woodcock</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some believe that <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/resting-players-can-blur-the-lines-of-integrity-of-our-game-writes-paul-kent/story-fnp0lyn3-1227508275879">earning a bye-week</a> is a huge advantage to a team’s chances of success – aching bodies can heal and additional time is available for preparing for the Preliminary Final. </p>
<p>Others argue that <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2015/09/25/fridaynrl-finals-preview-melbourne-storm-vs-north-queensland-cowboys/">momentum is key</a> at the business end of the season and that a two week gap without playing can be detrimental to a team’s Premiership aspirations. </p>
<h2>Is a game as good as a rest?</h2>
<p>But what does recent history suggest about the possible benefits of a team earning a week’s rest?</p>
<p>Each year, both of the Preliminary Finals are played between one side coming off a bye-week and one side that has played in both previous weeks of the finals. Looking at the results from the last few years it is difficult, at least at first glance, to believe that there is any major benefit of earning the bye-week.</p>
<p>Of the 24 Preliminary Finals played since 2004, 13 have been won by the side coming off a bye-week and 11 have been won by the side coming off back-to-back finals games. From this, it seems reasonable to argue that no major advantage is won or lost by qualifying directly to the Preliminary Final from Week One.</p>
<p>However, digging a little deeper into the NRL dataset reveals that every single NRL Grand Final since 2007 has been won by a side that earned the right to sit out Week Two of the finals. During that period, only twice have both finalists come off a bye-week. In other words, the last six sides to reach the Grand Final without a bye-week have come away empty handed.</p>
<p>The reasons for this are unclear. It could simply be a statistical quirk arising in such a small dataset or perhaps a sign that teams are more likely to be <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-finals-2015-aidan-guerra-says-sydney-roosters-wont-suffer-fatigue-20150914-gjmeg6.html">carrying injuries or fatigue</a> into the Grand Final after three straight weeks of finals action.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, recent history certainly does not bode well for the Cowboys’ chances this weekend.</p>
<h2>The Dally M Medal ‘curse’</h2>
<p>The further bad news for Cowboys is the success of their superstar halfback Johnathan Thurston at <a href="http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/johnathan-thurston-wins-2015-dally-m-medal-how-jt-made-history/story-e6frf3rc-1227548071853">this year’s Dally M Medal awards</a>. Will he now fall foul of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-29/johnathan-thurston-dally-m-nrl-grand-final-curse/6812052">the Dally M curse</a>, again?</p>
<p>Since 2004, six players have collected the game’s highest individual honour a few days before appearing in the Grand Final. Of these, only one – <a href="http://www.foxsports.com.au/breaking-news/matt-orford-wins-dally-m/story-e6frf33c-1111117437346">Manly’s Matt Orford in 2008</a> – has gone on to add a Premiership ring. </p>
<p>One of the five unlucky medallists was Thurston himself back in 2005. A few days after collecting the first of his record four Dally Ms, his North Queensland side were comfortably beaten by the Wests Tigers in that year’s decider.</p>
<p>Recent history doesn’t provide much encouragement for the supporters of teams that have already played three finals games before the Grand Final. </p>
<p>Perhaps this is the year for historical trends to be broken given it’s the first all-Queensland affair. A few days ago, no player had won four Dally M Medals so Johnathan Thurston rewrote recent history in that regard.</p>
<p>I’m sure many people in and around Townsville will be hoping that recent history can again be rewritten for a maiden North Queensland Cowboys NRL Premiership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Woodcock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Cowboys will have to deal with more than just the Dally M “curse” if they’re to beat the Broncos in this weekend’s all Queensland NRL Grand Final.Stephen Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/466862015-09-03T20:07:57Z2015-09-03T20:07:57ZJarryd Hayne is just one game away from NFL stardom<p>Just one more preseason game for Jarryd Hayne this weekend before we’ll know if the former Australian rugby league player has managed to win final selection to play for the San Francisco 49s in the year’s NFL season.</p>
<p>He’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-secret-behind-jarryd-haynes-success-on-the-us-footy-field-46685">not the first Australian</a> to make it in the United States and the American football league. So what is it about Hayne that’s captured the attention of people both here in Australia and in the US?</p>
<p>I’ve followed Hayne’s career for many years and he is a graduate from the school of hard knocks. As a young boy, raised by a single mother in Sydney’s south-west, Hayne’s instinct was to fight for his family so they would eventually have their own home.</p>
<p>Growing up in a Campbelltown housing commission building would not have been easy for Hayne, who started playing rugby league as a six year old. But the San Francisco 49ers recruit was blessed with the right physical attributes to become a star athlete.</p>
<p>As the son of a Fijian rugby league player and an Australian mother, Hayne’s football pedigree is a bonus. His fast-twitch fibres in his powerful muscles helped him to become one of the fastest schoolboys on the track. He won a national schoolboys title for 100m hurdles, without an ounce of training.</p>
<p>Hayne used his athletic build and speed to his advantage and debuted for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL at just 18. He won the 2006 <a href="http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/awards/dally-m-rookie-of-the-year">Dally M Rookie of the Year</a> award and a coveted spot in the Kangaroos squad.</p>
<h2>On the US footy field</h2>
<p>In recent weeks NFL fans and Australians watched in awe, as <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/american-sports/jarryd-haynes-san-francisco-49ers-v-denver-broncos-nfl-preseason/story-fnq2nnu6-1227504642794">Hayne’s superstar qualities</a> were tested during 49ers’ preseason games against Houston, Dallas and Denver.</p>
<p>The 49ers running back and return specialist exceeded expectations with his speed and evasive skills, and set the field alight with some blistering runs. Hayne’s athleticism, strength and speed took his NFL opponents by surprise. Seasoned NFL commentators were stunned.</p>
<p>History has a habit of repeating itself, and in Hayne’s case, this is what has happened, when comparing his form during his youth. When Hayne is fresh, focused and challenged, he is more likely to rev up and produce spectacular football. </p>
<p>In 2006, as a fresh-faced teenager, Hayne starred in his rookie NRL season. Hayne is now reliving the freedom of a new experience – and he’s embracing the challenge.</p>
<p>Hayne’s willingness to work outside his comfort zone reflects his ability to handle pressure-cooker situations. An adrenaline-fuelled Hayne has shown his tolerance to pressure in his three preseason games with the 49ers.</p>
<p>Both the Australian and American press went berserk over the so-called “<a href="http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2015/08/29/jarryd-hayne-rugby-nfl-san-francisco-49ers">Hayne Plane</a>” and he has kept his eye on the ball.</p>
<h2>Will Hayne make the final team?</h2>
<p>Hayne’s initiation to the NFL is something that footballers dream of. But can the 27-year-old megastar sustain his momentum and continue to play a key role for the 49ers? </p>
<p>The NFL, known for its ruthless nickname “Not For Long”, is a seemingly elusive goal for spirited Australians, as they’ve pitted their talents against thousands of American hopefuls.</p>
<p>Former NFL punter and Geelong captain <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/Graham-blazing-a-trail-in-the-NFL/2006/10/10/1160246108637.html">Ben Graham</a>, who was the first Australian to play in the Super Bowl, said many hours of preparation was invested in every play, on top of physical and skills training.</p>
<p>Back in 2006 while punting for the New York Jets, Graham said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] it’s up to the individual player to put themselves in the best position to win a job because it’s not as easy as a lot of people think it is.</p>
<p>But there’s no doubt that there’s ability in Australia to make that transition.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While AFL footballers-turned punters have made effective transitions into NFL, Hayne arrives from NRL where there is no history of success. </p>
<p>Hayne has proven he can become a leading return specialist for punts and kick-offs. Some of Hayne’s “catch-me-if-you-can” runs have enthralled sports fans worldwide. These golden moments have been played online repeatedly since his pre-season debut.</p>
<p>Hayne’s training attitude is second to none (we know of his practice of stuffing cheat notes into his shorts), as he learns the intricacies of a game that is likened to “physical chess”.</p>
<p>Hayne is building skills for <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/american-sports/jarryd-hayne-not-guaranteed-san-francisco-49ers-roster-spot-yet/story-fnq2nnu6-1227508659312">specialist positions</a>, such as a back-up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_back">running back</a>. </p>
<p>San Franciso 49ers <a href="http://www.foxsports.com.au/us-sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers-coach-jim-tomsula-gives-best-indication-yet-jarryd-hayne-will-make-the-roster/story-fnp3l4e4-1227506716321">head coach Jim Tomsula</a> has been careful to manage the reaction to Hayne’s sensational form – but his praise has been glowing. He told reporters:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel very good about his abilities to field. I feel very good about his abilities to perform with a ball in his hands on special teams.</p>
<p>The coverage parts of it? I’ve seen a lot of improvement there. The guy will fly down the field in those areas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There has been huge reaction on social media related to Hayne’s on-field feats and the official season hasn’t even began. The 49ers’ final 53-man roster will be decided on September 6.</p>
<p>The odds are swinging in Hayne’s favour. He is fast becoming a brand that has caught the 49ers and his management offguard – typical of the “<a href="http://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/the-project/top-stories-august-2015/haynetrain-picks-up-steam">Hayne Train</a>”.</p>
<p>NFL fans and Aussie tourists have quickly snapped up Hayne’s number 38 jerseys in official stores and <a href="http://www.foxsports.com.au/us-sports/nfl/jarryd-hayne-jerseys-sold-out-at-official-san-francisco-49ers-stores-as-he-moves-closer-to-53-man-roster/story-fnp3l4e4-1227507389724">now they’ve sold out</a>. </p>
<p>You can’t endorse an athlete more highly than excited fans, who can’t get enough of him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Tullberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three down, just one preseason game to go before Australian Jarryd Hayne will know if he’s made it play for the San Francisco 49ers in the competitive US NFL season.Julie Tullberg, Digital journalism coordinator, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/411732015-05-08T00:43:18Z2015-05-08T00:43:18ZFemale fans are AFL’s secret weapon in drawing crowds<p>The recent Anzac Day football matches attracted big crowds. More than <a href="http://www.nrl.com/anzac-spirit-brings-bennett-to-tears/tabid/10874/newsid/85693/default.aspx">114,000 people</a> attended NRL matches in five cities. In the AFL, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-25/collingwood-dominantes-second-half-to-see-off-essendon/6421718">88,000</a> braved wet weather for one match alone – the MCG tussle between Collingwood and Essendon. </p>
<p>Compared with football stadiums worldwide, Australian fans have long stood out from the crowd. On a couple of key things. One is the mixing of fans from the contesting clubs through the ground. A second is a remarkably higher attendance by women. </p>
<p>Many football games overseas play in front of overwhelmingly male audiences. Here, women form 40% of a typical footy crowd – somewhat higher for Australian rules football, slightly lower for rugby league.</p>
<p>The importance of these female fans is is getting some of the recognition it deserves this coming weekend. The NRL has its “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/womeninleague">Women in League</a>” round and the AFL a <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/fieldofwomen">Mother’s Day weekend fixture</a> promoting awareness of breast cancer. Yet one code is clearly doing better than the other. The AFL’s greater prowess in maintaining female interest is a key reason it is more successful than the NRL in attracting fans.</p>
<p>Both codes are keen to encourage fans to come along. After criticism last year, the AFL <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-moves-to-win-back-fans-20140730-3cumg.html">rejigged its program</a>, declaring 2015 “the year of the fan”. </p>
<p>Though little commented on, women fans provided much of the growth in football crowds over the past 20 years. </p>
<p>In The Conversation, Kim Toffoletti <a href="https://theconversation.com/sexually-transmitted-fandom-why-women-really-follow-afl-37910">recently described</a> interviews she has conducted with women AFL fans. She suggested that we need to re-think previous views of women fans.</p>
<h2>Data show how women boost the numbers</h2>
<p>My research also indicates we should reassess some common pictures of footy fans. And it shows women are a key element in recent trends.</p>
<p>The research has tracked fans of both AFL and NRL over the past two decades. I presented early results to the <a href="http://www.vu.edu.au/news-events/events/the-worlds-of-football-iii-football-codes-in-the-asian-century">Worlds of Football</a> conference in January.</p>
<p>Toffoletti’s research focuses on regular, committed fans. Similar approaches were taken in two recent (2009) books looking at footy fans: Matthew Klugman’s <a href="http://hunterpublishers.com.au/books/passion-play-love-hope-and-heartbreak-at-the-footy/">Passion Play</a>: Love, hope and heartbreak at the footy, and John Cash and Joy Damousi’s <a href="https://www.bookshop.unsw.edu.au/details.cgi?ITEMNO=9780868409573">Footy Passions</a>.</p>
<p>Regular fans (those going at least once a month) are clearly the bedrock of interest for footy: these regulars make up some two-thirds of the typical crowd. However, they comprise only 34% of men who attend any AFL game during the season and 27% of women. The proportions are somewhat smaller for NRL.</p>
<p>The balances between regular and occasional fans, and between men and women, are central to the changing crowd patterns since 1994. The patterns come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4174.0">Sports Attendance, Australia</a> (cat. no. 4174.0), published a number of times from 1994 to 2010. Unfortunately, the ABS has discontinued the series. </p>
<p>In 2010, 2.8 million Australians aged 15 or older attended an AFL game, while 1.6 million attended NRL. Both fan bases grew since 1994, but the AFL was well ahead – up 50% since 1994. </p>
<h2>League took a big hit in the ‘90s</h2>
<p>NRL numbers were king-hit in the late 1990s by the abortive efforts to establish the Superleague. They have since recovered, but grew only 7% over the period.</p>
<p>Different patterns emerge for our two groups: men vs women and occasional vs frequent fans. </p>
<p>Over these years, the numbers of frequent AFL fans grew by 10%. Occasional fans turned out in much greater numbers, growing by 84%. </p>
<p>The two groups went in opposite directions for the NRL – occasional fans up by 14%, but regular fans down by 10%. That NRL decline was concentrated in the 1990s. Turned off by Superleague, regular fan numbers dropped by a quarter between 1994 and 2002 – then recovered a little by 2010.</p>
<p>We can also track different age groups, or cohorts, over the 1994 to 2010 period. This allows us to compare attendances at similar ages for different groups. </p>
<p>For example, the later baby boomers (born around 1960) were 40 in 2000. Gen X, born about 1970, were 40 in 2010. At this similar age, Gen X went to AFL slightly more often than the later baby boomers did – but went to league 5% less often. </p>
<p>Those figures are typical – in general, the AFL has been remarkably successful in building its support. In contrast, most cohorts going to NRL see slight 5% declines compared to the previous cohort.</p>
<p>The second strong story was the growth, for both codes, of female fans. All of the growth in NRL attendances between 1994 and 2010 was due to increasing female numbers (all of the increase occasional fans). Attendances by both sexes grew for AFL, but the growth was stronger for women (up 70%, mostly occasional) than for men (up 40%, also mostly occasional fans).</p>
<h2>AFL hangs on to female fans as they age</h2>
<p>Women also play an important part in another striking difference between the codes: the AFL is much more successful than the NRL in hanging on to fans as they age.</p>
<p>In both codes, younger people go to the footy more often than older people. In AFL, the decline is gentle: 19% of 15-to-24-year-olds go to AFL each year, compared with 14% of the 55-64 group. The NRL profile shows a much steeper decline: from 12% for the younger set to 6% for the 55-64 group.</p>
<p>The difference is totally due to female fans. The age decline for AFL is similar for men and women. For NRL, the male profile is similar to that for AFL. However, women seem to turn off the sport dramatically: 12% of women aged 15-24 go to NRL, but only 3% of the 55-64 group head along.</p>
<p>In attracting fans, both football codes face a generally more diverse sporting and entertainment market. In the last two decades, AFL has fared better than league. </p>
<p>Within football, both Sydney and Melbourne have seen growth in rugby union and soccer. In Melbourne, that growth has been in addition to AFL. In Sydney, it has to some extent replaced league.</p>
<p>To be successful, footy codes have to both maintain existing fans and attract new fans. Women fans are a key part of the picture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Ward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The AFL draws the biggest crowds in the country and its growth has been driven by female fans being drawn to the game and sticking with it as they get older.Tony Ward, Fellow in Historical Studies, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379762015-02-26T03:36:00Z2015-02-26T03:36:00ZBeing great at sport does not come with good moral judgement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73008/original/image-20150225-1795-uj49pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rugby union star Karmichael Hunt has been stood down by his club pending a court appearance on drug supply charges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Peled</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-22/five-titans-stood-down-over-drug-allegations/6192592">Five</a> Gold Coast Titans rugby league players and Queensland Reds rugby union player <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-23/karmichael-hunt-stood-down-from-queensland-reds-training-ahead-/6227644">Karmichael Hunt</a> have been stood down after they were charged over allegations related to drug supply offences. The move raises the question of the extent to which clubs ought to sanction professional athletes before a court has dealt with allegations of illegal behaviour.</p>
<p>The contracts of professional footballers include moral clauses. These require that players not bring their game into disrepute or engage in activity – including but not limited to illegal activity – that would discredit not only their game, but also their club, their team, club sponsors and suppliers.</p>
<p>The scope of such clauses is both remarkably general and extensive. Rather than attempting to specifically identify disreputable activity, the clauses constitute powerful legal devices that operate to ensure that a player’s activity on and off the field is always reputable.</p>
<p>The implication is that players have a contractual obligation to act as moral exemplars or role models. That is an implication challenged by <a href="https://anzsla.com/content/publications">recent research</a>, which argues that such clauses infringe players’ rights to privacy and to the presumption of innocence.</p>
<p>However, rugby union player <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/footballers-paid-well-to-be-role-models-says-stephen-hoiles-20150223-13mat2.html">Stephen Hoiles</a> – and famously NBA basketballer <a href="http://www.si.com/vault/1993/06/14/128740/one-role-model-to-another-whether-he-likes-it-or-not-charles-barkley-sets-an-example-that-many-will-follow">Karl Malone</a> before him – have argued that the high salaries professional athletes earn are accompanied by responsibilities. These are responsibilities acquired by virtue of their capacities.</p>
<p>Malone’s view is that professional athletes do not have a choice as to whether they are role models. Rather, others choose them. With regard to product endorsements, athletes create obligations for themselves.</p>
<p>Consequently, they ought not to accept the adulation and the money without accepting some responsibility for some people following their lead and buying a certain sneaker or cereal because they use it. There is an obvious tension here between views of players’ rights under employment contracts and their responsibilities – both ethically and contractually.</p>
<p>The question raised by the situation facing the athletes in Queensland, and numerous analogous situations of illegal or anti-social behaviour by players, relates to the extent of a player’s off-field responsibility. Contractual considerations aside, can a player’s responsibility to behave in a reputable manner reasonably be extended to all aspects of his or her off-field life? If so, then the players’ understandings of the nature or set of their responsibilities are crucial.</p>
<p>It is possible that players might regard their high salaries and product endorsement fees as justified recompense for the level of their talent, skill and dedication. They may fail to appreciate that the benefits product endorsements bring are built on relationships established with those (possibly young and impressionable) people influenced by their fame.</p>
<p>Personal, social and environmental factors will affect players’ perceptions of their roles as professional athletes and their motivation as players. In turn, this shapes their understanding of the significance of the general and extensive moral clauses in their contracts.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73014/original/image-20150225-1807-13xs6cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Karl Malone (right) argued that athletes don’t have a choice on whether they are role models.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Brendan McDermid</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While adults must be held responsible for their behaviour, given that <a href="http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/27/">research</a> indicates a correlation between anti-social behaviour and ego-involving environments, the kinds of anti-social transgressions that have occurred are not surprising. When we look at the environments in which professional athletes operate we find a volatile mix of fame, free time and spare cash. That is unlikely to reinforce the notion of moral identity.</p>
<p>Beyond this, two other potentially related factors may have an impact on the development of moral understanding among professional athletes.</p>
<p>First, research in the United States focusing on the moral reasoning capacity of college athletes has suggested that, by comparison with their non-athletic peers, college athletes displayed a lower level of moral reasoning in relation to a set of standard moral dilemmas. </p>
<p>Researchers <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=o_t5AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA173&dq=Applied+Ethics+and+Moral+Reasoning+in+Sport&ots=VV1CCKiqQR&sig=yex6jaTDgLAxEJ3JZT2Cyg5n12s#v=onepage&q=Applied%20Ethics%20and%20Moral%20Reasoning%20in%20Sport&f=false">argue</a> that a transformed notion of reasoning – what they refer to as “game reasoning” – occurs in sport. They evaluated the non-athletes’ moral reasoning as more mature than that of the athletes. Further, the athletes’ reasoning in response to sport-specific dilemmas was rated as less mature or adequate than their corresponding reasoning about everyday life.</p>
<p>Second, the question of responsibility within the context of sport is also fraught. This is due to our ambivalence about sport and the moral implications of its relationship to aggression. </p>
<p>We value sport as a form of play, an avenue of social and moral development, a character-building activity. However, these ideals are somewhat paradoxically juxtaposed to attitudes toward professional sport such as that expressed by commentator Phil Gould, who <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/eliminate-risk-and-it-will-be-game-over-20130713-2pwsm.html">said</a> of rugby league in 2013:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How can anyone think that sanitising a product built on all-out aggression will improve its appeal? This is poor analysis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the public and sporting clubs justifiably expect professional footballers to respect and be subject to the law, we ought to recognise that some players are ill-prepared to take on the status of a role-model both on and off the field. That does have a bearing on the extent to which we can reasonably expect professional athletes to be moral exemplars.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Lynch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a tension between views of players’ rights under employment contracts and their responsibilities – both ethically and contractuallySandra Lynch, Director, Centre for Faith, Ethics and Society; Associate Professor in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/323892014-10-02T20:11:15Z2014-10-02T20:11:15ZNumber crunching the odds on the NRL Grand Final<p>When the final siren sounds at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday night either the <a href="http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/">South Sydney Rabbitohs</a> or <a href="http://www.bulldogs.com.au/">Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs</a> will be crowned as 2014 National Rugby League (NRL) Premiers. So who will win?</p>
<p>Souths have not appeared in a Grand Final since winning their 1971 premiership. This year represents the culmination of several years of steady progress since a tumultuous period including their exclusion from the competition and eventual private takeover spearheaded by actor Russell Crowe.</p>
<p>For the Bulldogs, their Grand Final appearance comes at the end of an up-and-down season, but is only two years removed from their last visit when they tripped at the final hurdle against the Melbourne Storm in 2012. </p>
<p>Finals Series are always a good time for clichés, hunches and sporting misconceptions to come to the fore. As both a lifelong rugby league supporter and an applied mathematician, I thought it would be a good time to step back from the usual hype, guesses and dubious “conventional wisdom”.</p>
<p>Instead, I thought I’d see what a brief analysis of how recent results compared to pre-match expectations might tell us about how Sunday’s game might pan out.</p>
<p>At this point, I should probably add the disclaimer that I am a member of the Bulldogs and will be at Sunday’s match casting anything but a neutral eye over proceedings.</p>
<h2>A look at the bookies</h2>
<p>Thanks to <a href="http://www.aussportsbetting.com/data/">Australia Sports Betting</a>, my starting point for analysis is historical data from bookmakers for all NRL games from 2009 to 2014 inclusive.</p>
<p>Bookies’ odds are a good measure of how each team is expected to perform. Before each game, betting agencies first run some prediction model of their own to decide upon a starting price and this is adjusted upwards or downwards depending on how much money is placed for or against each possible outcome.</p>
<p>As such, each final pre-match price is a balance between expert and popular opinion. The end result is generally an excellent predictor of future results. (Tom Waterhouse doesn’t get his slick ads, shiny dentistry and overpriced suits without at least being good at what he does.)</p>
<p>When I last checked, South Sydney were A$1.38 favourites and Canterbury were A$3.15 underdogs. In other words, the betting agencies think that there’s about a 70% chance of a Rabbitohs premiership and about a 30% chance of the Bulldogs taking home the crown.</p>
<p>In short, it’s looking good for the Rabbitohs.</p>
<p>So is there any hope for the Bulldogs? Well, sports journalists and ex-professionals love to tell us that “anything can happen in finals football”.</p>
<p>Aside from the obvious truism that yes, of course either side can win, the simple fact is that history tells us that finals games are in general more predictable than regular season games.</p>
<h2>Good for the favourites</h2>
<p>This might seem counter-intuitive given the gaps in quality should be much less; all teams involved finished in the top half of the ladder. Nonetheless, the simple facts are that, since the start of the 2009 season, the bookmakers’ favourite has won 38 of the 53 (72%) finals games played. Over the same period, the favourites won only 65% of regular season games.</p>
<p>Even more incredibly, the NRL Grand Final itself has been a bastion of predictability. You have to go back to 2004, when the Bulldogs upset the narrowly-favoured Sydney Roosters for the last time an underdog lifted the trophy.</p>
<p>Few sporting competitions in the world have such a long run without a surprising premier. The bookmakers have been correct for ten consecutive Grand Finals.
Again, it really doesn’t look good for the Bulldogs.</p>
<p>What about the regular season form? Well, that too points to the same outcome. No side has finished outside of the top four and gone on to win the Grand Final since 1995. With South Sydney’s third placed finish and the Bulldogs’ seventh placed finish, recent history is firmly on the Rabbitohs’ side.</p>
<p>Much has also been made about the NRL judiciary’s decision to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-30/issac-luke-to-miss-south-sydney27s-nrl-grand-final-appearance-/5780472">suspend South Sydney hooker</a> Issac Luke for a dangerous throw of an opponent last week. Several experts have discussed how important he is to his side and how their chances of winning are diminished in his absence.</p>
<p>Recent data really does not support this viewpoint at all. Between 2007 and 2011, the side won only once from the nine games he missed (11% win rate) compared to 48 wins from the 101 games he played (47% win rate).</p>
<p>Since 2012, his presence or absence hasn’t seemed nearly as critical – this season they won 7 of the 11 games he missed (64% win rate). Like much often-quoted sports wisdom, this statement has seemingly lingered for longer than the data can supports its claims to be true.</p>
<h2>Any hope for the under Bulldogs?</h2>
<p>Is there any hope for the Bulldogs? To clutch at straws (and unreasonably small sample sizes), the data suggest that teams priced at over A$3 will win less than 25% of the time, yet this year’s finals series has already seen two such long-shots win out of three occasions, including Canterbury’s first week victory in Melbourne.</p>
<p>Furthermore, only once previously since 2005 have both the first and second ranked sides on the ladder – this year the Sydney Roosters and the Manly Sea Eagles – been watching the Grand Final. So maybe this year is different?</p>
<p>So that’s that. Rugby league sentimentalists, Hollywood royalty, the betting public and most of Redfern will be backing a long-awaited Rabbitohs premiership.</p>
<p>History and the recent dataset suggest that my wife and I have just spent A$300 which we can ill-afford on tickets for a pretty miserable Sunday evening for us.</p>
<p>As strange a note as it is to end on, I genuinely and sincerely hope that the trends in the dataset turn out to be utterly misleading and that most of this article is completely wrong. Go the Bulldogs!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Woodcock is a season-ticketed member of the Bulldogs NRL team. He does not receive any funding from the club, rather is himself a paying member.</span></em></p>When the final siren sounds at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday night either the South Sydney Rabbitohs or Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs will be crowned as 2014 National Rugby League (NRL) Premiers…Stephen Woodcock, Lecturer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/254462014-04-21T20:06:46Z2014-04-21T20:06:46ZIs rugby league too dangerous?<p>After Newcastle forward Alex McKinnon’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-03/mclean27s-suspension-ranks-among-heftiest-sideline-stints/5364730">neck was broken</a> in a lifting tackle in March, some commentators and parents have questioned whether rugby is just too dangerous for children, amateurs – and even professionals – to safely play. So, was McKinnon’s injury a freak accident, or is it a reasonable risk of the game? </p>
<p>In any collision sport, injuries are a relatively common and inevitable part of the game. The risk of sustaining an injury in rugby league that requires medical treatment <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2012.03.017">is about</a> 40 injuries per 1,000 playing hours. This varies between playing level (professional versus club, adolescents versus children, and so on), but typically increases as the level increases.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20092367">Early injury data</a> showed that ligament and joint injuries were the most common in rugby, typically occurring at the knee. </p>
<p>More recent data shows head and neck injuries occur most frequently. This is probably a result of changes in match rules (for example, requiring the defenders to be back ten metres, allowing the tackler to strip the ball in the tackle) combined with an increased focus on the tackle – more players get involved tackles to “wrap up the ball”, in an attempt to slow the ball play.</p>
<p>Junior players see experienced players making illegal tackles with impunity and believe this manner of tackling is an acceptable part of the game. Unfortunately, their junior opponents may not anticipate or expect this form of tackle or have the neck strength of senior players.</p>
<p>Professional players are also <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-so-gentle-giants-how-rugby-players-are-getting-bigger-23978">getting bigger</a>, faster and stronger, leading to <a href="https://theconversation.com/brute-force-reducing-the-impact-of-rugby-collisions-24276">greater impacts</a> and better rehabilitation to return players to the game sooner.</p>
<h2>How does this compare with other sports?</h2>
<p>It is difficult to compare injury rates, as the definition of injury, the methods of reporting, and the period of time over which injury data were recorded all vary. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most comprehensive data comes from the <a href="http://www.acc.co.nz/">New Zealand Accident Compensation Commission</a> (ACC), which records all sport-related injuries that require treatment. <a href="http://www.acc.co.nz/for-individuals/injury-statistics/index.htm">These records</a> showed there were 41 moderate to fracture/dislocation injuries to the back and spine injuries in rugby league over a five-year period. </p>
<p>This was comparable with soccer (41) and surfing (45), but substantially less than rugby union (178), snow skiing (199) and motor sports (352).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ab8WmB1viYA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rugby collisions may be brutal but they don’t result in more injuries than other common sports.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within Australia, even when all the football codes are grouped together, football <a href="http://scia.intersearch.com.au/sciajspui/bitstream/1/182/1/SSCIS%20ACUTE%20%20READMISSION%20REPORT%2006-12%20Final.pdf">ranks only third</a> in the risks of sport-related spinal cord injury. Motor sports and water-based activities (diving, surf activities) each present about twice as many spinal cord injuries, and horse-related activities are not far behind.</p>
<h2>Has the game become safer?</h2>
<p>Rugby league evolved from rugby union in 1895 because of the financial burden of players being injured and unable to play. </p>
<p>These days, when risk of injury is discussed, former rugby union players frequently declare “it didn’t happen in my day”. This may be possibly due to the manner in which the game used to be played. But more than likely, it was due to the absence of public awareness of the risks involved. </p>
<p>To refute this adage of the game being safer in the past, let’s consider the results of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13118270">an injury study from 1954</a>. The researcher reported six cases of fracture‑dislocations of cervical vertebrae among rugby players in the province of Leinster (Ireland) alone in the period 1934‑1954. In three cases, death occurred within 24 hours.</p>
<h2>How can the game be made safer still?</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nrl.com/">National Rugby League</a> (NRL) is to be commended for its <a href="https://theconversation.com/safety-before-entertainment-leagues-priorities-right-on-shoulder-charge-ban-10903">decision to ban</a> shoulder charge collisions and the lifting tackle. While spectacular to watch, they are contrary to the letter and spirit of the rules. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hp76sMpeZQw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Banning shoulder charges has improved the safety of the game.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>High tackles are equally spectacular to watch, but just as dangerous. The rules should be amended to outlaw any tackle occurring above the level of the shoulder. This would reduce the margin of doubt for the referee or subsequent judicial hearing and eliminate the need to decide where contact was first made. </p>
<p>The NRL might also consider reverting to a weight-based grouping for competition, where players are matched by size rather than age. There is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csm.2007.10.008">some evidence</a> that lighter players are more likely to be injured. </p>
<p>Coaches and players can also contribute to making the game safer by raising awareness of potentially dangerous techniques. For example, with the changing emphasis on preventing the ball carrier from offloading the ball in the tackle, the ball-carrier is now attempting to “duck under” the tackler. </p>
<p>This straightens the cervical spine, removing its natural, shock-absorbing curvature so that the impact is transmitted down the straighten neck. The neck now acts like the outstretched finger being hit by a basketball – it buckles rather than bends. </p>
<p>In fact, “spearing” or using the helmet as a point of contact has been <a href="http://www.aans.org/en/Media/General%20Press%20Releases/2009/August/The%20End%20of%20Summer%20Means%20Football%20Season%20-%20Prevent%20Potentially%20Tragic%20Head%20and%20Neck%20Injuries.aspx?p=1">banned in American Football</a> since 1976 because it caused such a high number of spinal injuries. </p>
<p>The tackle is an integral part of the game and carries some risk to both the tackled player and the tackler. It is impractical to alter the nature of the game to the extent where all danger is removed. </p>
<p>But it is relatively easy to make tackling safer. The time is right to review this blight on the otherwise positive developments in the game.</p>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong></em> </p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/not-so-gentle-giants-how-rugby-players-are-getting-bigger-23978">Not so gentle giants: how rugby players are getting bigger</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/brute-force-reducing-the-impact-of-rugby-collisions-24276">Brute force: reducing the impact of rugby collisions</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Milburn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After Newcastle forward Alex McKinnon’s neck was broken in a lifting tackle in March, some commentators and parents have questioned whether rugby is just too dangerous for children, amateurs – and even…Peter Milburn, Professor, School of Allied Health Sciences, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/141112013-05-17T21:48:00Z2013-05-17T21:48:00ZMasculinity and violence: the men who play rugby league<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23644/original/pbr4q52t-1368421736.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The belief that rugby league is a 'hard sport' played by 'hard men' made by insiders does little to advance the image of the game.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Action Photographics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When his grandson was tragically killed while playing rugby league in April this year, former New South Wales and Australian halfback <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/grandson-of-league-legend-suffers-freak-accident-as-family-decides-to-switch-off-life-support-20130408-2hfmm.html">Tommy Raudonikis</a> said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everyone needs to understand that this was just an accident. Rugby league is a hard game played by hard men.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Raudonikis seemed to be saying that this was an unfortunate and unpredictable occurrence, almost sure to happen to someone at some time given the nature of the game of rugby league.</p>
<p>He should know about hard men. In his playing days he was one.</p>
<p>Rugby league has a history of players carrying on even when they are seriously injured. South Sydney captain John Sattler once played an entire grand final with <a href="http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/john-sattler/summary.html">a broken jaw</a>. In one game South Sydney and Manly player Les Davidson played with <a href="http://www.eraofthebiff.com/announcements/p40-les-davidson-on-playing-many-matches-with-a-detached-retina">a detached retina</a>.</p>
<p>So it would seem there is some literal truth to what Raudonikis said. But perhaps also his grandson’s death allows some space to reflect upon rugby league and the “hard game, hard men” trope, and to ask what it means.</p>
<p>Some men, and at times great numbers of men, engage in violent behaviour. So ubiquitous is male violence that John Archer <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=NjAOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=male+violence&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eXKQUa-JHM2ViAeV3YGgBA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">in his book</a> Male Violence argues that it should be considered a “normal” characteristic of masculinity. It’s certainly a normal part of rugby league.</p>
<p>I’ve watched rugby league for over forty years. I’ve seen great players and exciting tries. I’ve also watched the player with the ball be hit by up to five opposing players at once, grappled to the ground, their faces pushed into the turf, perhaps an elbow to the back of the head for good measure. And this is the legal stuff.</p>
<p>This has been interwoven with “coat hanger” tackles (where an out stretched arm snaps a player’s head back with great force), spear tackles, late tackles on defenceless players and countless punch-ups. Yes, all this is illegal and the referees do their best to stamp it out. But it still happens every week. It would seem that many Australian men, both players and fans, take this violence to be an inevitable part of rugby league.</p>
<p>The “hard game, hard men” trope allows players, coaches, commentators and fans to ignore the ugly side of rugby league. Invoke it and that’s all one has to say. Your interlocutor will nod wisely, and further discussion of the incident your remark refers to is rendered superfluous. In this way the inherent violence of rugby league is silently sanctioned.</p>
<p>Throughout history a succession of male stereotypes – the bushman, the digger, the surf lifesaver – have celebrated Australia as a (white) man’s country. These stereotypes stand for the characteristics by which Australians define themselves: resourceful, anti-authoritarian, brave, physically strong and sticking by our mates.</p>
<p>To most Australians these are virtues. But they are accompanied by a number of other attributes that might not be so positive: stoical, resistant to emotion, and inarticulate about feelings.</p>
<p>Raudonikis’ invocation of the “hard game, hard men” trope is an example of this stoicism and resistance to emotion. It’s probably how he copes with the sense of loss and grief he must feel. We all seek comfort in such “truths” when overwhelming events defy rational explanation.</p>
<p>So on the one hand “hard game, hard men” is a “truth” that justifies violence, that perhaps makes physical pain of rugby league easier to bear. It’s also a “truth” that makes psychical pain easier to bear.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/23645/original/b55rwxnv-1368421900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The brutal nature of rugby league often takes an emotional as well as physical toll on its participants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Action Photographers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stoicism and lack of emotion in Australian men inures them to violence. It both justifies the behaviour of violent men and allows non-violent men to tacitly accept the violence of others.</p>
<p>It’s a type of voyeurism, watching rugby league players bash each other. Perhaps there is a degree of wish fulfilment to the idea: “I wish I was big enough and strong enough to do that, and be allowed to get away with it”.</p>
<p>Contact sports like rugby league need to be recognised for what they are: ritualised and repetitive displays of hyper-masculinity, staged by men for men. The players are actually doing it, but when we groan with each gang tackle, when we yell at each dash down the sideline, male spectators are vicariously reassuring themselves that they too, are men.</p>
<p>Other football codes are the same. Rugby union has long been described as a thug’s game played by gentlemen. The way AFL players “chest” each other in the minute prior to the bounce reminds one of rams head-butting each other for supremacy in the paddock. Why is it so?</p>
<p>Manliness is an unstable status: it needs frequent reinforcement. From when they are boys, men are encouraged to constantly prove themselves to each other. This burden of proof is naturalised and internalised to the point that it ceases to be a requirement imposed by others, and becomes self-driven.</p>
<p>The “hard game, hard men” trope perpetuates the need for recognition that one is a man. Men need to rethink the philosophy behind the words, and stop being so hard on ourselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Hogg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When his grandson was tragically killed while playing rugby league in April this year, former New South Wales and Australian halfback Tommy Raudonikis said: Everyone needs to understand that this was just…Robert Hogg, Lecturer in Australian Studies, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.