NRL to Banish Anti tampering deadline

National Rugby League Chief Executives today agreed that the June 30 Anti Tampering Deadline should be removed when the Board next meets.

The Chief Executives support a system that will give a player’s existing club a final right to negotiate with the player before he signs with another team.

It is proposed that the matter is developed further and also discussed with the Rugby League Professionals Association before developing any firm recommendations.

“The clear fact is that June 30 was not working and in practice I think the market in some ways has been operating without that rule for some time,” NRL Chief Executive Mr David Gallop said today.

“I don’t believe we will see any sudden changes and this is an issue that we can take a little time to develop.

“There’s got to be a balance between clubs having the chance to retain players and rules that simply can’t be enforced.”

The National Rugby League Chief Executives today declared that recent changes to the Salary Cap improved the balance between rewarding those clubs that developed players while still ensuring a fair distribution of players among clubs.

The issue was raised after a number of recent media comments suggesting that the Salary Cap was forcing clubs to lose players that had been part of their development squads.

Today’s meeting concluded that ‘development’ was a term that had recently been used to include clubs that had introduced players to the game from under 6’s up to those who had been recruited to junior representative squads in their mid to late teens.

“We need people to understand that there are development fees paid to clubs who produce juniors and that the recent changes to the long serving player allowance (reducing it to an eight year qualification period) in fact make it an effective loyalty reward for clubs in retaining players ” St George Illawarra Chief Executive Mr Peter Doust said today.

“We also appreciate that at St George Illawarra we have a capacity to develop players for the whole of the game as well as our club.

“Clubs and fans will never like seeing a player leave but it is important that we communicate that the system does have existing provisions incentives,” Rabbitohs CEO Shane Richardson added.

“The current system allows a club to keep a player but not necessarily to keep a player and buy another.”

Bulldogs Chief Executive, Mr Malcolm Noad, raised his concerns that clubs should be entitled to some recognition of the players they develop and suggested that there should be further investigation of the issue going forward.

The overall view of the CEO’s was one that the Salary Cap by its nature ensured that there would be some movement between clubs.

“We produce more local juniors than anyone and we accept that it is not going to be possible for us to keep them all,” Panthers Chief Executive Mr Mick Leary said today.

“When we talk of development it’s about giving kids a start and bringing them into the game. While we certainly want to keep as many as we can, we also want to see those that we can’t accommodate get opportunities elsewhere.”

The move to Monday Night football in 2007 has been given a boost with two thirds of all fans surveyed saying they are interested in going to Monday night matches.

The NRL has been researching fans attitudes on line through nrl.com and Fox Sports.

“The feedback is really positive,” NRL CEO Mr David Gallop said today.

“Already it’s clear that we need to have the matches kick off early and a 7:00pm kick-off will allow fans to get home at a reasonable hour.

“Fox Sports has already put forward some impressive planning for Monday nights and the focus will be encouraging fans to get out there and be a part of the matches.”

The CEO’s today also gave their support to the October 2008 World Cup plans, including future qualifying events such as the 2006 Pacific Cup and the European Cup.

Clubs have indicated that they will look to cooperate with making players available as far as possible.

“There’s a lot of really positive work going into the World Cup and it was encouraging to see the attitude of the clubs today,” ARL Chief Executive, Mr Geoff Carr, said today.

“We have the Tri Nations underway at the end of this season and the profile of the ARL’s representative programme is really strengthening.”

Importantly today the CEO’s also endorsed a referees’ cadetship designed to encourage players to undertake training as referees.

The cadetship is one of three proposed education modules offered to players to further their careers.

Among the features of the referees’ cadetship would be salary cap concessions to cover the cost of the training.

“It’s a programme that will allow players to progress into refereeing much more easily at the end of their careers,” NRL Game Liaison Manager, Michael Buettner said.

“It will also be a part of the NRL - RLPA Education and Welfare Programme in a way that encourages players to respect the role of refereeing and promotes a more positive attitude to referees while those players are still taking part at NRL level.”