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The very fact that Rothfield and News Ltd are opposed to this means, ipso facto, that it is needed.
(I love the way it is portrayed as a sinister Rooster thing even though all 16 clubs are signing up.)
The enemy within
IN a major threat to rugby league's new independent commission, the 16 NRL clubs will sign legal documents tomorrow to form their own association.
The game's most powerful club official, Roosters chairman Nick Politis, will host a meeting of the club chairmen and their legal advisers in the Roosters boardroom to sign the documents - just hours before the official NRL season launch at its new Moore Park headquarters and only 10 days after the body was formed.
The Daily Telegraph has obtained a 39-page document which is to become the constitution for the organisation to be known as the Australian Professional Rugby League Clubs Association Limited.
It has been set up to ensure the clubs and long-time officials like Politis remain powerbrokers in the game at a time when we thought NRL boss David Gallop and the commission had a clear and political-free passage to do their business.
The formation talks have been carried out in such an undercover way that Gallop was not even aware of the new alliance until informed by The Daily Telegraph over the weekend. And it was only the fact this newspaper contacted Wests Tigers chairman David Trodden, who was responsible for drawing up the constitution, that the NRL boss got a courtesy phone call so he wouldn't read about it in the newspaper first.
Gallop was reluctant to comment last night until he had more details."David Trodden contacted John Grant and me about it over the weekend," he said. "We haven't seen the document but I'm sure the commission will get some more information once the company is formed." Grant could not be contacted last night.
Trodden was quick to play down any threat to the power of the independent commission.
Other observers feel it puts the clubs in a position to apply the blowtorch to Gallop and the commissioners as they set about major reform.
Politis recently stood down from his position on the NRL partnership to allow the commission to be formed, losing the huge influence he has held over the game for decades. Now he looks certain to be appointed to the executive board of the new association.
"There has to be a body to represent the collective interests of the 16 clubs," Trodden said. "This is a body that gives everyone a voice. We've been regularly meeting for 12 months and we're now formalising a partnership.
"The clubs were the strongest advocates for the commission and nothing has changed."
That being the case, I asked Trodden why the new association was necessary when the 16 clubs are already members of the independent commission. "We are all members but so are NSW and Queensland and the commissioners themselves," he said.
"There was a view among the clubs we should have a formal relationship. We'll meet regularly. And if there is an issue we'll take it to the commission directly as one group rather than 16 clubs doing it individually."
The association has been a work in progress among the clubs for more than six months.
Heavyweights including Politis, Penrith's Phil Gould, Souths chairman Nick Pappas, Parramatta's Roy Spagnolo and Canterbury's Ray Dib have regularly lunched at the restaurant Beppis to draw up the battle plan to ensure they retain control and power under the new administration.
"It's good to show all the clubs are together and united," Spagnolo said. "We're looking to have our own presence in the game."The clubs will first and foremost be lobbying for a bigger share of the game's profits, according to one official. "And there lies the problem," the official said. "They are more concerned for their own interests and survival than the grassroots and future development of the game."
Trodden's email to the clubs was sent on Friday afternoon and has been obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
"If it is convenient, I suggest that we meet in the late afternoon on the day of the NRL Launch (next Wednesday 22/2) to discuss the document and, if appropriate, to approve it," he writes. "Sydney Roosters have offered their boardroom as a venue for the meeting."
(I love the way it is portrayed as a sinister Rooster thing even though all 16 clubs are signing up.)
The enemy within
IN a major threat to rugby league's new independent commission, the 16 NRL clubs will sign legal documents tomorrow to form their own association.
The game's most powerful club official, Roosters chairman Nick Politis, will host a meeting of the club chairmen and their legal advisers in the Roosters boardroom to sign the documents - just hours before the official NRL season launch at its new Moore Park headquarters and only 10 days after the body was formed.
The Daily Telegraph has obtained a 39-page document which is to become the constitution for the organisation to be known as the Australian Professional Rugby League Clubs Association Limited.
It has been set up to ensure the clubs and long-time officials like Politis remain powerbrokers in the game at a time when we thought NRL boss David Gallop and the commission had a clear and political-free passage to do their business.
The formation talks have been carried out in such an undercover way that Gallop was not even aware of the new alliance until informed by The Daily Telegraph over the weekend. And it was only the fact this newspaper contacted Wests Tigers chairman David Trodden, who was responsible for drawing up the constitution, that the NRL boss got a courtesy phone call so he wouldn't read about it in the newspaper first.
Gallop was reluctant to comment last night until he had more details."David Trodden contacted John Grant and me about it over the weekend," he said. "We haven't seen the document but I'm sure the commission will get some more information once the company is formed." Grant could not be contacted last night.
Trodden was quick to play down any threat to the power of the independent commission.
Other observers feel it puts the clubs in a position to apply the blowtorch to Gallop and the commissioners as they set about major reform.
Politis recently stood down from his position on the NRL partnership to allow the commission to be formed, losing the huge influence he has held over the game for decades. Now he looks certain to be appointed to the executive board of the new association.
"There has to be a body to represent the collective interests of the 16 clubs," Trodden said. "This is a body that gives everyone a voice. We've been regularly meeting for 12 months and we're now formalising a partnership.
"The clubs were the strongest advocates for the commission and nothing has changed."
That being the case, I asked Trodden why the new association was necessary when the 16 clubs are already members of the independent commission. "We are all members but so are NSW and Queensland and the commissioners themselves," he said.
"There was a view among the clubs we should have a formal relationship. We'll meet regularly. And if there is an issue we'll take it to the commission directly as one group rather than 16 clubs doing it individually."
The association has been a work in progress among the clubs for more than six months.
Heavyweights including Politis, Penrith's Phil Gould, Souths chairman Nick Pappas, Parramatta's Roy Spagnolo and Canterbury's Ray Dib have regularly lunched at the restaurant Beppis to draw up the battle plan to ensure they retain control and power under the new administration.
"It's good to show all the clubs are together and united," Spagnolo said. "We're looking to have our own presence in the game."The clubs will first and foremost be lobbying for a bigger share of the game's profits, according to one official. "And there lies the problem," the official said. "They are more concerned for their own interests and survival than the grassroots and future development of the game."
Trodden's email to the clubs was sent on Friday afternoon and has been obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
"If it is convenient, I suggest that we meet in the late afternoon on the day of the NRL Launch (next Wednesday 22/2) to discuss the document and, if appropriate, to approve it," he writes. "Sydney Roosters have offered their boardroom as a venue for the meeting."
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