By DAVID HAYWARD
ONE week into rugby leagues latest World Cup incarnation and it is clear it has the potential to rise to the next level of international sporting relevance. While this provides great hope to the true believers of international rugby league, the sport is still very delicately poised in terms of its future place on the international stage. For the first weekend of the World Cup provided enormous breakthroughs while also exposing some worst fears of the international game.
In terms of breakthroughs, Papua New Guinea’s performance and home support provides much impetus to the tournament while also laying firm foundations in building the future success of the rugby league mad nation. Their performance against Wales gave much hope that one day the rugby league world could see PNG achieve similar feats to other developing nations have achieved in other sports. For example, few believed way back in 1975 Sri Lanka could ever defeat the three top tier nations of Australia, West Indies and England and during their first five World Cups they didn’t as they battled their way to four wins out of 26 matches (15 per cent). Yet at their sixth World Cup attempt in 1996 they were crowned world champions and comprised of an array of exciting talent that had the admiration of the cricketing world.
Week One Breakthroughs
PNG has always had the same potential as Sri Lanka’s cricket team on the international stage. Entering their fifth World Cup PNG had a record of three wins from 12 matches (25 per cent), they have an abundance of natural talent that is finally being nurtured through professional domestic leagues and rugby league are the nation’s passion. These are all ingredients that indicate that a giant killing victory will come for PNG within the next three World Cups. And when this does happen, it will generate an enormous amount of goodwill, excitement and credibility for casual fans of the international game.
There was a further continuing breakthrough in terms of TV ratings where the Australia-England match (1,888,000) more than doubled the national audience of the Bledisloe Cup match (890,000) the previous weekend. Even the non-Australian matches attracted healthy ratings, including the PNG-Wales match (130,000) on Saturday afternoon competing strongly against the Australia-Barbarians rugby union match (154,000).
Rugby league barely even tries with international rugby league in Australia, yet it completely dominates TV ratings compared to its closest rival at its greatest strength in international game play. It will be interesting to see when rugby league power brokers ever go for the jugular on rugby union in the Oceania region. Sure they got burnt from the Super League attempted heist but that should never discourage a future bold move if it is best for the game. Time to digress.
Week One Weaknesses
The low attendances in Canberra and Townsville, while not exactly a surprise, were a wake-up call to the optimists and did expose the fears of the rugby league internationalists. Insofaras the World Cup tournament does continue to teeter the edge of barely registering in the minds of the general public and at worst become financially unviable and irrelevant.
The poor result of the 1950s rugby league powerhouse France, seen by many as a key nation to expand the global reach of the sport, was another disappointment from the weekend for the purists. It is a stern reminder that more investment is required for nations with rich rugby league accomplishments and history if the game is ever to reach greater heights on the international stage.
Sports Fans Just Want to be Entertained
In order to rise above the inevitable lows that come with any international sporting tournament, rugby league must focus on providing an entertaining product as this entirely up for grabs for sports fans.
The commercialisation of soccer has tarnished the spectacle and the quality of the FIFA World Cup over the past decade. While it is still easily the biggest and most financially successful sporting event in the world, there is no question the magic of the event from past eras is no present due to a combination of globalisation and the financial clout of domestic clubs.
Rugby union’s product is still entirely compromised by refereeing, archaic rules and a near unbeatable superpower nation in New Zealand.
Basketball fail to capitalise on the potential of its World Cup due to the strength of the National Basketball Association and the dominance of the USA Dream Team.
The Cricket World Cup has become lost amidst the rise of Twenty20, the rebirth of the Ashes, and a calendar of events that have the entire fanbase unsure of what, who, when and why games are played. The credibility of the sport has taken a massive hit over the past two decades due to match fixing and has never truly recovered.
The Rugby League World Cup so far has done well on the entertainment so far front thanks to strongly embracing cultural features of each nation and enabling NRL players to play for nations they have ancestral linkages to. What needs to happen more to make the product sing is have the teams play rugby league at its most exciting best.
When politicians go about winning elections, the key is to win the centre, those in the middle or on the fence. In sporting terms it is the casual sports fan who loves the entertainment that sport brings no matter the code.  There are millions of these, as evidenced by the ratings for the Australia-England match on Friday night.
One of the biggest criticisms of casual sports fans and rugby league haters is that rugby league is boring, predictable and lacks dimensions in its play. To an extent these views are justified if you watch regular season NRL matches, which are subjected to the pressure of business whereby coaches and players opt for the low risk approach of high completion rates and one out dummy half runs that eat up the meters.
If the participating teams of the World Cup throw out the NRL way of playing the game and go for the perfect balance of attacking flair and strong defence it will go a long way to winning the hearts and minds of the sporting public. This tournament will then reach its potential and the game will reach new heights for years to come.
wingers feature, Jason Martin and Bronko Djura retrospectives
