April Fool’s Day lived up to its name 30 years ago when the News Limited-backed Super League officially declared war on the establishment ARL, burning more than a billion dollars on obscene player contracts and futile airfares, as two billionaires, Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer, fought over pay TV rights for three bitter years, eventually deciding to share them.
The waste in a conflict that became known as “Super Greed” was such that ARL chair Ken Arthurson lamented, “The money we spend on lawyers could fund the development of the game for a year.”
The trigger factor for the war was an earlier decision by Arthurson and his chief executive John Quayle to admit three new clubs from Perth, Townsville and a second Brisbane one into the 1995 competition.
Only one club was expected to be chosen to join newcomer Auckland but with three of them needing players, there was enormous inflationary pressure imposed on the incumbents to retain their top talent, leading to fractures across the game.
Eight clubs joined Super League and ten remained with the ARL. Similar inflationary threats exist now with Papua New Guinea and possibly a Perth team set to join the NRL by 2027, with expansion to 20 clubs mooted.
But back in 1995, half the ARL clubs were broke, making them vulnerable targets for News Limited largesse. By contrast, all 17 of today’s clubs have their salary caps funded by the NRL, as well as receiving a $5m administration grants. However, the new Port Moresby team has been offered generous tax concessions to attract players and Perth is yet to find a backer to fund about $30m a year in operational expenses.
John Quayle and Lachlan Murdoch during the Super League war.Credit: Fairfax Media
It is also unlikely viewership in PNG and Perth will add significantly to a new TV rights contract, meaning RL Central may be forced to reduce grants to its existing clubs if it is to continue funding the operations of the new clubs. Still, ARLC boss Peter V’Landys is very bullish about delivering rugby league’s richest broadcasting contract and satisfy 20 clubs.
He has also made a Perth bid conditional on joining with the North Sydney Bears, a foundation 1908 club forced out of the NRL in the aftermath of the Super League war when its shotgun marriage to Manly as the Northern Eagles dissolved. Another joint venture, Wests Tigers, survives but divisions persist, even after thirty years.
The split competitions
Super League teams
Brisbane, Cronulla, Canberra, Canterbury, Penrith, Hunter, Auckland, Western Reds, Adelaide, North Queensland
ARL teams
Newcastle, Manly, Parramatta, North Sydney, Sydney City (Eastern Suburbs), Illawarra, Gold Coast, Balmain, Western Suburbs, St George, South Sydney, South Queensland
Teams that played in the 1997 seasons.
Yet the game is now far more professional and sophisticated than it was in 1995, made so by the financial outcomes of the Super League war. Players are full-time and gain a fair commercial return from the code’s TV contracts and sponsorships. Each club has a support staff which caters for their medical, dietary and welfare needs, as well as a highly resourced football department.
When the ARL and Super League consolidated at the end of the war to produce common rules, the ARL introduced the 40:20 rule which breaks the game’s “you have it for six tackles, we have it for six tackles” nexus. Super League brought in video replay, assisting officials in on field decision-making. (The Bunker, which complicates and delays decisions came later).
Andrew Ettingshausen, Lachlan Murdoch and Ken Cowley at a Super League launch.Credit: Fairfax Media
It can be argued this progress was inevitable but Super League also brought innovations and ideas – a mix of the fertile and foolish – which were trialled and refined.
The 1997 World Club Challenge between News Ltd’s ten Australian and ten English clubs, with its lop sided scorelines and massive expenses, was abandoned but persists as a one game final between the winners of the NRL and English competitions.
Super League also agitated for a new judiciary system where players could avoid a hearing by pleading guilty and a graded points system creates consistency. Their 1997 night grand final in Brisbane led to the NRL switching its final decider to the evening with its higher TV ratings. Super League also argued for an October representative window.
The gladiators .… Packer v Murdoch.Credit: John Shakespeare
On the negative side, the Super League war killed traditional international competition with the northern hemisphere. News Ltd funded the English competition which switched to a summer season, meaning domestic competitions in the two major playing nations are held at the same time.
In October/November this year, the Kangaroos will play a three-Test series against Great Britain in London, Liverpool and Leeds for the first time in 22 years. The Kangaroos will obviously not meet English clubs, such as Wigan and St Helens, or play in France.
However, the southern hemisphere has become stronger with the emergence of Samoa and Tonga, finalists and semi-finalists in World Cups.
Super League chief executive John Ribot describes the rise of Pasifika as “Super League’s greatest legacy,” explaining, “When it appeared inevitable that there would be two competitions – ARL and Super League – I went to Ken Cowley (News Ltd chair) and said, ‘We will need more players.’ So News invested millions of dollars in Pasifika pathways for players and their families and we see that today with Pasifika players comprising half the NRL.”
Ribot explained that the News Ltd money gave him entree to heads of state in the Pacific, with the king of Tonga gifting him a painting and a senior Fijian government official presenting him with an ancient war tool used to pin down the necks of captives prior to decapitating them.
They hang on the wall of his apartment as a reminder of a conflict which was ultimately futile because its principal object was pay TV rights and Packer and Murdoch ended up splitting them.
The Fijian war tool is also a reminder that at times during the bitter conflict where friendships were destroyed and careers ended, and Ribot feared for his own head.
