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A new rugby league war? NRL ‘threatened with breakout competition’ over funding row… as Panthers boss Brian Fletcher condemns league’s ‘deplorable’ financial behavior and claims clubs feel ‘robbed’
A number of NRL clubs are reportedly considering forming a breakaway league as the funding feud threatens to escalate even further, with Panthers boss Brian Fletcher claiming the league is ‘robbing’ the clubs.
According to the Daily Telegrama ‘handful of clubs’ have privately discussed the option as they reach a breaking point from the financial deadlock that risks halting the competition.
The bomb revelation has rocked the NRL, forcing Peter V’landys, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission and Andrew Abdo, chairman of the NRL, to cancel their trip to England for the Rugby League World Cup final .
ARLC supremo Peter V’landys is under pressure from a number of NRL clubs
The duo will instead remain in Australia to resume negotiations with the clubs.
While the prospect of clubs defecting from the NRL remains slim, the threat cannot be dismissed entirely, according to News Corp, as all 16 clubs’ licenses expire at the end of next season.
The clubs, the NRL and the Rugby League Players’ Association have been at odds over several issues for months.
As it stands, there is still no salary cap for next season and neither is the playing schedule. All parties involved have yet to agree to a new collective labor agreement and a financing agreement for the clubs.
Panthers boss Brian Fletcher insisted the clubs should not be dictated by the league
And Fletcher insisted that the clubs demanded financial transparency from the NRL and that they would not be ‘dictated’ by the league.
“We need some answers and we need some transparency,” Fletcher said.
‘We requested a balance from Magic Round. We put on the show, but we never see anything. It’s actually unfortunate. Show us the numbers.
“It’s hard to support them if you think they’re robbing you.”
NRL chief Andrew Abdo retains V’landys’ support despite criticism from several clubs over his handling of the competition
Fletcher said the clubs wanted $5 million on top of the salary cap and has offered to sit down with V’landys to resume negotiations. The latter acknowledged that the clubs had a right to maximize their financial returns, but insisted that he stood firmly behind Abdo.
“I respect the fact that everyone is trying to maximize returns for themselves,” he said.
“However, what I find most disappointing is that they are attacking Andrew Abdo falsely. No one has worked harder for the game to get it into the healthy position it is in now.
“I am convinced that we will get a resolution that will not please everyone, but in the end that is why you have an independent committee.”
A month after the NRL Grand Final, next season’s playing schedule has yet to be determined, while a salary cap for 2023 has not yet been agreed
The Australian rugby league was last rocked by a breakaway match in 1997 when the Super League ran its only season alongside the ARL premiership and was won by the Broncos
The Australian rugby league has not seen a breakaway competition since the Super League war rocked the sport in the mid-1990s.
After a two-year legal battle, the News Corp-backed Super League was launched in 1997 to rival the Australian Rugby League, which had replaced the New South Wales Premiership two years earlier.
The Super League and the ARL ran concurrently in 1997 before merging into the NRL a year later.