Rugby league has found itself in a strange position since the outbreak of the coronavirus. In the U.K., the spiritual home of the game, fixtures went on with crowds when every other sport had shut down. As a result, thousands of people who otherwise might not have watched Castleford Tigers v St Helens tuned in. For a sport that has often lacked exposure, it was a big win, despite the obvious murmurings about whether the game should have gone ahead.
In Australia, where the NRL is arguably the leading sport in the nation, exposure is not an issue. Their problem lies in keeping a game going, fulfilling sponsor and television obligations, while keeping their players safe. Last week’s season openers went ahead, but the idea of postponing the whole league after just one round is obviously one the NRL would like to avoid. To that end, a uniquely Australian and entirely novel – coronavirus pun vaguely intentional – solution has been mooted: moving the whole league en masse to the Tropics.
The theory, which NRL chief Todd Greenberg has described as “not as far-fetched as some people might think”, involves playing all games in North Queensland, well into the tropical area of Australia and thus, the theory goes, less likely to be affected by the coronavirus. The players could be based there, kept separate from the majority of the outbreak and allowed to play on. “It’s more than a remote possibility, it’s a possibility absolutely,” said Greenberg in a press conference yesterday. “It’s one of the scenarios we’re pressure testing at the moment.”
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 16: NRL CEO Todd Greenberg speaks to the media during a NRL Press … [+]
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The current plan, confirmed through Round 2 at least, is to pay for charter flights for teams to travel between cities and play games behind closed doors, so the idea of basing the league in North Queensland for a few weeks is not out of the question on financial grounds. Should the situation deteriorate, the NRL might well make the decision that playing somewhere else at great expense is better than not playing at all.
The coronavirus situation in Australia certainly backs up the idea of moving away from New South Wales, where the majority of teams and players are based, and moving north. NSW has been the centre of the outbreak in Australia, with just under half of all cases reported so far. The tropical regions of Australia have been relatively untouched, with Townsville, where the league’s North Queensland Cowboys are based, having just three confirmed cases. The initial plan could include playing all 8 fixtures at Townsville’s Queensland Country Bank Stadium in a structure similar to the Magic Weekend concept, which was held last year at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. The Northern Territory and Far North Queensland have, to date, been coronavirus-free and thus could also be used: Cairns and Darwin have hosted high-profile matches in the past, including at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
“If the NRL is looking at the possibility of hosting games in Cairns, we would be 100 per cent behind the proposal, as long as it complied with Government health guidelines and policies in relation to COVID-19,” said Bob Manning, mayor of Cairns. “Cairns has many advantages to hosting games, including the warmer weather, we have adequate sporting facilities, world class accommodation, lots of space and we are very much in the middle of rugby league heartland.”
TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 13: The Cowboys run onto the field at the start of the round 1 NRL … [+]
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Peter V’landys, chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission, said a resort in North Queensland had approached the league with the potential to host all 16 teams. V’landys described the offer as a “live option”, adding that “we need to be as flexible and agile as possible if we are going to survive this crisis.”
There are a few obvious issues that need to be worked out before the NRL can even consider moving the league. Round 2 is set to go ahead without fans, but should a player test positive, it would be essential for their team and any team they have played against to self-isolate for a minimum of two weeks. “If a player tests positive then I would suggest that player and those around him in that club would have to go into isolation and potentially the other players that person has connected with, potentially in a previous game,” said NRL CEO Todd Greenberg.
On top of that, there is the New Zealand Warriors. The Auckland-based club traveled to the Hunter Valley to face the Newcastle Knights last week and were unable to return afterwards due to quarantine restrictions. They remained in northern New South Wales and will play this weekend against Canberra on the Gold Coast instead of back home in New Zealand. The current situation involves the Warriors remaining in Australia indefinitely, away from their families, rather than returning home and being forced into a mandatory 14-day isolation.
“Going forward they are happy to play as long as the competition is running. The boys are pretty happy to stay,” said club owner Mark Robinson to The Sydney Morning Herald. “I think we just do it. It’s like going on a six-week rugby league tour to England.”
Given the cost of keeping the Warriors away from their families, the costs of chartering 30+ players plus staff around Australia, the potential lost revenue of missed rounds and the decline in sponsorship issues, advertising dollars and TV money, the seemingly gargantuan task of shipping everyone up to the Tropics might not be too crazy after all. In the midst of this crisis, nothing seems impossible.