I’m sure many of you watched the BBC
Inside Out programme claiming that Super League clubs are in massive amounts of
debt. One sport finance expert even went
as far as saying the sport is staring into a ‘financial abyss’. Not exactly
what we wanted to hear a couple of days before the start of the new season but
what I ask is were any of us really that surprised?
Firstly let’s get this dramatic claim into context,
£60 million pounds worth of debt between 11 clubs was the allegation, that debt
alone is probably held by just one
football team in the top flight so was it really fair of the BBC to pick on
rugby league? Then again, is any publicity good publicity?
Now there have been some obvious examples of big
debts in the sport recently, the problems we have seen at Bradford, Wakefield
and Salford. Many rival fans have been quick to point the finger but the afore
mentioned expert also said that only around 2 or 3 clubs in the league are
actually financially stable so let’s not start making accusations.
The pressure on clubs to build stadiums and meet
various other conditions to gain a Super League franchise is probably one of
the biggest triggers of this debt. Being forced to build stadiums they simply cannot
afford to run. I am sure, like myself, many people would be happy to go back to
promotion and relegation and have away with this financial pressure. Then
again, I can see why improvements need to be made in order to attract more
people to watch the sport but maybe there are better ways of doing this.
Some suggestions were made on the programme to help
reduce the debt. One suggestion was to reduce the salary cap, which hardly
seems fair on the players, who don’t exactly earn a footballers wage to begin
with. Another was to reduce the league from 14 teams to 12 or even 10 but again
to me that would see the small town clubs go out and leave the top teams in;
making the league even less of a competition then it is now.
Now I do believe the teams need to work together to
help combat this debt, however I also think that if a team gets in to trouble,
surely bailing them out is only adding to their woes. They need to be able to
sort it out for themselves, find a way of getting better, just like we have seen at Salford this week, with the takeover by a millionaire
race horse owner. It can only be a good thing that wealthy businessmen are wanting to invest in the sport.
All in all, rugby league is a resilient sport and
money is a worry for every other sport in this country too and it’s not all
doom and gloom, with growing attendances and strong viewing figures. Yes
changes do need to be made but I don’t think pointing the figure is the right
way to go about it. We need to be in this together, rivalries aside and lets go
forward and make this World Cup year rugby league’s best yet.
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