Industry News Update – Thursday, August 8th
Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Ive been a little flat out.
AFL and Australian Football
Note: we have now put together a list of AFL and AFL club reports, collective bargaining agreements and other frequently requested information into an easily accessible list, hosted here.
- AFL crowds will rewrite the league’s attendance record books at the weekend — with a significant incentive to the fans from AFL House to ensure such.
- PIES on offer at $2 until the first bounce of the Port Adelaide-Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday evening. The same deal is on offer at all other AFL venues at the weekend when West Coast will close Subiaco Oval as a league venue in Perth.
- FREE entry to children aged 15 or under at eight of the nine games. The exception will be Subiaco Oval where capacity has been reached already with the historic nature of the game
- THE AFL has confirmed this year’s finals series will launch with a Thursday night blockbuster.
- GEELONG appears set to secure one of the AFL Women’s new licences when the AFL Commission formally rules on the expansion teams on Tuesday.
- Geelong could miss out on hosting an AFL qualifying final at Simonds Stadium, even though they would have earned the right by beating Greater Western Sydney.
- AFL commission chairman Richard Goyder says he “hates” pokies, and will seek to use his personal authority to wean clubs off them.
- Richmond Tigers have announced a new three-year partnership with Nib Health Funds. Starting with the 2018 season, the private health insurer will become the Australian rules football club’s joint major partner, in a deal which will see the company’s logo adorn the back of the team’s home and away jumpers, as well as official club apparel.
- Fitness equipment and accessories manufacturer PTP has become an official provider to Australian Football League (AFL) team Carlton FC. The Blues will train with PTP equipment for the duration of the partnership.
NRL and Rugby League
- The Rugby League Players Association is confident a pay deal can be reached within weeks, but warn strike action is still on the cards if no resolution is struck.
- James Maloney has accused NRL club bosses of putting unfair heat on players to accept the league’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement offer.
- The NRL and its clubs are seeking to stage double-headers in Sydney from next season as part of the solution to the game’s crowds crisis.
- The NSWRL has moved to keep children in the sport by introducing 21 weight and age competitions across Sydney that will have major ramifications on participation levels in rugby league.
- Blake Austin says the players will stick solid on their privacy, despite the NRL wanting to gain access to their bank account and phone records as part of the new collective bargaining agreement.
- Respondents in The Daily Telegraph’s NRL fans survey have spoken out again — they want and love suburban footy. Nearly 65 per cent of respondents claim they would rather watch football at updated suburban grounds than revamped Sydney stadiums.
- A report on the Seven-owned Yahoo Sports over the weekend has accused the broadcasters of NRL matches – Foxtel and Channel Nine – of running old crowd footage during broadcasts to make it look as though games weren’t being played to empty stadiums.
- Foxtel has admitted it was the broadcaster who accidentally ran old crowd footage during a recent NRL match, but has claimed it was a technical issue rather than anything sinister.
- Fake Crowds or Fake News? What actually happened in NRL vision saga
Rugby Union
- Western Force granted right to appeal Super Rugby axing by NSW Supreme Court
- BILLIONAIRE Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has threatened to form a breakaway international competition if the Western Force is axed from Super Rugby.
- A RUGBYWA board member has claimed the Australian Rugby Union agreed to let the Western Force back into the Super Rugby competition – only to renege on the offer.
- ARU chairman Cameron Clyne denies Western Force claim of Super backflip
- The ARU’s decision to reject Andrew Forrest’s $50 million offer will hurt grassroots rugby all over Australia, according to the Rugby Union Players’ Association.
- The Western Force will consider launching a new rugby union competition in Asia if they cannot win their way back into Super Rugby ranks after they were axed by the ARU earlier this month.
- The Western Force is challenging its exclusion from next year’s Super Rugby competition on the basis that its agreement with Australian Rugby Union does not expire until the end of 2020 and the national body has not acted in good faith by terminating it unilaterally.
- The Australian Rugby Union has rejected an offer of around $50 million from billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest to save the code and look after the financial burden of the Western Force.
- The future of the Western Force remains uncertain after a judge reserved his decision on an appeal against the club’s axing from the Super Rugby competition.
A-league and other Football
- A-League champions Sydney FC have named Danny Townsend to take over from Tony Pignata as CEO
- FIFA has placed the future of Australian football firmly back in Football Federation Australia’s court and issued a subtle reminder it is not a stakeholder in the political reform process.
- FIFA has put pressure on Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy to accept a solution to the impasse in football’s governance crisis, as talks continue ahead of a November 30 deadline.
- Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) chief executive John Didulica has warned a lack of action in relation to the new FFA Congress model will prove especially costly for the women’s game in this country.
Other
- Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon’s proposed takeover bid for Network Ten is looking like it will be the winner, with reports that the sole rival bidding group has walked away from the table.
- News Corp and Telstra have announced their intention to combine Foxtel and Fox Sports Australia into a new company. News Corp will have 65 per cent shareholding in the new company and Telstra will have 35 per cent.
