NRL wants cash support during pandemic

THE NRL will forge ahead with the season despite the coronavirus pandemic, but will ask the Australian Government for financial assistance to keep the game alive should they be forced to suspended the competition.

In an extraordinary press conference yesterday morning, Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg outlined the “catastrophic” impact suspending the season would have on rugby league.

While Round 2 is scheduled to go ahead without crowds, all options are on the table, including isolating players and staff and suspending the season entirely.

“I can’t stress enough our game has never faced a challenge like this,” V’landys said.

“The longer it takes, the more pressure on our financial viability. It could have catastrophic effects on us going forward. Our money will only last so long and once its extinguished we are in big trouble. An Australia without rugby league is not Australia.

“The Government has to assist us in this crisis because it is not of our own doing.”

It paints a bleak future for the game, with clubs already expected to suffer a huge financial hit while playing without crowds in the interim. Without insurance or assets to produce income outside of the games themselves, V’landys said the NRL would not take long to collapse.

“If it’s a total closure, we haven’t got long at all,” he said. “If it’s one where we can continue to play the game with no spectators, that gives us a much greater flexibility to survive. It really depends on what we’re faced with.”