Historic rivalries in sad decline
CLUB rivalries are all but extinct in the NRL, with half of Sydney’s teams playing out of one stadium, coaches hopping from one club to another and the heavy centralising hand of Rugby League Central.
The NRL doesn’t allocate a special weekend to promote historic club rivalries, leaving it to Fox Sports to choose a retro round.
Given the paucity of genuine, vehement rivalries, it must have been difficult for the network to choose a round to honour tradition, but they have opted for next week’s round 22.
The Storm actually thought this weekend was retro round and planned it accordingly, with a lunch on Friday to celebrate the 10 years since their 2007 team beat Manly in the grand final, ahead of today’s meeting between the two clubs at AAMI Park.
Round 22 leads off with the Bulldogs and Eels on Thursday night at ANZ stadium.
This is a genuine retro game, given the tight contests between these clubs in the middle 1980s.
The Dragons versus the Rabbitohs at the SCG at 8pm on Friday is another celebration of past rivalries, given St George dominated all the 1960s until Souths won four of the next five premierships.
The only retro in next weekend’s final game – Panthers versus the amalgamated Wests Tigers – is if their mascots descended from the sabre-toothed tiger.
The earlier Sunday match between the Sea Eagles and Roosters has a nod to retro. These two clubs dominated grand finals in the early to mid 1970s, but only played against each other in one (1972).
Choosing retro rounds based on grand finals diverts attention from some of the rare, remaining rivalries in the NRL.
St George Illawarra and Cronulla have never met in a season decider, but there is real antipathy between the clubs and the fans.
This is a territorial antagonism played out on suburban ovals with Cronulla sandwiched between St George to the north and Illawarra to the south.
When former Sharks president Peter Gow took the scissors to a St George jumper one evening at the Sharks licensed premises, aware he was infuriating some former Dragons players, it reflected the deep tensions between them.
The retro round match on Saturday between the Titans and Broncos is another territorial clash, based more on geography than history.
The 26,000-capacity Cbus Stadium is only likely to fill when the Broncos are the visiting team.
But the remaining matches in round 22 have little claim to tradition.
Knights versus Warriors? Newcastle recruited Kiwis for their early teams before Auckland entered the NRL.
Sharks versus Raiders? Cowboys versus Storm? There appears little in their history to incite passionate rivalry.
Playing matches at common stadiums – the Bulldogs and Rabbitohs calling ANZ Stadium home and Wests Tigers and the Dragons being occasional hirers – has broken down rivalries.
With the Eels playing there until Parramatta Stadium is redeveloped, expect more blurring of the identities of Sydney’s NRL clubs.
Fox Sports was wise not to brand this weekend’s NRL round retro.
Only one of the eight matches evokes any rivalry.
Today’s Melbourne versus Manly clash has plenty of recent history, the Storm thrashing the Sea Eagles in the 2007 decider, while Manly reversed the result the following year.
The Storm also ousted the Sea Eagles on their way to winning the 2009 and 2012 grand finals, while the 2011 ‘‘Battle of Brookie’’ had both teams literally fighting it out for the minor premiership.
The NRL has a women in league round, an indigenous round, an Anzac round and, this year, a beanies for brain cancer round. But they leave the retro round to Fox Sports, handing the network the draw and inviting it to choose a weekend.
Given many executives at the code’s headquarters believe rugby league began with the establishment of the NRL, there is little interest in evoking the heroism and heartache of historic club rivalries. The Sun-Herald