The Board of New South Wales Rugby League was disappointed to learn from Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter Beattie and Chief Executive Officer Todd Greenberg that three NRL clubs have decided to renege on the agreement regarding constitutional reform which the NRL clubs and States unanimously agreed upon in December 2017.
The three clubs have demanded that both the New South Wales Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League make further concessions to the draft amended constitution.
Against the background of the members of the Australian Rugby League Commission having reached unanimous agreement regarding the draft constitution, and the overwhelming majority of those members continuing to support the terms of the draft constitution, the Board of the New South Wales Rugby League is strongly of the view that it will not agree to make further concessions to the already agreed position and it will not allow the good of the game to be determined by narrow sectional interests.
The Board of New South Wales Rugby League has affirmed its support for constitutional change and reiterates that it will not stand in the way of governance progress which is in the best interests of the game.
The Board is proud of the fact that throughout its history, New South Wales Rugby League has always advanced the best interests of the game. The NRL competition, which the three clubs participate in, was born out of the New South Wales Rugby League competition.
New South Wales Rugby League acted in the interests of the game when it expanded an inner city competition into a metropolitan competition, then into a state-wide competition, then into a national and ultimately an international competition.
It acted in the interests of the game when, together with the Queensland Rugby League, it supported the creation of the Australian Rugby League Commission.
It acted in the interests of the game when it supported increased funding for NRL clubs, both individually and collectively, with the significantly increased club grants which were recently provided to NRL clubs.
The Board of New South Wales Rugby League now calls on the three NRL clubs to discard sectional interests and also act in the best interests of the game by adhering to the agreement which all of them freely reached in December 2017.
