by In 2004, the single Will I Ever See Biff Again? released in Australia lamenting how soft the rugby league Down Under went. Sample lyric: “What happened when a man can’t beat his friend?” It was satire, but only direct.
Now Biff is back on the menu in the National Rugby League as the biggest club competition in the league prepares to bring a doubleheader to Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on Saturday which hosted this month’s Super Bowl. To win converts to its cause in the entertainment capital of the world, the NRL produced a slick, well-produced video directed by Russell Crowe that attracted more than 1.2 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Maximus’ primer begins with “arguably the fastest and most aggressive ball-in-hand football game out there” and is followed by five minutes of footage that is about 70 percent violent tackles. Looking at it through the prism of unity, it could be terrible to celebrate so many big, potentially concussive hits. The bunker went into chaos.
Unlike the league, which prides itself unapologetically on its aggressiveness, the union appears to fear its own core as concussion lawsuits wind their way through the court system. This, in the eyes of former Harlequins and current Fijian Drua chief executive Mark Evans, is holding back unity, particularly in how the sport sells itself. As a former chief executive at the Melbourne Storm, Evans has seen first-hand how the NRL has exploded in popularity, and is not hiding from its visceral violent elements.
“I thought the NRL ads were great, they were great,” Evans said. “The NRL is on a roll.”
“Rugby [union] not for everyone. He is not. In the same way that diving is not for everyone. The thought of doing that scares the hell out of me. But it doesn’t mean it should stop them from doing it. It’s another world. Crack on. Rugby is not for everyone. How can a collision sport not emphasize its physicality? It is nonsense.
“That’s what people like about it. You can make the game safer and address the concussion issue and not lose the physicality of the game. I refuse to believe that both of those things cannot be done. Also we are talking about rugby for adults. We are not talking about children’s rugby. I don’t see the NFL not emphasizing the physical. Or the NRL. Or MMA. Or WWE. I’m not saying you should use it to include all the other things you need to but we shouldn’t hide or feel ashamed. It’s a physical game.”
Having worked around the globe, Evans believes that the phenomenon of unions denying their own inherent danger and risk is particularly evident in the UK. “Only Britain seems to shy away from that fact [celebrating rugby’s physicality],” Evans said. “They don’t do it in France. They don’t do it in Fiji. They don’t do it in Australia. So is this an Anglo-British phenomenon? I don’t know but I have a feeling it’s more prominent there.
“The whole culture has become more risk averse. Perhaps we tend to be more comfortable criticizing things than celebrating them. I think there’s a bit of that going on too. I think maybe we’ve lost a bit of faith in sport in Britain and parts of Ireland, but this idea that it’s going to put people off, I don’t buy it.”
It looks like that message is filtering down to some of the higher ups and the likes of Mike Tindall are calling for it to be changed. Rob Calder, Premiership Rugby’s head of growth, told the Times: “Rugby has a conservative establishment feel and we don’t see that when we look at the NRL. We have to increase it.”
That view is far from universally shared. The stories of many of the individual players who have been involved in the concussion court case while doing so are horrifying. At a time when the sport has tried so hard to protect itself, wouldn’t it be a step backwards to start celebrating big hits that could scare parents away from bringing their children to minis training?
Evans argues that choosing between making the game safer and celebrating its physicality is a false dichotomy.
“I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive and it’s critical that we don’t conflate them,” Evans said. “I would also make a very clear distinction between adult and minor rugby, tag and touch, which are miles apart. We should not promote them as one thing. This is why the NFL, the biggest physicality-centered sport in the states, is promoting so much tag football. They are not changing the core TV product for adults, except for a few tweaks.
“Let’s be clear about this. The game is much less violent. The game played now isn’t much less violent than it was when it was kicking, punching and stamping, like when I played. That’s just gone. If it happens it is an isolated incident. Many people enjoy watching physical sport. That’s why boxing is popular. Don’t pretend you’re not.”
