This is quite remarkable. I vaguely remember watching this late at night with my dad as a nine year old. How you found this footage is beyond me. Most of the footage from this dark era in our game will never see the light of day.
@J G Rupert Murdoch did the same thing to soccer as well how did the English Premier League start ? He wanted football on Sky and who was the Driver behind that Rupert Murdoch. He did the same thing here but his competition didn't work unlike the Premier league I wonder what those discussions were like at the time
@@joshrees1985 It's not an exact equivalent as the driver of the Premier League was the chairman of the then six biggest clubs and ITV then Alan Sugar got involved and as he was supplying set top boxes to Sky, he told Murdoch to blow ITV out of the water and the rest is history. There is a brilliant documentary on RUclips about it.
Peter Sterling, as usual, was the voice of reason. Was able to ask questions without getting overly excited and agitated (Hadley, Fulton, Vautin, I'm looking at you). Had this been moderated solely by the old Parramatta 7, a lot more questions would've been addressed that night.
This was crazy to watch when you consider that what Super League were doing was EXACTLY the same as what Kerry Packer (main backer of ARL of the time as well as Ch9 boss) did with World Series Cricket 20 years prior
@J G lol no it won’t soccer is a dying sport in Australia. Pay tv don’t even have it anymore. The A LEAGUE is cooked. Now maybe if they start a new league maybe but yeah soccer won’t dominate Australia by 2050.
@JG-bw6lu Has it declined rapidly? The NRLW has claimed 7s stars from NZ to play in Aussie and the comp is expanding again with 3 more teams in 2024/; plus France is still pretty big with Rugby League aas well. Unlike Soccer and Cricket in New Zealand which has dropped so far no-one would even know the current Cricket world cup is on....I only found out through workmates that NZ got beaten by India this weekend and I was a massive cricket fan? Your continuous spewing has made nothing but enemies.
I was a 20yr old when all this was happening.But even though I was a Sydney tiger supporter and backed the ARL through this debacle,I still didn’t mind watching a super league game.I even attended the super league grand final at anz stadium between the broncos and sharks in 1997.And thanks for this footage bought back a lot of memories and loved the footy show.
@@timelessleague was interesting to see both sides go at it. Ribot said years later it was a set up/ambush which Blocker confirmed recently on the Matty Johns podcast. If you have any other clips from this era please upload :)
World Record!! I’ve never seen Phil Gould remain silent in front of a camera for 20:49 How did he morph from that humble man into the most opinionated and belligerent person involved in rugby league in Australia???
Simple...he's a manipulative opportunist....twitter warrior who doesn't know what the word loyalty means...Shared an office with Bob Fulton during the Super League war and couldn't be bothered attending his funeral....
In hindsight it's obvious Super League was largely in the right of it. Ken and the Sydney crew ran the ARL like their personal fiefdom, with a deep aversion to new ideas. Yeh yeh, it was all about Pay TV; who cares whether Packer or Murdoch get the TV rights. What's important is what's in the interests of the game. Clearly the game was better served by a more professional, national competition, with a more global appeal. Andrew Johns was on a measly 20k per year at the time. Guys worked 2nd jobs to get by, while the administrators lined their pockets. There were a preposterous 11 Sydney teams, and every year the Grand Final to this day is still played at Sydney regardless of the teams who make it. Complete amatuer hour. The NRL only got a new Brisbane team in 2023, which is insane given that Sydney still has 9 teams, and old heads like Gould still moan we're doing too much for Queensland lol. Thank goodness they're finally expanding in the right way, and focusing less on 1 city. Night finals, video refs, interchanges, more dynamic rules, all of it and more came from the Super League. The old ARL administration was a joke. They didn't even have a competetive process when taking bids for TV rights, instead Ken would just give it to his mate Packer, denying the players a fortune.
Super league might have never really worked out. But it was the best thing that happened to the Game. For years before this started the Old Boys at the ARL said there was no more money to pay the clubs and therefore the Players. Super League comes along and signs a few players on big money contracts. Then the ARL all of a sudden starts offering contracts with big money and then goes around and offers All Players and Coaches and Some club staff loyalty money for staying loyal to the ARL. And these payments were on top of the contracts that they had signed. Some of the one off loyalty payments were up to $300000. Dollars and that was back then which is a bucket load of money. The point is there was always money at the ARL and the old donkeys had to cough it up to keep some of the players. It might have split the game for a while, but look at what the players get today. Not just better money but benefits during and after their playing days are over. The way Ray Hadley carried on during this discussion was an embarrassment. He didn't know any of the contracts or the numbers and all he did was yell to try and make himself look good. The bloke is a dead set flog. And to the old muppets on the ARL board you were nothing but greedy pigs. At least now the players and coaches and club staff are treated alot better.
It would of been better if super league won. We would still have the rams and the reds and a proper national competition. Who knows where the game would be now if super league won. Could well be challenging rugby union on a global scale.
It all ended with my hometown club winning one of the greatest Grand Finals of all time in 1997. Joey Johns made his genius known to the world. Something biblical happened in 1997 to Rugby League.
1997 was the year i didn't watch rugby league. This shit was very close to killing the game i love. I miss the winfield cup days because players played for the love of the game and not money
@@Lord_Thistlewick_Flanders People don’t realise how raw this event was and still is to many supporters. I realise a lot of clubs were not financially secure and it led to their eventual death like Newtown Jets.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 Yes. The ARL clubs were disadvantaged out of all this. Also At George ended up merging with Illawarra. South's were thrown out of the competition and had to go to court to get re-instated back in the competition.
A great historical bit of footage. I too was stunned at Goulds relative silence. The debacle was good for the game in the end, but some friendships certainly suffered. I bet if Ribot looks back at this clip he would wonder why the hell he turned up!! Thank god it did not last more than 2 years. I remember going to Mt Smart to watch those super league cross over games vs the English sides. They were awful games.
If you’re interested in this then then I recommend the Rugby League Digest’s Super league podcast. 100 episodes of quality. And gees Hadley gives me the shits.
Interesting watching this with hindsight. As a neutral Brit, this is the most biased talk show I've ever seen. The first thing to point out is that The Footy Show aired on Channel 9 which was owned by Kerry Packer and who had thrown his weight behind the ARL. For that reason alone, you were never going to get a balanced debate. Secondly, with the exception of John Ribot and Chris Johns, every panelist they wheeled out were supporting the ARL. As a presenter of the show, one would expect that Vautin remained relatively impartial but he couldn't stop himself from betraying his old Manly allegiance to Arthurson and Fulton (kudos to Sterling for remembering his role, asking the right questions and keeping his head). Having said that, Ribot kept complaining about being interrupted but you get the impression that even if he were given an hour, he wouldn't have been able to articulate what Super League's 'vision' was. Arthurson reading out the fax from Maurice Lindsay stating 'The British rugby league has denied it has formed a summer Super League' competition shows how deceitful Lindsay could be. That's exactly what Britain did!!!!!
funny ken autherson claiming people are deceitful and crooked, he was the most untrustworthy person ever and he’s the reason everyone went to super league
Chris Johns represented the players well. They tried to shut him down but failed. Ribot had more business brains than the whole ARL stooges. The game needed to move ahead and players deserved more money.
It was about live games every week. Gosh remember the delayed telecasts and showing Regional areas a game of choosing by channel nine simply because of where they lived. NBN TV remember. ARL was grabbing the money and not paying the players, simple.
Vividly remember watching this as a 13 year old kid and Hadlee attacking Ribot. Kids in the playground bullied me for being a Penrith fan because we went to Super League, a few weeks after this debate. There was so much bitterness. I’m glad it happened because I bet if we stayed with the ARL we would have merged.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 they should of relocated clubs instead of merging them. Look at the swans and the lions in the afl. Relocation can work if it's done right.
@@stevvvvveperry I agree, look at those supporters that say I’m so glad my team didn’t have to merge. Those clubs should’ve banded together for the spirit of the game and said we’re not playing unless you keep all of us. But no act & behave like Cowards.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 exactly, im a saints supporter and the fact they are merged sort of negates their great past because none of that really matters after clubs merge. I would of much rather they relocated. I love how gus always says relocation doesn't work. You only have to look at half the professional franchises in the U.S.A, they have been relocated some of them twice and they still have huge supporter bases. The lakers in the nba is one off the top off my head.
I mean Super League won the war in the end, as Sterling said the game was heading towards a professional build but I think super league forced the hand of it all, players were shafted when it came to representative payments & the ARL were also pretty greedy when it came to distribution of the gate, but Packer saw the writing on the wall and bought into super league, the ARL’s unwillingness to make the game completely professional undid then, because not long after Packer bought in the game merged to the NRL we know today and Fox rules supreme in Rugby League coverage
I write this in jest, as this time in rugby league caused my love of this game to wane. I remember being heartbroken as a kid seeing all this happen. But, if they wanted origin type games every week....they needed to have ARL vs Superleague teams. Then have the best of each side play off. In writing that, I did see this split the game. Big corporate moguls wanting to line their pockets because they owned satellite TV. Even as a kid, I akways thought my favourite player Big Mal, retired just in time.
The way they treat Ribot is absolutely disgusting. The ARL were so good at manipulating the public into thinking that they were the battlers being hard done by.
Arl: Where are you going to get the players from!?!?! Super league: Well, we will steal them from you by offering them more money. Pretty much the super league? Lol
He would have got a fairly healthy pay packet out of this. Rumor has it, Ribot didn't even know that this show even had a studio audience. I'm actually perplexed as to why he and Chris Johns weren't sitting together, as opposed to him being sandwiched between Fulton and Hadley.
Funny how the Channel 9 panel rip Ribot a new one on this show, but none of them stayed with the ARL exclusively. They all had no issue commentating on both Super League and ARL during the 1997 season.
The ARL acted so insecure and most of the public. Super League may have had some corruption behind it with Murdoch, but they identified sports business earlier and that there was a market there that could financially benefit the game also
Yeah and a lot of the clubs that stayed loyal to the NRL merged or folded. It would have been good if the Northern Eagles merger worked but mighty Manly were back in 2002.
Agreed. John Ribot is talking pie in the sky of about taking the game global. Rugby league in this period needed to be more concerned about Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. Rather then Los Angeles, Beijing, and London.
@@davcar3568 This is why these idiots including Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm & NRL or it’s Super League residual crew, were narcissist to the core. Their was nothing wrong with NSWRL board, they had introduced Tina Turner & Simply the Best. They had expansion in mind by playing games in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. Idea & Concept was happening. Secondly the crew I mentioned earlier, were pitching their idea and created for themselves a concept. They just made this version of Rugby League to justify their pay packet, when their was no need for any of the things that took place. These people & Murdochs thought of the concept and lived in their own devoid reality. Delusional at best and incompetent at its worst. They used Murdochs money, created an artificial construct in the Melbourne Storm when only one year later, they had plans to cut the competition. Fox in charge of the Hen House.
After 30years I forgot how much of a propaganda campaign this show was for the ARL funded by Kerry Packer. Fast forward 30years and everything they argued against is currently happening and working for them. 1) players paid money 2) games played all across the country not just in Sydney 3) lack of international RL 4) Game run by media organisations
Super League? We are still stuck with an asset rich(?) cash poor club that seems to be bailed out numerous times in the 70's, 80's & 90's who only got a place in Rugby League due to St George winning 11 straight. Norths went over 90 years of fiscally responsibility providing Rugby League and were told they were they didn't meet a criteria because bad weather delayed a move to the Central Coast by 12 months😔 "Super League" and the NSWRL of the late 60's have a lot to answer for.
At the time the GB (RFL) and NZRL signings were rumours coming in from London and Auckland within a week they were true with regard to Auckland (the Auckland Warriors having a large chunk of the NZ test team at the time) with regarding to the RFL four of it's top clubs Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and Leeds between them having a large chunk of the Great Britain test team
Chris Johns has no skills or abilities after League. He cannot hold or is not employable. So he is jumping around about rights. Well about players like Gary Stevens & John O’Neil who still had to work during the week while their playing games. I’m sorry those players deserve rights & fairness. But remember the clubs cannot pay an extraordinary amounts of money. Where is the league going to get the money, and compressing the clubs so the amount of monies is not shared amongst 10 clubs in Sydney but 4. Then guess what happened we got clubs resorting to self interest and survival. To the point where Penrith Panthers, Cronulla Sharks & Bulldogs having the right to remain as Sydney clubs over teams like Western Suburbs Magpies, North Sydney Bears & Balmain Tigers, who are the teams that formed the game. They have automatic immunity to remain as Sydney clubs. The other teams that joined Super League had one option, either support foundation clubs as feeder clubs or relocate.
Well well well have times changed every player is chasing money these days rugby league would of been more beneficial in the long run if super league had taken over clubs salarys would of been higher and players would stay at there clubs instead of selling out and chasing cash at other clubs.
Thus ruined the game for me. The talent was spread way too thin. Some real mediocre teams in both camps. Really killed it for me. In retrospect, the ARL bought it on themselves and more money for players was a good thing. We all pay tk watch now anyway.
why couldnt ch9 packer and the arl have been transparent and share the broadcast ch9 had 2 games per week plus finals and orgion, and the rest of the game could be on fox, fast foward now they are on fox, all fox wanted is to show rugby league on fox
Ray what is the vision of the arl every player would be stupid to knock millions of dollars, but again why cnt the arl and ch9 come to the party and share the boardcast deals. a soccer player at that time could be with any 2nd tier comp in europe could earn millions of dollars
I thought Superleague was fantastic, I remember going to Auckland to watch Warriors Vs Bradford Northern, a Brit club playing a Kiwi club in the world club challenge , it was awesome. It had my vote
It was always about pay tv, foxtel was relatively new(3 years old maybe) and what better way to increase your subscribers by making them pay for something that was free, then optus jumped on board ,foxtel competitor, and nothing has really changed, if u want to watch footy you gotta pay
My opinion super league ruined nrl out of greed nrl had 5 teams left 7 defunct and super league had 7 and 3 defunct and it destroyed the tradition and heritage of the game and most old clubs and other clubs and most clubs are middle and young and not too old who survived people only care about money 🤑💰 not the game people thought 🤔💭 super league would make nrl better it ruined it people were selling people out and boycotting them nrl should of objected to it super league tried to kill of nsw that represents nrl because they had the most teams qld didnt have enough if it happened in afl super league it would of cause the same damage only difference sydney would bitch like others in places existing or not that want more clubs because vic has the most afl teams that represents afl super league was designed back in the 90s for cable in australia 🌏🦘 to see if nrl should be free or pay tv the real winners 🏆 of super league are them and greed because they kept the most teams in nrl and greed expansion killed NRL because everyone want a flag to represent NRL still they don't want another NSW team like central coast they want to go beyond NSW because they have to many teams
This is quite remarkable. I vaguely remember watching this late at night with my dad as a nine year old. How you found this footage is beyond me. Most of the footage from this dark era in our game will never see the light of day.
@J G Rupert Murdoch did the same thing to soccer as well how did the English Premier League start ? He wanted football on Sky and who was the Driver behind that Rupert Murdoch. He did the same thing here but his competition didn't work unlike the Premier league I wonder what those discussions were like at the time
@@joshrees1985 It's not an exact equivalent as the driver of the Premier League was the chairman of the then six biggest clubs and ITV then Alan Sugar got involved and as he was supplying set top boxes to Sky, he told Murdoch to blow ITV out of the water and the rest is history. There is a brilliant documentary on RUclips about it.
Peter Sterling, as usual, was the voice of reason. Was able to ask questions without getting overly excited and agitated (Hadley, Fulton, Vautin, I'm looking at you).
Had this been moderated solely by the old Parramatta 7, a lot more questions would've been addressed that night.
I can't blame them for being agitated . The game was being raided left right and centre .
Sterling smarter than the rest combined
This was crazy to watch when you consider that what Super League were doing was EXACTLY the same as what Kerry Packer (main backer of ARL of the time as well as Ch9 boss) did with World Series Cricket 20 years prior
Thinking exactly the same thing
I’m sitting here stunned, watching this debate/argument, and Gus siting there in silence. How times change.
@J G Cool story bro
@J G lol no it won’t soccer is a dying sport in Australia. Pay tv don’t even have it anymore. The A LEAGUE is cooked. Now maybe if they start a new league maybe but yeah soccer won’t dominate Australia by 2050.
Ray Hadley is still the worst.
Credit to Chris Johns telling him stop screaming.
That's Hadley's shtick- but he got pulled up - briefly, here.
@JG-bw6lu Has it declined rapidly? The NRLW has claimed 7s stars from NZ to play in Aussie and the comp is expanding again with 3 more teams in 2024/; plus France is still pretty big with Rugby League aas well. Unlike Soccer and Cricket in New Zealand which has dropped so far no-one would even know the current Cricket world cup is on....I only found out through workmates that NZ got beaten by India this weekend and I was a massive cricket fan? Your continuous spewing has made nothing but enemies.
Rumor has it he is still waiting too answer the question for the vision of super league 😂
Hahaaa
Rumor has it you still can't spell to.
Been looking for this for ages
Bloody legend
Me too!
This is rare I’ve been waiting 25+ years to see. Always loved when the panel got heated, always made thrilling viewing
I was a 20yr old when all this was happening.But even though I was a Sydney tiger supporter and backed the ARL through this debacle,I still didn’t mind watching a super league game.I even attended the super league grand final at anz stadium between the broncos and sharks in 1997.And thanks for this footage bought back a lot of memories and loved the footy show.
i too was 20 a Sharks supporter and I am so grateful we went with Superleague. That is the only reason we are not merged with Souths or St George.
Thankyou very much for the upload.
Great to watch, I was 11 when it started, you did a great job finding this footage
Damn this cant have been easy to find. Cheers mate.
If this is what I think it is, then I've found the holy grail!
I’ve been waiting years to see this. Thankyou!
hope you enjoyed
@@timelessleague was interesting to see both sides go at it. Ribot said years later it was a set up/ambush which Blocker confirmed recently on the Matty Johns podcast. If you have any other clips from this era please upload :)
I remember this as a kid being so pro-ARL but watching it now I cannot help but think the Super League guys were completely right.
Boo
But nobody plays for pride anymore. They get paid regardless of their performance. If they play shit their pay should be penalised
Our ideals can change as we get older
@@star_crusher12Who judges who plays 'shit' and how they're going to be docked pay?
it was all about paytv nothing else
I have this on VHS and watched live, Watch phil Gould he was awesome
Do you have any other rugby league footage on VHS?
I’ve been looking for this for years! Thanks for posting! Subbed 👍🏽
No problem 👍
Super League bosses were delusional. They actually thought they could go toe to toe with the Premier League and the NFL.🤣
Reckon there will be a movie made about this
Or a tv series
Yeah, an underbelly series 🤣
It should be a tv drama series. I reckon a few of the blokes involved would sue if they felt misrepresented.
Bring in Lachie Hulme as Packer and Patrick Brammall as Murdoch
World Record!!
I’ve never seen Phil Gould remain silent in front of a camera for 20:49
How did he morph from that humble man into the most opinionated and belligerent person involved in rugby league in Australia???
He had the best points (opinions) mixed with quick wit out of any1 on the panel. Best part of the video imo.
He said people phoned him on telephones. That was good technology.
What about Freddie. Another whose ego has skyrocketed
Say what you want about him, his ideas on league development are very smart, just look at Penrith and New Zealand soon
Simple...he's a manipulative opportunist....twitter warrior who doesn't know what the word loyalty means...Shared an office with Bob Fulton during the Super League war and couldn't be bothered attending his funeral....
In hindsight it's obvious Super League was largely in the right of it. Ken and the Sydney crew ran the ARL like their personal fiefdom, with a deep aversion to new ideas. Yeh yeh, it was all about Pay TV; who cares whether Packer or Murdoch get the TV rights. What's important is what's in the interests of the game. Clearly the game was better served by a more professional, national competition, with a more global appeal. Andrew Johns was on a measly 20k per year at the time. Guys worked 2nd jobs to get by, while the administrators lined their pockets. There were a preposterous 11 Sydney teams, and every year the Grand Final to this day is still played at Sydney regardless of the teams who make it. Complete amatuer hour. The NRL only got a new Brisbane team in 2023, which is insane given that Sydney still has 9 teams, and old heads like Gould still moan we're doing too much for Queensland lol. Thank goodness they're finally expanding in the right way, and focusing less on 1 city. Night finals, video refs, interchanges, more dynamic rules, all of it and more came from the Super League. The old ARL administration was a joke. They didn't even have a competetive process when taking bids for TV rights, instead Ken would just give it to his mate Packer, denying the players a fortune.
Bob Fulton is a legend of the game.
Super league might have never really worked out. But it was the best thing that happened to the Game. For years before this started the Old Boys at the ARL said there was no more money to pay the clubs and therefore the Players. Super League comes along and signs a few players on big money contracts. Then the ARL all of a sudden starts offering contracts with big money and then goes around and offers All Players and Coaches and Some club staff loyalty money for staying loyal to the ARL. And these payments were on top of the contracts that they had signed. Some of the one off loyalty payments were up to $300000. Dollars and that was back then which is a bucket load of money. The point is there was always money at the ARL and the old donkeys had to cough it up to keep some of the players. It might have split the game for a while, but look at what the players get today. Not just better money but benefits during and after their playing days are over. The way Ray Hadley carried on during this discussion was an embarrassment. He didn't know any of the contracts or the numbers and all he did was yell to try and make himself look good. The bloke is a dead set flog. And to the old muppets on the ARL board you were nothing but greedy pigs. At least now the players and coaches and club staff are treated alot better.
It was complete stupidity
Amen to all that esp. Hadley
It would of been better if super league won. We would still have the rams and the reds and a proper national competition. Who knows where the game would be now if super league won. Could well be challenging rugby union on a global scale.
It all ended with my hometown club winning one of the greatest Grand Finals of all time in 1997. Joey Johns made his genius known to the world. Something biblical happened in 1997 to Rugby League.
it failed though.
1997 was the year i didn't watch rugby league. This shit was very close to killing the game i love. I miss the winfield cup days because players played for the love of the game and not money
That was precursor for my team North Sydney Bears kicked out. Balmain Tigers & Western Suburbs Magpies were forced to merge.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 All ARL loyal clubs too. And foundation clubs to boot.
@@Lord_Thistlewick_Flanders People don’t realise how raw this event was and still is to many supporters. I realise a lot of clubs were not financially secure and it led to their eventual death like Newtown Jets.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 Yes. The ARL clubs were disadvantaged out of all this. Also At George ended up merging with Illawarra. South's were thrown out of the competition and had to go to court to get re-instated back in the competition.
What a hatchet job from some of those ARL crocodiles.. "let me finish" says Bob Fulton, while talking over the top of John Ribot
A great historical bit of footage. I too was stunned at Goulds relative silence. The debacle was good for the game in the end, but some friendships certainly suffered. I bet if Ribot looks back at this clip he would wonder why the hell he turned up!! Thank god it did not last more than 2 years. I remember going to Mt Smart to watch those super league cross over games vs the English sides. They were awful games.
It is disgraceful that a wealthy corporation ripped off those simpletons from the ARL.
@rtd now you have the likes of Ponga are snorting drugs in a toilet cubicle. Playing 2 games every 5 games for the nights, overtly overrated.
Poor Adam Ritson.
Very Sad
He's still alive.
Absolutely brilliant 👍👍👍
If you’re interested in this then then I recommend the Rugby League Digest’s Super league podcast. 100 episodes of quality. And gees Hadley gives me the shits.
Interesting watching this with hindsight. As a neutral Brit, this is the most biased talk show I've ever seen. The first thing to point out is that The Footy Show aired on Channel 9 which was owned by Kerry Packer and who had thrown his weight behind the ARL. For that reason alone, you were never going to get a balanced debate. Secondly, with the exception of John Ribot and Chris Johns, every panelist they wheeled out were supporting the ARL. As a presenter of the show, one would expect that Vautin remained relatively impartial but he couldn't stop himself from betraying his old Manly allegiance to Arthurson and Fulton (kudos to Sterling for remembering his role, asking the right questions and keeping his head). Having said that, Ribot kept complaining about being interrupted but you get the impression that even if he were given an hour, he wouldn't have been able to articulate what Super League's 'vision' was. Arthurson reading out the fax from Maurice Lindsay stating 'The British rugby league has denied it has formed a summer Super League' competition shows how deceitful Lindsay could be. That's exactly what Britain did!!!!!
Arko is the most diplomatic man the game has seen. Ribot looked out of his depth.
He was going against 7 other panelists & their lawyer
Ribot owns norths leagues club in brisbane, so he ended up ok all this work to last 1 season
funny ken autherson claiming people are deceitful and crooked, he was the most untrustworthy person ever and he’s the reason everyone went to super league
Chris Johns represented the players well. They tried to shut him down but failed. Ribot had more business brains than the whole ARL stooges. The game needed to move ahead and players deserved more money.
Chris Johns what flog
It was about live games every week. Gosh remember the delayed telecasts and showing Regional areas a game of choosing by channel nine simply because of where they lived. NBN TV remember. ARL was grabbing the money and not paying the players, simple.
Buy a house for $200k... The good old days.
So on that set there was Fatty, Arko, Bozo and Ribot....Too Manly( Pun not intended/intended). No wonder the game couldn't find it's identity.
Vividly remember watching this as a 13 year old kid and Hadlee attacking Ribot. Kids in the playground bullied me for being a Penrith fan because we went to Super League, a few weeks after this debate. There was so much bitterness. I’m glad it happened because I bet if we stayed with the ARL we would have merged.
No club should’ve merged all supporters deserve to have their team.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 they should of relocated clubs instead of merging them. Look at the swans and the lions in the afl. Relocation can work if it's done right.
@@stevvvvveperry I agree, look at those supporters that say I’m so glad my team didn’t have to merge. Those clubs should’ve banded together for the spirit of the game and said we’re not playing unless you keep all of us. But no act & behave like Cowards.
@@clevelandwilliams5922 exactly, im a saints supporter and the fact they are merged sort of negates their great past because none of that really matters after clubs merge. I would of much rather they relocated.
I love how gus always says relocation doesn't work. You only have to look at half the professional franchises in the U.S.A, they have been relocated some of them twice and they still have huge supporter bases. The lakers in the nba is one off the top off my head.
@@stevvvvveperry My Father is St. George Dragons supporter and he always said Cronulla should have reverted back to a feeder club.
I mean Super League won the war in the end, as Sterling said the game was heading towards a professional build but I think super league forced the hand of it all, players were shafted when it came to representative payments & the ARL were also pretty greedy when it came to distribution of the gate, but Packer saw the writing on the wall and bought into super league, the ARL’s unwillingness to make the game completely professional undid then, because not long after Packer bought in the game merged to the NRL we know today and Fox rules supreme in Rugby League coverage
Name a player that will play for the love of it
I thought so, money 💰
I write this in jest, as this time in rugby league caused my love of this game to wane. I remember being heartbroken as a kid seeing all this happen.
But, if they wanted origin type games every week....they needed to have ARL vs Superleague teams. Then have the best of each side play off.
In writing that, I did see this split the game. Big corporate moguls wanting to line their pockets because they owned satellite TV.
Even as a kid, I akways thought my favourite player Big Mal, retired just in time.
Always take the money to better set up ure family in the future & life after footy.
The way they treat Ribot is absolutely disgusting. The ARL were so good at manipulating the public into thinking that they were the battlers being hard done by.
its ok
The funny part is John Ribot was correct all the way along.
Gus Gould was spot about the Super League watch at the end of this debate
If Super League did not come, the game would’ve ripped the players off and paid them peanuts. All of sudden there was money no one saw before.
Arl: Where are you going to get the players from!?!?!
Super league: Well, we will steal them from you by offering them more money.
Pretty much the super league? Lol
Ray Hadley what a grub
What a ripper
Peter Sterling was the greatest rugby league player of all time if Peter Sterling says something about rugby league he knows what he's talking about
Throwback 95!
Rip Bob Fulton
He's dead?
@@stupendous1068 yea this year
@@Mikequalitycontrol Oh okay.
It shocks me that John Ribot ever agreed to go on this show
He would have got a fairly healthy pay packet out of this. Rumor has it, Ribot didn't even know that this show even had a studio audience. I'm actually perplexed as to why he and Chris Johns weren't sitting together, as opposed to him being sandwiched between Fulton and Hadley.
Funny how the Channel 9 panel rip Ribot a new one on this show, but none of them stayed with the ARL exclusively.
They all had no issue commentating on both Super League and ARL during the 1997 season.
They set Ribot up in a stacked meeting.
@@billfaulkner548 well it was a Kerry packer run channel and a Kerry packer backed ARL
The ARL acted so insecure and most of the public. Super League may have had some corruption behind it with Murdoch, but they identified sports business earlier and that there was a market there that could financially benefit the game also
I must say he kept his cool
I would of tipped the desk over lol
Would’ve = would have, not would of. Get this basic grammar right and you’ll get a better job
@@ronanrogers4127 calm down, mate. We are rugba leeag fans here. And we are all family
I agree. It was nearly parody the way Ribot calmly answerd all questions; hand gestures and all.
Wow Adam Ritson :(
The arrogance of John Ribot ....
You caused the divide artho.
I remember this, my team Manly stayed loyal to the ARL.
Yeah and a lot of the clubs that stayed loyal to the NRL merged or folded. It would have been good if the Northern Eagles merger worked but mighty Manly were back in 2002.
Packer's dogs accusing other side of greed. Funny
Super League wanted games in China what a joke.
Agreed. John Ribot is talking pie in the sky of about taking the game global. Rugby league in this period needed to be more concerned about Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. Rather then Los Angeles, Beijing, and London.
@@davcar3568 This is why these idiots including Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm & NRL or it’s Super League residual crew, were narcissist to the core. Their was nothing wrong with NSWRL board, they had introduced Tina Turner & Simply the Best. They had expansion in mind by playing games in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. Idea & Concept was happening.
Secondly the crew I mentioned earlier, were pitching their idea and created for themselves a concept. They just made this version of Rugby League to justify their pay packet, when their was no need for any of the things that took place. These people & Murdochs thought of the concept and lived in their own devoid reality. Delusional at best and incompetent at its worst. They used Murdochs money, created an artificial construct in the Melbourne Storm when only one year later, they had plans to cut the competition. Fox in charge of the Hen House.
After 30years I forgot how much of a propaganda campaign this show was for the ARL funded by Kerry Packer.
Fast forward 30years and everything they argued against is currently happening and working for them.
1) players paid money
2) games played all across the country not just in Sydney
3) lack of international RL
4) Game run by media organisations
1995. Not quite 30 years.
@@stupendous1068 See you in 2025
Arthur Summons couldn't have put it nicely - two 'mickey mouse' super leagues
The good thing about this Broncos started this shit now they have there karma wooden spoon and currently second last and hopefully for years to come
Super League? We are still stuck with an asset rich(?) cash poor club that seems to be bailed out numerous times in the 70's, 80's & 90's who only got a place in Rugby League due to St George winning 11 straight. Norths went over 90 years of fiscally responsibility providing Rugby League and were told they were they didn't meet a criteria because bad weather delayed a move to the Central Coast by 12 months😔 "Super League" and the NSWRL of the late 60's have a lot to answer for.
Love him or hate him, Gus made good points.
Imagine how big Rugby League would be on the global stage if Super League stayed
It wouldnt have been big, the game would have been run it to the group with 2 comps, super league didnt have many fans either, game would of collapsed
At the time the GB (RFL) and NZRL signings were rumours coming in from London and Auckland within a week they were true with regard to Auckland (the Auckland Warriors having a large chunk of the NZ test team at the time) with regarding to the RFL four of it's top clubs Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and Leeds between them having a large chunk of the Great Britain test team
Money Talks.
Money won.
Reebs, too good
Chris Johns has no skills or abilities after League. He cannot hold or is not employable. So he is jumping around about rights. Well about players like Gary Stevens & John O’Neil who still had to work during the week while their playing games. I’m sorry those players deserve rights & fairness. But remember the clubs cannot pay an extraordinary amounts of money. Where is the league going to get the money, and compressing the clubs so the amount of monies is not shared amongst 10 clubs in Sydney but 4.
Then guess what happened we got clubs resorting to self interest and survival. To the point where Penrith Panthers, Cronulla Sharks & Bulldogs having the right to remain as Sydney clubs over teams like Western Suburbs Magpies, North Sydney Bears & Balmain Tigers, who are the teams that formed the game. They have automatic immunity to remain as Sydney clubs. The other teams that joined Super League had one option, either support foundation clubs as feeder clubs or relocate.
this didn't age too well did it? Robot was always a grub
Well well well have times changed every player is chasing money these days rugby league would of been more beneficial in the long run if super league had taken over clubs salarys would of been higher and players would stay at there clubs instead of selling out and chasing cash at other clubs.
Who is the player in the flanno?
Chris Johns
The only time Ray Hadley has been useful in his life.
Hadley is just a populist.
As a chair filler 😂
Thus ruined the game for me. The talent was spread way too thin. Some real mediocre teams in both camps. Really killed it for me. In retrospect, the ARL bought it on themselves and more money for players was a good thing. We all pay tk watch now anyway.
Go Bo Zo
This was a hatchet job.
Poor old Ribot getting hammered
why couldnt ch9 packer and the arl have been transparent and share the broadcast ch9 had 2 games per week plus finals and orgion, and the rest of the game could be on fox, fast foward now they are on fox, all fox wanted is to show rugby league on fox
If those old farts got offered $600k what would have turbo got offered
Ray what is the vision of the arl every player would be stupid to knock millions of dollars, but again why cnt the arl and ch9 come to the party and share the boardcast deals. a soccer player at that time could be with any 2nd tier comp in europe could earn millions of dollars
So, what did we learn?....
Gus has developed a hell of an ego since this clip
Greed is good lol
That Hadley is a loud-mouthed jerk....but we already knew that.
@@billfaulkner548 to be fair i wouldnt buy a car off john ribot either
Ray Hadley is a humongous flog, that shouldn't of been on the panel.
John Ribot saved rugby league in Australia
Nice try John🤦♂️😂😂
Ur kidding
bread and circuses
SuperLeague was great, you only have to look at the Develpoment of the EPL over the past 25 years.
What rugby league could have been.
What rugby league could have been? Super League never left
@@themoops811 yeah but It would of been better if super league won outright.
I thought Superleague was fantastic, I remember going to Auckland to watch Warriors Vs Bradford Northern, a Brit club playing a Kiwi club in the world club challenge , it was awesome. It had my vote
Ribot was so full of shit. If it wasn’t ALL about money Murdoch wouldn’t of had anything to do with it.
Super league nearly ruined the game for good.
They still ruined the game.
It's not rare dude
It was always about pay tv, foxtel was relatively new(3 years old maybe) and what better way to increase your subscribers by making them pay for something that was free, then optus jumped on board ,foxtel competitor, and nothing has really changed, if u want to watch footy you gotta pay
Ribot.what a corporate stooge.chris johns too.
My opinion super league ruined nrl out of greed nrl had 5 teams left 7 defunct and super league had 7 and 3 defunct and it destroyed the tradition and heritage of the game and most old clubs and other clubs and most clubs are middle and young and not too old who survived people only care about money 🤑💰 not the game people thought 🤔💭 super league would make nrl better it ruined it people were selling people out and boycotting them nrl should of objected to it super league tried to kill of nsw that represents nrl because they had the most teams qld didnt have enough if it happened in afl super league it would of cause the same damage only difference sydney would bitch like others in places existing or not that want more clubs because vic has the most afl teams that represents afl super league was designed back in the 90s for cable in australia 🌏🦘 to see if nrl should be free or pay tv the real winners 🏆 of super league are them and greed because they kept the most teams in nrl and greed expansion killed NRL because everyone want a flag to represent NRL still they don't want another NSW team like central coast they want to go beyond NSW because they have to many teams