Rugby League: Anzacs ready to go to war over Pauls

By PETER JESSUP

The battle over the Paul boys' availability for the Anzac test is intensifying, Australia likely to side with the New Zealand Rugby League to take on the Murdoch-backed Euro Super League clubs.

In the game where money rules, OK, it could be the Pauls' value to the gate and the television audience that decides the outcome, given their sublime performance in the same game last season.

Kiwi coach Frank Endacott has told the New Zealand Rugby League he won't play Henry and Robbie Paul unless they arrive in Sydney on the Tuesday morning before the Good Friday Anzac clash. The English clubs insist their internationals play the round prior to the test, and the round after, in defiance of a Rugby League International Federation agreement that test players be available for their country for a full five days before an international.

Endacott, whose Wigan side plays Friday night, wants the Paul boys and other contenders Richie Blackmore and Gene Ngamu, if picked, beside him on the plane out of Manchester on the previous Saturday, England time.

But the Bulls, Rhinos and Giants play on Sunday. Bradford and Super League chairman Chris Caisley is adamant the Pauls must play for the Bulls against Salford on the Sunday, and likewise for Blackmore at Leeds and Ngamu at Huddersfield.

If they could get a plane out that night they would arrive in Sydney on Tuesday morning, as the Pauls did last year, but a flight from Manchester on Monday would not get them to Sydney until Wednesday.

This year's Anzac contest was due to be played in New Zealand, but the NZRL agreed to return to Stadium Australia for a guaranteed gate split of $1 million.

Its Australian counterpart will be extremely nervous about the fact the Pauls might not turn up. Last year's Anzac test crowd was just over 34,000, but it could realistically be expected the brothers' presence could add tens of thousands to a crowd sure to swell anyway because of the Kiwis' strong showing in the tri-series.

National Rugby League's new chief executive, David Moffett, threw his weight behind international football last week, calling for a renaming of the Anzac trophy to signify the importance of the Gallipoli bond and suggesting the contest be promoted to the level of rugby's Bledisloe Cup. The Australian Rugby League, broke after the Super League war, wants a big crowd and ratings-topping TV audience to restore its finances.

RLIF secretary and NRL legal adviser David Gallop has notified all parties of an NZRL call for an emergency meeting on the subject, but the English are stalling even on that front. A date set for Sydney next month was overturned after their reluctance to leave mid-season.

There are other niggles: Bradford are insisting on a substantially-increased insurance package, apparently citing the Stacey Jones case, to cover broken bones and loss of earnings. But they won't meet brokers' demands for contract details so they know the amounts involved. And the club are insisting their stars fly to Australia and back first class.

NZRL chairman Gerald Ryan said yesterday there was no argument regarding the first-class demand - "even though Great Britain didn't fly first class when they came here last year" - because they wanted the best for the players, and likewise with the insurance "when they stop pussyfooting with the details."

He would go to England for the RLIF meeting if that was what had to be done to get the clubs to meet their obligations.

The Pauls, as per last year and the one before, say they just want to play and will leave it to others to sort out the details.

It's a ridiculous situation, and ridiculous that it's repeated year after year.

Two points come to mind.

If Bradford can't beat Salford without the Pauls it does not say much for the ability of English players, and it would not seem likely they will develop a team to win the World Cup for a long time to come.

And why should the NZRL not force a resolution? It could, for example pick a residents' side for the World Cup in October, robbing the event of any purpose and depriving pay-TV accountants and the English clubs they feed off the only thing they seem to understand.