League: Biff excites passion but bad for image

Manu Vatuvei lands a blow on Matt King. Sandra Mu / Getty Images

The crowd rose when Matt King and Manu Vatuvei traded blows and were on their feet again as David Kidwell stood threateningly over a flattened Willie Mason soon after.

For some, it was what they had paid their $20 to see. If they weren't going to witness a Kiwis victory, seeing the boys in black and white dishing out some home-town medicine was the next best thing.

For others, however, these incidents confirmed their belief that league is a game for thugs. Kangaroos skipper Darren Lockyer showed his concern when he said the sight of Kidwell standing over Mason was a "bad look" for the game.

"It's not very PC to say it but, at the international level, it's gladiatorial and that's what punters want to see," NZRL general manager Peter Cordtz said. "Punters don't go to the stockcars to see the guy who wins, they're there for the crashes too."

There were plenty of crashes at the first Tri Nations test and Mason's antics in the past fortnight have had Australian league officials privately rubbing their hands with glee. He and Kidwell followed the script perfectly and helped ignite great interest in a series that, in Australia at least, threatened to fizzle rather than sizzle.

The fact the biff is back was a major reason a bumper 30,000-strong crowd was expected for last night's second Tri Nations test and millions more tuned in at home. Many even compared the physicality of the Tri Nations opener to the "great" days of State of Origin football of the 1980s.

"I don't think this rivalry can do the international game any harm," former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe said. "The international game was in trouble a couple of years ago and the Kiwis helped save it when they won the Tri Nations.

"The game needs characters like Willie Mason because it's full of robots. It's boring. When I was Kiwis coach, I was aware that I had to try to fill a stadium. I would often ring [former Australian chairman] Ken Arthurson and tell him what I was going to say to fire things up. He knew where I was coming from."

As much as some people enjoy this, rugby league has an image problem. Much of Cordtz's work is organising junior league and he battles pre-conceived ideas it is a thug's game.

"That's a problem for us," he admitted. "A lot of people can't delineate between the elite game and what's played in the communities and that's why soccer's numbers are so high at the junior level.

"A big part of trying to change that is the coach education programme. If parents and teachers can see us doing that, and see that it is fun, then they will keep coming back and help turn things around."

League's numbers, particularly at junior level, took a big dive during 1990s the Super League war. While they have remained steady, they are still well behind other sports. Another factor is finding rules that allow children of all sizes to compete, rather than ones that advantage larger, often Polynesian, children.

"I would be very surprised if all of this sent the wrong message to kids," former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan said of the Tri Nations antics. "If it turns Mum and Dad off their kids playing the game, then it should be the same for netball.

"How aggressive is netball at top level? Are Mum and Dad going to stop their daughters playing netball to stop them getting knocked over like they do in internationals? I don't think so.

"We want international football to be taken more seriously and have its own place. If that means being a little more aggressive, and get away with a bit more, that gives it a point of difference from the NRL. If anything, it's going to enhance it because we're seeing true passion come out."

There were few more passionate coaches than Lowe, but he didn't go out of his way to encourage his players to act aggressively in the 1980s.

"You do what you think you need to to win," he said. "If intimidation is a part of it, so be it. But there's no good talking like Tarzan and acting like Jane."