While there are plenty of Indigenous players - there are hardly any in the boardroom.
The NRL's indigenous round has arrived, and here's the question: Is the NRL trying to do a number on us?
According to an official release, Māori culture will be fully integrated into the NRL's annual indigenous round for the first time when the Warriors host the Roosters on Saturday evening.
Teams wear special jerseys. You can be bombarded with good news stories this week, should you choose. Wonderful, especially if you like football with accompanying messages.
But is an indigenous round inspiring or patronising? Maybe some of both.
Perish this thought, but it might also be a smokescreen for what really goes on in the game.
The Warriors are a beacon of hope in some respects, although their administration has always been decidedly non-indigenous.
Overall, does the NRL and rugby league want to embrace and encourage all of its people, or is it actually happy to keep significant sections on the field but out of power positions?
So I decided to do a number on the NRL, checking just how inclusive 'our great game' is in four key places: club chairpersons, CEOs, coaches and captains. The results reveal a sharply divided game except in one area.
1) About 40 per cent of the NRL players are said to be of "Polynesian" heritage. According to NRL.com this week, 12 per cent of contracted players are indigenous (compared to 2.8 per cent of the general Australian population). But of the 16 NRL head coaches, only the Warriors' Steve Kearney (Te Āti Awa) breaks a sea of white faces.
2) The rise of players with Pacific Island heritage has been the major force in the NRL for decades. But the initial captains for the 2018 seasons include just one - the Warriors' Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who was born and raised in Samoa.
3) The Wests Tigers break the current mould in terms of captaincy. Tigers coach Ivan Cleary named five co-captains this year, and they include Benji Marshall (Ngāi Tūhoe), Russell Packer (Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Kuia) and Elijah Taylor (Ngāpuhi). Maybe this has been influenced by former Warriors boss Cleary having lived and coached in Auckland for so long.
4) Indigenous players Greg Inglis (Rabbitohs) and Ryan James (Titans) captain their clubs, while Johnathan Thurston (Cowboys), Jake Friend (Roosters) and Wade Graham (Sharks) are co-captains.
5) All the NRL chairpersons are, you guessed it...not indigenous (although two are women).
6) All the CEOs are, you guessed it...
Cameron George (Warriors CEO), captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, and coach Stephen Kearney. Photo / Photosport
I'm going wider than what the NRL terms 'indigenous' here, to include the whole racial mix which takes in the Pacific Islands.
The captaincy situation looks healthy, although the lack of Pacific Island leaders sticks out.
Three of the most famous Kangaroo captains — Arthur Beetson, Mal Meninga (South Sea Islander), Laurie Daley — had indigenous heritage. From this distance, I don't feel it is an area of concern. Hugh McGahan (Ngāi Tūhoe) was actually a player-coach, a very rare thing, at the Roosters in the 1980s.
Elsewhere though, the game (and it is not alone) reflects something very unhealthy. In other words, if you are 'indigenous' and can't play football to a very high standard, staring at the NRL might give you a very low sense of self-worth with a dreary feeling about future life prospects.
Try calling up photos of hand-shake announcements or board gatherings and all you get is another sea of white faces, which probably reflects corporate Australia. Or maybe it just represents Australia. Staff lists don't offer much hope either.
Referees? Not good.
The NRL is not alone. New Zealand Rugby and our sports media are among the groups which struggle with true diversity or inclusivity or whatever you want to call it. Try looking down the list of All Black coaches and yes, it's that sea of white faces again.
On the other hand, there is, of course, something inspiring about football's racial potpourri. Looking further afield, you might even argue that Manchester United gives out more hope for world harmony than the United Nations.
But the NRL's Indigenous rounds and women in league bizzo take a convenient narrow focus which reeks of corporate image making.
PR really takes off when league links itself to the ANZAC war tragedy, the quick-hit celebration of heroism being decidedly cringy. (Sorry, but sport's love of the military just doesn't sit well with me.)
