Rugby League: Bosses chase cash from Australians

By Peter Jessup

The New Zealand Rugby League is still waiting for its Aussie counterpart to shell out its share of profit from the Anzac test match in April and on Friday will consider legal action.

Behind the ruckus, which should be cleared because the test deal and the sharing of finances is set down contractually, is a threat to the end-of-season international Tri-Series.

Australian clubs aren't keen on it, the National Rugby League that runs their game isn't supportive and says players are expressing concern at the short break they'll have, given that the 2000 season must start in February to avoid a clash with the Sydney Olympics.

The Kiwi-Kangaroo test in April attracted more than 34,000 fans on a dirty night in Sydney, the pre-test agreement meaning the NZRL is owed somewhere around $A340,000 ($418,000) after costs are deducted and including television fees.

The local league's board has repeatedly sought payment, said chairman Gerald Ryan, and all that had been forthcoming was agreement that money was owed.

On Friday the NZRL board will consider a motion that legal moves equivalent to a New Zealand winding-up order be taken against the Australian Rugby League, Ryan said.

"We want to bring matters to a head - we don't even know who we're dealing with over there half the time."

That was in reference to the power balance between the NRL, which runs the week-to-week club game, and the ARL which retains control of internationals.

The NRL is a business set up as a supposedly equal partnership between the ARL and News Ltd, which owned Super League.

There is a growing rumour in Australia that the NRL wants the end-of-season international Tri-Series with New Zealand and Great Britain scrapped.

Ryan's theory is that the NRL and News were withholding cash from the ARL so as to put pressure on it to forego the scheduled October/November inte-rnationals.

NRL football manager Geoff Carr had no comment on why the money hadn't been paid, if it hadn't, because international football was something he didn't know anything about.

The ARL had guarantees as a shareholder that would enable it to run its business and the NRL could not withhold money from it, he said. But he made it clear in an oblique way that the organisation's Australian clubs would be pleased if their players weren't committed to the Tri-Series and said many players had expressed concern at the expectations on them over the next 14 months.

The 2000 season must start early because of the Olympics, which open at grand final venue Stadium Australia in Homebush in early September. With 14 teams playing home-and-away that's 26 games, plus four weeks for finals, meaning a February start.

The response from the ARL was as nebulous as Ryan's claims might suggest. Chairman Colin Love claimed no knowledge of a problem and suggested contact with his chief executive, who wasn't available.