NZRL drops ball over Commonwealth Games

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NZRL drops ball over Games - Ackland

Auckland Rugby League chief executive John Ackland has taken a swipe at the New Zealand Rugby League for not sending a nines team to this year's Commonwealth Games.

Nines will be an exhibition sport in Glasgow, with an under-19 tournament being held June 27-28, a month before the the Games begin.

It is hoped that this will be the catalyst for nines to be included fully as a sport for the 2018 Games, on the Gold Coast.

However, while the likes of Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Canada will field teams in Glasgow, New Zealand won't and Ackland, who at the beginning of the year was employed by the NZRL as their national game development manager, says it's a bad move and the ARL would have liked to have been involved.

''Anything that's an opportunity to grow rugby league internationally is good,'' Ackland said.

''It's a chance to give domestic players an experience out of the ordinary that they would never have otherwise and it should have been grabbed with both hands.

''Rugby league needs these pathways for our young people to stay in the game in New Zealand.

''The big message is that, if they want to grow the game in New Zealand and progress it, then we're certainly in the market to be a powerful partner.''

However, NZRL general manager high performance, Tony Iro, says they didn't think it was worth sending a team to Scotland.

''It's a development tournament, the Australians are only sending an under-18 development team,'' Iro said.

''They're not even sending their best under-18 players because their representative calendar is on at the same time.

''We just felt that our resources would be better spent on preparing our other sides on a national level, including the Junior Kiwis.

''It is across the other side of the world, it's an expensive exercise, so we needed to prioritise the development of our younger athletes and where we saw a best fit.

''At this stage, with the way our calendar looks, we saw a better benefit in spending that resource on our national programmes here and especially around our Junior Kiwis.''

With league played professionally in only four countries, the sport has struggled for international recognition. So, isn't having one of those four nations not attending the tournament a bad look?

''It would be if it was a genuine international premium competition,'' Iro said.

''But at the end of the day it's a development sport, it's at an under-19 level and our main competitor, Australia, are sending a third-string team.

''So we have to weigh up where we see the advantages in spending resources in sending a side up there.

''Is it the best way to develop our players? We see better opportunities further on in the calendar.''

Iro said the NZRL would soon announce its international programme for the Junior Kiwis, and it was likely to feature games against Australia later in the year.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/

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Comm Games
Has rugby league dropped the ball over the Glasgow Commonwealth Games? Presumably someone in the sport lobbied to have an under 19s Nines Tournament played in conjunction with the Games, but now the major league-playing countries can't be bothered supporting it. Would the NRL and Super League really have missed a few teenagers for one lousy weekend? Auckland rugby league boss John Ackland last week had a shot at the NZRL for not sending a team. Australia are sending an under 18s "development" side. It's hoped open age Nines will be in the Comm Games when they come to the Gold Coast.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/s...#ixzz2w85zXnZr