The National Rugby League - Case Study Example

? The National Rugby League The National Rugby League Introduction The chief executive of the Australian National Rugby League was to give a speech on March 2, 2004. The function was a high profile, and 400 guests were to attend. These included the game’s superstars, the major sponsors of the league, the executives from 15 clubs that were invited, politicians, and members of the media. Since the previous season had shown promise with an increase in fan base, TV ratings, merchandise and sponsorship, the speech was to focus on increasing the fan base of rugby and women were the target. To achieve this, there was a plan to produce a 30 seconds commercial that would target the women audience. This commercial would feature the muscled star athletes and well-recognized thumping background music, which would be “It’s my game” by the Hoodoo Gurus. Case Facts Rugby league was one of the three major sporting codes played in the winter, between March to September. The other two were Australian Football League (AFL) and the Rugby Union. The other two had made much progress in the previous years. The AFL had successfully included the girl’s competition in the league in order to broaden its junior ranks. Rugby Union on the other hand, had become very strong and successful considering the fact that in October to November 2003, it had organized and hosted a successful and high profile rugby world cup, which generated a huge profit of $40 Million. The Union has reinvested the money into the game, to improve its league at all levels. The National Rugby League wanted to grow and to do this, it had to first deal with the issues that had arose. It had to increase or maintain the crowds in order advance. It was necessary to increase the merchandise and win sponsorship. To expand the fan base, there was a plan to target the women. There was a plan to produce a 30 seconds lead commercial that would target the women audience. To do so, the commercial would feature the muscle star athletes and the well-recognized thumping background music “It’s my game” song of the voodoo gurus. There was also a need of increasing the multi-cultural fan base, which is very important for the league’s growth and marketing of the league. This was attributed by the fact that Canterbury Bulldogs, a famous Sydney-based NRL club, had a large multi-cultural fan base from different nationalities in Sydney. In fact, one of their top players in 2003 was a Lebanese from Triploi Lebanon, by the name Hazem El Masri. He was such an inspiration and a great role model for junior players playing amateur rugby and aspiring to join the National league. This attraction of multi-cultural fan base in turn promoted the Canterbury Bulldogs, helping them to register more sells in merchandise than other clubs in the league. Case Problems The National Rugby league faced major problems that threatened to reduce the fan base, reduce sponsorship and popularity of the league. Canterbury Bulldogs one of the top clubs was rocked with a major scandal and this threatened to cause all the named problems. National Rugby League faced a huge responsibility, of ensuring that it took proper measures to prevent future incidences of such kind. One of the scandals that rocked the league was that its top club, Canterbury Bulldogs faced a sex scandal and potential loss of sponsors. In the pre-season of 2004, the Canterbury Bulldogs visited the country town of Coffs Harbour to play Canberra raiders. The Bulldogs team spent a night at the Novotel Pacific Bay resort, and one of the clubs policy never allowed women in to the hotel rooms where players spent. After the game on Saturday February 21, some of the players sneaked and went to party in the town and returned to the resort later that night. It was three days later on February 24 that reports of a sex scandal surfaced. The media alleged that on the night of 21st, six players had sexually attacked a 20-year-old woman. The players refuted that it was an attack. Some unnamed players said that the woman had in fact accepted voluntarily. To make matters worse, the woman alleged that six players dragged her into the pool, forced off her clothes, and raped her. The Bulldogs faced serious allegations and potential loss of sponsors and the female fan base Another problem was the media. Ten days to the launching of the new National Rugby League season, the Australian media laid all its focus on the sex scandal. Most media houses, from the newspapers to radio broadcast to TV broadcasts run headings and titles that condemned Bulldogs. Some called them rapists, and some called them dogs. Through the media, more sex stories came up. The media reported that some days before the match, the same woman might have had sex with multiple Bulldog players. It ridiculed the National League and questioned whether it condoned such acts or whether the league encouraged the culture of players having sex with willing women. Some media houses, alleged that they had interviewed some of unnamed players who had accepted that in deed, it was true that such acts had happened. One of the players had said that it was a normal thing with the Bulldogs players and that it was not anything new in the league and that actually the players loved it. One female journalist said that the actions and statements given by the players were offensive to the women ant that the female fan base should consider quitting the club. The Bulldog chief executive denied that any of his players had talked to any media house and that the media had painted it a house full of rapists. One of the Bulldog sponsor by the name Bradly Australia, reported that they were unlikely to renew another contract with the club because of the negative publicity. The Bulldogs chief executive pleaded with the sponsors not to leave the club and passionately pleaded with people not to prejudge the club but to wait for the police investigative report. In conclusion, the chief executive of the Australian National Rugby League was to give a speech on March 2, 2004. The function was high profile and 400 guests were to attend. These included the game’s superstars, the major sponsors of the league, the executives from 15 clubs that were invited, politicians, and members of the media. The National Rugby League wanted to grow. It had plans to increase the crowds, the merchandise and win sponsorship. It also planned to target women to expand the fan base. The National Rugby league faced major problems that threatened to reduce the fan base, reduce sponsorship and popularity of the league. Canterbury Bulldogs one of the top clubs was rocked with a major sex scandal and this threatened to cause all the named problems. National Rugby League faced a huge responsibility, of ensuring that it took proper measures to prevent future incidences of such kind. Responses to Case Questions 1. What issues of concerns to the NRL chief executive arise from the events, and commentary outlined in the Appendix (Time Line from February 24, 2004 to March 2, 2004)? The issues arising from the events between February 24 to March 2 2004 that are of concern NRL chief executive include the sex scandal that had rocked Canterbury Bulldogs club and the new plans of the new season that was about to start. He had the responsibility of and taking action in response to the alleged sex assault to a 20-year-old woman. He was also planning to give a high profile speech in a glittering function to the start of the season on March 2. 2. Who bears responsibility for the negative press outlined The Canterbury Bulldogs team bears all the responsibility, since their players indulged in an act that went against the club’s policy. Some of the players allowed the media to interview them and in the process gave derogatory remarks about the whole situation. 3. What factors should the NRL chief executive consider in deciding what to do considering the issues raised by the events and commentary in his March 2 New Season Launch speech? The NRL chief executive should consider waiting for the investigative report before giving out any punitive decision. He should also consider the potential loss of female fan base and the loss of sponsors, since the Canterbury Bulldogs scandal affects the whole league (Santo & Mildner, 2010). 4. Recommend (1) what the NRL chief executive should include in his March 2 speech, and (2) the action steps he should take after his March 2 speech regarding the issues raised arising from the events and commentary outlined. 1. The chief executive should consider addressing the sponsors and plead with them to continue supporting the league. He should also apologize to the female fan base and inform them that the league respects them. He should condemn the sex scandal, and talk about the planned guidelines for preventing such acts and the punitive measures that the NRL would take against any club that engaged in such acts (Duncan, 2005). 2. After the match 2 speech, the chief executive should ensure that NRL take a proper action against Canterbury Bulldogs if the investigative report indeed confirms the allegations. He should also continue wooing the female fan base and release the commercial that would attract them to the league. Finally, he should continue pleading with the sponsors to continue supporting the league. References Duncan, W. D. (2005). Joint ventures law in Australia. Sydney: Federation Press. Santo, C. A., & Mildner, G. C. S. (2010). Sport and public policy: Social, political, and economic perspectives. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Read More