TO: NZRL Staff, Districts and Affiliates and Board

FROM: Cushla Dawson

DATE: 14 April 2009

RE: Media Summary Tuesday 07 April to Tuesday 14 April 2009

Give us a chance: WITH France joining , Great Britain and to make up an international quad-nations series this year, Bati centre Darryl Millard has called on the Pacific Nations to be considered too. After the 2008 World Cup shake up of the international calendar by the Rugby League International Federation, it has been proposed that a be held this year. The winner of the tournament enters the 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (consisting of Australia, New Zealand, England and a qualifying nation). A Pacific Cup is also proposed to be held in 2011.

Jones not available for Kiwis: He still has that magic touch but little general has ruled himself out of contention for New Zealand's clash with Australia next month at . The scheming halfback said he would not be available for selection for the match which takes place on May 8, the day after his 33rd birthday. After one year out of rugby league, Jones made a shock return to the NRL this season and has shown he still has a knack for creating tries.

Linwood win 17-try see-saw: Former Warrior Kane Ferris scored a match-winning try on the stroke of fulltime as the Linwood Keas snuck home in a 94-point rugby league thriller against east-side arch rival Aranui. Linwood's Canterbury Bulls hooker Nathan Sherlock and Aranui Eagles back Tim Rangihuna both scored four tries as the Keas clung to a 48-46 victory at on Saturday.

Switching codes - why rugby league is the hot ticket in town: WAYNE SCURRAH, chief executive of the Warriors, does his own surreptitious market research. The tightly-run NRL rugby league club doesn't have the personnel, finance or even the computer system (yet) to engage in high-flown demographic profiling, so Scurrah keeps an eye on such little things as whether pubs are chalking up Warriors' games ahead of Super 14 fixtures on their "what's on" blackboards. He was walking along trendy Jervois Road in 's Herne Bay recently when he saw the best evidence yet that the dirty old Warriors are suddenly appealing to the middle classes and the business suits.

Tax clampdown to dash UK dreams: The annual exodus of league stars from New Zealand and Australia to the UK could slow down because of a crackdown on loopholes by tax officials there - and could hit some already there in the pocket. The news was partly behind 's decision to stay in the NRL when he comes off contract at the end of the season, and NRL clubs are warning players that they could be in danger of losing their tax-free lump sums.

League star admits part in $2 million pokie scam: great Hugh McGahan has been convicted on four counts of fraud for his role in a $2 million pokie scam masterminded by former teammate . McGahan, 47, pleaded guilty to defrauding the North Harbour Rugby Union and Touch NZ in the Auckland District Court at a hearing on Tuesday not attended by media. The charges were laid by the Serious Fraud Office.

Hopes raised for NRL inclusion: Wellington is once again positioning itself to be home to a professional rugby league team and bid head Jason Hemson is adamant the city has a genuine shot of breaking into the NRL. The beat bids from the Wellington-based Southern Orcas and the Central Coast to become the NRL's 16th team in 2007. Talk of playing in the British Super League failed to gain traction while Wellington also unsuccessfully bid to become New Zealand's initial entrant in the competition in 1995.

Sydney Roosters scouring South Africa for talent: THE Roosters have turned the tables on rugby union by extending their search for new talent to South Africa. Roosters recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan has spent the past week in the country casting his eye over emerging talent from the rival code as he looks to bolster the club's stocks for next season and beyond. The Weekend Australian understands O'Sullivan has travelled to the country with the aim of targeting young players with potential, rather than existing stars.

Big issue no one is game to : Players of Pacific Island origin now account for 40 percent of the NRL's number. David Gallop must wish they were all like the squeaky clean and freakishly talented , but such a large population defies stereotyping. Roy Masters reports on the league's ever-increasing islander influence. This Easter will see some of the NRL's Pacific Island players attend church and prayer groups and others join their Australian-born teammates at nightclubs, compounding the confusion of administrators struggling to accommodate the diverse cultures of the soaring number of footballers from the south seas.

Samantha sidelined by league's gender rule: Samantha Campbell's rugby league career has been kicked into touch - at 12. The Halswell youngster who plays for Sydenham couldn't wait for Saturday's competition kick off, but found out last Wednesday she was banned. Samantha is a victim of New Zealand Rugby League's new mixed gender rule that restricts girls playing junior league to those who were 11 or under on December 31.

League academy Witt’s Uni Games hope: THE WITT rugby league academy is shaping up as the institute’s hot ticket at this month’s Uni Games in Taranaki. The Rugby League Education Academy started in January under the guidance of coordinator Rob Hewitt — well known for surviving more than 72 hours drifting off the Kapiti Coast following a diving accident in 2006.

The 75-year war: How French Rugby League survived to conquer: It's been a rough-and-tough ride through a World War and attacks by rugby union, but 'Rugby a Treize' continues to grow... While it will surely pass without due recognition, Monday, April 6, 2009 marks an important anniversary in the history of the great game of rugby league. It will mark 75 years since the creation of the French Rugby League, a sporting body (and a sport) which has suffered greater continual direct and indirect oppression than perhaps any other in the long history of sport. A sport that was banned outright by the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy government in 1941 under the direct influence of members of the French Rugby Union.

Memory of Butterfield kept alive: 's wife, Lillian, reckons it was a day he would have loved. The New Zealand rugby league champion died five years ago but he hasn't been forgotten. The children who played in the Jock Butterfield round-robin competition, organised by the Burrum Miners, are making sure of that. Jock Butterfield, who was 72 when he died, was named in the New Zealand team of the century last year. He played 36 Tests for the Kiwis between 1954 and 1963.

Give us a chance WITH France joining Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand to make up an international quad-nations series this year, Fiji Bati centre Darryl Millard has called on the Pacific Nations to be considered too.

After the 2008 shake up of the international calendar by the Rugby League International Federation, it has been proposed that a Pacific Cup be held this year.

The winner of the tournament enters the 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (consisting of Australia, New Zealand, England and a qualifying nation). A Pacific Cup is also proposed to be held in 2011.

"I definitely think a Pacific team deserves and needs to be included (in international quad-series)," Millard said.

"I think the best way is a Pacific Nations competition each year during the Origin period and the winning team goes through.

"It will be massive for the international game and for league to break that dominance of rugby union over there. But a combined team would be good, too.

"With , and Fiji combined, it would be an unreal team.

"We'd give the competition a fair shake."

The Canterbury Bulldogs player believes Fiji has plenty of players who can make a name in the sport.

"Fiji is an untapped resource for rugby league players. There are plenty more Noa Nadruku's out there," he said.

The Age earlier reported that there are forty per cent of (NRL) players of Tongan, Samoan, Fijian, Maori, Cook Island or indigenous heritage -- but over half of the code's elite under-20 league and two-thirds of junior representative players from western Sydney are of Pacific Island descent.

(Source: Fiji Times, 14 April 2009)

Jones not available for Kiwis He still has that magic touch but little general Stacey Jones has ruled himself out of contention for New Zealand's clash with Australia next month at Lang Park.

The scheming halfback said he would not be available for selection for the Brisbane match which takes place on May 8, the day after his 33rd birthday.

After one year out of rugby league, Jones made a shock return to the NRL this season and has shown he still has a knack for creating tries.

Not that it will extend to playing for the reigning world champions.

"No, I have just come back for one season and just want to get things sorted out there," he said.

"I have only signed for one year with the Warriors and then that's it.

"Hopefully we have coming back next week and that is going to put some pressure on some of us players."

Jones set up his side's opening try with a pinpoint kick in Sunday's 24-22 loss to the Knights in Newcastle.

The Warriors hope to have skipper Steve Price and wrecking ball back on board for next weekend's home match against the Roosters.

Hohaia is an outside chance for the clash.

Newcastle coach Brian Smith says a five to nil penalty count in the second half almost cost his team victory in yesterday's NRL game against the at Newcastle.

The Knights won 24-22.

Smith says his team cannot afford to have a similar penalty count against the top of the ladder St George- this Friday night.

"I went to watch them Friday night live and it was scary but we couldn't possibly beat them at Kogarah with no penalties again, don't even think about it."

(Source: www.abc.net.au 13 April 2009)

Linwood win 17-try see-saw Former Warrior Kane Ferris scored a match-winning try on the stroke of fulltime as the Linwood Keas snuck home in a 94-point rugby league thriller against east-side arch rival Aranui.

Linwood's Canterbury Bulls hooker Nathan Sherlock and Aranui Eagles back Tim Rangihuna both scored four tries as the Keas clung to a 48-46 victory at Rugby League Park on Saturday.

The see-saw scoreline and 17 tries including several superb length-of-the-field efforts kept spectators enthralled until the final whistle. But Ferris capped a strong final quarter to get Linwood home in a match neither side deserved to lose.

Linwood manager Ian Gamblin admitted Aranui was unlucky after scoring a try to go out to a 46-42 lead. The Eagles got the ball back from the re-start but threw a forward pass.

"The scrum went down and Kane scored on the final tackle," Gamblin said.

The Keas had raced to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter but Aranui fought back to rattle on 36 unanswered points. Rangihuna and elusive halfback Alex Taefu exposed Linwood with some darting runs around the fringes as Aranui created some superb individual tries. Taefu, Leighton Bell, Stacey Everitt and Antonio Tuitaupe joined Rangihuna on the scoresheet with Taefu converting seven out of eight goals.

Linwood, Riccarton, Hornby and Celebration remain unbeaten after two rounds. Craig Smith scored three tries and kicked six goals and Jonny Limmer dotted down twice in the Hornby Panthers' 44-16 win over the Halswell Hornets, coached by former Hornby mentor Phil Prescott. Halswell held Hornby to 16-12 at half-time but the Panthers proved too good in the second spell at Leslie Park.

The Celebration Lions put on 50 points in their first round match against Papanui but found the going tougher in a 26-18 win over a much improved Kaiapoi Bulldogs. Junior Salevao and Kasi Leka got two tries apiece for the Lions, who led 18-6 at the interval.

Brent Ringdahl's Riccarton Knights beat the Papanui Tigers 38-20 at Crosbie Park with seven tries, including a brace by Jared Neho.

(Source: Tony Smith, , 13 April 2009)

Switching codes - why rugby league is the hot ticket in town WAYNE SCURRAH, chief executive of the Warriors, does his own surreptitious market research.

The tightly-run NRL rugby league club doesn't have the personnel, finance or even the computer system (yet) to engage in high-flown demographic profiling, so Scurrah keeps an eye on such little things as whether pubs are chalking up Warriors' games ahead of Super 14 rugby union fixtures on their "what's on" blackboards.

He was walking along trendy Jervois Road in Auckland's Herne Bay recently when he saw the best evidence yet that the dirty old Warriors are suddenly appealing to the middle classes and the business suits.

A middle-aged chap drove up in a BMW, parked outside the shops and leapt out, clad in a brand-new Warriors jersey. "You just don't see it," says a still-amazed Scurrah.

You do now.

It's the sign of a remarkable social shift in the New Zealand sporting landscape in which, for so long, rugby was entirely dominant and league was ghettoised, kept out of the best schools and regarded as a game for outcasts, immigrants and the poor. Now, with booming ticket sales, television audiences and corporate backing, it appears that league has finally broken free of the stereotypes and found a new market: women, the middle classes and at the boardroom table.

The Warriors aren't interested in bagging rugby indeed, their executive director, former All Blacks coach John Hart, didn't want to be interviewed for this story for just that reason.

But they will talk up how they are going. Corporate tickets have sold faster than general admission this year, and 95% are gone for the year. They had surprisingly big pre-season crowds in rugby strongholds on the North Shore and Hamilton. They've got some nice anecdotes friends of Scurrah's children switching codes to league, player appearance requests from unlikely spots such as Remuera primary school.

Given rugby league's well-documented problems everywhere except within 20km of the Auckland harbour bridge, you'd be mad to say this was anything other than an Auckland phenomenon. Two weekends ago, the Warriors drew 24,350 to see them play the , and rugby's Blues were more than 6000 spectators behind for their game at against the NSW Waratahs the same weekend.

The reasons for rugby's big switch-off have been extensively catalogued, and mourned, by the sport's own writers essentially that there's too much of it and the game itself has far too many rules and is confusing.

But the evidence is growing that it is rugby league, whose history and heartbeat is in the working classes, in south Auckland, in Maori and Polynesian communities, and in the sport's deeply-held enmity to rugby, which is picking up rugby's disaffected. And those floating voters appear to be white, middle class, and professional.

"I say this at NRL meetings, there has been a stereotyping of rugby league as being a blue-collar, south Auckland game and it is clearly not," Scurrah says. "That's part of it but it's a wonderful multi-cultural game being embraced by everyone."

Anecdotes are commonplace.

I'm told of one Auckland professional services firm which holds small sponsorship agreements with both the Warriors and the Blues. It used to find it easy to take clients to the Blues, and had enough Warriors tickets lying around to hand out four a match to any employee who wanted them. Now, even with the lure of a free feed, it can barely give away its Blues allocation and, despite a two-per-head limit on its 180 tickets for the Warriors v Broncos game, it exhausted the lot days in advance.

Such stories are perhaps more illuminating than cold, hard statistics, partly because it appears no one involved in league has yet commissioned any in-depth research on what's happening and why, although almost everyone has noticed what's going on. As Warriors player says about their new audience: "We have noticed it, but we don't know how big it is." But there's enough pieces around to form the jigsaw.

The Warriors' television audience in households with an income over $80,000 has grown significantly this year, ACB Nielsen ratings show, although overall viewing figures haven't.

Sky TV's communications director, Tony O'Brien, says league has out-rated rugby four or five times in the past few years, always when the Warriors were on form. He says the channel is "very happy" with league ratings.

The Warriors have recently switched jersey suppliers to Canterbury, who is already on its fourth order of kit. Marketing manager Colin Gibson says it has sold 9000 replicas already, the length and breadth of the country, and is thrilled. Some sources suggested the Warriors' jerseys are comfortably outselling rugby replicas.

There's been ripples in player numbers, with the reporting a registrations increase (although nothing firm until a census later this month).

General manager Pat Carthy says grassroots people are talking about "theatre-goers" showing an interest and he notes that one of his fastest-growing clubs is East Coast Bays, based in affluent Browns Bay on the North Shore.

And Brendon Bainbridge, country manager for ticket sales agent Ticketek, has picked up two key trends for Warriors' sales.

When Bainbridge first began working with the Warriors, he says they weren't bothered about credit card sales. "South Auckland was always their focus market ... they said our market won't use credit cards," he says. "But now the web is their biggest sales channel. It is appealing to a wider demographic than before."

The first shift Bainbridge spotted was that Warriors' punters are buying more in advance and less on the day, indicating they've become a hot ticket. The club has shaken off its old reliance on walk-up crowds for up to 50% of its gates and its dread of what might happen on wet days.

The other is that while the Mad Butcher shops in Manukau City still sell plenty of tickets, it's no longer all about south Auckland. For the round-three game with Brisbane, sales were highest in central Auckland, the south was second, and the North Shore close behind one of Ticketek's best agents is a Lotto shop in Birkenhead.

And then there's talkback radio.

Those in the know say that Newstalk ZB's Murray Deaker is the bellweather of Auckland sports fans, in touch with the zeitgeist through a combination of listening to his callers and creating opinions with his strident editorials. And leaguies are pleased that Deaker has been talking up the sport, about how it has been winning the battle to lead 's sports section, and even telling a story on air about being in Queenstown for the New Zealand Golf Open and searching out a pub where he could watch the Warriors play, in preference to the hometown Highlanders rugby game.

What have the Warriors done right?

With his old mate, former Kiwis coach , Malcolm Boyle used to own the club, so he's an unashamed leaguie. But he's also a savvy sporting trendspotter and a grizzled veteran of the long PR lunch, having established the Baldwin Boyle firm and then Star Public Relations.

While rugby league in Australia has been beset by issues around players' behaviour with alcohol, drugs and women, the Warriors have had relatively few off-field incidents, and that, he feels, is important.

League, Boyle reckons, is appealing to female fans who like its simplicity and sex appeal and see head coach and captain Steven Price, "the genial big man with the killer smile", as clean-cut poster boys.

With a ramped-up community programme, the Warriors are trading off being seen as the nice guys.

"I see it every day," says Boyle. "People want to talk about the Warriors, not rugby. It's the hot ticket in town ... it's the biggest it's ever been, even bigger than 1995 [when the Warriors started]. "I would hate to be selling rugby union at the moment. I can't tell you what rugby is at the moment I'm a sports fan, I've always watched rugby, but I have as little idea as anyone else when the whistle blows. The game of rugby union is shit ... and I don't think rugby has forever to get it right.

"The real test will be as the season goes on and the All Blacks start. Whether they have to do discounts or two- for-ones then they are in trouble."

The Warriors have also enjoyed a substantial boost from two other factors. The first was a wave of goodwill engendered by the Kiwis winning the world cup late last year.

The other, say sports marketing professionals, include the way rugby league presents itself on the field.

Mike Loftus, who heads the marketing division for insurance firm AIG, but formerly ran his own sports branding firm and was a senior executive with sports funding agency Sparc and Table Tennis New Zealand, says: "There has been a shift, it's a cyclical one, and it's similar to the one in the mid-90s. League has a better product than rugby at the moment and when people have limited time, they want a better product."

Rugby league regularly changes its rules to ensure a marketable spectacle. This year's innovation to speed up the game is a second on-field referee.

For some novice fans at the Warriors v Broncos game, that's the appeal. "Rugby league is a simple game, it's straight up and down and you know what's going on," says fireman Jarrod Dunning, 27, who played rugby throughout his schooldays.

For his mate Taryn Hamilton, there is a simple, urine-based test. "Are you willing to go for a pee during an All Blacks match, and are you willing to go for a pee during a Warriors match?" He'll hold on longer with a full bladder for a league game.

The result is that at the wealthy end of town, where rugby was always a more natural fit with senior executives, league is finally getting a hearing in the boardroom.

The Warriors' long-time major sponsors, Vodafone, claims it has no idea about a cultural shift it measures things not by demographics but by "psychographics" (how passionate customers are about a product). But its sponsorship manager, Richard Howarth, once had the same job at the Warriors.

"I don't want to be arrogant and say it was a harder sell in my day, because that sounds like they've got it easy now, and they haven't, and in these economic times it is hard," he says. "But the club's image in the corporate world is definitely better now."

The man now selling league to the suits is Dan Burton, who has almost sold out this year's corporate packages, straddling the sector from construction to legal, with 30% of them new customers.

"We're purposefully trying to reach a new market," he says.

Among his regulars at pre-match lunches in the East Stand is Lowe, who hosts clients as part of his job with recruitment firm Coverstaff.

"They love it," he says. "I've never seen corporate recognition as high as it is now. And when something is flavour of the month, you try it, don't you?"

It's a note of caution worth remembering. With the sun shining, All Blacks' tests still months away and the Warriors having two good wins, crowd figures are up at Mt Smart.

When the rains come, the All Blacks start winning mid-year rugby internationals and if the Warriors hit a losing streak, gates could plummet. The club knows that only too well but hope that it has at least converted some floaters into regulars.

Scurrah says his captain, Price, has summed it up best. "I think he once said [that] it seemed to be an embarrassment to be a Warriors fan when he first came. I guess it is a little bit more fashionable and socially acceptable now."

(Source: Steve Kilgallon, Sunday Star-Times, 12 April 2009)

Tax clampdown to dash UK dreams The annual exodus of league stars from New Zealand and Australia to the UK Super League could slow down because of a crackdown on loopholes by tax officials there - and could hit some already there in the pocket.

The news was partly behind Nathan Fien's decision to stay in the NRL when he comes off contract at the end of the season, and NRL clubs are warning players that they could be in danger of losing their tax-free lump sums.

At present, clubs have paid players up to 40 per cent of their salary into an offshore account under the guise of image rights. This has come under scrutiny from the Inland Revenue and moves are afoot to reduce this to only 10 per cent, meaning players will be taxed 90 per cent of their wages.

England's League have been asked to begin talks with the tax authorities on behalf of their clubs, but have denied speculation they will be forced to make retrospective payments and been slapped with six-figure tax fines.

There have been suggestions players will need to take pay cuts to finance this.

"There's no way Castleford, and Wakefield and Hull KR and these clubs are going to pay the Taxation Department the money and then not take it off the players," an NRL club chief told the Australian newspaper. "I can assure you of that."

That could have serious ramifications for some former NRL players playing in the UK - and, like Fien, could trigger decisions to stay put.

Fien's agent, Jim Banaghan told that players would come "flooding back".

"Players never went there for the weather," he said. "Any manager with brains will keep his clients in the NRL system in this climate and not try to be too smart."

Fellow agent , who deals a lot in the UK market, was more circumspect and said the issue of clamping down on image rights had been discussed for the past 10 years.

"If they bring it in, it could have a bearing on players going overseas but there will always be a case for players to go to the UK Super League," Endacott said. "There are other ways to skin a cat, like pension schemes and the EBT (Employment Benefits Trust). I don't think they will hit players retrospectively because the contracts were done in good faith. If you have done it properly and haven't abused the system, you will be okay. But some have claimed image rights when they haven't warranted it."

The possible tax changes will mean good news for the NRL, which has struggled to compete financially with the Super League, as well as rugby union.

NRL chief executive David Gallop said the mooted tax changes, coupled with a reduction in the import quota and recent crackdown on visa restrictions, should help halt the overseas player drain.

"It's further evidence that playing in the UK is not the easy option it once was and it seems likely we'll see less players taking up a contract there," Gallop told the Australian.

The number of overseas players each club is allowed is being squeezed. At present, clubs are allowed seven overseas players but that will be six next season and five the season after that.

The Guardian reported that 10 of the 14 English Super League clubs could be targeted by Inland Revenue.

A leading player agent predicted a fight if a Super League club attempted to short-change a player to recoup its losses.

"I think some clubs will do that but contractually that won't bond," the manager said. "They're all going to try it but ultimately they've got to fulfil their obligations."

Among those well-known New Zealand players currently plying their trade in the UK are and Tony Puletua (St Helens), Sione Faumuina (Castleford), , Ali Lauiti'iti, (Leeds), Tony Martin (Wakefield), Paul Whatuira (Huddersfield), (Hull), (Warrington) and (Wigan).

(Source: Herald on Sunday, 12 April 2009)

League star admits part in $2 million pokie scam NEW ZEALAND rugby league great Hugh McGahan has been convicted on four counts of fraud for his role in a $2 million pokie scam masterminded by former teammate Brent Todd.

McGahan, 47, pleaded guilty to defrauding the North Harbour Rugby Union and Touch NZ in the Auckland District Court at a hearing on Tuesday not attended by media. The charges were laid by the Serious Fraud Office.

Legal sources confirmed that McGahan sought a sentence indication, New Zealand's version of a plea bargain, before changing his plea from not guilty to guilty. He had been due to stand trial before a jury in July.

The scam, masterminded by Todd and his business partner Malik Wijeyaratne, was first revealed in the Sunday Star-Times in 2005. Between 2000 and 2004, Todd and Wijeyaratne, who operated a number of Auckland bars which contained pokie machines, targeted gaming trust grants to the North Harbour Rugby Union.

McGahan's event management company Lateral Vision would immediately file fake invoices to the union for about half the amount of the awarded grant, charging for services such as coaching, functions and travel which had never been rendered.

Nearly $400,000 was secured as kickbacks in this way, with McGahan passing 90% on to Todd and Wijeyaratne and pocketing about $40,000 himself.

From 2002, they extended the fraud to Touch NZ, with Lateral Vision issuing 14 fake invoices, said to total about $500,000, over a two-year period. McGahan, whose company was contracted by Touch NZ to run its national tournaments and raise funds, also received a commission worth 20% of all grant funding he won the organisation.

Touch NZ received $2.2m in grants during the period in question, although it is unclear how much of this was secured by McGahan.

One Lateral Vision invoice included a payment for $28,000 in "corporate hospitality" a corporate box for Todd at a Blues- match. The gaming funds applications were tracked on a password-protected spreadsheet on McGahan's computer, named "kiwi.xls".

Touch NZ chief executive Joe Sprangers said the fraud had pushed the organisation to the brink of finanical collapse. "The organisation was running a massive loss, and was within 24 hours of liquidation 18 months ago."

He did not know how much McGahan had benefited from the fraud, as much of the grant money had been siphoned off in kickbacks before it reached Touch NZ. But the organisation would be seeking reparations from McGahan as it had successfully done from Wijeyaratne. McGahan is understood to have already paid some reparation to North Harbour Rugby Union.

Sprangers said McGahan had been claiming Touch NZ owed him a large amount of unpaid commission for grant funding he had secured the organisation, but this claim was likely to be affected by his guilty plea.

McGahan will be sentenced on May 5, and Judge Nicola Mathers has indicated that, like his conspirators, he will avoid jail. Todd was sentenced to 12 months home detention after he pleaded guilty to fraud charges last year, which he served at friend 's luxury home in Auckland's Freemans Bay, while working at Ridge's car wash business.

Another high-profile sportsman involved in the scam, former All Black Doug Rollerson, pleaded guilty to two lesser charges of misleading his employer by falsifying invoices and was convicted and discharged in February. Justice Rhys Harrison said Rollerson was "emotionally and financially destitute" and there was no point ordering him to pay a fine or costs.

The perceived light sentences have angered some in the gaming trust industry.

"The SFO and the DIA must be pulling their hair out. Thousands of hours of investigation, a blatant and cynical fraud depriving community organisations and the judiciary again have failed to take this type of offending against the community seriously," said Martin Cheer, chief executive of one of the biggest gaming trusts, Pub Charity. "What sort of deterrent is this to those currently defrauding the industry, or those who are going to consider it in the future?"

McGahan, who grew up in Otahuhu, captained the Kiwis in 17 of his 32 test matches in the 80s. He was awarded an MBE in 1990 for services to rugby league.

Others allegedly involved in the scam, former Touch NZ chief executive Dick Arnott, his former employee Geoffrey Thompson and an Auckland businesswoman with name suppression, are due to stand trial in July.

(Source: Tony Wall, Tim Hume and Steve Kilgallon, Sunday Star-Times, 12 April 2009)

Hopes raised for NRL inclusion Wellington is once again positioning itself to be home to a professional rugby league team and bid head Jason Hemson is adamant the city has a genuine shot of breaking into the NRL.

The Gold Coast Titans beat bids from the Wellington-based Southern Orcas and the Central Coast to become the NRL's 16th team in 2007.

Talk of playing in the British Super League failed to gain traction while Wellington also unsuccessfully bid to become New Zealand's initial entrant in the competition in 1995.

While the NRL has not yet publicly asked for bids or expressed a desire to expand, reports have suggested expansion to 18 teams is on the cards for 2013, the year a new television deal kicks in.

NRL chief executive David Gallop has said the most likely 17th team would be based in on the Central Coast and has hinted the 18th could be based in south-east .

An 18-team competition is preferred to avoid weekly byes.

While Wellington appears to be starting its run from behind, Hemson, 's ambitious general manager, said he'd had encouraging discussions with the NRL, Wellington City Council and Westpac Stadium over the last year.

Hemson said rather than trying to fight with the AFL in Perth or Adelaide, the NRL wanted to shore up its strongholds of Australia's east coast and New Zealand.

"We believe that for the long-term future of rugby league here there needs to be at least one other team out of New Zealand and we're working away on it at the moment.

"We've been keeping it low key because we want to get all our things lined up before we go public with it.

"There's been good support from Wellington City Council to work with us and the [Westpac] Stadium are obviously keen for it to happen as well."

With the world in the midst of an economic recession, Hemson admitted there would be plenty of sceptics questioning the NRL's ability to successfully expand.

He also accepted Wellington's existing professional sports teams, the Hurricanes, Lions and Phoenix, were struggling to attract big crowds.

"With the current economic climate, yeah sure there'll be certain doubts as to whether we could get something up and going but I really believe that we've got the base as far as the footballing talent goes in this country, to have a second team." Hemson said his discussions with NRL operations manager Graham Annesley had been positive.

"Graham basically has said while there's been no call for bids to come in for expansion, they'll always look at a good business proposal. And obviously with the success of the Warriors they see New Zealand as being a key part of the future."

Hemson said he was driving a bid team but other members preferred to stay anonymous at this stage.

"Other people have had the dream and I guess I'm just wanting to see it fulfilled really.

"here's been two cracks at it previously and for whatever reason those two didn't get off the track." Hemson, an Australian who moved to Wellington in 1990, has a 32-year association with league as a player, coach and referee and his employment history includes work in sales, marketing and business roles before taking the reins as WRL general manager this year.

Hemson also worked for a major sponsor of the Titans in 2007 and last year, where he struck up a relationship with Gold Coast chief executive and successful bid leader Michael Searle.

He said the NRL was open to a good business plan, which Hemson had already prepared.

"You've just basically got to prove that you've got a sustainable plan and a sustainable vision."

The next step was attracting enough financial support which would be difficult in tough times.

"We've come into it when the world financial crisis is happening but I think everyone realises we're going to come out of it, it's just a matter of how long.

"If things start to pick up with the world economy, there's going to be lots of opportunities out there for businesses looking to promote themselves and get involved in a venture like this.

"In three, four, five years time I'd imagine there will be businesses out there looking at some creative ways at backing something like this."

Hemson had also met with WCC staff, including councillor John Morrison, who were receptive to the bid plan, while games could also be shared around the country.

(Source: Sam Worthington, The Dominion Post, 11 April 2009)

Sydney Roosters scouring South Africa for talent THE Sydney Roosters have turned the tables on rugby union by extending their search for new talent to South Africa.

Roosters recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan has spent the past week in the country casting his eye over emerging talent from the rival code as he looks to bolster the club's stocks for next season and beyond.

The Weekend Australian understands O'Sullivan has travelled to the country with the aim of targeting young players with potential, rather than existing stars.

South Africa has been largely untouched by NRL clubs, although a number of players were targeted during the . Of those, only ex-Springbok Tiaan Strauss proved a hit.

Since then, South Africa has been forgotten, as has rugby union as a major source of players.

The Roosters would find it difficult to match the money on offer in South Africa at domestic and Super 14 level, but they could entice teenagers looking for an opportunity to escape the country, where positive discrimination and racial quota systems have left many athletes frustrated and seeking alternatives.

The ambitious move to target South Africa could provide a new talent stream for the NRL.

"I think that Peter thinks it was worth going over there just to have a look," Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce said.

"Sometimes you have to take the road less travelled. He hasn't gone there with any specific brief.

"It will be interesting to speak to him when he gets back."

The Roosters have been mired in controversy in recent weeks. Forwards and made their returns to first grade against Brisbane last night after being dumped to NSW Cup for breaching the club's drinking policy.

While Myles is on the verge of signing a new contract, Mason has been the subject on ongoing speculation he could be released at the end of the season if he can find an offer overseas.

He may not be the only player leaving at season's end. Veteran forward and fullback are yet to discover whether they are part of the club's long-term plans. Against that backdrop, O'Sullivan has taken the opportunity to scour new markets in the search for talent.

The recruitment guru - credited with discovering stars Israel Folau and when he was at Melbourne - was poached from the Storm with a charter to build a side that can be a perennial challenger for the NRL title.

With the salary limiting the club's ability to chase big names, O'Sullivan has set about building from the ground up.

That means pursuing players with potential rather than established stars - a shift from the club's long-standing policy of pursuing some of the biggest names in the game.

To that end, O'Sullivan has been given a global charter. Hence his decision to explore South Africa.

"I guess we have seen the number of Kiwis who are doing well in our game," Noyce said.

"There's only limited spots in the Wallabies or Springboks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

While rugby union was once fertile ground for rugby league clubs, the advent of professionalism proved a turning point in the battle between the two codes.

In recent years, the Australian Rugby Union has pillaged the NRL of some of its most prominent players, most notably and .

Only last year St George Illawarra centre and Bulldogs star made the switch, joining cashed-up French rugby union clubs.

(Source: Brent Read, The Australian, 11 April 2009)

Big issue no one is game to tackle Players of Pacific Island origin now account for 40 percent of the NRL's number. David Gallop must wish they were all like the squeaky clean and freakishly talented Israel Folau, but such a large population defies stereotyping. Roy Masters reports on the league's ever-increasing islander influence.

This Easter will see some of the NRL's Pacific Island players attend church and prayer groups and others join their Australian-born teammates at nightclubs, compounding the confusion of administrators struggling to accommodate the diverse cultures of the soaring number of footballers from the south seas.

Forty per cent of NRL players are of Tongan, Samoan, Fijian, Maori, Cook Island or indigenous heritage - but over half of the code's elite under-20 league and two-thirds of junior representative players from western Sydney are of Pacific Island descent.

Pacific Islanders are called "freshies" by their teammates - as in "fresh off the boat", having spent a couple of years in New Zealand before trialling for an NRL contract.

The next generation of talent, however, is Australian born and seeking the traditional path to the top via the code's established junior pathways.

This rapid influx, together with a diverse culture that embraces both god-fearing teetotallers and binge-drinkers, is challenging clubs whose only worry over past Easters was inviting divine retribution by eating meat at the post-training Good Friday barbecue.

The Pacific Island player is the elephant in the rugby league dressing room: officials, fearful of being accused of rascism, won't comment about his impact at the junior leagues, where he stampedes over lighter, whiter opponents, or the challenge he represents to the entrenched ethos of some traditional NRL clubs. He is reshaping the code's demographics at either end of the rugby league age spectrum.

Anecdotally, the number of junior players of European background is falling because they resent having to tackle the bigger, stronger Pacific Islanders in the same age group. In the senior ranks, NRL clubs rush to sign Pacific Islanders who are perceived to be more durable, recovering from injury more quickly.

The AFL envies the NRL's monopoly of the Israel Folau type player - the soaring centre whose Superman-like leaps for the ball could translate to high marks at the MCG. NRL chief executive David Gallop admits the growing number of Pacific Islanders has created a significant point of difference with the AFL, which employs a draft.

"The high percentage of Polynesian players makes us very reluctant to go to a draft system," Gallop said. "These players are very close to their families and their church. If we introduced a draft, young kids in the Auckland area, for example, would switch to rugby union rather than allow themselves to be drafted away from home."

But the increasing influence of the church is creating its own problems. Player managers complain they no longer deal with the athlete when negotiating a contract, but the church hierarchy. While Folau, a devout, teetotal Mormon, is the type of role model the NRL so desperately seeks at a time other players are daily fixtures in the papers for drunkenness and brawling, it was the position of Folau's father as an elder in the church that dicatated his move from Melbourne to Brisbane.

Some clubs have invested their future in Pacific Island players, while others have set about re-branding themselves as clubs with a more traditional heritage.

South Sydney, unable to secure the signatures of State of Origin players such as Matt Orford and , charted a Polynesian course, appointing a Samoan, , and a Maori, , as co-captains.

The Bulldogs, however, have released their high-profile contingent of troubled Polynesians, including Sonny Bill Williams, Willie Mason, and , and are seeking to reposition themselves. "We'd like to be known as the 'family club' again," says chief executive Todd Greenberg, referring to the era 30 years ago when Canterbury relied on the Mortimer quartet from Wagga and the locally produced Hughes brothers.

Significantly, one of those Hughes brothers - Mark - was once employed at the Bulldogs as a recruitment officer and now works for South Sydney.

While three clubs have captains with Pacific Island origins - Penrith's Fijian giant, , Parramatta's Maori veteran and Souths' Asotasi - the leadership group at most clubs is strongly Anglo Saxon.

The Storm's strong representation of and indigenous players could caucus each other to vote one of their own on the five-man leadership group, but decline to do so.

When two members of last year's leadership group - and - left the club, the Storm coaching staff hoped a Pacific Islander would be elected, but fullback was voted on to join , , and .

The Storm coaching staff then decided to appoint a four-man group of what could be called "emerging leaders", including Polynesians and .

Five-eighth Arana Taumata, a Maori, has been the only Polynesian to trouble the Storm leadership group, but he had serious form, having already been sacked by three clubs. He was making good progress in Melbourne, living with a retired couple, until he became involved in a fist fight while on a night out with young centre during the off-season. He was immediately sacked by the Storm.

Before tonight's game against Penrith, the Storm's Pacific Island players will drop to one knee in the dressing room, saying a quick prayer. "They don't force their religion on anyone by praying around the team," says football manager Frank Ponissi.

Perhaps, like NSW's first indigenous player in 1938, South Sydney fullback Dick Johnson, and those of Mediterranean origin in the 1970s, the usually shy Pacific Islanders simply don't want to be perceived to be different from anyone else.

Stephen Kearney, assistant coach of the Storm and head coach of New Zealand's World Cup winning team, agrees. "The island boys and the Maoris are like anyone, including the Aboriginal lads," he said. "They just want to be seen to be the same as everyone else while retaining their cultural identity, which means a lot."

Asked why some are devoutly religious and others will be on the tiles over Easter with more ribald teammates, Kearney said: "Put it down to Captain Cook discovering New Zealand before the missionaries found Tonga and Samoa."

(Source: Roy Masters, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 April 2009)

Samantha sidelined by league's gender rule Samantha Campbell's rugby league career has been kicked into touch - at 12.

The Halswell youngster who plays for Sydenham couldn't wait for Saturday's competition kick off, but found out last Wednesday she was banned. Samantha is a victim of New Zealand Rugby League's new mixed gender rule that restricts girls playing junior league to those who were 11 or under on December 31.

That makes Samantha, who had her birthday on Boxing Day, ineligible by five days for the 13-years grade this winter. “I feel really gutted that I can't play," says Samantha, of Manning Intermediate. “It's really fun to get out there and get your energy up."

She played for Sydenham last year on the wing and had been training for five weeks for this winter. But on Saturday, she had to watch from the sideline as her 13-years team lost both its matches of the opening day tournament.

"I felt bored watching," she said.

She unsuccessfully emailed NZRL football operations manager Kevin Bailey on Friday to apply for a dispensation to play - and told him the NZRL had "made my dreams crash." As for what she'll do this winter: "Probably sit around at home."

Canterbury Rugby League manager Graeme Sole says the mixed gender rule is being strictly enforced for safety reasons, on the advice of the NZRL's medical council.

That rules girls like Samantha out of rugby league until they can return to play in the open women’s competitions when they're 17.

Samantha was not the only girl affected this season, he said. However, he has asked CRL development officer Te Wairau to see if it is possible to arrange a midweek competition for girls who want to play league.

"This is only in its infancy, but we don’t want to lose these girls," he said.

(Source: The Star, 09 April 2009)

League academy Witt’s Uni Games hope THE WITT rugby league academy is shaping up as the institute’s hot ticket at this month’s Uni Games in Taranaki.

The Rugby League Education Academy started in January under the guidance of coordinator Rob Hewitt — well known for surviving more than 72 hours drifting off the Kapiti Coast following a diving accident in 2006.

He is also the brother of former All Black hooker Norm Hewitt.

The academy concentrates on tertiary learning through league, a focus that bodes well for the team’s Uni Games’ appearance.

“I strongly believe that we can get two to three players in the New Zealand University Games team,” says Hewitt.

Early morning training sessions and a series of warm-up games have ensured the academy players will be in top shape for their first competitive outing as a Above: The Witt league academy boys pose with the Rugby League team. World Cup. Just three months into the programme, Hewitt says there have already been dramatic changes in the young men.

“They are slowly but surely understanding what it is about to be involved in a team.” The 20-man squad will go into training camp one week before the tournament which begins on April 14, and stay together throughout the competition to help retain focus.

The academy side should prove a tough test for Canterbury University who beat Otago to win the league title in Rotorua last year.

Three of the squad — Codean Manu, Carlton Healy and Regan Verny — have already played league at development level in Australia but have returned to New Zealand to complete their education, a requirement of NRL clubs.

The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki is participating in the games for the first time and is only the second non-university town to host the event.

About 1200 competitors will take part in 25 sports played around the region over four days.

* Gabriel Ferguson is a WITT journalism student

(Source: Gabriel Ferguson, www.universitysport.org.nz April 8th, 2009)

The 75-year war: How French Rugby League survived to conquer It's been a rough-and-tough ride through a World War and attacks by rugby union, but 'Rugby a Treize' continues to grow...

While it will surely pass without due recognition, Monday, April 6, 2009 marks an important anniversary in the history of the great game of rugby league.

It will mark 75 years since the creation of the French Rugby League, a sporting body (and a sport) which has suffered greater continual direct and indirect oppression than perhaps any other in the long history of sport.

A sport that was banned outright by the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy government in 1941 under the direct influence of members of the French Rugby Union.

A sport that grew so rapidly between its introduction to France in 1934 until the outbreak of the Second World War that its number of member clubs threatened to outstrip the number of rugby union clubs within a mere five years.

Rugby union, with a 50-year head start on rugby league, would take the opportunity of the darkest years of the 20th century (less than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese military) to secure its prize: a resolution decreeing the dissolution of a totally independent sporting body, the French Rugby League (December 19, 1941).

Despite such odious acts, the rugby league has survived for three-quarters of a century, and has outlived many of those who sought its destruction following its introduction to France, when rugby (union) followers opposed to the new code sprinkled pitches with glass and flooded others with water to prevent the playing of exhibition rugby league matches.

The formation of the French Rugby League was the culmination of a number of crucial events which secured the future of the sport in France. In late December 1933, the Australian and Great British Test teams played an exhibition game at Stade Pershing in Paris following development work by both Harry Sunderland on behalf of the and the based in England.

Played in a snow storm, the scintillating football of the Australians triumphed, with a smashing 63-13 victory. The French, so enamoured by the glorious attacking play of both teams, but especially the Australians, chaired victorious Kangaroos captain Dave Brown from the playing field after cheering the game to its conclusion. As events would soon show, amidst the snow drifts of Paris, a new French sport had been born.

Not long after witnessing this match, Jean Galia, a French rugby union international, was moved to organise players for the new rugby movement which had so stirred the capital. Demonstration matches were played throughout the heart of rugby territory (especially in the south of France) and Galia captained a tour of French players to England, where creditable results were recorded against teams hardened in the skills and toughness of the English game (then the dominant club competition in ). Since the early days of French rugby league there have been many wonderful years of achievement, such as becoming the first French team of either rugby code to win in England - traditionally seen by the French as the arch enemy (1939) - and recording the first win of any French sporting team at Wembley 1949.

Shortly after the latter result, in 1951, the French toured Australia and New Zealand for the first time, trouncing the Australians 2-1 in a three-match Test series played before three sell-out crowds (Sydney 60,160; Brisbane 35,000; Sydney 67,009). The tour drew a total of over 450,000 spectators, with games played in every mainland State capital except Adelaide, including Perth and an unofficial fourth Test match in Melbourne (won 34-17 by the French).

The French, expected to be mere spectators against an Australian side which had regained for the first time in 30 years the year before, played exquisite rugby league, running the home side ragged – the seven tries to two thrashing handed out in the third Test perhaps best encapsulating their results.

This most amazing tour, still one of the greatest of all French sporting results, was replicated in 1955, when the French, under the brilliant stewardship of captain Jacques Merquey, repeated their 2-1 Test series win over Australia, this time before an even greater number of Australian fans than in 1951.

In the intervening years, the French had hosted the first Rugby League World Cup in 1954, after pushing for its creation for many years. The trophy was eventually lifted by Great Britain in a massive upset, downing the French in Paris 16-12 in a World Cup Final perhaps only matched for sheer quality by the game in which New Zealand became the third country to win the Rugby League World Cup late in 2008.

Since the true glory periods of 1934-1939 and 1945-1960, the French have also had to deal with many desperately poor years as the game struggles to combat the slow strangulation to which it has been subjected by a rugby union dominated French media.

The refusal of the Australian Rugby League to endorse a further Test tour after 1964 – a move which led to the abandonment of French Test tours until 1981, amidst the number of Rugby League World Cup tournaments during the 1970s – was only the first in a series of set backs at international level.

The post-WWII French game briefly experienced the promise of the pre-war years, when settled clubs relying on the fruits of earlier years were able to produce quality players, resulting in excellent results against international opponents. The immense damage caused to the game by the banning of the sport and the consequential impact on playing ranks following the Second World War would eventually prove problematic, as the careers of this generation of players began to peter out at the end of the 1950s.

As a consequence, the passing of time has certainly seen the number of French upsets drop, although results such as the narrow loss in the 1968 World Cup Final to Australia (in Australia) and the surprise defeat of Australia 2-0 in the Test series of 1978 have occurred from time to time.

The French domestic scene, restricted largely to the passion of the French countryside and not the big cities of France, is perhaps a shadow of its immediate post-War glory, when teams from the biggest French cities like Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Paris and Toulouse mixed with the passionate rural teams from Avignon, Carcassonne, Perpignan, Villeneuve and Albi.

This led directly to the institution of a more European approach to French rugby league, with the successful adaption of Les Catalans to the European Super League and the inclusion of Toulouse in the English National League One competition (presumably with a view to promotion to the Super League within the next few years).

The future for French rugby league certainly appears brighter than it did during some of the darkest years, perhaps best exemplified by the abandonment of the brawling French Championship Final between XIII Catalan and Villeneuve in 1981, and it is hoped that the French will once again marshal their intuitive approach to rugby league and provide stern opposition to the major international powers in the future.

Certainly, results such as Australia's narrow win against France in 2004 suggest that French rugby league maintains its tremendous potential – not surprising for a sport that has had to endure the tumultuous events foisted upon it over the last 75 years.

(Source: www.sportingo.com 06 April 2009)

Memory of Butterfield kept alive JOCK Butterfield's wife, Lillian, reckons it was a day he would have loved.

The New Zealand rugby league champion died five years ago but he hasn't been forgotten.

The children who played in the Jock Butterfield round-robin competition, organised by the Burrum Miners, are making sure of that.

Jock Butterfield, who was 72 when he died, was named in the New Zealand team of the century last year. He played 36 Tests for the Kiwis between 1954 and 1963.

Mrs Butterfield watched the 18 teams from six different clubs compete for about an hour before presenting the trophy to the overall winners - the Maryborough Wallaroos. Wallaroos had seven teams competing on the day.

Two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.

Bundaberg Brothers came second and, given they fielded only two teams on the day, that was no mean feat. Maryborough Rovers came third.

“Everything went off without a hitch,” organiser Tania Bell said.

“We had so many people come up to us and say it was the best carnival they had been to.”

Mrs Butterfield enjoyed watching the teams play.

“She said that she knew Jock would be watching these kids.

“She said she felt really heartfelt that it was being held in his honour and that Jock felt that this was what it was all about - watching the little guys play.”

Bell said the event would definitely be held again next year.

“It was the first time Childers and Bundaberg have entered teams in the competition,” she said.

“Representatives from both sides said that they would be back again next year.”

(Source: www.news-mail.com.au 06 April 2009)