DEMANDING answers, NRL boss David Gallop yesterday asked questions about Wagga City Council’s (WCC) controversial decision to provide AFL giant GWS with $300,000 of funding during the next three years.
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Responding to an overwhelming backlash from Wagga residents on The Daily Advertiser website, Gallop yesterday admitted he was “disappointed” the NRL had not received equal treatment from WCC.
Gallop insisted the NRL had provided a huge amount of support with trial games, clinics and visits to Wagga recently and had not asked for large levels of funding in return.
“I know that the local leagues would like to understand just what the terms of the council investment are and we would certainly be interested in talking with the council to see why there is not similar support for rugby league,” Gallop said yesterday.
“It is certainly an unusual step for a council to invest in a Sydney AFL club that already boasts publicly about its financial backing.
“Rugby league players, teams and officials have visited Wagga through any number of occasions from community carnivals, to trials, City-Country and flood relief and that hasn’t involved seeking large levels financial support from the council.
“Any support that has come has been to support the event itself.
“The CRL have funded under 16s and under 18s Riverina academies in Wagga for some years without council support, so again to see similar projects now funded by council warrants some discussion.”
Gallop admits $30,000 of WCC funding went into staging the successful NRL trial game at Equex Centre in March, all of which went to providing facilities for the game and improving the financial condition of rugby league in Wagga.
“When Canberra and the Bulldogs played a trial there this year the council contributed $30,000 to the staging of the event, which went into providing facilities for the game at (Equex Centre),” he said.
“The match itself raised further money for the facilities over and above the economic benefits it brought to the city that weekend.
“To suggest that rugby league clubs have demanded $200,000 to play a game in Wagga is completely misleading and it is disappointing that the council has sought to justify the decision in such a way. Comparing the costs of a Telstra Premiership game with a pre-season trial is clearly erroneous.”
