Super League clubs told to ‘go call Eddie Hearn’ and break away with NRL icon endorsement
Eddie Hearn says rugby league in the UK is 'dying'.
Super League clubs looking to get the support of the NRL have been told to consider a rebel league – with Eddie Hearn the driving central force behind it.
Reports emerged in Australia over the weekend that Peter V’Landys was considering pulling the plug on a deal to potentially invest in Super League, with talks seemingly hitting a wall concerning Sky Sports’ involvement in any deal.
It remains to be seen whether V’Landys is publicly putting pressure on Super League and Sky Sports to push through any deal or whether the concerns are valid – but it has been picked up in Australia by media outlets.
‘Go call Eddie Hearn’
That includes James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast, who discussed the possibility of the NRL investing into Super League at length on their latest episode.
Co-host Charlie White insisted that there could yet be merit in clubs unhappy with the governance of the game breaking away and starting their own rebel league: a concept that has been discussed before and dubbed ‘NRL Europe’.
But White went one step further this time, saying Matchroom Sports supremo Hearn could be the ideal man to drive it if he could be persuaded to properly get involved.
White said: “If there’s an NRL Europe Rebel League, could you go call Eddie Hearn and give him just 30% free of charge and get the maximum support behind you?
“He wanted to be involved and they said no,” former Catalans half Luke Keary said, with Graham responding: “You’re joking? You are joking.”
Graham endorses Eddie Hearn
Graham then admitted he had seen Hearn and Matchroom’s high-profile acquisition of rugby union star Henry Pollock – with Pollock’s social media presence rising significantly as a result of the move.
He then admitted it would be fascinating to see what league could do with his backing.
The former St Helens forward said: “That rugby union player that he’s got from Northampton. Him speaking about this player, right, is getting headlines.
“It’s the only rugby union headline I’ve clicked on.. Eddie Hearn says that this player should be worth a million and he’s going to go to market. And it’s Henry Pollock, who’s a bit of a larrikin. He’s got personality, he’s got charisma, which is great for the game in England. Like a bit of banter.
“But Eddie Hearn talking about him, like that makes general sports fans click. And that makes general sports fans go, I want to see what this kid’s all about. We don’t have that.”
White continued: “Yeah, give him 30%, free of charge. And you’ve got that beast of Matchroom Sports on your side. And then it’s a rebel league. It’s NRL Europe.”
Graham disputed the notion of giving some of the rebel league away for free, but admitted: “Well, I don’t know about giving somebody free. I think what you need to do is say okay if you give them incentives, which he probably doesn’t need, he’s a multi-(millionaire)
“But give him incentives to grow. OK, well, if you get the commercial value of the game to X, you then get 30%. You know, give him an incentive. If you’re giving them incentive based things to get them somewhere, then you’re driven to achieve.”
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