BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

The shitstorm that has hit European football is a monumental thing. To put it in perspective, it could be the biggest story in the long history of the sport. Rugby league is feeling something similar, but in its own little way.

You could barely hear a fan, anywhere in the world, supporting the proposed ‘European Super League’ – a monstrosity designed to make those included, billions more dollars.

As said countless times over since, the outbreak of the news… it’s ‘greed’.

It is a tiny portion of the world, of footballing community, with most of the game’s money, bleeding it dry to take the rest.

And that’s what it is.

Europe’s imperious organisations, with more power than the others, thinking they have the right to play their own competition while they are playing in their respective domestic leagues.

The financial incentives and advantages for these behemoths are hard to fathom.

`How does this all compare to Australian rugby league?

Well to be fair, it’s been there, between the lines, for several years.

Some will say the NRL is equalised by the salary cap.

The same ‘others’ will say the NRL has been the closest, most competitive premiership of any sport for the longest time.

But it’s just not true anymore.

In the 2000’s, we had eight different premierships winners and that includes the Melbourne Storm who won two competitions illegally. That takes us to six winners in the decade. If you take the Storm out of the equation, only the Brisbane Broncos won more than one title in the entire decade.

Since 2010 we’ve had seven different winners but six of the competitions have gone to either the Storm or the Sydney Roosters.

Those aforementioned two clubs have shared the last four premierships.

That’s two teams, in the last four seasons.

Sounds equalised…

The last few days, all we’ve heard about is England’s biggest soccer clubs and how they are going to get stronger.

Australian rugby league has never been so similar to English soccer (except for the bank balances).

The biggest, richest NRL clubs have never been stronger.

The NRL’s weakest have never been so far away from the grand final.

If equalisation was the NRL’s priority a decade ago, where has it gone?

It feels like rugby league has gone back to the dark old days of the Wests Magpies of the late 1990’s, Gold Coast Seagulls or South Sydney of the early ‘90’s.

The days when Parramatta or Penrith couldn’t buy a game back in the era of John Wayne.

Perhaps it was the spirit of the game or the lack of social media in years gone by but it feels like certain clubs come into a new season with no chance of even making the playoffs and others always find a way of keeping themselves and their players in the top echelon of the premiership.

Take of that what you will.

Read between the lines if you dare.

@woodward_curtis