National Rugby League clubs will have to contribute up to A$100,000 ($77,800) extra per year "to pay for career-ending injuries" after rugby league followed the Australian Football League's lead in "shifting to a self-insurance scheme," according to Adrian Proszenko of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Rugby League Central is "beginning the process of amassing a multimillion-dollar pool to assist players forced into premature retirement due to injury." The NRL will contribute A$600,000 ($466,600) and the clubs will "chip in" A$150,000 ($116,700) each to cover the remainder of the costs. Under the terms of the deal, it will be "compulsory for all clubs to fork out for the players' private health insurance." Previously, clubs that did not do so could contribute as little as A$50,000 ($38,900) to the career-ending insurance scheme when the bill was split with the NRL and the players. Their costs will now triple as the funds go toward a "self-insurance scheme that will likely be administered by the union." An NRL spokesperson said that the AFL had recently moved toward the self-insurance model and the governing body and the clubs would "share the costs of running it." The spokesperson added that the clubs agreed to the new system "several months ago." The result is A$3M ($2.33M) being allocated to the health and well-being of the players each year. The NRL will deduct the funding from club grants, which have increased by 130% under the new funding arrangement. Some club execs said that the latest expense "would make it harder to get into the black." One club powerbroker said, "It's going to be another A$100,000 that we have to pay, which is another cost for us to swallow. It's not that this is a bad idea. ... The problem is the communication and timing of it" (SMH, 10/24).
