The National Rugby League "is on the brink of a damaging new civil war amid suggestions that as many as five clubs plan to reject proposed constitutional reform" at a secret ballot next Wednesday, according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. After "many months of negotiations and drafting," the changes to the Australian Rugby League Commission constitution will be voted on by clubs at the NRL annual general meeting in Sydney. It will "take the opposition of just two clubs," or either the New South Wales Rugby League or Queensland Rugby League, to "derail them." With conversations between club chairs and their boards "heating up as the vote approaches, the indication is that there are more than enough clubs planning to knock back the terms of the reforms" (SMH, 2/13). In Sydney, Brent Read reported QRL Chair Bruce Hatcher "hopes common sense will prevail" but said that the fault will not "lie north of the border if constitutional reform falls over." The QRL and the NSWRL "have worn much of the blame for the uncertainty," as several clubs and the commission itself raised "concerns over changes to the constitution" that would give the states "significant power" over decision-making. Hatcher suggested the "disgruntled clubs need to suck it up, given the alternative is to retain a system that has driven both the states and the clubs to despair." He said, "You’re going to go back to a system that hasn’t worked?" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/14).
