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An Orbit of Coercive Comparison: Collective Bargaining in the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League

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The Sports Business in The Pacific Rim

Part of the book series: Sports Economics, Management and Policy ((SEMP,volume 10))

Abstract

This chapter employs Arthur M. Ross’s notion of ‘orbits of coercive comparison’ to explain recent developments in collective bargaining in Australian professional team sports. It focuses on how the Rugby League Players’ Association based its negotiations for an agreement with the National Rugby League on an earlier agreement negotiated in the Australian Football League. The chapter provides basic information on broader developments within both codes, accounts of the negotiation and major features of both agreements and post collective bargaining developments in the respective sports.

I was a consultant for the Rugby League Players’ Association in the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement examined here. I have also been a consultant to the Australian Football League Players Association and a member of their Player Agent Accreditation Board. I bear sole responsibility for the contents of this chapter. I am responsible for the analysis and any errors contained herein.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ross (1948).

  2. 2.

    Andrew Demetriou and Matt Finnis, CBA statement in full, December 2011; [AFLPA] Your CBA- A Snapshot (December 2011); and Adrian Anderson and Ian Prendergast, Memorandum: CBA memo to AFL Industry, 22 March 2012. At the time of writing, the Collective Bargaining Agreement is still in the process of being written up.

  3. 3.

    NRL-RLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement Proposed Terms, December 2012; and NRL/RLPA CBA Heads of Agreement, May 2013.

  4. 4.

    Australian Football is an eighteen players a side game, with no off side. Imagine basketball, with a kicking game played on an Olympic Games style egg shaped oval.

  5. 5.

    Rugby League is a thirteen players a side game, with off side, played on a rectangle. It is akin to American Football, without a forward pass.

  6. 6.

    Rugby Union is also played in winter. It is a game not that dissimilar to Rugby League, with fifteen players a side. Soccer, a fourth football code is played in summer. Cricket is Australia’s leading summer sport.

  7. 7.

    For details on the various teams which have occupied both leagues see Macdonald and Booth (2007); Terry Williams, ‘The Lost Tribes of League: The Fate of Axed and Merged Clubs and Their Fans’, 11th Annual Tom Brock Lecture, Australian Society for Sports History, 2010.

  8. 8.

    Stewart and Dickson (2007).

  9. 9.

    In 2011 it was estimated to be $ 835 million—$ 345 million AFL and $ 500 million for clubs, exclusive of redistributions from the AFL. Dabscheck (2011). The Australian Football League Annual Report 2012, pp. 124, 4 and 74 records AFL income increasing to $ 420 million, total attendance of 6,238,876 and total club membership 650,562.

  10. 10.

    It also took over the hitherto amateur game, Rugby Union, in developing a two tiered competition between initially 12 (now 15) regional teams from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia and initially a Tri-Nations competition between national teams, and now a fourth team, Argentina.

  11. 11.

    Skinner and Edwards (2007).

  12. 12.

    “Lachlan’s Legacy: $ 560 million Lost on Super League”, The Australian Financial Review, 8 August 2005, pp. 1 + 72–73.

  13. 13.

    Walter (2013).

  14. 14.

    Macdonald and Booth (2007).

  15. 15.

    www.nrl.com/About/ARLCommission/tabid/10891/Default.aspx. Accessed 23 July 2013.

  16. 16.

    The estimates are based on an earlier calculation of NRL income for 2009/2010 of $ 157 million for the NRL and $ 195 million for clubs, a total of $ 352 million. Dabscheck, “Player Shares of Revenue”, p. 69. Part of club income is derived from grants from their respective Leagues’ Clubs. During the collective bargaining negotiations, the RLPA was told that these grants were expected to fall. In 2012, the NRL (not the clubs) obtained an income of $ 186 million. Australian Rugby League Commission Consolidated General Purpose Financial Report for the year ended 31 October 2012, p. 6. The NRL Annual Report 2013, p. 11, records total attendance for 2012 of 3,151,660, with total club membership of 210,677. Compare this the AFL above.

  17. 17.

    Dabscheck (1996).

  18. 18.

    AFL/AFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement 2007–2011, Clause 8.1, p. 15.

  19. 19.

    Dabscheck and Opie (2003).

  20. 20.

    Australian Football League, Annual Report 2012, p. 63.

  21. 21.

    AFL/AFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement 2007-2011, Clause 11, pp. 18–20; Schedule B, pp. 66–72; and InForm, Official Magazine Of The Australian Football League Players’ Association, Edition 57, April 2010, pp. 12–13.

  22. 22.

    AFL Players’ Association Players’ Handbook, pp. 32–33.

  23. 23.

    Base payment here means a specified amount (base) contained in the contract as distinct from match or performance based payments, say for selection in an All Australian side. Other than first and second year players, the overwhelming majority of payments to players are specified as base payments.

  24. 24.

    AFL/AFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement 2007–2011, Schedule B, pp. 81–91.

  25. 25.

    AFL/AFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement 2007–2011, Clause 33, pp. 51–59.

  26. 26.

    Adamson v New South Wales Rugby League (1991) 31 FCR 242; 103 ALR 319.

  27. 27.

    Dabscheck (2007).

  28. 28.

    Rugby League Players (NRL) Collective Agreement 2006–2010; Unregistered Agreement Between National Rugby League and Rugby League Professionals Association 2007; Agreement Between National Rugby League and Rugby League Players Association 12 November 2012; and Annexure 1 (not dated for 2012 season).

  29. 29.

    Various collective bargaining deals in Australian sport specify that a portion of the income paid to players should be specifically directed to their respective player associations.

  30. 30.

    Annual Wage Review 2010–2011 (2011) FWAFB 3400; and Annual Wage Review 2011–2012 (2012) FWAFB 5000. Fair Work Australia’s determinations are expressed as a weekly payment. These amounts have been multiplied by 52 to provide a yearly amount.

  31. 31.

    Information in the above paragraphs is derived from sources in Footnote 29.

  32. 32.

    Section 6, National Rugby League Playing Contract.

  33. 33.

    Australian Football League Annual Report 2011, pp. 13–19, 25–26, 35–37 and 41–43; also see Australian Football League Annual Report 2012, 34–48.

  34. 34.

    Dabscheck, “Player Shares of Revenue”, p. 65.

  35. 35.

    AFL, CBA Proposal to AFLPA, Presentation to Media, August 2011.

  36. 36.

    Australia has a legislated superannuation system that applies to sportspersons as well as other employees. Under it, employers were required to contribute 9 % of income into a fund, which has recently been increased, in a first step, to a 12 % contribution. Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cwth).

  37. 37.

    NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement 1993–2005 (this agreement was extended to 2010), Article XLVII, pp. 198–200; and NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement (2011–2020) August 4, 2011, Article 55, pp. 225–256. This agreement and others in American baseball, basketball and hockey provide a variety of retirement benefits to players.

  38. 38.

    AFLPA website, click onto CBA; AFL Players Association, 2011 AFL Players’ Year In Review.

  39. 39.

    2011 AFL Players’ Year In Review, p. 6.

  40. 40.

    (AFLPA) Your CBA.

  41. 41.

    AFL Players’ Year In Review 2012, p. 45.

  42. 42.

    Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cat. No. 6302.0, Average Weekly Earnings, November 2012. The annual figure has been derived by multiplying the reported weekly figure by 52.

  43. 43.

    (AFLPA) Your CBA; and AFL Players’ Year In Review 2012, p. 45.

  44. 44.

    Anderson and Prendergast, Memorandum.

  45. 45.

    Demetriou and Matt Finnis, CBA statement in full.

  46. 46.

    Read (2012a); Lee (2012)

  47. 47.

    NRL, The Greatest Game of All (29 October 2012); NRL, Media Release, 29 October, 2012.

  48. 48.

    He commissioned Brendan Schwab, a long time leader of Professional Footballers Australia, and me as consultants to aid him in negotiations. Brendan Schwab has since moved into consultancy full time.

  49. 49.

    InForm, August 2010, p. 2. AFLPA website, click onto staff.

  50. 50.

    Walter (2012); Read (2012e).

  51. 51.

    Read (2012c); Brent (2012d).

  52. 52.

    Also see Heathcote (2012), for comparative data on the income of the top 30 football clubs, across all codes, for 2011.

  53. 53.

    Read (2012b).

  54. 54.

    Heads of Agreement, Clause 11.2, p. 27.

  55. 55.

    Heads of Agreement, Clause 8, pp. 21–23.

  56. 56.

    Heads of Agreement, Clause 10, p. 24.

  57. 57.

    Heads of Agreement, Clause 12, p. 28.

  58. 58.

    Australian Rugby Collective Bargaining Agreement Mark III, Schedule C—Standard Player Contract, Clause 18, p. 11. The term of the agreement was from 2006 to 2009. It has been rolled over each year until now and is in the process of being renegotiated.

  59. 59.

    Heads of Agreement, Clause 13, p. 28–32.

  60. 60.

    Heads of Agreement, Clause 20, p. 38–39.

  61. 61.

    National Rugby League Playing Contract, Sect. 11, p. 17.

  62. 62.

    Heads of Agreement, Clauses 22 and 27.5, pp. 39–40 and 47–48.

  63. 63.

    Australian Football League Annual Report 2012, p. 63.

  64. 64.

    Australian Football League Annual Report 2012, p. 16.

  65. 65.

    Heathcote, ‘Not Just A Game’.

  66. 66.

    Australian Football League Annual Report 2012, p. 122.

  67. 67.

    This rests on the assumption that clubs are utility and not profit maximisers. Additional funds will be utilised to enhance the team’s chances of success.

  68. 68.

    Ryan (2013a, b).

  69. 69.

    Quinn (2012); Berri (2012); Rascher and DeSchriver (2012).

  70. 70.

    Read (2013).

  71. 71.

    A-League Collective Bargaining Agreement 2008/2009–2012/2013, H-AL and NYL Player Contract Regulations, Clauses 6.2 and 7.6; and Variation and Extension of A-League Collective Bargaining Agreement 2008/2009–2014/2015, 14 June 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Braham Dabscheck

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  1. Braham Dabscheck
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Correspondence to Braham Dabscheck .

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  1. Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)

    Young Hoon Lee

  2. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Rodney Fort

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Dabscheck, B. (2015). An Orbit of Coercive Comparison: Collective Bargaining in the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League. In: Lee, Y., Fort, R. (eds) The Sports Business in The Pacific Rim. Sports Economics, Management and Policy, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10037-1_18

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