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Peter FitzSimons
February 28, 2009
A FRIEND, we'll call him Nick Farr-Jones, tells me that a few years back he was on an evening flight from Tokyo to Hawaii on Japan Airlines and just after take-off the following announcement came over the intercom, in a soft wispy voice.
"This is Captain Takenata, speaking. We hope you enjoy your flight. We have a journey of 3000 kilometres to make and will be cruising at an altitude of 10,000 metres. We will be arriving over Honolulu at dawn tomorrow morning. And they don't know we're coming" …
Look, in this tumultuous week, at least the NRL knows the Japanese are coming and that the departure of Cronulla international Fraser Anderson for the Japanese rugby union competition is likely to be the forerunner of many more. How can the NRL defend itself from not just the raids of the Japanese, but also the French, the Italians and the English? There is only one way: find more money for those who are targeted. If they can't, they will continue to lose them - it is as simple as that. As to all the rest of it, the huffery-puffery, the accusations of - no, really - "disloyalty", the implied threats that those found even talking to other entities risks having their contracts torn up, all of that is nonsense.
More than any other game in Australia, rugby league was built on blokes going out after an extra quid - and good luck to them. That was its beginnings, that has been its tradition throughout, and that might well be its end in big-time sport. In the meantime, spare us your aggrieved squeals. You lot invented this way of doing business!
more here....http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/lea...237920459.html
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Originally Posted by travelling_gerry
