NRL Chairman Peter V’Landys has claimed to have saved the AFL from financial ruin at the height of the COVID pandemic.
The outspoken leader believes that without the NRL re-starting in May, the AFL would have waited until at least August to re-start their competition, causing further financial ruin.
V’Landys believes the NRL’s return on May 28 opened the door for the AFL to follow a fortnight later on June 11.
“In an unusual way we saved a lot of sports,” V’Landys said on Fox League’s Face to Face with Matty Johns.
“Because a lot of sports were looking at much later dates. They were looking at August-September and the financial losses they would have incurred would have been significant.
“I think the AFL were looking at a billion-dollar loss, is what they announced. They made a $24 million loss because they started earlier.
“So, we proved we could be leaders, and we led, and everyone else followed.”
V’Landys believes that AFL fans will soon turn to following the NRL as competition increases between the two codes.
"They’ve never had competition,” he added.
“To them it’s foreign, they don’t know how to handle it.
“We’re giving them competition. We’re going to get better, we’re going to get stronger and we’re going to take some of their fans.”
The chairman took a swipe at the AFL, describing the sport as “boring” and explaining that he cannot get enthused about it.
“I’ve never been a fan and I don’t want to take anything away from the great athletes of the AFL … they are great athletes, and they have to be because it is such a boring sport,” he added.
“I can’t get enthused on it ... but there’s a lot of other people that love the sport, but they must love a lot of other boring things too.”
V’Landys didn’t stop at just attacking the game, also taking aim at AFL figureheads for making the battle “personal”.
“There’s certain figureheads, they go for the person rather than the ball,” he said.
“I remember one chairman down there calling me a ‘nothing’. He got quite personal.
“I don’t blame them for wanting to come in and take over. That’s what they are paid to do. But we’ve just got to take them on.”
