Martin Offiah believes an England Ashes victory next year would provide a major shot in the arm for rugby league in this country – and help the sport grow bigger than rugby union.
Global sports marketing agency IMG, who are working with the RFL to ‘reimagine’ rugby league, told Mail Sport their mission is to make the 13-a-side code the UK’s No 2 sport after football.
IMG pinpointed the international game as a key area for growth and England are set to host Australia next autumn in the first Ashes series in 21 years.
The Kangaroos are the reigning world champions and have not lost an Ashes – which were historically played against Great Britain – since 1970.
But speaking exclusively to Mail Sport, Britain and Wigan legend Offiah, 58, says: ‘If we can win the Ashes next year, it would echo around the world. You need something phenomenal to grow the sport and the Ashes is a golden opportunity.
Martin Offiah believes rugby league has the capacity to superseed union as a sport in the UK
Rugby League in Great Britain is currently undergoing a major revamp under IMG agency
In May 2022, IMG signed a 12-year deal to ‘reimagine’ rugby league in the United Kingdom
‘Rugby league is so big in Australia, but that’s where it can rebound back to us and help us grow and be bigger than rugby union. If Super League becomes bigger than the NRL, that’s how we become bigger than union.
‘We have to think differently. Rugby league’s first mistake is saying they want to be No 2 because that’s their mentality.
‘You reframe that by saying, “I want rugby league to be bigger than it’s ever been in this country before”. You have to shoot for the stars.
‘Life is about meaning. There could be a great code of sport happening on Mars, but we don’t know anything about it, so it doesn’t mean anything. We have got to think big.’
Offiah believes one thing that is holding back his beloved sport is the salary cap, which limits Super League clubs to spending no more than £2.1million a season. In contrast, the NRL in Australia allows teams to spend £5.8m a year.
Asked if the system needed to be scrapped, Offiah replies: ‘Course it does. It came in with Super League because they didn’t want Wigan winning everything, but all it did was push everything down.
‘Why do you think you can be the biggest sport paying the smallest wages? Who told you that’s a possibility?
‘It’s like me saying I want Connected Kerb, a company I am involved with, to be the biggest electric vehicle charging company in the world, yet we then pay all our employees less than every other EV charging company.
‘If I’m in the crowd watching a game, and I’m earning more than the people on the pitch, do you think I respect them? Do you think I want my kids to aspire to be them?’
Offiah had many battles against Australia while playing on the wing for England and believes if his country can topple the Kangaroos next year then that will be huge for UK rugby league
Growing international rugby league in England is a key focus of IMG within their 12-year plan
Super League clubs are allowed up to three ‘marquee players’, where they can pay whatever wages they can afford with only a maximum of £150,000 counted on the salary cap.
Offiah reckons rugby league ‘missed a trick’ by not enticing Wigan-born former England rugby union captain Owen Farrell back to the sport where he started as a teenager, rather than letting him leave Saracens for Racing 92 in France.
‘If I was rugby league, I would have paid Owen Farrell £10m, a bit like Toronto with Sonny Bill Williams in 2020,’ says Offiah, who started and finished his career in union and whose 18-year-old son Tyler scored a try on his debut for Bath last weekend.
‘No one is watching Farrell in France. But if they could have paid him £10m and got him to Wigan, the Brick Community Stadium would have been full every week and not only with Wigan fans.
‘You only need one. Look at the UFC model. As long as Conor McGregor is earning millions and millions, that is enough. You can grow it and get eyeballs on you.’
Offiah still works as an ambassador for Super League champions Wigan, where he won every club trophy going after joining them from Widnes for a then world-record fee of £440,000 in 1992.
‘Chariots’ was inducted into the RFL Hall of Fame and is one of five greats featured on the rugby league statue outside Wembley, along with Eric Ashton, Billy Boston, Alex Murphy and Gus Risman.
‘That was the best move they have ever done,’ laughs Offiah. ‘If I wasn’t on it, then that statue wouldn’t mean anything because no one knows the others on there.’
Offiah, though, has a serious point about how he was able to become a household name – and how the current generation need to market themselves more.
‘Rugby league didn’t make me, I made myself,’ he says. ‘I went out and appeared on every single reality TV show in the country. I’ve always gone out and I’ve spoken to the press.
‘I understood what was unique about me. I’m a Nigerian from London, who is the biggest name in a northern sport.
‘I understood marketing myself and I created a brand for myself. When rugby league invites me back to be guest of honour, I’ll wear a pink suit because it will stand out.
‘I left Wigan in 1996, yet I can walk down the streets of Wigan and people will bow their heads, buy me drinks, ask for autographs.
‘What Bevan French has done at Wigan is phenomenal. But my son who is playing for Bath, and hasn’t even made his Premiership debut yet, has had more column inches written about him than Bevan French.
‘Junior Nsemba at Wigan has got the world at his feet. He’s a superstar. If he can help England beat Australia in the Ashes next year, he will become the biggest rugby league star this country has ever seen, because that’s national importance.
‘But Junior has got to do it himself. Like most things in life, it’s down to you as an individual.’
Offiah transcended the sport during his time – opening himself to multiple media opportunities
Offiah is dismayed that IMG and the RFL have not got him on board as they look to revolutionise the sport.
‘If there is anyone you should be talking to, it’s me,’ he says. ‘I am the only person from rugby league who has made a name for themselves and can go to Twickenham or anywhere and still get recognised. No one else has done that.’
Offiah also has experience of cracking the capital. He helped raise awareness of rugby league in London during his three years with the Broncos, who were then owned by Virgin tycoon Richard Branson.
However, the London club were demoted from Super League this year, meaning French outfit Catalans Dragons will be the only team outside of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the top flight next season.
Asked how the game could grow in London again, Offiah says: ‘It needs a colourful, charismatic figure like Richard Branson.
‘It took Richard Branson to get me out Wigan. He flew me down in a helicopter and sold me a dream.
‘He walked London Broncos out in the 1999 Challenge Cup final. That was our moment but we didn’t seize on it.’
The London Broncos aren’t in Super League next year but the city is an untapped market
Offiah played for the capital club between 1996-99 helping raise awareness of the sport there
Offiah at least hopes that rugby league, through the achievements of his old club Wigan, will be recognised at next month’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Matt Peet’s Warriors won four trophies this season including the World Club Challenge, emulating the feat of Offiah’s team in 1994.
‘Hopefully Wigan win Team of the Year, Matty Peet wins Coach of the Year and Bevan French wins Overseas Sports Personality of the Year,’ adds Offiah.
‘If those things happen, that’ll be the greatest thing to happen to rugby league since the Wigan team that I played with – and they would deserve it.’
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