NRL chair confirms Super League takeover talks plan as Ashes series sets up discussions

NRL bosses Andrew Abdo and Peter V’Landys have revealed that talks for the Australian competition to buy a stake in Super League are still ongoing.

Whispers of a takeover have been doing the rounds for over a year,  across the season, with the NRL reportedly wanting to buy a stake in the British game.

Reports of a new competition came to light, with ‘NRL Europe’ a proposed idea, in what would have been a breakaway league for the top teams in the Northern Hemisphere.

Talks were thought to have died down, however reports from the NRL Grand Final have said that Abdo and V’Landys are still very much interested in sparking those discussions back up again.

The pair will travel to the UK when Australia, who have announced their 24-man squad, travel to face England in just over a fortnight’s time in what will be the first Ashes series in over 20 years.

NRL chief executives, Wests Tigers’ Shane Richardson and South Sydney’s Blake Solly, have been the ‘driving forces’ with the Australians said to be looking at the possibility of  buying a 51% stake in Super League.

Speaking to an Australian radio station this week, V’Landys confirmed talks would re-open sooner rather than later.

“We’re looking at it,” he said. “We want to make sure rugby league survives in England and that it is vibrant and healthy. There’s certainly some (green) shoots there that can be expanded.

“We will go over there for the Australia-England game and we will be speaking to some of the Super League clubs to see how we can help.

“We have nothing certain but we will certainly look at it because it’s very important to have a strong English competition.”

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