Rugby league fans love their game, their heroes and their teams.

Many know that the NRL is now managed by an independent 'Australian Rugby League Commission'. But while they regularly disagree with the commission's decisions, they have little idea how it operates and even why it was established. This book sets those contradictions straight. NSW Rugby League CEO David Trodden is uniquely placed to describe the process that led to the game's new governance structure and to analyse its progress.

Once predominantly working-class, rugby league has become a sporting powerhouse, a producer of heroes from Dally Messenger to Johnathan Thurston, and survivor of courtroom battles, endless controversies and the Super League War.

In charting this evolution, Trodden confronts a question now facing those in charge of all major professional sports: is our game a sport or a business, or something in between? The answer has huge implications, not just at the elite level but also for the 'grassroots'.