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April 9, 2006
In a major coup for the NRL (National Rugby League Telstra Premiership;
one of the most popular sporting competitions in Australia, and New
Zealand) the grandmother of rock, Tina Turner, will return as the face of
rugby league in its centenary year, 2008.
We can exclusively reveal that talks with Turner and her management team
about a spectacular advertising campaign and personal appearance have
progressed dramatically in recent days.
League marketing boss Paul Kind, who is behind the Turner push, says the
centenary year is a perfect platform for a campaign that still thrills
league fans after 11 years.
"We needed something really, really special for our centenary," Kind told
us.
"That campaign is perfect to celebrate 100 years of our game. Fans still
have a great affinity with it. It has become an enduring symbol of the
game."
 Turner's manager, Richard Davies, is based in Australia and has made
contact with Turner in the south of France, where she is now a resident.
The diva of rock has told her manager she would be keen on making a
comeback with her signature tune, "Simply" The Best.
Now in her late 60s, Turner enjoyed her time in Australia immensely and
became hooked on the game and its players when she shot the original
campaign in 1995.
"This is not going backwards," Kind says. "It is just celebrating
something that was great about our history and a really special time in
rugby league."
The Hoodoo Gurus campaign will continue until the end of the 2007 season,
before Turner's arrival in 2008.
Kind is hoping she will appear at the centenary season launch in March of
that year.
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