Broncos had advantages that Sydney clubs could only dream of having, including a monopoly on sponsorship dollars from Brisbane as well as media saturation that included Broncos games being shown on television in Brisbane every week and lead stories in the Qld-based newspapers. Many also pointed out that while the player talent pool in NSW was spread out amongst the 13 NSWRL clubs in the state (plus Canberra), the Broncos had virtually all of Queensland to draw players from (in 1993, the Broncos had 10 Australian test players and another 5 State of Origin representatives in their first grade squad. The next best was Canberra with 8 test players (Australia and New Zealand) and 2 representative players). An exponent of national and even international expansion of rugby league, Ribot found News Ltd a willing participant in forming an elite, rival competition in the mid-1990s. Resigning from his position as the Broncos' Chief Executive, he became CEO of the organisation known as Super League in the war for rugby league in Australia. Ribot partially realised his 'vision' in getting the competition up and running in 1997 then resigned as Super League chief executive on 24 June to help facilitate a peace deal being reached with the ARL. He secured the franchise to form a club in Melbourne for the re-united competition in 1998. The Melbourne Storm won the 1999 grand final in only the second season of the club's existence. In 2000 Ribot was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. Ribot's single-minded battle for acceptance in an Aussie rules-dominated city saw the Storm part company with premiership-winning coach Chris Anderson in 2001. Soccer administration In 2004, Ribot extended his sports administration portfolio into football, becoming Chairman of the Queensland Roar FC in the Football Federation Australia's A-League competition. He resigned from this role in March 2008. Other boards John Ribot has also served on the board of: TAB Queensland John Ribot is a Director of: Victorian Major Events Company 2004–present John Ribot-de-Bresac is a Director of ASX listed company iSonea Sources External links Rleague's statistics page Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au Victorian Major Events Company Redcliffe Dolphins Clubs records 1955 births Living people Australian people of French descent Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Fortitude Valley Diehards players Wests Panthers players Redcliffe Dolphins players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Australia national