netprofile=PROFILE doesn't work because there is a bug in the script
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit :

# Boot time profiles. Yes, this should be somewhere else.
if grep -q "netprofile=" /proc/cmdline ; then
    cmdline=`cat /proc/cmdline`
    for arg in cmdline ; do                           
       if [ "${arg##netprofile=}" != "${arg}" ]; then
          [ -x /usr/sbin/redhat-config-network-cmd ] &&
            /usr/sbin/redhat-config-network-cmd --profile ${arg##netprofile=}
       fi
    done
fi

==> the line for arg in cmdline ; do
should be for arg in $cmdline ; do