Roar reader Bruce Sheekey submitted these comments in reply to an article from Peter Jenkins in last Thursday’s Daily Telegraph in which he re-raised the issue of relocating the Brumbies to Melbourne.
‘Here are my point-form thoughts:
1. It makes sense to have Australia’s four S14 Provinces located in our four largest cities. The AFL’s sixteen franchises are located in our five largest cities.
2. The Brumbies would be a perfect fit for Melbourne and Victoria. The state has its own rich equine history, its own high country, and the country’s most famous and richest horserace is run in Melbourne.
3. You may remember the ACT Kookaburra’s jersey colours being gold and royal blue hoops? The Brumbies, by changing to predominantly navy blue and white, with gold piping, have inadvertently married to Victoria’s main colours of navy blue and white.
4. A family friend, who sells advertising over the internet, says a region like the Central Coast would struggle to maintain a professional franchise over a long period, despite being close to Sydney. The area simply doesn’t have the population, business and resources infrastructure. Ditto Canberra. We were discussing specifically the Central Coast mariners soccer team. it was noted the Mariners are presently backed by a rich benefactor, John Singleton.
5. By relocating the Brumbies to Melbourne, it gives Melbourne a team with a ready-made history and brand. The Brumbies may need a new leash of life post Gregan-Larkham anyhow. It also allows the ARU to penetrate the Victorian market more quickly with the Brumbies’.
Update: we wrongly attributed this article. It’s by Bruce Sheekey. Apologies to both Bruces!
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Mitch said | April 12th 2007 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
I’m going to stir the pot here:
How about we just re-draw the NSW-VIC border more or less a little north of Canberra? The people are as strange in the south of NSW as Victorians, with Canberrians to boot, and aussie rules is more popular in this area. Not to metnion similarities in terrain and weather (terrible!!). To save the trouble of relocating all those professional sportsmen, the Brumbies, just change the border. Then we deal with many problems all at once!
So, what do people think?!?! hahaha…
Hayden said | April 12th 2007 @ 12:16pm | Report comment
Why ruin a good product. It is hard enough getting players to move to Canberra let alone Melbourne…
Mitch said | April 12th 2007 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
Exactly! Nicely said! Why would anyone want to move to Melbourne?!!
Greg said | April 12th 2007 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Stupid jokes aside, the Brumbies would be much much better off financially in Melbourne. The club couldnt compete with the Force signing Giteau and will continue to struggle in that regard. Crowds are low in Canberra, Melbourne is a proven sporting heartland with crowds flocking to any major sport there. It attracts huge crowds to Bledisloe cup games and I am sure the Super 14 memberships/attendances would follow suit. From a financial viewpoint they would be better off, and it will also be better for rugby longterm if Victoria starts to develop a strong grassroots program.
Terry Kidd said | April 12th 2007 @ 12:44pm | Report comment
How long have the Storm been in Melbourne and how are they travelling financially?
Rugby League State of Origin matches in melbourne have drawn good crowds as have the Bledisloe Tests but the Storm, despite good on-field performance, struggle to draw good crowds. Why would Brumbies S14 matches be any different?
Nothing I have read so far convinces me that a southern move would be a step in the right direction.
Gatesy said | April 12th 2007 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Here we go again. As I said last week,..
Every year about this time when the Waratahs are looking for some sort of edge over the Brumbies, some Sydney journo raises the spectre of the Brumbies moving to Melbourne.
I’m not saying it can’t happen, because ARU administrators are silly enough to go along with it, but I am saying it shouldn’t happen.
As Andrew Fagan (ACT Brumbies CEO) says we have a pretty good sponsorship base here in Canberra. Our major sponsor is a rather large international company CA.
We probably do as well in that arena as any of the other states. To sugges that we lost Giteau because of our financial ability is silly – Qld and NSW missed the boat on him, too!
David Campese in his column only today talked about the Brumbies siege mentality and questioned whether or not it is time to get over it. When you read articles like Jenkins’, is it any wonder that we all feel like that?
For those who have never been to Canberra Stadium and felt the atmosphere and the partisanship of the crowd, and the love that the population has for the Brumbies, come down and treat yourself to a great Rugby experience!! Who says we can’t attract crowds?
I was in WA last week and could not find one reference to Rugby, l(et alone the Western Force) in the local papers in the middle of the week. Everyone I spoke to the two days I was there had heard something about hte Western Force, but they couldnt really say what.
The bottom line is that if the Brumbies moved to Melbourne, they would suffer the same fate. They would be swallowed up and they would seriously be competing with the big boys of AFL for the sponsorship dollar. At least we don’t have that problem in Canberra.
Look what has happened with the Melbourne Force.
Let Victoria prove itself first, by seeing how it goes in the APC, for at least a couple of years and then start worrying about a Super 14 franchise. Walk before you crawl. Everything in Rugby is not about the almighty sponsorship dollar, you know.
My message to those journos – bugger off, leave the Brumbies alone and get on with writing something meaningful about your pathetic team, which is supposedly full of superstars., and ask yourself why a place like Canberra consistently breeds success, and also just how many Rugby stars have come out of Melbourne in recent years?
matta said | April 12th 2007 @ 1:50pm | Report comment
Ok, I live in Melboune (just moved here from SA) and i can tell you a Vic based Union would draw a much bigger crowd than the Storm.
But, the fact of the matter is the players coming out of Canberra over the last decade have grown thanks to the Brumbies. If the Burmbies up and leave I just worry that the ACT will return to a League dominated area. The Storm are doing nothing or very little in Vic to promote local comps and we will never get close to beating the AFL.
Look, I would love a team here but to me it makes more sense to keep winning over ACT kids and leave Melbourne to do what it can with the APC.
Greg said | April 12th 2007 @ 3:53pm | Report comment
Yeah I agree see what it can do in the APC first then maybe. Gatesy, many of your points are thin:
1.You mention QLD and NSW also missed the boat on Giteau, the point I was trying to make was at least they were in with a shot (at lease NSW anyway) the fact is, ACT cannot compete financially with the bigger franchises — my point is the Brumbies never had a chance of securing Gits unless he wanted to stay at home and take a massive pay cut. This will continue to happen: clubs with the most money (ie Tahs and Force currently) will continue to snatch up players.
It’s great you have a big sponser in CA but that pales in comparison to the third party deals that WA and NSW and potentially Victoria can conjure up (whether this is a good thing is debatable, I merely agrue ACT cannot compete financially).
2.You also mention there was nothing said in the papers about the Force midweek, if there is any news about the Force the West Australian reports it. On Mondays and Thursdays (both “midweek” days!) there are liftouts in the paper just on rugby. Also both the Sunday Times and The West have Force players/coaches writing columns. But if there is nothing to report WA has many other sporting teams/players to report on and there is limited space. The argument would be that ACT only has two sports sides (three if you occasionally count the Kangaroos) and there is much more opportunity to write many more articles to fill your papers back pages. Aside from that The Force has the biggest membership in Australia and also draws the biggest average crowds so there really is no point in bashing The Force.
3. Sure Victoria has a much more competetive sporting landscape, it also has over 10 times the population – surely developing the game in one of the strong sporting states would be beneficial longterm? Doesn’t it seem odd that the self-proclaimed “sporting capital of the world” have no provincial team? But I do agree on your point to see how it does in the APC, a luxury The Force did not have (and thankfully the risk has paid off!)
4. To say it is just some journo trying to get an edge is a little bitter, sure there are some biased journos (I would argue there is no real objectivity in journalism and never has been, but thats another point for another day) but the points made are relevant and not just anti-Brumbies.
Maybe the Brumbies should play a few games of S14 in Melbourne next season in conjunction with the new APC team forming and see if a parnership could be formed, that way the two unions can join forces and Victoria could act as a feeder union to ACT. There would also be more opportunity for sponsorship – that would be beneficial for both parties.
Feel free to argue these, just throwing it out there for some healthy debate!
damos_x said | April 12th 2007 @ 6:37pm | Report comment
Now I’m no expert but I have the feeling that there is a more rugbycentric audience in Canberra than Melbourne, so when the sponsorship/crowdinterest /culture angle is raised the factor of just how many people in the two locations are already rugby fans vs how many new converts are really available should be examined closely. Melbourne has shown itself to be a city that will embrace a dynamic & successful team so the Brumbies will have a good chance but how many fans will be left behind in the ACT, who will have lost the team they have supported well ? The expansion possibilities in Melbourne are infinite in terms of marketing said successful team but there will be a gap in between the possible & the actual at some point. As a franchise it may well outstrip the current guise for dollars, fans etc but there will be casualties & the game needs to really have a good think about just where does it see itself going & how will it best achieve those aims. No doubt there will need to be expansion into the southern arena at some point if rugby union is to excell in the sporting marketplace in Australia but the suggestion that it should occurr by relocation is off the mark. If the financial reasons are to come to the fore then shouldn’t it be the Reds ( I say this with a heavy heart as I am a QLD’er) who are struggling for sponsorship support & which is most in need of a new face ? but to suggest that they should pack their bags & buy some new winter woollies would be greeted with laughter at best, so why is it that we see the Brumbies in any different light ? Melbourne needs top class rugby but the manner in which the Force have joined the rugby world should be the blueprint ( after all they were selected ahead of any possible Victorian franchise) not the forced relocation of Australian club rugby’s most successful team.
matta said | April 12th 2007 @ 11:36pm | Report comment
yep, keep the ACT a rugby zone – dont let it slip back to the raiders… The AFL have all but given up. Sure its only a few hundred thousand people but look at the players its produced.
I would chip away at Melbourne with the APC then, in time, look for another team to come from here.
With all the bad press, Jnr player number actually went up last year. Surely in time we are looking for a 5th team?
I honestly think the lack of spark in Aussie Rugby at the moment is not to do with a 4th team spreading the players thin.