Rugby is building sandcastles in the air

 
The Crowd Roar Guru

By sheek, 12 May 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru

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Crusaders' Thomas Waldrom is hammered into the ground by Brumbies players in the Super 14 rugby match at Canberra Stadium, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Crusaders' Thomas Waldrom is hammered into the ground by Brumbies players in the Super 14 rugby match at Canberra Stadium, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Whatever John O’Neill’s faults, he’s a pragmatic fellow. One of O’Neill’s favourite sayings, a constant reminder to rugby fans, is that too many of us “see the world as we want it to be, and not as it actually is.”

While the sentiment is noble, it is often highly illogical and impractical, as O’Neill points out.

‘Roarers’ have debated ad nauseum various models of Australian national comps, myself very much in the vanguard, as well as various Super Series models.

The reality is, we’re building sandcastles in the air.

A question to ask at this point is “how did it all come to this?” At the beginning of the millenium, there appeared to be no end to Australian rugby’s bright new dawn.

Yet, less than a decade later, the code is floundering in Australia.

I don’t care for the statistics, they can be manipulated in any variety of ways. Sure, you can find fault with all four football codes, but rugby union is still at the bottom of the pile, whichever way you dissect the problems.

I admire the constant positive vibes of some rugby fans. But eventually reality must bite. It’s like losing a limb where no amount of positive attitude will make that limb grow back again.

A positive attitude helps you cope with the disability, and to move on. But it doesn’t reverse the process.

Perhaps one day humanity will find the means, but at present it’s impossible. So let’s stop pretending rugby union is doing okay, or that the limb will grow back!

Last week at a sports seminar, O’Neill warned the four football codes that they all “needed to tighten their belts.” In response, a FFA spokesman said football would continue with its expansion plans as “it had deep player penetration in all those markets.”

And that is the crux of the matter – deep player (participation) penetration.

Whatever his faults, O’Neill is on the money with his proposed Super 15 suggestion of five provinces from each of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Each province playing its fellow countrymen twice, and the others once each for a total of 18 matches per province. Plus, a six team finals series.

Perfect!

If South Africa don’t come to an agreement, it will become a trans-Tasman competition with the five Aussie and five Kiwi provinces.

Okay, there might be less broadcasting revenue for a trans-Tasman competition, but operating costs (air travel, accommodation, transfers) will also be less. The bottom line could possibly come out the same.

Furthermore, Aussie and Kiwi fans won’t have to put up with early morning games in South Africa (our time). All practical, common sense stuff.

Even putting a fifth provincial team together will require the co-operation of all the stakeholders in Australian rugby. We need to get as many quality players back from Europe and Japan as we can. We also need a draft to ensure the five provinces are more or less of a similar standard.

Any thoughts of a eight to ten team national competition is regrettably sandcastles in the air stuff – unsustainable. It won’t happen for about twenty years, if ever.

How did it all come to this?

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