Going global in rugby league’s brave new world
Roar Guru By Steve Kaless, 20 Jun 2009 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- barcelona, Catalans Dragons, English super league, Four Nations, international rugby league, NRL, RFL, Rugby Football League, Rugby League
Australian Rugby League player Andrew Johns, right, is handed off by Leeds Rhinos' Danny Ward as Johns makes his debut for Warrington Wolves during their Super League game at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington, England. AP Photo/Paul Ellis
Finally, having a passport is becoming worthwhile for rugby league fans with English Super League side Catalans Dragons taking their match against Warrington to the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona this weekend in the hope of drawing a few interested onlookers.
It’s probably about time some of rugby league’s much maligned administrators got a few pats on the back.
An insider with the Rugby Football League has told me that ticket sales for the match have been going better than expected. The French are taking them up in droves, with extra coaches being put on.
But amongst locals, there has also been solid interest.
After all, there is a small break in the football window and residents of Barcelona are fiercely proud of being Catalan. So anything that shares the name will always get a second glance.
But this isn’t about rugby league taking over Barcelona, it’s not even about trying to pronounce Raudonikis after too many sangrias.
It is that, finally, there seems to be a concerted effort to spread the game.
The game’s governing body in the UK, the RFL, probably had a sobering wake up call when England smashed France 66-12 in Paris last Saturday.
I say wake up call because there may have been some excuse for thinking they had done all the hard work following the success of the Dragons in Super League and new club Toulouse in the Championship.
However, despite the result, I feel the organisers should be praised for having the guts to take the game to Paris in an attempt to broaden the game’s appeal.
It’s probably a good thing that the swanky do held to attract the sponsors was scheduled before the game rather than after.
But at least it seems someone is trying.
For too long, an international calendar was simply an after-thought for rugby league administrators. But now, the momentum from the last World Cup actually seems to have moved into something tangible.
Apart from the Four Nations at the end of the year, my interest will lie in the Pacific Nations Cup and European Nations Cup, which are being held at the same time.
It’s encouraging to see that a game so often mocked for not existing outside New South Wales or Queensland in Australia and the M62 corridor in the UK, will now see matches played in Limerick, Glasgow, Tripoli, Belgrade and Moscow.
Real success might be a long way away, but that is where it stays until you start that journey.
It makes me wonder if the Roosters shouldn’t be given more incentive to be more imaginative when they play the role of travelling circus.
The Sharks and Rabbitohs have taken matches to Adelaide and Perth this year, so why can’t the Roosters ditch their on-again-off-again love affair with the Central Coast and try Rockhampton, the Sunshine Coast, or even Port Moresby.
We hear they all want an NRL franchise, so why not test the waters with a few games?
The same could be argued with the idea of stealing the English concept of playing a whole round at one venue.
The Super League have seen great success staging a whole round of matches at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium and then Edinburgh’s Murrayfield, but then we get all creative and think the concept might work at Suncorp.
Puhlease.
The whole reason the English concept worked was because it was held in a whole new area. It is pointless taking the game to Brisbane. You’ll hardly win over any more converts by getting them to watch the Sharks Vs the Warriors.
Good things have been done by people thinking outside the square and making bold decisions.
League fans can only hope they continue to see more, not less.
Recommend this story.
June 20th 2009 @ 4:06pm
Steve Kaless said | June 20th 2009 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
Dan, The Link
Thanks. I certainly don’t think everything is rosy, but it is good to see that, finally, some real efforts seem to be being made on structured expansion and the international game. There is certainly a long way to go, and we have probably missed many great opportunities, but the time for excuses was long ago.
Nick,
Couldn’t agree more about the grass roots. I’d argue the two are mutually exclusive but is about trying to help build something by using the other, if that makes sense.
June 20th 2009 @ 4:14pm
The Answer said | June 20th 2009 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
Sheek,
With fans like you…..
Toot, toot here comes the band wagon. Do you need want a Swans scarf just in case?
June 20th 2009 @ 10:30pm
Billo said | June 20th 2009 @ 10:30pm | Report comment
Steve,
A very interesting article, and it will be interesting to see the crowd tonight when the Catalans play Warrington in Barcelona.
Apparently there are now nine league clubs in the Catalan region of Spain, and the President of the Barcelona Omnisports Club will be at tonight’s game. Given the way that the Barcelona club is structured, with the soccer club being simply the best known of a multitude of clubs that carry the brand name, it would be easy to develop a Barcelona club if it could be guaranteed entry into Super League.
The fact is that expansion depends on having the right structure in place, both in terms of the nature of the competition and its financial underpinning. The English Super League, by accident or design, has a structure that is amenable to expansion. As we have seen, it now has teams in London, Wales and Perpignan, and there is every chance it will expand beyond those places in the next few years.
Just been watching the Wallabies in Melbourne, switching over with the Swans losing to Collingwood. Great contests, in my view, but both with slightly disappointing crowds. I would bet that the Catalans playing in Barcelona will get a better crowd than the Wallabies got in Melbourne,.
June 21st 2009 @ 10:53am
adrien66 said | June 21st 2009 @ 10:53am | Report comment
i was in barcelona yesterday to watch the game and the crowd was more than 18 000!it could seem a little bit for australians league fan like people here,but for us it was great!and i have one question for union fans…why??? How blind can be the people who prefer union than league! I cant stand reading some commentaires…i still cant believe why union exists!maybe someone can answer me?
June 21st 2009 @ 11:25am
Matt said | June 21st 2009 @ 11:25am | Report comment
To say that there is no growth in union is a touch misguided, For a game that has been pro for only 14 years international recognition has improved greatly with many smaller European nations and Japan showing steady growth in interest and participation. I recently went to Belgium and was astounded to find the game being introduced into many schools across the country. The Germans and Russians are developing their small base substantially and are looking very very organised, The Russia v. Georgia match attracts very large crowds. Furthermore, it has been the fastest growing sport in Japan for many years. There is a long long way to go yet but things are moving. This is not to say that it will challenge soccer even if it really wanted to. Rugby will always suffer due to the fact that it is substantially more complicated than its very simple soccer and RL counterparts.
June 21st 2009 @ 12:14pm
sheek said | June 21st 2009 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
The Answer,
Lighten up, it was a lazy Saturday arvo & I was bored.
So, do you have a Swans scarf floating around?
Adrien66,
Union exists because fundamentally, it’s a better game than league….. heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.
And yes, now it’s a lazy Sunday morning, & I’m bored again……….
June 21st 2009 @ 12:42pm
Working Class Rugger said | June 21st 2009 @ 12:42pm | Report comment
Matt
Rugby Union growth internationally is substantial. If Adrien66 is still in Spain come next Friday evening may I suggest he watch Canal+ ( TV Station). He’ll be able to watch the Iberica SuperLiga the new professional Rugby Championship involving 6 Spanish sides in the first year with 4 Portugese sides to enter in the coming seasons.
In the USA Rugby Union is the fastest growing Youth, High School and University Sport. Only 5 years ago USARugby had to proactively sell Rugby to schools, now they are having constant requests from schools to assist them in establishing programs. This has been helped by their National Guard kit Program. This season 300 High Schools recieved these kits. In New York alone there has been a 40% increase on participation at the junior levels in 2009.
In South America the game is ticking along. Argentina is growing steadily and will surpass the 100,000 player mark and the Union has turned pro. They will only get better. Chile has seen nearly 50% growth since it hosted the Junior World Rugby Trophy in 2008. Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and the other CONSURA nations in the region are experiencing healthy growth.
Mexico have recently entered the international arean in the NAWIRA region with surprising success. Thanks to Sevens inclusion into the Pan American games the Mexican Rugby Union has secured funding to growth the game substantially.
In Africa Rugby is roaring along. Pick a country and their will be Rugby. In the recent semi finals of the Africa Cup the Ivory Coast drew with Namibia in the first leg and Tunisia playing some very good Rugby defeated Uganda in Uganda in which Rugby is quickly catching Football is stature and participation. During the group stages of the event Madagascar meet Mozembique in front of a Capacity crowd at the National Stadium (40,000) in the Madagascan capital.
And in Asia. The A5N has been expanded in its recent tournament with the addititon of 2 lower division.
Back to Europe at the recent FIRA U18 Euros Belgium and Russia equipped themselves very well as the minnows in the top division (although I hardly believe Russia will be minnows in the future) both beating Italy and will be joined by Germany in next years edition. At the Professional level Russian side VVA Podomosvie are working toward entry into the Euro Challenge Cup with the organisation embarking on a tour of the UK to prove the competitiveness and will finish their new Stadium near the back end of 09. And their are interesting rumblings coming out of the Wild Rugby Academy in Heidelberg. Along with the German Rugby Union they are looking to establish a Professional outfit in the near future.
Why does Rugby still exist? Because although it may not be every Australian cup of tea its proving to be increasingly the Worlds. And with the possibility of Rugby becoming a Olympic Sport again through its Sevens format it’s set to continue and possible accelerate.
January 16th 2010 @ 12:37pm
Jim Wilson said | January 16th 2010 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
& now a reality check:
http://www.puttingrugbyfirst.com/executive_summary.php
Extract
“1.2 Rugby today
Rugby’s main issue is its narrow global footprint: its popularity is largely limited to the Foundation Unions¹ – eight relatively small countries. Rugby is not played or followed, to any significant degree, in the large and fastgrowing nations that will be the engines of the world’s future economic growth.
According to the International Rugby Board (IRB), there are more than four million registered players worldwide, but more than half are from England and over threequarters (3.3 million) come from the eight Foundation Unions overall. Meanwhile, there are less than a quarter of a million players in the ten most populous nations of the world (China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Nigeria, and Japan).
Television audience data for the 2007 World Cup final, between South Africa and England, shows that 97% of the 33 million total viewers came from the Foundation Unions – with just half a million viewers of the final spread amongst all the remaining nations where it was shown live. There are 115 members of the IRB – but rugby is evidently not particularly popular in most of them…”
January 16th 2010 @ 12:41pm
rugbyfuture said | January 16th 2010 @ 12:41pm | Report comment
we already debated this and found that those comments were based on misinformation, it was discussed in the american cone of silence hread.
January 16th 2010 @ 1:21pm
Jim Wilson said | January 16th 2010 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
So we did. But I wasn’t sure it was you who posted there.
Anyway I am in the process of contacting the authors of the Puttingrugbyfirst report to see if anything eventuated.
At this stage the only tangible thing they seemed to have achieved is setting up some Touch Football competitions in the UK & Ireland.
January 16th 2010 @ 12:51pm
rugbyfuture said | January 16th 2010 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
the biggest worry is that you are going back in threads six months to do this
January 16th 2010 @ 1:11pm
bever fever said | January 16th 2010 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Obviously Jim Wilson, does not like either rugby or australian rules football, doing the same thing in Australian football threads.
Was there a newspaper cloumist by the name of Jim Wlison, seem to remember someone of that name writing for the herald sun (sports)in Melbourne years ago.
June 21st 2009 @ 6:35pm
The Answer said | June 21st 2009 @ 6:35pm | Report comment
More than fair excuse Sheek.
I don’t have a Swans scarf. Waiting for a closing down sale! te he he.
June 21st 2009 @ 9:43pm
Adrien66 said | June 21st 2009 @ 9:43pm | Report comment
Yes I can understand union is increasing in the world. But in my hometown Perpignan, and more partucularly in my high school, people who love union are often people who don’t understad it. These people go to the ground just for the great atmosphere, and to have fun. And what about de the game, they don’t care about. When these people watch a league game, their eyes are shining, because league is a simple game, so they can’t understand and they say “Oh my god what’s this Game?? it’s better than the other! More tries, more big hits etc…”. But next saturday they back to Aime Giral to watch USAP, the union local team. I mean that, the donkey just follow the lights, all league need in Europa it’s more media cover. This is the main problem for the league developpement there. As we know, rugby league is the greatest game of all, and if one day league have the same media cover in europa, than union, the countries will adopt it, because of the beauty and intensity of the game, it will be the dead of union. But mentalities don’t change easily…
June 21st 2009 @ 9:52pm
Working Class Rugger said | June 21st 2009 @ 9:52pm | Report comment
So it could not possibly be that they enjoy the game. It must be that they don’t know any better. Or just maybe they prefer Rugby Union. In the US many Rugby people know of Leaue yet it continues to grow. Just because the game is simplier does not mean its better. Just as Union is critised using it nuancies and supposed complicated nature League could be critised for it over simplication. Give people a little more credit.