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Packer's 70s vision for football applies to rugby

Roar Guru
10th July, 2009
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Roar Guru
10th July, 2009
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1079 Reads

In another post, Midfielder mentioned that back in the 1970s, Kerry Packer had offered a deal to the then Australian Soccer Federation (ASF) to bankroll a ten team national comp. The ASF told Packer to go jump.

Packer’s vision was way ahead of its time.

His blueprint allowed for the following teams: Sydney x 3, Melbourne x 2, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Newcastle and Canberra.

I was struck by how appropriate such a national comp structure would be totally appropriate for Australian rugby union.

The only change I would make to Packer’s suggestion for football some thirty years ago would be to replace the second Melbourne team with another from Gold Coast.

Other potential candidates, such as Central Coast and North Qld, would have to wait until a later time-frame for inclusion.

It seems the Super concept is going to be with us for a long time to come, in one form or another. Whether it remains provincial, or transfers to national club, remains to be seen.

In any case, Australian rugby union needs to develop another tier below Super level to broaden the exposure and experience of the next future generation of Wallabies.

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Some will argue that Sydney and Brisbane Premier rugby can provide this next tier by themselves. This might be so if we want to keep rugby strong in only NSW and Queensland.

But if we want rugby union to be strong nationally, then of course we need a national competition to reflect this.

At present, Australian rugby appears to be in a rut.

The other footy codes appear to have stolen a march on rugby, though this could change quickly.

But at the moment the perception is that rugby has lost ground to the other codes.

There is a talented group of youngsters coming through the Wallabies, and we can hope to enjoy some good success in the coming years.

However, developing our junior base has once again become a priority.

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Australian rugby ought to emulate New Zealand and South Africa, whereby our downturns in success never last more than two years at most, and so we constantly have quality talent coming through, pressurizing and replacing the incumbents.

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