Will Super Rugby expansion hurt league?
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By danwighton, 2 Sep 2009 danwighton is a Roar Rookie
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While not yet a done deal, it seems the next Super 14 expansion has overlooked Japan, Argentina, Western Sydney and the Gold Coast in favour of a new team in Australia’s second most populous city – Melbourne.
If a Melbourne bid is approved, will expansion into Melbourne will help or hinder development of rugby league?
After ten years, millions of dollars and several State Of Origin games, the Storm are building a strong foundation.
While they are not, as yet, turning a profit for the NRL or News Ltd, they are making significant inroads into the what was once thought to be a fool’s errand.
The success of the team has seen a surge in junior league registration, with many of the Storm’s Toyota Cup (under 20s) team born and bred in Melbourne.
For the last two years, the rugby league grand final has outrated the AFL grand final, largely on the back of strong figures from Melbourne.
A large portion of the Storm’s support comes from Melbourne’s large population of Kiwis, and this support base would surely be split if they had a Super Rugby team to support.
Also if rugby was able to gain the support of Melbourne’s private schools (as in Sydney and Brisbane), this would also stifle junior league development.
However, on the other side, a higher media profile for rugby union would not necessarily eat into that afforded to league.
For years, many Sydney and Brisbane expats who now live in Melbourne support Aussie Rules because there is no other option – they don’t show either rugby code on TV and there are very few games to attend.
Having two teams competing in international competitions would definitely boost the profile of both codes.
Another key point is that if both leagues could invest into the same facilities, they could both benefit from the other’s effort in a similar way to how the AFL has had a piggy back ride from cricketing associations Australia wide.
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Poly W said | September 2nd 2009 @ 6:30am | Report comment
There are more rugby players, clubs and fans in Victoria than league. Come 2011 its bye bye to league in Melbourne.
Cheezel said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Poly W
Hate to break this to you but the only code on the ropes in Australia is Rugby. Putting a team in Melbourne is a dumb call by the ARU. The shoud look to strengthen some of Rugby’s heartlands which are growing smaller by the day.
This move will be the straw that breaks the Camels back!
John Ryan said | September 2nd 2009 @ 4:44pm | Report comment
Gee dont tell him the truth he dont like the truth
Trevor Allan said | September 2nd 2009 @ 5:28pm | Report comment
Don’t tell him the truth. Since Western Australia had a super team rugby numbers have double and still growing. Rugby numbers in NSW, Queensland and ACT have also gone up. Cheezel, you really got to stop getting your facts from league forum.
If you really want to know what is growing smaller each day try the numbers of rugby league players in New Zealand. It was 40,000 a couple of years ago and its down to 15,000. Maybe the ARL or NRL made a dumb call by giving a license to New Zealand where rugby is a religion and league a minor sport.
Chris said | November 21st 2009 @ 7:20pm | Report comment
Warriors crowds and ratings are growing. The Warriors (a ordinary at best NRL side) had a higher crowd average than the Crusaders (the best sub-national rugby side on earth). What does that tell you?
Pete said | November 21st 2009 @ 7:42pm | Report comment
That the Crusaders are rebuilding their stadium for the RWC and have temporarily reduced the capacity?
anopinion said | September 10th 2009 @ 3:49pm | Report comment
Cheezel,
After calling a person or group dumb, it is appropriate to use the correct spelling and punctuation. Especially when posting to a public forum. Perhaps Mark Geyer can proofread for you.
Good luck to all codes in their expansion aspirations.
Crosscoder said | September 2nd 2009 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Having a s15 team in Melbourne,may in fact help rl not hinder the code.Both codes can work side by side in scheduling.As stated, rl has made considerable advances in that state, considering the lack of FTA TV and ordinary media exposure.This is particularly so in the schools.
If a super league war and union going pro couldn’t kill of rl(which continues to grow participation wise) and all other measures,a S15 side is not going to either.
IMO adding overseas teams is good from a geographical spread for ru and sponsorship.However it doesn’t guarantee increases in Tv viewing audiences/crowds in Oz and NZ.What it does IMO is reduce the appeal of tests.Why? Because the bulk of the overseas players are seen on a regular basis in S14,and the tests seem to have lost that auru or if you like “novelty”.
If anyone needs further proof ,the Tv ratings (which even P FitzSimons admitted dropped by 25%) for the Bledisloe cup in Sydney ,is all one needs.
Poly W
We know you wish rl would just wither away and die,but your point for staters on 2011 is plain dumb.
It is not the first time ,the code has been the victim of someone wanting to kill it off.LOL.
News ltd is already committed to the Storm to minimum at least til 2013.And there is a private consortium that wants to buy in according to Masters.You honestly think the NRL /the Storm/and even the state Govt who have assisted also,with all the resources and money outlaid, are simply going to let the Storm and rl go bye bye.Dream on.
Might I also remind you ,that having a bigger presence does not automatically prevent smaller codes from growing.
One has seen it in the UK(the spiritual home of ru).The schools rl competition(Carnegie),is now the largest rl comp in the world with over 26,000 players.This comp has teams from all over England/Wales and Scotland.
It is called grassroots growth,such as is happening in Victoria.
Mick from Giralang said | September 2nd 2009 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
Good points Crosscoder. In fact, the cross pollination that will occur with both rugby codes established in Melbourne will actually help boost rugby league. There will be more opportunites for youngsters to sample both rugby codes, more career paths into the senior levels of both codes and a higher community/media profile. As a rugby league supporter, I was thrilled to see Melbourne get the new Super 14 team.
Matt S said | September 2nd 2009 @ 8:29am | Report comment
Polly W, the same way the Melbourne ARC team killed off the Storm?
Crowds, TV ratings, interest have dropped dramatically for all the current Australian Super 14 teams, what makes you think Melbourne can turn this around?
The Storm are stonger than you think. Despite no FTA coverage at a decent time, Storm’s diehard supporter base has risen from 7,000 to around 11,000 in a crap stadium. The new stadium will also do wonders for the club. The crucial thing the storm have also done is grassroots development. Union will have its private school presence as usual but how has this helped a team like the QLD reds?
The Link said | September 2nd 2009 @ 8:38am | Report comment
Should Melbourne get a Super Rugby side it will not be the death of the Storm. For all the talk of a Rugby community in Melbourne its time for them to stand up and support a Super rugby side. Given the shambles in the bidding process at the moment it is not off to a good start. Contrast this to the Storm who are one of the best run clubs in the NRL.
Redb said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:17am | Report comment
Got that right, rugby’s admin is a joke.
adrien66 said | September 2nd 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
LOL poor polly w!
Next time think twice before ridiculize yourself
Bill Baxter said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:07am | Report comment
First of all Melbourne has still to be granted the 15th place. Union will not be a threat to League, which is firmly established in Melbourne and will prosper further when the Storm moves to the new Stadium. Olympic Park is archaic with no improvements made to it since it was built for the 1956 Olympics and the wonder is, why so many supporters braved the conditions to sit or stand in a Stadium which offered little or no protection from the elements. Attendances will soar in 2010.
Union may initially have some support, but could suffer from the lack of Free to Air exposure(this may be a good thing) and little else in the way of promotion. Union is so inferior to League that the Storm will hardly be quaking in their boots at the prospect of sharing the Stadium with Union. I also question whether League supporters would watch Union at all and vice versa.
AndyRoo said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:14am | Report comment
It will be a good thing.
The Storm U20′s will have an alternative career path, the first team allready has a star backline (inglis, and Slater) so the outside backs can still stay in Victoria and play super rugby.
oikee said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
Should be a interesting battle, with crowds numbers on a equal level trying to out do each other. Could be the leg-up that the rugby codes need down there, we might see more media space.
Rodney McDonell said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
I think they’ll be very benefitial. I think the two clubs should embrace each other when the time is right. It would be great to have a common branding too and perhaps even selling dule memberships as is done elsewhere. I think having a rugby club in Melbourne will hurt us little. The fact is, a lot of the fellows who like rugby union would never have followed league avidly, perhaps tuning into the big games here and there – and they will continue to do that. Another rugby club in the area will however perhaps allow certain synergies, allowing sharing of costs on some fronts and perhaps even synergies on the field with cross training etc.
It could be very interesting. I think the main point is to be optimistic and entertain the idea that two heads are better than one – even if one is a little more ugly
Bill said | September 2nd 2009 @ 9:45am | Report comment
Im from the UK and there isn’t 26,000 kids involved in any rugby league competitions. There might be 26,000 school kids involved in rugby league related activities like tag, skill work, volunteers and so on. How can you say that crosscoder when the RFL announce they have only 40,000 players in the UK ?
According to BMRB research, interest and participation rugby union among young people has reached a new high: 54 per cent of 11 to 14-year-olds now watch or play rugby at least once a month compared to 41 per cent in 2003. Over the same period, the number of 11 to 18-year-olds playing youth rugby rose 50 per cent, from 66,000 to 99,000.
Lewie said | September 3rd 2009 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
according to Wikipedia, there are 248,645 registered Rugby League players in England – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_league_in_England
Also the website Sport Focus in an interview with RFL’s Executive Chairman and Chair of Sport England, Richard Lewis on 20/02/09 states “In the last four years participation in the sport has increased by 150 per cent from 114,000 to 285,000 and every county in the UK now has regular competition at various age levels throughout the summer.” -
http://www.sportfocus.com/newspub/story.cfm?ID=32299
That’s a bit higher than your “40,000″.
Lewie said | September 3rd 2009 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
from the RFL UK 2008 Annual Report – http://www.therfl.co.uk/clientdocs/RFL%20Annual%20Report.pdf
The Carnegie Champion Schools tournament continued to be
the sports flagship schools competition for boys and girls with
394 schools participating in 2008 with a total of 23,570
children between Years 7 and 11. This represents significant
growth from the inaugural competition in 2002, when 88
schools participated with a total of 5,168 children.