38000/22000000 = 0.17
4000/4315800 = 0.09268

or

84000/22000000 = 0.4
22000/4315800 = 0.5

meaning they are closer than they appear to you and there are more registered adults in australia for union than league players in New zealand

Oh come on! Sports fans don’t follow clubs based upon their financial well being! You can’t manufacture the tribal club nature of AFL and NRL.

And just how long must we wait for rugby union to take advantage of a financial might it has enjoyed for decades and decades? How much more financial might can be brung to rugby union that hasn’t been brung before?

Didn’t see the corporate sector get behind the ARC and the ARC clubs before the ARU pulled the plug. No one come to the aid of the ARU.

to do with community strengths, i also believe that the aru and community clubs need to take more control, as the state unions have failed (in particular NSW, as much as it is hard to say, CEO alma mater of my school) currently i live in a particularly strong rugby union community (northern suburbs of sydney) and through going to university at UWS i have been disheartened by the lack of strenght of union support for rugby union clubs in the areas this university is involved in. however, rugby union has a strength over league and union in that it is at a time where it can establish stronger, more efficient new clubs, which unlike the other codes can be created for stability in finances, which is a common modern problem of such league and aussie rules clubs.

Aussie Pop. – 22,000,000 Registered Union Players – 38,000 0.17%
NZ pop – 4,315,800 Registered League Players – 22,000 0.5%

League is not barley holding on mate. Auckland had roughly 1/4 of the population and the Warriors, NRL, Origin (Mainly Queensland) and Kiwis are really well supported. Every time the warriors have a good run in the finals the whole place starts buzzing!! Everyone’s talking about it!!! I was converted by the 2002 Finals run!! and so were a a lot of other people in my age bracket (18-25). Union on the other hand, Its the establishment game of NZ Its sorta like the thing to do/ talk about. The last and union game i went to (Blues v Highlanders Never Again sooo boring!) i was in the panasonic stand and noticed groups of young kids next to me in the terraces sitting in circles drinking, chatting with there backs to the game!!!! they were there to socialise not to watch. Compare that to League crowds at the Warriors and Olympic Park (I now live in Melbourne), Staunch Leaguies Riding every run, tackle, Kick, Refs Decision in the game!! I recon League can dethrone Unioin in NZ!!!! (bold prediction i know!!!) it will take a while 20-30 years, The following things need to happen. Warriors win a premiership, Kiwis continue to be successful internationally, Another NRL team (Should Be based in Canterbury), All Blacks do not win the next world cup (Its what means the most to Union People, there not gunna put up with constant disappointment every 4 years) Also it will just take time the older generation need to die off (Sounds Morbid but true) so generation Y who has watched all sport growing up and made there own choice are adults!!

Interesting reading….. think you maybe miss the point … sport is about embracing the masses… you make RU out to be akin to Polo and Kerry & James ….

IMO you do RU a dis – service by the negative views you express… Moreover it invites RL to say we have one up on you. Finally by always going for the international aspects of RU you cannot but promote Football who’s annual tournaments & various international tournaments have no match no one even close.

RU would be much better served in fostering a relationship with Western Sydney and getting some juniors..

Arguably the worst part was when you said let’s get together with the AFL…. if you cannot see it let me explain in a simple way … how much RU is played in the Southern States… without RL to protect RU from the AFL… RU would be akin to the polo matches I mentioned before…

IMO RU has a place in Australia but that place needs to be grown … not reduced to Merchant bankers old boy networks…

The Asian RFU have already istituted a series of sevens throughout the area.

This shows the power of the Olympics and that the benefis are already being seen.

What little money comes from Rudd’s hand will go to the smaller sports.

Rugby 7s has a professional body that is earning plenty of money. It’s called the ARU. The AOC will make the ARU foot the entire Olympic 7s bill, not the other way around.

That is true on many fronts, including how long do you think News Ltd will keep bailing out the Melbourne Storm to the tune of $6 million a year…….one of the most successful sides in the NRL of the past 4 years, and they cannot break even. Both codes will continue to exist in their own niches, but as the article originally states, like it or not the CEO’s etc in charge of the purse strings tend to come from Private Schools and Uni’s and have the background in Union.

Rugby does have a presence like it or not that will never go away, yes the IRB didn’t do rugby any favours by axing the ELV rules in its infancy, however, the refining of the rules will be an agendar for years to come, isn’t that why league was formed in the first place?

I think the real advantage of the 7s in the Olympics will be gained through Primary School rugby. Finance increases aside, the benefits of 7s rugby is that it is easy to coach, ref and fun to play. League has had these advantages in the primary school arena for years and now rugby has a real alternative to push forward. Rugby’s hand brake for growth has been the duty of care factor, put simply, the fear of injury and coaching the scrum. 7s rugby eleviates these problems and also offers a far more interactive game.

15s rugby will always stumle along until both the Northern and Southern hemisphere decide to sit down and look at the problems facing the future growth of the game and study the football blueprint. Rugby league on the other hand can’t evolve any more than it has and really doesn’t offer a clear alternative to football outside of QLD and NSW.

The Belgian vs Netherland games pull good crowds too. Forgot to mention that. It like a derby match for them.

The AFL and ARU could work together in a united front to rid Australia’s eastern seaboard of rugby league.

AFL could have the the weekend club football, and the ARU could have mid week Super rugby and Wallabies games.

The two can work together.

I’m not sure if Rugby League will ever make massive moves away from Australia, New Zealand and England. The only real chance of having another compeditive country is probably PNG – which doesn’t give me much hope. Even if League does increase the amount of compeditive playing nations, chances are rugby and football will streak ahead at the same rate or more.

But this matters not. The increasing importance of the NRL to club supporters is enough to keep rugby league fans excited and comming back for me. And then there is the state of origin, which is increasing massively in importance year on year. Tehre is no doubt many fans from AFL and rugby both like to watch these games. With so much quality rugby league in Australia, there is little pressure for international football – but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to build on that.

So i dont think the increasing profile of rugby over seas will have much affect on the NRL, SOO or people watching it. I think both will increase in importance to the Australian public, inline or in excess of what happens in rugby as has been the case in the last 10 years.