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Australia's Wallabies react after their 19-14 loss to New Zealand's All Blacks during their Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. AP Photo/Kin Cheung
I’m convinced many Australian rugby union fans live in a parallel universe, refusing to acknowledge the dire situation their sport is in compared to the other footy codes.
Union has the least player participation numbers of the four footy codes; it has the least TV penetration of the four footy codes; it attracts the least number of fans to its games; and this last point is going to hurt – it is the most boring of the four footy codes to watch on a regular basis., in my opinion.
Consequently, RU fans are the least passionate about their game – can you blame them? And yet, and yet, and yet many of them will tell you everything is just going along so swimmingly well.
It’s all about style being more important than substance, appearances being more important than effect. Whatever you do, don’t admit any faults, dear boy. It’s like the British in Singapore/Malaya pre-December 1941, living in a totally delusional parallel universe.
It was fellow Roarer Who Needs Melon who said during the week that while he was a passionate rugby supporter, he wanted to also be a realist, and not deluded. Or words to that effect.
They attempt to offer constructive criticism. Yet we seem to live in a world where any criticism is somehow a sign of weakness from the accuser. How does this work?
Elsewhere, Andrew Logan has written a passionate post about dwindling S14 crowds at Aussie games. Is it any wonder? Quite often the rugby on offer is absolute trite.
Don’t try and tell me the Tahs have turned the corner because they thrashed the hapless Lions. Even Penrith or Parramatta would give them a run for their money.
Speaking of Parramatta, there are concerns this proud and great Western Sydney club might not be able to field enough players in the Shute Shield this year. Does this not ring alarm bells?
Last night I was at a dinner at my mother in law’s place. Of the four adult males present, I was outvoted 3-1 to watch the Dragons-Eels match over the Tahs-Lions match.
When I say outvoted, while they were all true RL fans, I was actually non-committal, and quite happy to see the RL match, which I thought would provide more competitive excitement than the training run the Tahs were expecting against the Lions.
The NRL game lived up to expectations – it was a cracker, won by the Dragons 18-12. Although they led all the way, the Eels had explosive players capable of turning the game in a few minutes. On this occasion they were held.
Over the past 5 to 10 year, RL continues to go from strength to strength in the public mind, while RU continues to dither and slither along rather aimlessly.
AFL is talking expansion while A-League football is doing just that – expanding.
It’s a sad state of affairs. I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again – for rugby union to progress, it must first admit it has a problem. A massive problem!
This simple fact, that rugby union is in dire straights, is apparently being ignored by delusional rugby union living in some kind of parallel universe.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.