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Having originated from New Zealand, I began my early years following NPC rugby and of course the All Blacks. I think I would’ve been 12 before I knew there was a different type of rugby out there.
I never took a lot of notice of league until I was about 15 and TV2 started playing Big League on 2. It was the Winfield Cup at that stage.
There were instant fans in New Zealand but I must admit I only watched because a few of my mates were really into it. I generally fell asleep during the match as they started at eight o’clock and it was very much one-up stuff (boring).
I remained a rugby fan because of my upbringing and the one-up stuff. Both games have changed a lot in the last 25 years, both are now professional, both have positive points and negative points.
You can’t change the past, but I think if rugby hadn’t been so snobby and league hadn’t been so pig-headed in the early days, the sports would be much more advanced and popular.
League went through strength and growth in the 80s and rugby in the 90s. Then rugby turned pro in ’95 and league had a pro split. During that time rugby was the most exciting and progressive sport, where league was fighting and declining.
I left New Zealand in ‘98 to live in Sydney for the next 10 years, and league struggled until ‘04 while rugby went from strength to strength.
In ‘04 the pendulum swung in Australia, the Super League war was over, and people started going back to league.
However the media had never left league. Even when league support was low, it was always major in the headlines, to an extreme I had never seen. If Andrew Johns choked on a chip you heard about it.
I found it quite amazing you would have only five or six thousand people on average turn up to the games each round, yet the game would get 50 percent or more of the sports news headlines.
Is this why people went back to league? I think so.
Rugby did hit a boring stage especially in Super Rugby from ‘04-‘07, but league has had those boring stages too. I think so much investment has been put into league by Australian media over the last 50 years that it doesn’t matter what state it gets into, the media will make sure it comes back.
Rugby is 88 years behind league in professional terms. However I cannot think of a sport that has made such huge strides in global popularity in the last 15 years as rugby.
In 15 years rugby has developed four major professional comps, four semi-professional comps and a few more moderate pro comps. It has re-entered the Olympics, grown to have over 6 million registered players in over 117 countries and have a Rugby World Cup that is the third-most-watched sporting event in the world.
Yet when it comes to Australia, it gets classed by the majority as a second-rate sport.
While living in Australia the league public would always say there were major issues with the rules of rugby, that the sport was too slow and stop start. However this is not the case.
At this point in time the rules are just about perfect. It is only the teams’ mentalities that will make the game great or not. If they all decide to play to win and entertain, it is by far the greatest game in the world. It is only when a team decides to play defensively and only for territory that the game can become tedious.
I think this can change permanently if you change two rules. Firstly, take away the mark for an up and under inside the 22. Secondly, add one warning for the first penalty in the 22 and then the second is an instant yellow card no matter what.
This will keep the all-out attack game that a lot of the teams are showing in Super Rugby this year.
As for Australia, the only way to really get rugby up there with NRL and AFL is to infiltrate the media and get more time on the sports news.
It is not through lack of having the greatest game on the planet. It is only through ignorance of the media that rugby is not more popular than league or Aussie Rules.
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.