Building on grassroots rugby union
Roar Rookie By Madrid john, 17 Oct 2012 Madrid john is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Australian rugby, Australian Rugby Union, rugby, Rugby Union
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I had a dream last night involving a large lottery win, Brisbane Rugby and the grail. Like most nights I gave The Roar a look over before tucking myself in.
So, of course, I was tossing and turning, worrying about Australia’s lack of depth, lack of a second tier and how its grassroots is being neglected.
Then I had an epiphany; I thought, well, given megabucks, what you do?
So now I really couldn’t sleep.
I agonised about the millions apparently squandered on the ARC (oh what might have been!), tripled the salary cap of the five Aussie franchises, I even bought the naming rights to a certain stadium so that Lang Park might live again. But then I remembered State of Origin. (No don’t panic, this isn’t going where you’re thinking.)
I thought about why it worked and where it came from.
It worked because it had everything so many of us out there want to keep in rugby, ie. tradition, respect for fans (current eligibility issues aside obviously) and just a touch of visceral hatred.
It came out of a decades old format that never inspired much interest and, therefore, caught everyone by surprise. Maybe the first match was accompanied by loads of slick, clever marketing ploys, but it succeeded anyway.
The point is, the concept was so strong it was probably always going to build its own momentum. Nor was it TV ratings gold from day one. What can rugby learn from this? You don’t need the big bucks to get a bang from your sport.
Okay, but I still wasn’t sleeping, I had made progress with my problem, but was not there yet. So I ditched the big bucks and went back to the root of the problem. I needed a format that would attract a crowd, not cost the earth and involve the best blokes running around without a Super Rugby contract in their pocket. Well, next thing you know, I thought of one!
Before I delve into the details, lets just remember that even State of Origin started small. Therefore this comp is not designed with a TV audience in mind, but on the upside it is super cheap. It also might just have the legs to build its own success over time or evolve into something bigger.
So here goes. It is called “The Grail” (because “The Cup” sounded worse and I really wanted to get some sleep that night).
It is a Brisbane-based comp because it has to be cheap and localised. Sydney-siders can easily come up with there own version. (Why isn’t it called the Brisbane Grail? A: That sounds worse than the original and B: for the same reason the State of Origin isn’t called the Australian State of Origin. It was only originally aimed at Australians so including Australia in the name would have been redundant.)
How does it work? At the end of the season two teams are picked from the first grade comp. One team from the clubs north of the river, one team representing the teams to the south. It does get tricky cause only four are really south of the river, so maybe Sunshine Coast would have to join the Southerners. That is a bummer, but life isn’t fair.
Two weeks after the grade final, game one is played at the ground of one southern team, next weekend game two takes place at the ground of a northern team. The decider is played at Ballymore. Loads of free tickets are given out to school kids. Players of each team where their club socks and each team of 22 on game day must have at least one player from each club.
Like I said, no TV audience but that isn’t the point. You don’t need to generate much money to support this kind of comp. Three games enables the players an opportunity to develop their skill and team cohesion. Brisbane clubs get extra revenue on game day and QRU gets to get some bums on seats at Ballymore, or at least sell some beer.
Handled right, eg. lots of free programs with the players’ names, attractive jerseys, allowing the kids to invade the pitch after the game, etc, and the thing could really take off. Over time, it could evolve into something larger, or not. Either way, it would be great for the grassroots, test the mettle of the best of Brisbane and not cost much.
So what do you think Roar readers and I don’t just mean about the poxy name. As I said, it was late and I couldn’t sleep!
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The Crowd Says (10) | Page 1 of Comments
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- Explore:
- Australian rugby, Australian Rugby Union, rugby, Rugby Union
October 17th 2012 @ 4:04am
Johnno said | October 17th 2012 @ 4:04am | Report comment
Funny how in Australia we can fund a national Ice Hockey comp , a national field hockey comp, a national water polo and volleyball comp ,and a national Baseball comp, a national women’s soccer and women’s cricket comp, but we can’t fund a national rugby comp. I don’t get that do you.
I think the people at the top of the Ivory towers in rugby in Australia have there hand in the cookie jar a bit too much, . A bit too much of a sweet tooth. If only a little bit was filtered down more then we could fund it if all these sports can then so can aussy rugby.
October 17th 2012 @ 10:31am
Tigranes said | October 17th 2012 @ 10:31am | Report comment
Johnno
those sports are semi professional at best, not a good comparison – Australian ice hockey would love to have 5 fully professional teams in Australia!!
the issue is pro rugby players in Australia are overpaid, compared to NZ/SA players and NRL/AFL players
October 17th 2012 @ 7:44am
hog said | October 17th 2012 @ 7:44am | Report comment
Great too see ideas being put out thier my only issue with this is it is another comp already adding to an busy season, i don’t think you can fix the problem unless you go to the cause of the issue everything else is just bandaids.
October 17th 2012 @ 11:00am
Mantis said | October 17th 2012 @ 11:00am | Report comment
At first when reading this idea I thought it would be no good. But the more I think about it the more it makes sense. I would go watch a game like that in Canberra for sure, so I imagine there would be good interest in Sydney Brisbane. It would all come down to the enthusiasm of the players. If they get into it, so would the crowds.
The only problem I have is I hate when ‘artificial rivalries’ are formed. Thats why Origin is so good, because of history and tradition. You cant just create that.
October 17th 2012 @ 10:58pm
madrid john said | October 17th 2012 @ 10:58pm | Report comment
I don’t know if i agree with “artificial rivalries”, they all start somewhere, How many Queenslanders would have responded to the cry of “Maroons” pre-1980? LIkewise for the New South Welshers? Geographically, Brisbane is divided by the river and the clubs are almost a 50-50 split either side. (I admit the inclusion of Sunshine Coast with the Southerners is clumsy.)
I don’t know a better way of selecting the best of the best of the Brisbane comp to slog out a few matches. The attractions are simply that it is cheap to operate, reflects geographic realities and could be a lot of fun. Another advantage is that the format works with the school comp. Rugby in Brisbane is dominated by the CIS/TAS and GPS comps, where certain schools act as feeders to certain clubs. I went to Villanova and lots of us went on to play for Easts. I think the blokes from Saint Lauries usually went to Souths. This re-enforces the North – South divide i think. I remember that David WIlson from Easts came to our school to present the first XV jerseys one year.
This comp could work on this level too. Northern rep players could visit Northern schools, to encourage the link between school boy rugby and club land. I quit rugby not long after i left school. I wish i hadn’t. That is the focus here, local, local, local. No TV rights, no expensive overheads. Ten years later, well who knows….
October 17th 2012 @ 1:58pm
Rough Conduct said | October 17th 2012 @ 1:58pm | Report comment
I like your enthusiasm, it is up to all Australian Rugby supporters to continue the discussion regarding filling the glaring void between the two worlds of Club Rugby and Super Rugby; therefore providing the clear pathway for junior talent that is desperately needed.
Regarding the North South idea, I don’t see the divide between these two that is required for a rivalry to develop, I have never felt there was any animosity between people living North of the River to those living on the South, I see this as a real problem, what is the point of the game? Why should we care who wins?
Alternatively, the QRU has held City Country carnivals for the last few years at Ballymore, maybe this fixture can be developed into the fixture you are looking for, it has the all-important ingredient of cultural division, something that can be built on to create a real spectacle. As a passionate rugby supporter from Regional Queensland, I would love nothing more than to see the likes of Greg Holmes, Rob Simmons and Rod Davies turn out for Queensland Country and belt the crap out of a team of born-and-bred Brisbane urbanites. IMO this is the sort of fixture that a third tier can be built on, cultural division means a real rivalry, it means people actually care, this is what was missing in the poorly conceived ARC. Imagine those from the regions that now ply their trade for suburbs of Brisbane and Sydney, imagine if they had their own teams – that is what rivalries such as SoO are built on. FWIW, this is the third-tier semi-pro model that I would propose;
Queensland Country – Sunshine Coast based
Brisbane City – Brisbane Rugby; Ballymore
NSW Country – Central Coast/Newcastle based
NSW Metro – love Sydney rugby, hate the Tahs, based at Concord
Sydney City – the NSW Rugby establishment set
WA, Vic, ACT
October 17th 2012 @ 11:03pm
madrid john said | October 17th 2012 @ 11:03pm | Report comment
Like the idea Rugby Conduct. But i don’t think you could launch such a comp in one hit. Might be easier to start small and let each region set themselves up in their own time. I mean, how would you pick a Brisbane Metro side? You’d need a few trial matches right? Okay, so you pick one team from the best of the south….
October 18th 2012 @ 12:05pm
Simmo said | October 18th 2012 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
It seems the main sticking point with a 3rd tier comp is the cost of running one. Why not utilize a close neighbor who probably have a few Yen to throw about and would also likely enjoy testing themselves against a bona-fida rugby nation. The Japanese Rugby Union has a top tier 14 team competition which starts approx the beginning of September. If the ARU can cobble together 10 teams to pit against the 14 team JRU into “4 x groups of 6 teams” where each team within the group plays each other once = 5 games per team, which can be played over a 6 week period + a 3 week top 8 finals series. There is already a connection there with a number of ex Super Rugby players plying their trade in the JRU, and if need be the ARU can throw a few dollars towards the cost of the running the competition. A start date after the completion of the Super 15s would not bite too much into the JRU proper season and which would run parallel here to the Rugby Championship.
October 18th 2012 @ 12:27pm
ncart said | October 18th 2012 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
MJ,
I like the idea here that there is some sort of continuity after the Brisbane club season has ended, especially for the teams who are out of the finals – it allows some of their players to continue on in a representative team and therefore allows the supporters (Easts for instance since you mentioned them and my kids play there) to follow a team because it includes players from Easts in it. It allows some of those players who have never had the headlines as a schoolboy for instance, to play at a higher level and perhaps showcase their skills. As has been mentioned here before there are players who take time to develop and mature who may be overlooked because they didn’t make the schoolboy teams etc, and in this type of comp they could standout. Then taking your model the Brisbane rep teams could have play offs against say the NSW teams, ACT, Victoria etc. Or perhaps this could be the model for a summer rugby competition that could then attract players who play other sports in winter and want another challenge.
October 18th 2012 @ 11:39pm
Ian said | October 18th 2012 @ 11:39pm | Report comment
I think the best way to do this is create a home and away series between a Sydney Premier Rugby Representative Team versus a Brisbane Premier Rugby Representative Team once a year after the finals.
The idea of ensuring that at least one of player from each club is included in the 30 man squad is a good one, this stops the traditional bias towards some of the more influential clubs.
Televising these matches on the ABC wouldn’t hurt either and wouldn’t cost much.
Of course the the winners of both competitions already play against each other after the finals each year.
If this idea becomes popular a representative team from ACT Premier Rugby could be added.
Great idea and would be very cost effective.