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Broken Super Rugby must reform or die

Roar Guru
6th March, 2017
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It's time to cut South Africa from Super Rugby. (AAP Image/SNPA, Ross Setford)
Roar Guru
6th March, 2017
130
3038 Reads

It beggars belief that Australia accepted the change to the current structure of Super Rugby.

The 2011-15 structure, involving five teams from each country playing each other (with an exception or two), was a good model that kept everyone happy.

Former ARU CEO John O’Neil said as much, with his claim that it kept the fans, players and broadcasters onside. In fact, it seems everyone was on side, except for the South African Rugby Union.

At the insistence of South Africa, a sixth South African team and an Argentinian team have been added to Super Rugby. The format has also been changed, again, to one that many people do not recognise. I don’t have a clue how the new format works, and I am a passionate fan.

It is easy to be critical of the ARU in this situation. The truth is that the ARU relies on a lot of the broadcasting revenue that comes from the SARU, where ratings are highest for Super Rugby. Hence, South Africa has a powerful position in any negotiation. It’s understandable that the ARU wants to grant them concessions, after all, they effectively subsidise the ARU with the broadcast revenue split, the ARU receiving a bigger share than they contribute.

But this new deal takes things a step too far, and is liquidating the long-term value of Super Rugby in exchange for short-term cash. The South African and Argentinian teams have a low profile, do not attract crowds, and are drawing interest away from rugby in Australia.

One need only see the empty stadiums and ratings to understand that these teams are poisonous to the long-term goals of the game.

The ARU should immediately pull up stumps with the SARU. As an organisation, they have allowed themselves to be bullied by their opposites. As of the next broadcasting deal, the ARU should implement the following plan to ensure both the commercial and community success of Super Rugby going forward.

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Firstly, the competition shall have no South African teams, and will consist of five New Zealand teams, four Australian teams, and up to three other teams that will be invited to bid from the Asia-Pacific region. No team west of Perth need apply.

This is important – the games need to be on at suitable times for Australian audiences. I’ve lost track of the amount of times my team has got a head full of steam with the community, only to go to South Africa, and be all bar forgotten within 24 hours.

The money trade off simply doesn’t add up. Extra broadcast money to diminish teams’ brand name makes no sense. The ARU should send a message that, apart from Rugby Championship games, it wants absolutely nothing to do with the SARU.

Secondly, every team in the competition will play each other twice, at home and away. A team will receive bonus points for scoring four tries and finishing within seven points.

The new bonus point system convolutes an already confusing rule, as does the actual fixture system. Why are we playing that team? Ask the gods at SANZAAR, because no one else knows. “It’s a conference-franchise-inclusion-country-club system,” they’d say, to an empty stadium.

Thirdly, the finals system will be two weeks, involving a semi-finals week and a grand final week. There are no quotas for teams to be from a certain country, only that they be top of the table.

The bizarre format of placing teams in the finals because they were from a certain country was bad, with many fans (particularly from New Zealand) rightfully arguing their team had been robbed of a finals place. Such a system only reduced the competition’s credibility.

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Believe it or not, the fix is actually very simple. Rugby fans don’t want a convoluted system – they solve convoluted problems at work, or in their life. Rugby is supposed to be a simple escape. Just fix it.

If there is a cash shortfall in the aftermath from ditching the SARU, so be it. The long-term future of the game is too important.

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