Roar Rookie
Joined June 2010
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It seems just a distant memory now, the hazy days of 2003. A world cup and genuine thoughts that rugby here was going to…
The debate regarding the structure of Super Rugby has been ongoing since the inception of the competition and has only intensified since its expansion…
The recent question time with Bill Pulver left me feeling very depressed about the future of the code in this country. I commend him…
It is hard to believe Super Rugby starts in a couple of weeks when it's still only February and most of us are still…
Rugby union in Australia is in serious trouble and how it got to this stage is a terrible indictment on some of the people…
After my first post last week (a way forward for rugby in Australia), I was surprised how many people agreed with the basic concept,…
Well here we go. This is my first post to The Roar, and it's about something dear to my heart: rugby union. How did…
My point is the longer the 2nd tier declines in popularity the harder it will be to maintain a top down Wallaby structure.
Because as the game loses more supporters at a domestic level, the less people you have to support the Wallabies.
So the question is what will give the game more growth 15 plus Tests every year or a better domestic structure.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
I was not aware that having a domestic club based competition included a requirement that no Test rugby was to be played in the future.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Then to me what you are saying is Australian rugby will slowly die as it is incapable of adjusting to a business model able to meet future demands.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Sad loss, genuinely enjoyed listening & reading his views
RIP, David Lord: Australian sports journalism icon was 'always thoughtful and thought-provoking'
But what % does the RA spend on grassroots, Test revenue outside of funding the Test Team should be spent on grassroots. The problem you have is the game is not monetizing the 2nd tier it is operating at a loss.
Compared to the NRL/AFL which operate with a vast income and a business model that funds & drives growth at a grassroots level.
You want the 2nd tier to generate an excess, this will never happen under the current structure.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Winning big Tests will obviously spike revenue for a national union, but at what cost when you compromise the 2nd tier levels ability to source better revenues or grow.
The Wallabies are playing up to 15 Tests a year. when is that enough.
The AFL/NRL are playing Tests every weekend, win or lose there getting that revenue spike.
It is the RA that have chosen a structural set up that is broken.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Which is pretty much my point after 25 years and how much money spent on Super Rugby, yet we’ve hardly moved the dial on from the days of paying a broadcaster to shove a camera in the stands.
At what stage do you go this just ain’t working.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Brilliant after 25 years of Super rugby, we have a domestic product that is possibly not worth the cost of producing.
Great return
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
(b) yoked into a weird marriage with NZ which is unlikely to yield the type of winning Aussies want.
And until it gets out of that marriage, it can’t figure out what it wants to be.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table
Well maybe a backup plan for when the Wallabies don’t win every game and all your top end revenue dries up.
“Test Primacy” has been the strategy for 25 years now at the expense of our own domestic market, it hasn’t worked out well.
Winning a World Cup may not mean much when 95% of the country no longer give a s——t
COMMENT: Australian rugby is a depressing picture - the RA board must be axed and the constitution changed
Agreed
COMMENT: Australian rugby is a depressing picture - the RA board must be axed and the constitution changed
“Get the Wallabies winning again”
Simple, you wonder why they haven’t done that for the last 20 years then.
COMMENT: Australian rugby is a depressing picture - the RA board must be axed and the constitution changed
Agreed, at least it was something instead we have locked ourselves into a model that for 20 years has been on a decline, even NZ are in trouble.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/04/09/analysis-whats-going-on-with-rugby-in-new-zealand/#:~:text=NZ%20Rugby%20is%20currently%20in,a%20post%2DSilver%20Lake%20environment.
As I said have a plan because without domestic growth, the game here doesn’t exist.
COMMENT: Australian rugby is a depressing picture - the RA board must be axed and the constitution changed
“Three Super teams on edge of insolvency and the entire Super model in Australia broken.”
That in a nutshell is the issue with Australian Rugby, until you have a plan to get out of Super rugby then this is all just moving deckchairs.
COMMENT: Australian rugby is a depressing picture - the RA board must be axed and the constitution changed
And Phil Waugh just said lets see what the broadcaster wants, so that red line means jack sh__t
The Wrap: 'Take them to a dark place' - A quiet round grabs eyeballs for all the wrong reasons
Agree, its not all Fox’s fault, but to a broadcaster you are ultimately just a product and they will pay accordingly, whether that is $10 or $100.
The problem rugby has is allowing them to dictate what that product is because they are looking at todays financials, they don’t really care what rugby will be in 15 years, because they will just pay accordingly.
If Phil Waugh is basing his decision on the Rebels on what will suit a Pay TV operator then the game here is truly doomed.
The Wrap: 'Take them to a dark place' - A quiet round grabs eyeballs for all the wrong reasons
“I can’t blame the unions for wanting to talk to the broadcasters. Sky pay us £100m and we need to make it worth their while.”
Of course, because making it worthwhile to the broadcasters has really worked out well for the game of rugby in Australia.
The Wrap: 'Take them to a dark place' - A quiet round grabs eyeballs for all the wrong reasons
Yes, you have to factor in for a broadcaster that this would re a reset for Rugby in Australia, you would be selling a better future vision of the game.
Agreed the initial broadcast value may not match Super Rugby but the vision is the most important part, sadly the one thing lacking in the game here.
The Super Rugby reboot I need to hate the Reds again
There has to be a level of reality about the whole thing though, right now my understanding is that a Super Team costs about $14/15 million a year to run, this is just ridiculous for a code essentially bankrupt.
If a domestic league is set up and a sustainable budget per team is say $6 Million then that is set in stone, the game has gotta to learn to live within its means and then grow from there.
The Super Rugby reboot I need to hate the Reds again
It shows the hubris of Rugby Union though, who kept shouting from the rooftops that rugby was a global game and the domestic market does not matter.
Now the game here is in a fight for its very own survival not from some Global threat, but from two domestic codes whose business (domestic league) plans have put them in such a powerful position where they can essentially devour the game in this country.
The Super Rugby reboot I need to hate the Reds again
Yes of course Adelaide need to be included, but that could happen 5/10/15 years time, it does not have to be a start up. Get the fundamentals right to begin with
The Super Rugby reboot I need to hate the Reds again
Great article and I pretty much agree with all the points and would love for it to happen, hell it should have happened 20 years ago, it is hard to comprehend the absolute mess rugby has gotten itself into when you look at where it was on the sporting landscape in the early 2000’s it’s pretty sobering.
The Super Rugby reboot I need to hate the Reds again
“What is wrong with the game is the people running it, it would be good if the average IQ is increased by the new group.”
And you won’t get better people in charge of the game as the the current set up ensures those people are in place.
What the Rebels players should be demanding to know, as Twiggy's ex-rival throws a familiar hail Mary
Great Jacko, but Super rugby doesn’t let you do that.
Take the Waratahs how many home games in a season 6/7. Take 3 of those on the road, and your selling a membership package of 4 games to NSW your biggest market where the AFL/NRL have multiple games in every weekend.
Australia teams fail badly because we only have 5. “Take it back there” totally agree, but you ain’t gonna do that with Super Rugby.
What the Rebels players should be demanding to know, as Twiggy's ex-rival throws a familiar hail Mary
Maybe a bit of both, but IMO though, with the growth of the AFL/NRL business models, rugby needs to figure out whether it can survive long term with limited domestic growth.
Next year chances are we will have only 4 domestic teams competing in a competition with limited appeal in the Aus market.
I can’t see how that is sustainable long term.
Scrap the Giteau Law: Rugby Australia should look to Rassie's 'Boks RWC recipe if it wants to re-join the big boys' table