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Joined February 2009
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I couldn't help but notice how small the crowd appeared at the Force game on Friday night. Around 19,000, which is about half of…
The cold hard facts suggest that everyone in Australian Rugby seems to be losing money at the moment. Like any business that hemorrhages cash,…
Left arm, I perhaps should have expanded my commentary to include my views on the current ARU administration.
JON and his team have done a great job since last year. He’s cut competitions, costs and shown initiative – and thats the point of my article. JON is also on the record as being very pro about expansion in to Asia and particularly Japan. He’s smart. He knows that Japan offers enormous benefits to rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.
As for the AFL, of course they’re not perfect but they have done a few things well. Smart businessman keep an eye on your competition and learn from them. I’m sure JON has some similar views to Demiettrio.
What concerns me most about the ARU is Queensland. Clearly the ARU has lost the battle in this state over the last decade as AFL has grown and league has been successful there. Its time to rediscover a few more Tim Horans and John Eales’s in Queensland and claw some ground back in this territory. As many a Queenslander has boasted, when Queensland rugby is strong, so too are the Wallabies. Simple, but perhaps true?
My point is, unless super rugby does expand Australian rugby does face some challenges. I guess you agree with this. Now is the time for growth and initiative. Lets hope the ARU can lead the charge – they’ve got the smarts to do it.
Lazza, I can assure you that Brisbane, a few years ago, was getting better AFL TV ratings than Adelaide. This is a fact and you’ll find this printed. These results, in early 2000, helped the AFL achieve their great TV deals at the time.
Potale, you raise some really interesting points. I’m actually opposed to a ‘third tier’ rugby competition in Australia. This blurs the lines between professionals (super rugby) and club rugby and costs far too much. The solution? Let the cities develop their own suburban competitions with grass roots support. The sort of rugby we loved as kids and the sort of clubs we used to identify with. But, of course, grass roots rugby should be rewarded, so I’m all for annual under age national tournaments and the states playing games against each other on a bi-annual basis.
I notice there also appears to be a general disliking for SA teams being in the Super comp. I have mixed feeling about this too, but the cold hard facts are important. Rugby in SA is big, they get massive crowds and big pay tv audiences. This is crucial to a TV deal being done. Having SA teams in the competition would be far more attractive to foxtel than the NZ teams. I know that hurt some to hear this but its a financial based argument. Replacing the SA teams with teams out of the Pacific Islands and Adelaide would decimate the financial rewards from a TV deal.
Make no mistakes about it, a city that packs 30,000 people in to a stadium with 100,000 pay tv subscribers is far more financially lucrative to pay tv owners than a city that gets the odd crowd of 50,000 but struggles to sell pay tv….
Potale, you also raise a good question about other sports as an example for growth, internationally. Soccer (football?) in Europe is a good example. Its massive, has huge support everywhere and is driven by….. you guessed it, pay -tv.
But there is one other important thing that helps European and particularly English soccer – private ownership.
Should Australia embrace private ownership? Should the ARU sell off licenses for $3m – $5m per team, establish a salary cap and other rules? It sounds simple, but I really think its something we need to explore.
What does the Roar think?
Lets just ignore any submissions from the “Melbourne Firepower” team……………
Go broke or grow: where to now for Australian rugby?
Hi Lazza
Good point, but Super rugby is a little different. I believe its the best competition in the world and players going to Europe and Japan are more likely to be motivated by the cash than the opportunity to improve. But of course there are a few exceptions. Though I’m still not sure why Elsom went to Ireland. The opportunity to improve or the cash?
As opposed to Football, Tennis and Basketball where the competitions are on another level overseas.
Go broke or grow: where to now for Australian rugby?