We need to stop mistaking the woes of the game here which have been caused by decades of poor managements and administration with the state of the game internationally. Which has allowed the game to stagnate and fester. Internationally the contest between the two codes isn’t even close. Rugby is striding ahead. The overall quality of play has been great across pretty much every competition this year. Including SRP for the record. The three games I watched over Friday and Saturday were all hugely entertaining. Even the quality of the Super W competition this year has been the best I’ve seen so far.

This year the Premiership, URC, Top 14 and JRLO have all seen increased viewership and attendances. The Champions Cup Ro16 and 1/4 over the last fortnight have been immense. Even the developing leagues in the likes of MLR and SRA have seen growth particularly in the quality of play.

The Rugby European Championship probably just had their best season yet. Crowds were up quite a bit particularly in the likes of Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Both Portugal and Georgia both participated in the recent u18s internationals in Europe and put forth very good showings.

On the women’s side the first edition of the WXV set up seems to have worked out better than WR had hoped across all three tiers. The Women’s 6Ns is currently underway and is being played in front of strong crowds. Hell, there’s even been the announcement of a new professional league set to be launched in the US in 2025.

Not everything is perfect. There’s still things that need to be done to improve the overall flow of the game. But to suggest that internationally the game is in trouble is alarmist and not founded in reality. Hell, if we had competent administration here that knew how to manage and promote the game particularly that of SRP and not just solely focused on the Wallabies things would be much healthier.

Thing is. It’s not just football that these guys often participate in. Many that don’t go to Uni for Football go for Basketball (a lot of NBA were highly rated HS Football players as well), Ice Hockey, Wrestling, Track and Field, Lacrosse. Sports that all offer scholarships and paid playing opportunities post College to some degree. All tend to draw from the same well of athletes.

The only way to do it is start from the ground up and be ready to wait it out for decades. Rugby has spent 50 years chipping away to the point now that many Universities have club teams (usually recognised by the University which comes with limited support around access to facilities) and is only now seeing the game begin to pick up momentum in terms of youth and HS participation. Even still it’s a long way from breaking through.

Or one of the 8 or so Arena Football Leagues. There’s also a bunch of semi- pro leagues across the country. Japan has a small pro league. As does Mexico and there’s a renewed push on building a European based league as well. The introduction of NIL has also radically changed college sports particularly College football to the point where players can earn a decent living as far down as D3 in the States. Taking into account the redshirt (which is kind of a development year) players can play College football for up to 5 years. And then there’s Rugby.

A seasonal change has been something that I’ve thought should be seriously considered for a while. That and a commitment for a longer home and away season. And while I do understand people arguments against it the counter argument is South Africa have managed to do it rather successfully. Clearer air from competitors. Opportunities for event games like Christmas Day and New Years Day games. More matches for viewers. Could move the RC to align more with the 6Ns.
Work with Japan to run a Cup competition during the November window (something people don’t realise about Japanese Rugby when citing their short season is they have a very long preseason) and potentially in the new RC window as well.

How would looking to build SRP commercially jeopardise RA income? The article talks about value of competitions and laments the lack of commercial sustainability of SRP. Noting it’s decline but then likes this post.

Building SRP’s commercial base would help RA bottom line as it would go a long way to developing ideally another valuable revenue stream for RA. Which would take a lot of pressure of the Wallabies as the main driver. And considering the Union would be involved they would benefit. It would also help with talent retention as if you develop a valuable asset in SRP to the point you can increase the salary cap at that level allowing them to be more competitive with both domestic and international competitors.

Would also help if it were actually promoted better.

Yep, if you want to include some kind of Japanese participation then go with a Cup competition. HEll, you could have it as the Top 8 from each enter a Cup comp and if you really wanted to involved SR Americas you could then take the bottom 4 teams in SRP and play the Top 4 from SR Americans in a Challenger Series or something like that hosted in one location. Alongside a longer season ideally double round robin. For 22 rounds with or with the Rebels. Ideally with them. Having all the admin run centrally by RA and only having the HP and Academy ops running in Melbourne.

This is something I support. Working with Japan to establish a cross-border Cup competition. Pre/Post season or even in the lead in to the November Test window.

Stop suggesting Japan as a option for SRP. It’s fanciful and frankly poorly thought out and informed. The JRFU were happy enough to bin the Sunwolves and are now all in on the JRL1 structure as a professional competition. They aren’t going to green light a return to SRP. As for the Jaguares. No, won’t be near the same strength as previously and goes back to the whole traversing the globe. Not something we should be looking at again.

If the Rebels are axed which isn’t the path I want to see. But if they are, then go to 11 and run a double round robin for a 22 round season allowing for each to have 2 byes and host 10 home games a season. In regards, to MP. Being based in the Islands isn’t likely viable but they should be playing more games in Samoa and Tonga.

You are aware that the 6Ns is the biggest annual Rugby tournament of either code. Bringing in ratings that the NRL could only dream of. And the Netflix series Full Contact has been a broad success leading to a 2nd season being green lit. Don’t equate Rugby in Australia to Rugby around the world.

Not really concerned about Super Rugby’s recognition in the US. More the development and growth of Major League Rugby leading into the 2031 RWC.

Yes, but Soccer has the advantages of decades of growth and development from the ground up. Which has resulted in the professional tiers of the game now running 3 divisions deep. Even then it would be their 5th biggest sport with the NFL way out ahead (97 of the top 100 broadcasts last year were NFL games with two of the remaining 3 being College Football), NBA, MLB and NHL currently ahead of the MLS.

There’s no real buzz about it in the Rugby community in the US. Which some may say ‘so what’ but in terms of interest most of them at the very least are aware of the NRL as a competition and Rugby League as a sport so would be the logical initial target audience. All of the chatter has been about MLR kicking off and the LA 7s this weekend. The only mention I’ve seen of the NRL’s Vegas venture has been about a potential kick on effect for MLR.

With an extensive injury list and the time.

Well, considering most of them called for Jones to be installed and that turned out to be a total trainwreck you’d hope they’d be self aware enough to keep quiet for the foreseeable. Though I doubt it.

Yep. Look up who’s bankrolling things like Major League Cricket. It’s not overly difficult to figure going off some of the team names.

Given Hansen has committed his future to Ireland his opinion on who should coach the Wallabies really isn’t relevant.

Why do you think they chose Vegas? Three games a year isn’t going to make a real impact on participation in the sport. What it might do is get those interested in betting on it to tune in a bit more.

You clearly have little to no actual knowledge of the playing landscape in the US when it comes to Rugby. Certainly if you think it’s limited to Ivy League schools. There are over 900 College clubs registered with USARugby. The version of Rugby most Americans are familiar with is Rugby Union. There’s even an professional league, Major League Rugby, broadcast on the very same network as the NRL Vegas event and a professional 7s League in Premier Rugby 7s.

I’ll remember that while watching Major League Rugby next year.

Do you know the collective populations of those tiny number of Commonwealth countries?

It’s not nowhere. If that were the case then MLR wouldn’t have lasted more than a year. It’s fairly widely played at the University level and has a reasonable presence in High Schools in many states. But it is small. That being said. It’s light years ahead of AFL and League.

To answer your question. No neither the NRL or AFL signing a handful of Americans will lead to any real meaningful growth or return. More just good PR spin back in Australia. I say this as there have been Americans playing in European Rugby competitions for decades. And that’s Rugby which is far, far wider spread than either League or AFL combined.

If either want to see any real meaningful returns the answer is both simple in statement but hugely complicated in execution. And that is invest. A lot. Both in terms of dollars and time. Something I don’t think either actually wants or has the stomach for.

I’ll use Major League Rugby as an example. The owners have committed according to an interview to investing the better part of $1b USD of their own money from 2019 through to the 2031 RWC with no guarantee of profitability before that point if then in what is very much a start up league with few certainties. And that’s just MLR. The unquantifiable amounts of collective time and money by ordinary people over decades that built what Rugby infrastructure that does exist makes the proposition a truly daunting one. And that’s what both are up against if they want anything meaningful. But again I doubt that’s the goal. For the NRL it’s about tapping into sports betting. Which I think will be a tougher egg to crack than they assume.

Japan should be seriously considered for inclusion in TRC. Could be scheduled to run as a single round of 4 games. Could go even further with opening up a 6th qualifier spot for a TRC2 featuring in the 1st edition Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, USA, Chile and Uruguay. Winner earns the spot. But that’s probably a bridge too far.

In terms of crossover between League One and SRP it should definitely be in the form of a Cup competition. All 24 teams. 8 pools of 3 playing home and away for 4 extra games. Go from there.

It 100% will and has in practice. Not League but in the amateur (fourth division down) ranks in French Rugby similar laws have been in place for a few seasons now. Not only does data show a 30% decrease in concussions and 64% decrease in contact to the head. But having seen games involving these laws the overall flow of the game with an increased offloading aspects has changed significantly. I’d expect similar to occur in League after an initial period of adaption.