Sydney’s Premier Club Rugby, often more entertaining than rugby league games and some Super 14 matches, battles to get any consistent exposure in mainstream media.
Even the ABC-TV match of the day has to be funded by the Australian Rugby Union as a way of giving the heartland of Aussie Rugby some exposure.
Over the decades, club rugby fans have given up expecting any regular coverage of the competition and no longer bother to contact media outlets to complain.
But with rapid improvement of new media technology and the explosion of social media sites like YouTube and MySpace, Eastwood Rugby Club is opening up a new market.
The Woodies, which has produced Wallaby legends Matt Burke and Matt Dunning, has hit on a potentially strong vein of revenue by creating a “live” broadcast of each of their games and making it available to fans via subscription online.
Club manager Rob Frost and board member Graeme Harrison call the game and later edit the audio over the video footage of the match.
Club supporters can subscribe for $120 a season and watch the games at the leisure on their computers.
“We’ve already got more than 150 subscribers,” Rob Frost confirmed during a break in his call of the Eastwood match against Eastern Suburbs at the weekend.
“It takes a while to edit our audio call on to the vision but we’ve had some great reactions to it. I can’t say we’re the most unbiased commentators going around but we have a lot of fun.”
Occasionally, the excitement of the action has overtaken the call, prompting some colourful descriptions of players and incidents.
“But I either edit them out or turn up the crowd sound so you can’t hear it. I don’t think we’re any threat to Gordon Bray but for people who can’t get to the game, or have moved out of Sydney, they can catch up on how our first grade is going.”
Club sponsors get a bonus for their investment and support of the club, with both Frost and Harrison indulging in some extended ads, free plugs and cheeky banter for McWilliams Wines, Eastwood Retrovision and Ryde Motor Group.
“We’re going to do a few more of those but the main thing is the call of the game and giving people a good idea of the game and a lot of our opinions. We always start off with a beer or a glass of wine and then get in to the call,” says Frost, who does all the editing and post production work.
Highlights from the Frost-Harrison call also get posted on You Tube.
“We only have one camera on the game but that’s enough to capture all the action, the tries and tackles and of course people can run their own ‘action replays’ by simply clicking on replay,” Frost explained.
“At the moment we’re looking for a couple of Eastwood supporters who might like to have a go at calling the games. We do home and away matches. It is a lot of fun but I’m flat out doing a lot of other stuff so there is an opportunity there for someone who might want to be a sports broadcaster.”
Frost believes other clubs could do a similar thing because every first grade game is videoed under the agreements club’s have with the NSW Rugby Union.
“Club Rugby does not get any coverage apart from the ABC TV match of the day. But hundreds of thousands of Rugby fans could have a chance to check out the games online,” he says.
“YouTube and other online sites are becoming a very popular way of reaching a lot of people. Why not Club Rugby? It’s not as good as being at the game, but if you can’t make it, at least you can see how your club is doing and get a bit of club gossip into the bargain.
“Maybe NSW Rugby or the ARU could throw a bit more money the clubs’ way and help them cover the cost of editing sound and video footage for posting on each of the club websites.”
Rob Frost makes a lot of sense. There are a number of companies around Sydney capable of taking the raw material, in this case audio and video, editing it together and helping clubs to publish the games online.
Rob would be the first to admit that the production could be better. But with enormous time limitations it’s difficult for him to do much more.
Some funding and professional involvement could make an enormous difference.
With the right Search Engine Optimisation of club websites, to lift them up the search engine results, rugby fans around Australia could discover the games and begin to follow Sydney clubs with their Super 14 and Wallaby stars.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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