How Australian Rugby can grow

well 2 and 3 have/are happening now just for 1 and 4 :D

Brett Plus, if they are keen as they appear then maybe they'd be up for what is being discussed on another thread.

Yep, I'd agree with that WCR, hard to see it as anything other than a good thing for the game locally...

Brett If nothing else this will drive up the stake Fox will pay locally for Super Rugby. But still good to see One HD and Ten for that matter being interested in Rugby. I quite enjoyed there RWC 07 coverage.

WCR, Invictus, more news on the Ten/ONE HD front today (from The Oz) "In other news, Channel 10 has reportedly emerged as a player in the SANZAR broadcast rights talks, with the network keen to screen Super rugby matches free-to-air, although Fox Sports is expected to retain the rights to the bulk of the fixtures."

Agree with Steffy. Not saying Rugby has as many scandals as league but unless the scandal involves something really attrocious or an ex league player then Rugby players dont make the news off field. Not because their angels but people dont care enough about them. Take the HAL for example Ryall and Cornthwaite aren't big stories and will only be brought up a few times in some sokkah bagging tripe later on.An u20 player in league ding something wrong would generate just as much press. The scandals in some way aren't just a weakness their an indication of strength!

"The NRL is always in the news for one scandal after another, so it shouldn’t be hard to get the better of them in the ratings" Good luck with that

westy accept what you're saying, and I'm aware that there is a great tradition of playing rugby games while on tour, a tradition that goes back well over a century. Nevertheless, there remains a very close link between Australian Football and the two wars in a number of ways: 1. the long list of famous footballers who served and died (including Ron Barassi's father) who continue to be remembered to this day on special occasions; 2. the games that were organised in distant lands and are part of the folklore of the returned soldiers; 3. the use of most of the old VFL grounds, including the MCG, as a war facility during both wars; and even more significantly; 4. the manner in which the vernacular of both the Australian soldiers and the Australian game borrowed from each other, in a way that could only truly occur with one own's game, one own's culture. It should be recalled that there was very close cooperation between the AFL and the RSL in progressing the ANZAC day match, such that it now has a special place on the sporting calendar - and no one should really begrudge that.

westy It's too late. He already believe's that is only a matter of time before AFL sweeps all before them relegating all other games including Rugby that has been in Australia for more than 130 years tp park level. He even spurted some BS about NZ eventually adopting it.

republican be careful not to in any way put the proposition that Aussie rules defines the cultural psyche of Australians.A majority of Australians do not hold it to be their sport or to define themselves culturally. This is what is galling to many not the game itself. It is part of the Australian picture not its defining component. The advertising tongue in cheek by the AFl integrating Aussie Rules with Australian history was a flop in NSW and QLD . it had no resonance. This was confirmed by the AFL itelf .The attempted positioning of Aussie rules to monopolise ANZAC tradition is simply insulting when majority of Australian serviceman did not play the game. My father , my grandfather and myself have served in the armed forces and rugby union has a very proud record in the armed forces. It is far from foreign.

It's cheap content for Channel 10 to source, and helps fill the air time. I am sure plenty of other Australian sports will be offering their sports for free or even paying a small amount to get their sports on the box, really it comes down to when they exit their current arrangements.

Brad you live in the perfect city to start your own personal crusade against Australian Football. All the best with that. But don't refer to "force 'em backs" or "forcing backs", they won't have a clue what you're talking about. And in case you're trying to infiltrate the enemy in an undercover operation, what ever you do, don't use the word "banana", they call it a "checkside".

WCR, I obviously don't watch the news enough.... I certainly like the way you think! A Rugby inspired takeover of OneHD sounds like just the ticket. Perhaps they can be used as a stick to beat the ARU with so as to provide the competition we are all looking for?

JF, Pull the other leg..... the shared culture of all sport is to have a national footprint. The larger the footprint, the better the long-term prospects of the sport. That means, a national comp. They all have one - AFL, NRL, football, cricket, netball, hockey, even basketbll & baseball in the past. But somehow rugby union considers itself above all this..... to its eventual cost.

bring back the ARC but have an under 20's with it so its the best of the club rugby players and the best of the players in the colts competition ( as well as younger grade players), this will make it easier for Australia u20's to be piked

Brad. I believe something called culture dictates preferance for all manner of leisure pursuits, determined very much by a countries history as well as social and physical environment. Granted, culture is fluid however a country won't necessarily embrace all this fluidity along the way so something as alien as Union is comparitively speaking in Oz, won't necessarily be embraced fully by its people, international pedigree or not. This is not because of any real resentment on the part of the sporting status quo but more to do with a game i.e. Union not being integral the national psyche or character as it most obviously is in Safa and NZ. If you believe that simply because Union is international it should follow that Australians fervently support your choice of code, then if you apply that rationale, they should also be turning out to support our national Hockey, Basketball, Lawn Bowls sides with the same gusto. It should be considered when discussing the virtues of Union from a Safa and Kiwi perspective, that in fact Saffa's and NZ'ers are very different culturally to Oz, although the latter are often inaccurately likened to us in that resppect.

Invictus One HD has made no secrets of its quest for content. As I stated it has already secured the Wallabies Spring Tour and look like securing the Bundaberg Rum Series and Tri - Nations from next year on. They have stated all this publicly. They also very keen on securing the rights alongside Fox for all the Australian Super14/15 games. If this occurs then our long awaited desire to see Rugby on FTA and at a decent time will finally be realised. Nationwide. In my mind One HD could become a de facto Rugby channel. We just need to build the content. A National Provincial Model to fill in between the end of the Tri-Nations and the Spring Tour would fit nicely as would a summer Seven's Series. JK Schools are the holy grail of Sports development in my mind. Where else can reach practically every child in the country. There seems to be alot of momentum behind Rugby's bid for Olympic inclusion with Jacques Rogge pretty confident of it getting the nod. If so the funding Rugby would recieve should be poored into schools development. Athletics Australia from what I can find recieves $5,000,000 per annum. How many Gold Medal winners have they produced recently. Two that I can remeber being Cathy Freeman and Steve Hooker. Rugby would be entitiled to at least that. When our best turn up we are serious contenders. If you get kids playing Rugby in Schools they'll for the most part play Rugby on the weekend.

"...now living happily in Adelaide". Pull the other one Brad... ;-)

The culture of soccer in Australia is completely different to that of rugby. They have found a model that is consistent with the sports position in Australia. It is an emerging mainstream sport, therefore the model of new teams and a new competition works well for them, the new teams were also required to eliminate the image problems of the NSL. Rugby on the other hand is completely different, it has been played in this country for many years and has built its own brand in the footballing landscape. It attracts a certain type of crowd, different from the A-League, AFL and NRL. This requires a customised approach to the establishment of a domestic competition, we must design the competition to suit the rugby public. The ARU did not do this with the ARC and paid the price.

JF, The A-League then, in your eyes, is a massive failure on all fronts, with its mostly artificial teams??? The Perth Glory being the only team to survive intact from previous national comps in soccer. No history, no tradition, no tribalism of any kind at all has evolved in its (A-League) short history???