I hate to say ‘I told you so’, however as a long-term skeptic of Melbourne as the next city to host a Super Rugby franchise, I am not surprised to see the commercial interest of the venture buckling under the pressure of viability and even sustainability in a highly competitive Victorian sports market.
Rugby simply is not in the DNA of Victorians. Yes, hardliners can pull out Weary Dunlop, Ewen McKenzie and David Fitter as evidence that Victoria can produce Wallabies. However, it’s the winning of the hearts and minds of the every day tram catching Victorian to turn their back on the entrenched ‘craddle to the grave’ fanaticism they hold for their beloved Collingwood, Carlton or Hawthorn and embrace the ‘running game’ of which they have little concept of its ethos, history, culture and especially its rules. A big gamble by the Australian Rugby Union, to say the least.
Considering this new venture was financially modeled on private equity, the simple question must therefore be where is the dollar return for the investor? Any prudent investor would ask: if it’s such a good opportunity, why do you need me? The simple answer is the ARU does not have the financial clout to ensure the long term sustainability of the venture. Enter the private sector. The stakes are high and the return far from a certainty.
Case in point is another market competitor, The Melbourne Storm. The Storm is heavily bankrolled by News Limited and could not sustain itself even after 10 years in the marketplace without Murdoch money. Even after three NRL grand final appearances and two titles, coupled with star players like Greg Inglis, Billy Slater and Glenn Lazerus, rugby league is still a boutique sport at best in Melbourne. Why would you invest in a Melbourne based rugby union team then? To fight for the scraps of the Victorian sports market? The ARU has is selling a lemon!
As any rugby person would tell you, it’s a simple game. The style of rugby which has endured since William Webb Ellis had a rush of blood to the head many scrums ago has been the game of simplicity, played with courage, skill and vision. The ARU/NZRFU has flirted with the Asian market with Bledisloe Cups being hugely successful in both Hong Kong and Tokyo, and for mine the latter is where the opportunity lay.
Tokyo – capital to the rugby loving Japanese nation; home to 20 million people; shares a similar time zone to Eastern Australia; home of multinational corporations and therefore potential sponsors such as Toyota, Honda and Sony; home of rugby starved ex-pats and the land of rising opportunity!
A Tokyo based Super 15 team held under an ARU license in a joint venture with the Japanese Rugby Union, and perhaps the private sector, is the way forward in many ways. A team with two-thirds Australian players and one-third Japanese players ensures both Australian and Japanese players are getting the opportunity to play at Super level. A much larger market both in gate and television revenue awaits. No natural competitor in the marketplace like rugby league or AFL. It’s also an attractive option for European players and returning Australian’s from abroad.
The opportunity is endless and waiting. Does the ARU have the vision, skill or courage to pursuit it? If not, enjoy squeezing the Melbourne lemon Mr. O’Neill.
Justin
Guest
Bucking complete hey Argyle ;)
Sam Taulelei
Guest
It will be interesting to see how successful Melbourne are at recruiting players from the NPC teams. Apart from the confirmed squads and wider training squads for the Super 14 teams there is an unknown quantity of the remaining players unsigned to a NZ franchise. With the extra games in the 2011 tournament there could also be a change in the size of squads as teams will argue they'll need more players to cover for injuries. It will be a gamble for a promising NPC player to forfeit playing for the All Blacks and play for a startup team as the NZRU rule any player not playing for a NZ Super rugby team as ineligible for selection. Even if a player was only signed to play Super rugby for Melbourne and return to NZ for the NPC they would still be deemed ineligible.
Siva Samoa
Guest
Brock James has been one of the best five eight in the French Top 14 for the last three years.
Crashy
Guest
re Brock James - wasnt he punted from the Force though? love the name..
Jay
Guest
Brock James should be their first priority. Local lad, solid player.
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
ARU and Rebels have signed their agreement. All sorted. http://www.heavensgame.com/competitions/super-14/aru-hands-over-control-of-melbourne-super-rugby-team.html
Sam
Guest
I actually think that the new format will help the Australian teams. I mean one of the Australian teams *has* to qualify for the play-offs, no matter how poorly they are playing. In 2009 there were 3 NZ teams and 1 SA in the finals, no Australian ones! That won't happen after expansion. This is one disadvantage of a multi-national competition like this. So I think the expanded model will help solve this problem rather than make it worse.
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
also, if anyone wants to see, 10: 15 at the steps of the st leonards HQ, open air interview with John O'niell and that administrator dude i think
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
breaking news : ARU press event tommorrow in the morning, we'll see what happens, something to do with melbourne co operation? ARU run? VicSuper15 return? Administrator appointed?
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
you'd think the ARU are getting used to inconsistent support by now though, thats why the unions have their financials so they have their reserve account which they try and build all the time. The ARU pretty much proposed this model so that 2 teams from australia WOULD get into the finals series.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
The other problem with the model that hasn't been mentioned, is that two franchise are going to suffer every year as all the Australian teams are in the same conference. Thus if Australia is going through a good period, unfortunately we will be still be likely to have a maximum of 2 teams qualify for the final series. Maybe a 3rd team can be in the running and make it interesting, but with a longer season, you will find that support for teams not performing on the field, or out of the running for the final series will drop off considerably, and that will hurt. Plenty of challenges facing the ARU, and unlike the ARC, they just can't axe what they don't like. They are contractually bound to deliver this.
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
its only 10/30, i agree with lots of what you're saying dogs, i think that the UAR will probably provide incentive too, as many of the players they'll contract will also become centrally contracted to the UAR. also we may well find the schoolboys move up as Joe Roff and David Fitter said, some may also come for allegiances to both Victoria and the Coach, whoever it ends up being. theres also third party contracts to be made, but i see this as becoming a young team that makes it
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
And it will cost a lot, as these players all require homes, may have families, will have legal issues with visa's etc, it's not all as easy as you make it out to be. And as I said, how many are going to come for 50K, that amount will hardly pay the rent and setup costs of moving to Australia.
Siva Samoa
Guest
Lets put it this way. If I was the coach of the new Melbourne super 15 team and I want my team to be competitive. I'll be signing players from the Argentinian elite squads, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji , NPC and Currie Cup.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
That's their decision to select who they think is the best person to win them the game. No different to when Queensland did similar things, putting guys like Artie Beetson in the team when they were playing reserve grade, or youngsters like Alfie Langer appearing for Queensland when it looked like the first tackle he would be involved in would likely snap the bloke in half. Not that Union hasn't done similar things, selecting people to play for Australia who weren't currently in a Super 14 team. As for the Brumbies, all the teams work under the same salary cap type scenario with some bonuses from external parties to bump up the payments, as well as the ARU topping up contracts of International players. So although some players may be paid peanuts, most would be getting the max amount that is possible within the franchise with some top ups from 3rd parties. What I am sayign is that you can't expect too many to up and change country without some sort of decent paycheck. You wouldn't do it for say 50K.
Siva Samoa
Guest
The Brumbies were been paid peanuts and most of them were players who missed out on the Waratahs. They are still the most sucessful Australian Super team to date. You don't seem to mind when New Zealand rugby league select players from the NRL under 20's and NRL reserves to play international for the Kiwi's.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Will 2nd rate players give them wins though? I doubt it. They may unearth a few stars, but if you pay peanuts, guess what you get.
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
the pacific rugby cup wouldnt be happy in that case
Siva Samoa
Guest
The Samoan, Tongan and Fijian players would be happy just to play for even less than that and as the NPC and Currie cup players from NZ and SA. Then there's Argentinian where most players are amateurs.
rugbyfuture
Roar Guru
its more for argentineans and 2nd rate new zealanders i think, so it might, agustin pichot might have a quiet ear in some of them