A reality check for Aussie rugby fans

As a rugby fan i would like to say how disappointed i am in the coverage (or lack thereof) of the Golen Oldies tournament held here in Sydney last week. There was essentially no coverage of the event at all (including on the the Roar). In terestingly the only coverage i saw was on the daily terror! this tournament had 180 teams, 5000 players, and added plenty of money to our ocffers. but why were the wider public not told of this? this tourament showed why rugby is great. but the mainstream media, and the ARU neglected this terrific event. all week we had to put up with news bulletins about "fanaticical fans" of two league clubs. its about time rugby started getting more recgontion for the good things. plenty of people on the roar complain about the game, but who was actually taliking aobut the postive aspect of it last week - the Golden Oldies.

RU in Australia needs to get inbound tours happening again. You need a proper tour going again: a tour by a top team is bound to attract the interest of FTA networks, it falls outside the Fox deal and provincial unions will also benefit. The Lions tour is a prime example of this.

Where is the money going to come from for Rugby Union in Australia? The ARU is getting about the same payment from the next TV deal yet next year there is an extra team, more local derbies and more games.

Well said Jim. I think there were statements trying to be made at the time such as We're the big boys now and will buy who we want (Sailor, Rogers, Tuikere, Johns A (Channel 9 saved that), mail that Tallis was almost there) instead of doing the right thing. Hasnt the 5 million dollar kid (Giteau) 'over-achieved' since he lost his hunger?

Your right Mike, there was some pretty good rugby in 96 at the beginning of the 'pro era'. It was certainly on mate to grab it, and run. It amuses me how the 'league clones' used to laugh about 'so-called' weak defensive game that would clock up 60-70 points. Now they seize on it. Ahhh, the western Sydney lads et al seize on what their heroes such as Gould, Guyer, Fittler, Warren, Johns (x 2), Vauntin, Sterling (guilty by association) and Voss 'fed' them.

Yes but hasn't the Wallabies games gone from a TV audience of 750k to 450k. I know that they may not be winning but this just doesn't pay the bills for the TV channels. The main problem with RU is not the sport (which I enjoy watching) but rather the supporters & administrators telling the general sporting public for the last 100 years that unless you went to St Josephs or Kings College then you are not good enough to be part of the sport. I am sure people will point to areas where this is not the truth but sorry guys you have missed the boat & the money that the NRL & AFL will get from the next TV rights will make sure that you will be a minor sport in this country for at least the next 50 years.

living in melbourne i dont quite understand why people like nrl over real rugby. rugby is an awesome and extremely entertaining game. watching the wallabies is a great feeling. dont understand why i read so many articles hitting the panic button. one thing i dont really understand is why dont we have a domestic rugby competition (and dont say super 15). super 15 is to rugby what champions league is like to football (well kinda), you cant rely on a very short competition held between multiple countries to be a backbone for the sport.

What's even more disheartening is knowing that those early years of Super rugby were probably some of the best...Imagine the market share we could've captured for future years...like 2010!!!!

That's a great article Clanscout. Concentrate on the fundamentals and the future will take care of itself. The ARU's biggest mistake was the ridiculous overhyping of the wallabies and the devalueing of the international game through over exposure. The ARU profits from the 2003 RWC should have been spent on grassroots, not Matt Giteau's contract. The fact that rugby union fans were celebrating that a 'star' like Giteau was paid so much, compared to say Darren Lockyer, made it even more perverse. The message should have been that rugby union was living in cloud cuckoo land, not that it was about to challenge the NRL or AFL for the publics' affections.

Your right Mike. They missed the boat to in 97 when the Super league b/s war was happening. They should of had Wallabies attcking every non-rugby school in the two rugby states and ACT. Two years later they win their second Cup, and could of really cashed in. Im of the opinion to (as a NZer) that there has to be a second tier comp in Australia as a 'between club and Super stage'. The game seems to stop after the tri-nations (apart from us purists) whilst the other codes are slaying the ratings. An 8 team comp (forget about the club rubbish three years ago). Sydney Brisbane NSW Country Queensland Country ACT WA Victoria the 8th either best of the rest, emerging, or look at Islanders or the like. Food for thought perhaps? Im not sure, but something has to be considered rather than keep hoping the Super comp will keep expanding (therefore diluting) and running for 22-26 weeks. Have a look at the NPC in NZ and how youngsters get a chance to rub shoulders with old hard heads (Counties with Umunga playing No 12 is an example). I will be very interested with how the new Rebels franchise line up against the 11 year old Super league francise Storm. Would like to see the Rebels hit the ground running, and Sterlo to be injury free for the season.

"While we are on it, perhaps it may be warranted an individual thread as to why the league fraternity has such a large chip on their shoulder over rugby. Could it be small brother syndrone??" Not sure the day after the League GF is good timing for this question, Grafter!!!! As a rugby fan though, I'd have to say it's disheartening to realise that we may have missed the boat (at least in the short term), in making our game a top 2 code within Oz. Seems pretty obvious to me that the reason for this is that the ARU didn't push hard enough for live coverage of Super 12 rugby, or at least those games involving the Tahs/Reds/Brumbies. Automatically (& indirectly), you're telling the public that you don't give a stuff about them if they can't afford Foxtel. I know some of the Tahs games were on ch 7 in Sydney about 11pm that night, but so what!!! The reason both the NRL & AFL have outperformed everyone else is that they havn't really treated their fans with contempt (in this regard, anyhow)...Nine has 2 League games FTA Fri night & the Sunday arvo game. It's simple, but as a fan you know what you are going to get every week. AFL is similar (albeit a little confusing with diff FTA channel involved, but you get my drift) Now, obviously comparing the established comps of the NRL & AFL with the still fairly new Super rugby comp is Apples & Oranges, but my point is still valid; if the ARU are serious, & I mean REALLY serious about Rugby getting the foothold it deserves, they HAVE to ensure the Tahs/Reds/Brumbies/Rebels & Force games are at the very least shown live in the states in which they abide. A 1 hour highlights package from 9 next year isn't enough, to be honest. It treats the public with disregard. I seriously question just how committed JON really is to FTA. He's not doing a very good job of convincing me he is, anyway.

Nothing wrong with a bloke justifying himself Phil before writing a thoughtful article. Agree with you about Channel 7. In my opinion they are trying to copy the 'hype channel' (9) and it fails dismally (as does 9 imo). Also couldnt agree more about using scum (as 9 does, Johns/Johns/ Sailor/Guyer/Warne et al) instead of stand up blokes (Horan the pick of them). I dont believe rugby gets a fair go in free to air, or the print media. The old adage, any publicity is good publicity. While we are on it, perhaps it may be warranted an individual thread as to why the league fraternity has such a large chip on their shoulder over rugby. Could it be small brother syndrone??

Not if you know how to use the net and stream... go to http://www.fromsport.com/ and see what you can watch for free ... I had about 6 steams I used to watch the A-League on but they have closed... the formsport one will be around for a bit ... then I will move on to something else... Also have a look at justin.tv

By the way Clanscout, I'm not really sure you got your point across. Maybe you should have spent less of the article talking about yourself and more on what you are actually trying to say. Oakie's comments cover the point about free to air. Not only should there be more free to air rugby available, but there should be more coverage of the rugby games that differentiate rugby from it's competitors, and celebrate the great things about rugby, like the Barbarians rugby games and Sevens Rugby and covering all games on a Spring tour rather than just the Tests. There also needs to be more thought by the ARU on which broadcaster they go with whose actions are in rugby's best interests, so we don't have people like Ch7 - whose coverage and promotion of rugby is so poor e.g. cutting to ads instead of showing conversions and using dropkicks like Wendell promoting rugby games when he was kicked out of the game in disgrace, or having commentators that talk about league or ex-league players the whole way through the game.

Well said Oakie. And no disrespect to ABC who's loyalty and service to club rugby and rugby in general has been far greater than anything Ch 7 or 10 have done. Let's see what Ch 9 can do now that they have the Wallabies broadcast rights...

Funny. Didn't notice on my first read through.

If we do not care what any one thinks then why have the heirachy completely changed the game to attract television audiences. i agree that Rugby does not need this but the administration has been doing this for fifteen years. Rugby was a beautiful game that would never sit well with commercialism and its demands for funds to pay players . What a shameful situation the game finds itself in!

I'm being picky, the article says Ray Masters

""While on the subject of coverage, there are more than enough outlets that provide coverage of rugby union across multiple media platforms"" Yes, but only if your pension could cover the cost of pay tv

How is it bickering when it is pretty clear that rugby fans would like to see more professional rugby on free to air TV , the majority of people in Aust prefer to watch NRL & AFL? gee maybe its because its on free to air TV, do you see where I am going with this its not about bickering its a point of fact that besides the Wallabies that we would like to see for instance at least one S15 game on TV, is that to much to ask, and not every rugby follower wants to search the the net for rugby news.