IRB Report 2010: CONSUR - South America: Part III

Brazil went down to Uruguay 39-18. From all reports the game was tight (20-18) right up unitl the final 15 minutes where the Brazilian lack of fitness began to tell and Uruguay capitalised. Encouraging for their development. THe gap is rapidly closing. The Chile/Uruguay game should be very interesting.

:lol: What the heck!

:D It's amazing what you find on the internet.

A Thai pop singer singing about rugby... Well I never... And I'll never get those few minutes back

its growing in australia: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/super-rugby-soares-across-all-boarders/story-e6frexni-1226047169688

Here's something to digest with from what I can gather has a Rugby theme. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lYc79UHAG0

They already have the backing of the Govt and a couple of local billionaires with more looking at investing. So should be interesting to see what happens. The Begian,Ductch and German Unions have all agreed to form their own elite league. Evidently it will intially have the top 4 teams from each of the respective national leagues. Funnily enough, having seen some highlights the Dutch clubs appear to be the best supported. Finally, the saga that is the Super Iberica de Rugby continues. They are pursuing a regional franchise system with clubs representing their region. Seems a popular concept among Spanish Rugby fans but unfortunately politics and self interest in stalling its progress. But if it ever gets it issues sorted it could form yet another interesting new league to keep an eye on.

Very interesting; best of luck to the Russkies. Seems like a sport they could relish. All the liquid gas-I mean capital out there should stand them in good stead.

Nathan It certainly is a rapidly growing championship not only in composition (moving to 15 possibly a 16 team Championship), quality but also in financial clout. Would not surprise me in the least if the RPRL becomes another professional opportunity for many players in the short to mid term.

re: RPRL: That ... actually sounds like a pretty scary prospect.

RPRL - Russian Professional Rugby League also known as the Russian Championship. Kovana The Super 10 already exists, and has done for quite some time. Though, I do agree over time as the game continues to grow in size and popularity it would be good to see the Super 10 emerge as a viable high quality domestic league. As it stands though, gaining two more franchises in the ML should be their objective as Eisney-STM from the RPRL recently gave a few of the Super 10 teams a touching up. As for the ML name and sponsor. Evidently, Magners will not be renewing its sponsorship deal, suggestions are that this will open the door for Guiness. However, there are also a number of other prospective sponsors very interested, the one creating the most buzz is FIAT. The move toward the Pro12 instead of League links back to its original name the Celtic League. With the inclusion of the Italian franchises they want a name that is all encompassing.

i think it maky be the Russian Premier Rugby Leage?

Sorry WCR.. RPRL? Which Comp is this? And this "ML (interesting possible name change coming up for this competition. Possibly soon to been known as the FIAT Pro12)" Is that the Sponsor for next season? Anyways.. What i am also hoping long term for Italy is that sometime in the near future when their rugby stocks are higher, remove themselves from the ML and start their own Domestic Professional Super 10 Competition... With crowds of 5-6K at the start... Much like the Top 14 back in the 90s.

I 100% agree regarding the role of the IRB. Their primary objective should be to provide the opportunities to as many people in as many nations to play Rugby. As you alluded to more often than not once you have experienced playing the game you're hooked. This is what will lead to increased awareness and commercial success of the game through sponsorship. Argentineans would more than like prefer to play a competitive Brazil but that's probably (if current development continues) 10-15 years away. In the mean time with the disbanding of the Churchill Cup this season I'd like the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) taken more seriously and transformed into a proper continental North and South championship with Canada, USA, Uruguay and Chile intially involved with Brazil entering when they are ready. This would in time provide Arg with the necessary local competition they so desperately require. It's already happening in Asia to an extent. I also agree largely with your point of view that any professional competitions should occur organically, and in most cases such as the Aviva Premiership, Top 14, Top League and the emerging RPRL that has. However, in some cases such as in SANZAR and the Celtic Nation (inc. Italy)structures of the likes of Super Rugby and the ML (interesting possible name change coming up for this competition. Possibly soon to been known as the FIAT Pro12) are a must as individual particular in the cases of Aus,NZ and ML nations we could not sustain our own independent domestic competitions due to relatively small population bases.

Matt - I couldn't have said it better myself. And I agree with you 100%.

I personally hope the IRB eventually has aspirations towards creating regionally centred tournaments and national competitions. SANZAR has learnt the lesson that too much travel puts the players and fans off watching matches. The move towards derby games also shows that fans like to see local teams they know with traditional rivalries (I'm sure Argentinean fans would much rather take on a competitive Brazil than Australia or New Zealand). Is it possible that Argentina will eventually leave the 4 Nations and participate in a CONSUR based tournament (maybe a tiered competition like the Asian 5 Nations). Will South Africa eventually leave Australia and New Zealand to instead become the cornerstone nation of an African Nations competition. This surely has to be the eventual aim, to create sustainable competitions within each region to enable all nations to have clear pathways towards participation at the top of the game. One factor which I have come to question of late is the artificial generation of professional rugby in nations where amateurism is the key to growth. If you look at Argentina and the USA there has been massive growth in participation and interest, but it is not thanks to professionalism there. As another Roar article about Scottish participation numbers shows you don't need to have a winning national team or a winning pro club side to grow the game. Rugby's biggest strength is that it is fun to play, rugby's greatest potential is therefore the mass of untapped participation numbers out there if kids could just be exposed to playing the game (not watching it!). More IRB money (and more National Union money in all nations) needs to be spent on making it easier to play the game and making players feel wanted by the game. So, getting back to my point about artificial generation of pro rugby in new nations, should we be barracking for the creation of 4-5 brand new Argentinean Super Rugby franchises (ditto for USA, Canada, Singapore or Hong Kong)? I'm starting to wonder if it's better to just let the professional aspect of the game grow organically and concentrate on participation numbers. If participation goes up then the more and more clubs will exist. Clubs can then gain fans and exp-players who want to support their team. These people will watch their team at home games (and maybe on TV) and the players can then start to earn money to help them train to be better for the club. In time the better clubs will rise to the top and the fanbase will grow to allow more money to be spent on the players. I don't see a problem with Italian or Argentinean players going to European clubs. It make them better players and sees them develop without costing money to their home Unions. Everyone seems to be in a big hurry for growth in all directions, but I just hope that we remember that rugby was originally popular because it was fun to play and that is a foundation stone from which the game should never move away from. Sport is not primarily about entertainment, it's about participation. So it's great to see the IRB striving to give more people the ability to play the game.

Stellenbosched - We do actually recieve a couple million pounds each year to assist us in our development efforts within the townships and other fellow african nations. Probably also assists in the support of the Pampas XV from Argentinia that are running around in the Vodacom cup - who are doing very well this year I might add.

unless you want the irb profits to go only to southafrica and other majoar rugby nations. the irb have spent money wisely on many tournaments we have and on grassroots all over the world. rugby has got to grow so that the rugby world cup and other rugby related stuff can get funding and monet it deserves.

mella, the final between england and south africa were watched by 8 million french fans on tv as well.

Why expand? Why not, if you love a game, why not share it with as many people in as many locations as possible. That's my perspective. I enjoyed playing and still enjoy watching the game and want as many people to experience the same joy I did regardless of whether they are in England, Ireland, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Thailand, Iran or Tanzania.