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The 2011 Super Rugby season was one to remember. The footy on the field was great, most of the time, and there was also good drama off the field.
The success of the Queensland Reds, the journey of the Crusaders and the problems at the Hurricanes and Brumbies have provided enough talking points to last two rugby seasons. This, combined with a Rugby World Cup year, has firmly put the game in the spotlight.
In saying all that, though, I believe that the SANZAR could do much more to take our game to better places.
Super Rugby, the Currie Cup and the ITM Cup are not doing so bad at the moment, but I don’t believe it is the best format to take southern hemisphere rugby forward in the long-term.
What I’m proposing will sound blasphemous to the purists, but I believe that SANZAR should scrap Super Rugby, the Currie Cup and the ITM Cup and start a new competition that will combine them all. For the sake of this article, let’s call it the Southern Hemisphere Cup (SHC).
I’ll explain my reasoning later, but first let me explain the basic framework of the SHC:
– 21 team competition: eight New Zealand teams (top eight of ITM Cup), eight South African teams (Currie Cup teams), five Australian teams (Super Rugby teams).
– 25 week competition: 21 week round robin tournament with four-week finals. Each team plays each other once and has one bye.
– Australian, NZ and SA conference system.
– Finals is a top eight system with top two of each conference going through with two ‘wildcard’ teams (seventh and eighth on the combined competition ladder).
The SHC season can start in mid to late February and be all done by mid-August. This will leave enough time for the Tri Nations and end of year tours.
Now to try and answer some obvious questions:
Why eliminate these competitions?
I believe that there are too many ‘top’ competitions in the southern hemisphere. This clogs up the rugby calendar. I understand the history of these comps, but the SHC is about the future. It’s about increasing the pie, so to speak.
The Currie Cup, as well as the ITM, are good local competitions, but because their respective markets are small, I’m not sure they will remain relevant in the future with the paying public, having so much more options now with respect to where they invest their money and attention.
Also, the ITM and Currie Cup formats have changed so many times over the years because of Super Rugby and the increased number of Test matches. So much so that now the competition itself doesn’t have much history, but the teams that participate in it do.
How about using the northern hemisphere format with local comps, then a ‘super comp’ to tie it all together?
Different type and size of market, I believe.
The size of the NH market is many times bigger than SH rugby. So they get more ‘bang’ for their buck. Also, the travel factor is not as big an issue for NH rugby than SH rugby. Travel costs for SH teams, especially the NZ and SA teams, are very high.
Also, in the NH, a lot of teams are bankrolled by wealthy individuals. Over here, we don’t have that same type of culture to rugby ownership like the NH. It’s the same for the NFL in the US. The teams are privately owned by very wealthy business men and their market is massive. Different circumstances.
How will the SHC be financed?
Basically the same way most of the other codes are financed – TV deals and sponsorship. SANZAR would pass on TV and sponsorship money to the national bodies. Then the national bodies would pass on the money to the teams.
Isn’t the SHC just a longer version of Super Rugby?
Sort of, but with a huge difference. The SHC will have the tribalism that exists in the ITM Cup and Currie Cup.
The knock on Super Rugby is that the tribalism that was part of the ITM and Currie Cup’s were lost because teams were a combination of provincial unions. Also, it was hard for supporters to follow their provincial team than their combined provincial team.
In the SHC there would be no merging of the provinces – except for Australia, where their Super Rugby teams will remain the same.
This would really bring the tribalism back. Also, an icon of NZ rugby, the Ranfurly Shield, would be utilised in the SHC within the NZ conference.
What happens to the teams that aren’t in the top eight NZ and SA provinces? Will they get a chance?
There will be a relegation-promotion system in place for the NZ and SA conferences. Last team in each conference gets relegated and the top team of the ‘second division’ gets promoted.
This would also make games at the end of the season between teams that have no hope of making the finals relevant – reason being that teams won’t want to get relegated and also they may have a chance to pick up a ‘wildcard’ into the finals.
Why does Australia get special treatment?
Provincial rugby in Australia is not as strong as NZ and SA – no disrespect intended. It just is, even taking to account the Reds winning the Super Rugby. Australian rugby has fierce competition from the NRL and AFL. The amalgamation of the provinces that make up the Super Rugby teams is a good fit for Australia in the SHC format. For the SHC to work effectively, SANZAR needs Australia rugby to be strong.
How will this impact Tri-Nations, end of year tours and British and Irish Lions tours?
The SHC will be over by then so that that it won’t impact any of the Test matches. The Lions tour, however, would be a different scenario. Not sure how to work that out yet, but I’m sure something can be worked out.
Maybe try and get the Lions to tour just after the finals for the SHC. That way they can play their ‘midweek’ games against second division teams (no more SHC teams because the season is over and have their Test matches incorporated into the Tri Nations).
For the second division teams, their season can start later in the year so their finals are on during the Tri Nations. That way we have more than just one game on the weekend. The second division standard would be higher than normal because its finals rugby and the chance of getting a promotion to the SHC.
Of course this scenario would need to be thought through to take into account all the factors.
Final thoughts:
The SHC format, I believe, is better for southern hemisphere rugby because rugby fans will get a decent season of quality rugby. It would simplify the rugby season, as well.
The current formats for each competition doesn’t go long enough in my mind. This means that the TV deals for these competitions aren’t as good as they can be.
With a 25 week SHC format rugby fans would be able to watch 210 high quality provincial games along with nine finals matches. A TV deal for that amount of content would be far better than separate TV deals for each different competition.
Also, I believe the fans would be more engaged with their teams because they won’t have to split their loyalties between their provincial team and their Super Rugby team. Now it’ll just be their provincial team and the national team. This would help with merchandising, club memberships and gate takings.
This format would be great for Australian rugby in general because now Australian rugby has a full season for their players to play in. Normally for players not selected in the Wallabies they only get to play a ‘half’ season then that’s basically it. Now it’s at least 21 weeks of solid rugby.
This would improve the depth of Australian rugby, which is what the Wallabies need.
The difficult thing as always in these matters is the politics. SANZAR may actually agree with the concept, but getting all the relevant bodies on side would be a huge task in itself.
We will need real leadership in SANZAR to make this happen because I believe the current arrangement is selling our game short.
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.