If you read the columnist and reader comments on The Roar, you would believe that rugby is rooned, rather like Hanrahan’s farm.
Well, the real news is that it is booming worldwide, in all its forms, with the men and women’s versions spreading rapidly into regions that have never before seen the oval-ball game.
One of the reasons, I would argue, why lovers of rugby tend to be pessimistic about the present and future of their game is that, for reasons that are inexplicable, they expect every match played to be a tremendous spectacle.
This tendency is reinforced by commentators who invariably write a lot about the spectacle and less about the result and the other incidents of play.
I am, mea culpa, one of those guilty commentators.
This does not happen, or rarely happens, with the other football codes. Phil Gould used to occasionally make the point that the league match he was writing about was totally boring and poorly played. But this is rare.
I have yet to read an AFL or a football match report which pointed out the obvious, that the match was boring and poorly played.
So we get the impression in rugby that most matches are poor spectacles. In fact, most of the matches are well played and for fans of the game they are interesting and often exciting.
This year’s Super Rugby tournament is a case in point. The Waratahs were booed by their fans (a bit like the Parramatta Eels) for their awful play in losing to the Western Force. But a week later, the Waratahs had their fans on their feet and punching the air in triumph as they scored a last-ditch try to defeat the Sharks.
There is another consideration to all this, in Australia particularly. Reading The Roar, you get the impression that the main criticism about rugby union is that it is not rugby league.
Roarers frequently rant against the scrums and the frequent penalties, or that the game is too stop-start. The essential argument against this ranting is to make the point that contested scrums and penalties are part of the DNA of rugby. They are not part of the DNA of league.
After ‘The Split’ in rugby in the United Kingdom in 1895, the recalcitrant northern unions of Yorkshire and Lancashire – which became the rugby league – slowly changed the rugby laws to make their new league game more flowing.
In time the contest for the ball, the cause of most illegal play in rugby, was taken out of most aspects of league.
There used to be a contest in league in the scrums, at the play-the-ball and in the tackle. These are all gone. Now, there is only a contest with kicks. The result of these changes has been to make league less complex and less open to penalties.
The game flows more than rugby. But there is a stop with every play-the-ball. So it is a broken flow, if there is such a thing.
But there is more predictability about the play in league than there is in rugby, where a contest for the ball is often scrappy and messy (much like AFL) and takes place in every play.
My point here is that both codes have their logic and merit. But they are different. League works with uncontested scrums. But rugby does not.
A case in point occurred last week during the Crusaders-Cheetahs match. For reasons that are not exactly clear, the Cheetahs lost two of their props. So the referee had to set uncontested scrums. The Crusaders were not able to use the scrum in these circumstances to force a turnover or a penalty.
There was a blandness about the subsequent play, from a rugby perspective, that would not have been there if the scrums were their usual heaving, shoving, and unruly contests.
As for the penalties and their frequency, critics of rugby should accept them as part of the DNA of the game, just as the frequent penalties in hockey and basketball are accepted as an integral part of these two sports.
Because there are more opportunities to kill off open play in rugby than in league, a strict penalty regime is needed to force teams to play within the laws.
If the perennial baggers of rugby look at the game from the perspective of the game itself, and not from a perspective of another game, they might begin to understand why rugby union is booming right now all around the world.
The IRB, for instance, has issued an update on the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament.
The tournament returned a net profit of 142 million pounds, which was just under the huge profit generated by the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.
This profit was 60 million pounds above budget. 135 million fans watched 48 matches in New Zealand. The $268.5 million New Zealand generated in ticket sales was 10 times higher than the ticket sales of the previous best event in New Zealand.
This just happened to be the 2005 tour by the British and Irish Lions. 133,00 fans travelled to New Zealand for that tournament, which was double the original forecast.
In publishing these figures, the International Rugby Board also noted that “the game is currently in excellent health; we now have 5.5 million men, women and children playing in more countries than ever before.”
One of the new great growth areas of the game is among countries that form the heartland of the football code.
Mexico, for instance, defeated Jamaica 68 – 14 last week at La Ibero Santa Fe in Mexico City, in the first of the qualification matches for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.
The referee was Craig Joubert, the excellent referee of the ultra-thrilling, nail-biting final between New Zealand and France in Rugby World Cup 2011. There were only a handful of clubs in Mexico a few years ago. Now, there are over 100, and the numbers are rising quickly with seed funding from the IRB.
Jamaica is now the 90th-ranked rugby country in the world. Mexico has moved up to 70th place in the world rankings. Germany, in defeating Moldova 40-7 recently, is now the 32nd-ranked country, ahead of Moldova (33) and Zimbabwe (34).
Last weekend, the Hong Kong Sevens, part of the IRB’s commercially successful Sevens Rugby 10-tournament circuit, enjoyed its biggest crowds ever.
Spain (which defeated China), Russia, Brazil (which defeated Hong Kong) and Portugal made strong showings. So too did the USA, in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Women’s rugby is the second fastest growing sport in the USA, after women’s football.
And with rugby becoming an Olympic sport at Rio in 2016, a huge investment of Olympic funding is coming into the sport, helping its growth in many countries around the world, including the USA.
The point of this article is not to make inferences about the other football codes. I would never say about rugby what the co-captain of the GWS Giants Callan Ward said about his game: “I just thought AFL is the best game in Australia and everybody would love it. The best game in the world probably.”
Each to his or her own.
The good news for rugby fans is that the game they love is flourishing around the world. Even in Australia. The gate numbers and television audiences for this year’s Super Rugby tournament (the best ever, in my opinion) are increasing on last year’s figures.
More importantly, most of the matches this year have resulted in nail-biting finishes. Any team on its day can defeat any other team.
Compelling viewing, in other words, for those who enjoy the game.
crip
Roar Pro
Thanks I'll do that Jeznez.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Crip, I'm part of your 98% and loving rugby at the moment. Was down on my Tahs until they started fixing their game plan against the Sharks - can even handle their loss yesterday due to the fact they didn't just spend the match kicking it away. The closeness of the results and the constant upsets across the board in this years Super comp have me watching most games each weekend. (ps your pun might have been better if you had gone with Stupor Rugby). I miss rucking (I still play so say that as a someone prepared to wear other peoples sprigs) but if you want to good breakdown work and a great style of rugby I suggest you watch a few Highlanders games. They are smashing the breakdown in a way that is making teams afraid to hold the ball against them. Defnitely worth a look if you are jaded about the current state of play in union.
crip
Roar Pro
Spin is right. Spin=Bullcrap
crip
Roar Pro
Rugby compared to 1995 is terrible. You have no idea.
crip
Roar Pro
Another case of Rugby Writers not wanting to bite the hand that feeds them. Completely out of touch with what true fans of Rugby Union think and feel. Hey Spiro, McDonalds is probably opening stores in third world countries that have never experienced a big mac before. Should lovers of good food be cheering about that? "the main criticism about rugby union is that it is not rugby league" is a fair point. That's because the rule changes in Rugby Union has made the game much more similar to Rugby League but also massively inferior. Here's a quote from Rugby Writer Chris Hewett of The Independent - "This stupidity, driven by a desire to sanitise the sport for the benefit of the mass television audience, has had all manner of negative consequences: the game is frequently slower than it should be; space has been reduced by a dramatic degree; forwards routinely hang around in midfield, cluttering up back-line moves when they should be mixing it with their fellow piano-shifters and leaving the piano-playing to those who can read music". I couldn't tell you about this years Stuper Rugby because I can't stand to watch Rugby Product for more than five minutes and I'm not Robinson Crusoe. Rugby people are giving the game a miss in droves. Don't worry about facts n figures or your balance sheets Spiro. Get around and ask proper Rugby fans their opinion and by proper fans that's the 98% of us who weren't lucky enough to play rep footy then hang around forever offering our inane opinion because that pays a whole lot better than a real job.
crip
Roar Pro
Whole heartedly agree mate.
bennalong
Guest
Sorry fellas. Just to piss you all off I must call your attention to the most understandable of negative complaints…………………….the rules at the breakdown Getting rid of RUCKING has made the breakdown a lottery and changed the basics of rugby where players on the ground are out of the game and reversed an old principle that you can’t attack a man without the ball by allowing 'cleaning out' thereby opening the possibility of shoulder charging unsuspecting players not even near the ball. Pathetic and much more dangerous than rucking The job of the refs is impossible now but open to bribery and corruption because either side can be arbitrarily penalised at almost every breakdown or scrum. A game with so much possible disputation is the poorer for the rules change and we should go back to the simplicity of rucking
Damo
Guest
Great article Spiro. Brilliant angle. We Aussies may seem negative about the game. But for mine it is more about rugby competing in the local context. Yes we may try to perfect the game because we are frustrated by it's lack of visibility and promotion in a tight sports market. And there's also a few kiwis only too willing to join in to knock Aussie rugby. Such is their cultural idiosyncracy. But as one of the critics my motivation is for love of the game.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
With all due respect Mr Zavos , unless you are in the same Lodge as Mr Jourbet I don't think you should even be seen talking about Mr Jourbet in anything like "excellent' terms -his blatant bias in favour of Mr McGaw in the RWC Final-(i.e. letting him lie all over and obstruct the french side of the ruck with no penalty) was absolutely galling to the french players and his absolute abysmal bias in the Six Nations game blatantly favouring the irish against the Italians makes any reasonable person on here think that's it's all a fix at least when Mr Jourbet is the referee-of course being a Kiwi we don't expect objectivity from you until NZ starts losing it's mana -which will be sooner than you think :-)
David
Guest
Chris Rattue is a typical Journalist always trying to provoke and get a reaction. He is similar to Brendan Cannon. They only way they get a reaction is to write nonsense about the major sport of that area.
Colin
Guest
It is great rugby is growing but I think you might be exaggerating a little there Johnno. I think Rugby on the world scale would not even be in the top 10 sports.
MFB1991
Guest
Great article Spiro, a bit of positive reporting is what is needed. If you look at the AFL reporting on 'The Roar' you will see that those blokes are unbelieveable. They could make a game of long distance spitting sound like a religious experience. This week they are quoting Isaac Newton and JFK and drawing analogies to landing on the moon ! The facts of last weeks AFL game are that the Swans played poorly and still won by over 60 points in a poor spectacle, but you wouldn't know it by reading the game reviews. Rugby dosen't need to go to those ridiculous levels but a bit of positvity wouldn't go astray.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Read yesterday that Japanese scrum-half Atsushi Hiwasa had signed for top 14 side stade francais (only a partnership between 2 teams in japan and france but still great news to develop new players from former 'minnow' nations). More partnerships and exchange between top tier nations/clubs and new comers will help develop rugby worldwide. Great times ahead i reckon.
levelheaded
Guest
Agree with The Bush comments regarding his sentiments around the state of affairs for Rugby supporters. We need to have a glass half full approach - there are many countries around the world that would embrace the finals success of the Waratahs, but not some, they find a reason to state the under perfromer message loud and clear - sorry, underperformer?? If a mesaurement of success is only winning, then only one team a year will be successful and 14 others a failure, that doesbn't make sense for anyone slightly stable? At times, teams need a period to readdress their squads, external factors such as finance, politics, media etc all can be factored in. Surely the Waratahs, as all teams would wish to win and understand they should have, but it isn't going to happen every year!!! There should have been 25,000 plus supporetrs out there at SFS on Saturday, they spent plenty of money advertising the game and there was something in the press, radio etc every day for weeks- where are you NSW supporters, or are you all sitting at home as couch coaches?? They need your support at the game and money gained from selling tickets and so forth.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
I think most 'Roar posters' are true rugby lovers and as such can be passionate when 'others' are trying to take our sport from us. I dont think they/we are 'negative' about our sport. Rather we are protective maybe overly at times. Criticism is fine and healthy. Silence or indifference isn't We love our sport and just dont want institutions, individuals, tv broadcasters or anyone else wanting to make a quick buck out of it running the show. We dont criticize rugby as such, on the contrary we sometimes voice our concern when some try to use it for their little agenda. And yes Sprio is right, great times ahead for the sport of rugby, in its traditional nations and elsewhere.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Probably truer than we like to think.
tc
Guest
Spiro I totally agree with your article ,rugby is an awesome game that is going gangbusters around the world . I think it is true when you hear about the negative comments about rugby on this site a lot of times they have a league angle to it ,if you love the rules of league go and watch that great game ,otherwise stick to this channel and watch our wonderful game go from strength to strength
ufa
Guest
great article spiros and great to see the worlds biggest team contact sport growing even bigger. there is a guy in the new zealand media (chis rattue) with the biggest chip on his shoulder towards rugby union in favour of the warriors and nrl. whats worse is that i havent seen one rugby union reporter fire ashot back at this guy or his anti rugby rants in the nz herald.
Sailosi
Guest
To be fair a number of the Tongan players were schooled in Japan from a very early age. A relationship that extends beyond 40 years between Tonga and Japan after an in flight meeting between the Japanese Prime Minister and King of Tonga. There are now more than 7,000 Tongans living in Japan. It is not uncommon for young Tongan boys to leave Tonga at 11 or 12 to take up their secondary education in Tonga.
MikeG
Roar Rookie
Spiro, thank you for writing this....It's so refreshing to read a story like this on the Roar that doesn't automatically go for the jugular of Rugby. Every sport has its problems, of course, we all know that - But it really is worth celebrating the fact that our game is becomming bigger by the day and reaching into regions and countries it didn't previously. Brilliant!!