- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There is no disputing the fact that rugby is played all over the world. From places where it is the dominant sport, such as New Zealand and South Africa, to areas where it is a niche sport, such as Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, China and the USA.
But does the game have a truly global audience?
As the contract season in Australia hots up, I’m amazed at how often I read that rugby league players are attracted to the idea of playing rugby union because it’s a “global game”.
Granted that next to rugby league polar bear hunting could be considered a global sport. But let’s scrutinize the idea of rugby as a global game a bit further by looking at the respective rugby seasons of the northern and southern hemisphere.
The best provincial teams in the southern hemisphere kick-off in February and play through until August. The southern hemisphere Test match season begins in June and ends at the completion of the Rugby Championship in October.
The Currie Cup in South Africa and NPC in New Zealand overlap with the internationals, with their finals played in late October. There is then a short break for the national teams before they undertake their tours of the UK and Europe during the month of November.
The Test players have a break over December and half of January before they reassemble with their provincial teams.
A player in the northern hemisphere begins his season in one of the congruent competitions beginning in August and ending in May. The national teams of the northern hemisphere undertake tours to the southern hemisphere in the month of June.
They then begin the off-season.
So whilst the game is played globally, it is fractured into two very different seasons and certainly not watched by a global audience, or at least not at the same time.
The average rugby fan in England gives the Super Rugby season no more than a passing glance all the while wondering what sort of ghastly game plan encourages tries over penalties.
The average rugby fan in Sydney has little clue about the game in the northern hemisphere. He does not know what the competitions are called, the names of the teams, and he might just recognize a star player.
Oh, and he knows the game “over there” is “dead boring”.
Of course, there are hard-core fans that follow the game in each part of the world with equal fascination (as many Roarers do), but this group represents a minority.
The only way to remedy this situation is to have the best provincial players from the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere play against each other regularly. Until this occurs, the game will continue to exist in parallel universes with fan bases that are as disconnected as they are disinterested.
Now, I’m told that this will never occur, that the interests of the various regions do not align enough to instigate change.
People who make these arguments have a point: the IRB has consistently showed itself to be incapable of being decisive. The ridiculous current situation regarding the laws of the game is just one example of the IRB’s ineptitude and does not inspire much confidence that the game might break away from the shackles of ultra-conservative governance.
At the same time, the various unions that control the game across multiple countries have varied problems and goals to contend with.
With that being said, let’s keep in mind that rugby union is in the entertainment industry and I hold onto the hope that the free market will eventually force the game to become truly global.
It’s often been mooted that the Super Rugby and Heineken Cup champions square off. This is a great idea and a sign that the game is evolving as it should.