Australian media helping keep rugby down

Mate I live in the East and work i. the city. The only sport that rates a mention is RL. Go to anywhere in the eastern uburbs and you will find the sam.e

oikee, Broncos vs Canberra - Friday night just gone by - 30 5000 Reds vs Canberra (Brumbies) - Good Friday - 32 500. (coming off a 3 game losing streak) :)

WTF???

Sheek has hit it on the head. Union certainly had its chance in that 1998 to 2004 window to really move forward, but lost it. League is ahead in Australia because the sport fully embraces the money-making ideal and the game is marketed better, add in to that the outstanding athletes playing league. The Aussies have won two world cups in Union, but how they managed to do that is pure fluke.

The bottom line is rugby is an international sport...AFL and league are not. The problem is the media don't give rugby a fair go and there can't be a bigger following unless the game gets shown to those who don't normally follow it. All of us have seen a code and due to the viewing of it we became interested in it...more people would if they could see it on fta. Sbs showed the spring wallaby tour to the UK last year and did a great job but a lot of people didn't know it was on. Lots if non rugby people watched the rwc on 9 last year and enjoyed it...what a shame more didn't watch the super rugby...if they don't have pay then they don't see it. The aru need to get into the media to promote our game more. The papers have a thousand pages on league and a few less on AFL and 1 page on rugby...again how can the game reach people if it doesn't get any exposure???

Tah Man, I think it is great that Rugby provides in the way it does. And I think it is great that the vast majority of players are at university studying degrees or in the case of some players doing trades. This will always be the case as it is a private school sport. It was sad last year when the NRL rolled out their smartest team, with the likes of Anthony Watmough in it, who had completed a diploma, but at least they were trying to engage the commmunity and promote to the kids that play the game that they need to at least get a qualification to be successful (no that Watmough is the greatest example). This exercise got numerous amounts of media coverage on national news and the papers. This is an example of what Rugby needs to do, but they don't, it is sad when league can get coverage for this yet when Super Rugby was launched this year it failed to get space in the Courier Mail and got harldy any coverage on FTA. And remember a degree doesn't make a man, there are plenty of CEO's, executives, managers, politicians etc out there with out degrees, who are well respected members of society. On another point although the Reds have a bye this week, there has not been one rugby article in the Courier Mail until today and that was 1/5 off a page about Richard Graham talking about an ex player becoming a referee.

Yeah 14 football teams in London and enough England qualified players to form one team, the rest being imports.

Tim you have touched on one of the most important differences between Rugby League and Rugby Union. Both are now professional but only one encourages the pathway to university degrees and a deeper moral education. Rugby Union gives players a better chance long term financial security and success once they go to pasture as footballer. Sydney University's model of helping players beyond the rugby field is precisely why their club is so successful and something other clubs in the sydney comp could capitalize on with other metropolitan universities. The difference of educational privilege is something Rugby Union fans should be proud of, particularly because an individuals long term wellbeing is far more important than the game. Roger Bannister (the athlete first to break the 4 minute mile) was asked whether he looked back on this achievement as the most important thing in his life. Bannister replied to the effect that no, he rather saw his subsequent forty years studying at university, practising as neurologist and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant. Rugby Union creates good people and will do this for many years to come.

Man that's oikee - he's never changing.

A tosser? Interesting choice of words. If you think it is a bizzare image then you must also think that the NSW Right does not run the Federal Labor Party... I must of forgot that it was all a conspiracy theory that Sydney Uni runs the NSWRU. That is the biggest issue with the Waratahs and some of their supporters. How do you think Daniel Halangahu was made captain, it wasn't because he was the best fit... I have had mates who have gone through the high performance training both in QLD, NSW and WA and they have spoke of how bad it is in the NSWRU and how Sydney Uni run the whole thing, so I am just not plucking this from the air or some mythical story. The sooner the NSWRU and the Waratahs realise they need to get rid of the old and bring in someone new like Jim Carmichael (the Reds) the better off they will be.

Tim, I am a Waratahs supporter whom spent some living in QLD with work. I have met tossers like you up there, gladly you are the minority whom feel a need to paint some bizarre picture of the Waratahs. I have met the many great people who work there and also work in the QLD Rugby Office - they are all great people, unlike you.

By the way SA has a university cup, Maties who were the runners up attracted an average 12,000 crowd for their 5 home games this season. I think the final (pretoria) attracted 15,000. The sport is not dead or boring Australia just do not enjoy it and prefer league. Same as the USA only play Basketball, Football and Baseball.

I went to watch the stormers bulls game in Cape town 2 weeks ago, full house 40,000 only 2 tries in the game i think. Ask any of the 50 million south africans wich game was the best so far this season and you will find them voting for that game 20 - 17 final score. number of tries is irrelevant, the crowd cheered for all points. its not about success the cape side have not won a comp in 14 years, its about History. Australi think that by adding new teams is growing the game but I reckon if they return to 3 top teams that are succcesfull then the crowds will come back and reds waratahs will have the real derby factor. the game in NZ is also dying as the marketing gurus kill off the NPC.

P.S it is a miracle there was two reports on the Reds on Channel 7 news tonight one about Radike and the other about the Pacific Island intiative I mentioned above. But nothing on Channel 9 the alledged FTA rights holder for the game...

Number 1 I mentioned the company which I work for which I will mention again is a multi billion dollar company and not some smallpot establishment where you might expect people not to know who the Reds were. Secondly I do not keep company with the person I mentioned above. I was simply making a point that rugby does not have a community presence along with no media presence. Yes they have 30,000 which the majority you will find went to private schools or work in Law Firms, Investment backing etc. What does Rhodesia have to do with anything, the fact you know the face and name of Mugabe proves a point, because the only reason people know who he is, is because he receives media coverage, like yesterday with reports he was about to die. I am your typical rugby fan that the ARU wants, I had private schooling, grew up in a good suburb and had rugby in my blood including playing, but it annoys me that they do nothing to promote the game. It is amazing how the Reds have that many members, due to the lack of media coverage they receive and the limited community engagement that they publicise. But lets get off the Reds and look at the other states. The Waratahs are a disgrace run by the men in robes sitting in the port and cigar room at Sydney Uni, The Brumbies although playing some decent football had a sponsor pull out on them 2 weeks before the season to go to the Canberra Raiders and they still can't attract decent crowds, the Force do alright with what they have and from What I have heard the Rebels are actually doing fairly well in engaging the community but still not enough to get coverage about it. A good example about the Reds is they have created two initiatives, one Rookies 2 Reds which is like Auskick, it did not get one bit of coverage in the press and the only thing you could read about it was on the Reds website, the second initiative is about helping out Pacific Islands with their Rugby and Coaching and once again not one little bit in the paper or media. Yet I heard about Adam 'roids' McDougal and some other over the hill league players helping Fiji with thier Rugby League development. Yet the Reds are currently helping out in the Pac Islands and unless you went on there website you would not know.

Yep, thats me. Bloody "fifths", always getting in the way.

Robbo, that's not really a good analogy, as the Swans get 25k a match - does that make them more popular than Easts? Also, the junior numbers for league are low compared to other areas, lower than other sports. So to repeat, league is nowhere near as popular in the east as the west, just like AFL or Rugby are nowhere near as popular in the west as the east. Damien - you could say the same thing about the Bledisoe cup - full house every time, full of die hard fans, but I wouldn't say that was everyone's religion and most of the NRL grounds don't get big crowds, so is it a religion that people don't go to church for?

maybe it says more abotu the company you keep...... 30K of members. obviously some people in Brissy knows whats going on. i also no the name and face and Mugababe. that doesnt mean its a good thing, or mean i am gonig to travel to Rhodesia.

Try getting some news about Rugby on FoxSports News, of course they do a 'good job' in terms of broadcasting, because that is in their TV rights deal to show every match live... When it comes to any other promotion of the game it stops there. FTA and Pay TV both have their roles to play. But the main buck stops with the ARU, State Unions and SANZAR. When was the last FTA add you saw for the Wallabies, Reds, Super Rugby etc, that was actually played in prime time?

Bear, Are you one of those drunk parents at East's on a Friday night that doesn't get off the field when the Friday Night Premier Graders player (or the "Fifths" if you must)? Bloody kids... P.S. I've played at Easts... Great club.