Hard to believe but this weekend marks five years to the day since the inaugural and ultimate – as it turned out – Australian Rugby Championship kicked off back in 2007.
The tournament kicked off with two Friday night games on August 10, at North Sydney Oval and Perth’s then Member’s Equity Stadium (now nib Stadium), followed on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons by ABC-telecast matches at Canberra’s Manuka Oval and Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast, respectively.
I know all this for two reasons.
Firstly, I was at the Canberra Vikings game at Manuka, but secondly, I found a copy of the Round 1 ARC program in my Sports Lounge back a few months ago. It seemed like too much of a museum piece to add to the growing rubbish pile on that day.
He wasn’t, but Charles Dickens could easily have been summarising the ARC when he started that timeless paragraph in A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”
And it was the best of times, too. It was an age of wisdom. It made sense at the time that Australian rugby used some of its 2003 Rugby World Cup riches to invest in the future development of the game at the next level.
It was time to start growing the pool, too, because the Larkhams and the Gregans were about to head off to the Rising Sun, and the Eales and the Horans were long gone. The Wallabies chances at the 2007 RWC were more about hope than actual confidence.
At the time, the ARC was hailed as Australian rugby’s long overdue equivalent to New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (the Air New Zealand Cup, as it was at the time) and South Africa’s Currie Cup. Finally, the gaping chasm between club and Super rugby levels in Australia would be bridged.
Eight teams dotted the country, including the bringing together of some Sydney clubs who share a similar harmony to North and South Korea. It was the first introduction of professional-ish rugby in Melbourne, and indeed, the very birth of the Melbourne Rebels as we now know them.
If they thought about it, I’m sure members of the Rebel Army could trace their lineage back to the ARC too.
And eight was a good number. It gave a proper national presence with teams in Canberra, Melbourne and Perth, while two teams in Brisbane and three in Sydney was a correct reflection of their relative stronghold on the game in Australia.
But the names. Oh, but the names! ‘Tornadoes’ isn’t the worst sporting moniker going around the world, but when was the last time one hit Ballymore? When exactly did the Vikings have their way with the Canberra region? Aces? Spirit?!?
And some of the playing strips were equally horrendous. Had the kit designers for the Central Coast Rays not heard the rhyme about blue and green? Of all the colours to represent the former wool-growing pastoral areas of western Sydney, how many stud rams of colonial times were terracotta orange in colour?
Yet it was also the worst of times. It was the era of foolishness. How else do you rationalise a team on the Central Coast based on four clubs north of the Harbour Bridge? North Sydney, did you say? Yep, that’s where the team comprising players from the south and east will play.
All this was before a ball was kicked off, and the budgets blew out. This would be the only point in the fledgling comp’s short history where the concept and the execution were on the same page.
While the rugby was top-notch, thanks largely to the full adaptation of the freshly-minted Experimental Law Variations that the IRB went to great lengths to give life and subsequently ignore, the accountants were tearing their hair out and snapping pencils from day one. Never before had Australian rugby blown so much money in so little time.
And yet, despite all the largesse, the system did actually work. That one season of the ARC gave us a good glimpse of the future. Of the current 30-man Wallabies squad for the Rugby Championship, 13 players featured in that first round of the ARC, as well as another six who have been in Wallaby squads this year. Another 33 Super Rugby regulars could be found among the teams.
Berrick Barnes played the first couple of rounds before jetting off for the RWC. Perth had a fluffy-haired no.7 named Pocock, Ballymore had a little-known scrumhalf on the bench named Genia, and the Aces bench featured a skinny kid called Cooper.
Christian Lealiifano played his first top-level rugby at flyhalf for Canberra, and did pretty well. We got the first glimpses of Dave Dennis in Melbourne, of Andrew Smith on the Central Coast, and of the prodigious talent of Kurtley Beale, who won the Player of the Series Mazda playing fullback for Western Sydney. Higginbotham, Horwill, Mowen, the Fainga’as, Cummins, Ioane, Lucas all featured.
But its cancellation also showed everything that’s wrong with the pointy end of Australian rugby. Of the eight ARC captains, all of them aged between 22 and 28 in 2007, only four of them (Tim Davidson, Ben Hand, Al Campbell and Lloyd Johansson) played Super Rugby in 2012, and two of them – Campbell and Johansson – were fresh back from stints overseas. Hand will play in France from 2012/13, while Campbell has now retired.
Of the others, they’ve all been out of the Australian ‘system’ for some time now. Matt Henjak (self-inflicted, admittedly), Cam Treloar, and David Croft all left in their mid-late twenties. Does anyone know what happened to Tom McVerry?
Of the eight coaches, only Nick Scrivener – now an assistant to Robbie Deans – is currently coaching in Australia at a professional level, and he too went overseas for a few years before returning this year. John Mulvihill was involved with the Western Force for a time, and Brian Melrose gets tossed up whenever a vacancy arises, but that’s it.
All the opportunities that were created by the ARC in times of strong numbers have since disappeared, and the coaching and playing cupboard looks bare as a result.
While the argument is still strong that the cost of running the ARC over these past five years surely would’ve been an investment worth making, the fact remains that financially, we’re more likely to see a comeback of the Ella brothers.
The ARU is clearly putting all its eggs in the conference basket of Super Rugby, and with the current plight of the Force and the Waratahs, it’s hard to see if we’re better off or not.
And that’s a massive shame, because the product itself was very good, and the players on show were worth watching.
It’s just a shame the clubs didn’t think the budgets were worth watching too, because the game has suffered in Australia for its absence.
Invictus
Guest
What would be the point of having a SR team based out of Perth and then not providing any support for it developmentally (like stripping it of its academy)? I would have thought you, of all people, would want greater numbers of locally developed players at both the force and the rebels so that all the Qlders can stay home, with or without a contract. As for finances, it was not the perth team that blew its budget in the ARC, even with larger travel costs than the rest of the teams. Plus, a national competition should be viewed as an investment, not a cost.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
One of the Newcastle clubs has recently opened a new grandstand that can hold up to 5,000. Would be a good venue for NSW Country to host games. Again, I'd be perfectly fine with either two or 3 Sydney teams.
Bakkies
Guest
I prefer the Sydney rep team to be brought back to represent most of Sydney with the west having their own team playing out of Concord. Eastwood, Parra, Penrith, West Harbour the rest going to the Sydney rep team. The Rams worked but they should have played out of Concord. A NSW Country team out of Gosford/Newcastle (maybe use the smaller stadium that Hunter Mariners used to begin with for cheaper hire costs) with players from country areas to play for them and entice the country lads in the Super Rugby sides to go back to play for them.
chris
Guest
Bring back the ELV'S and get the IRB to buy out Rugby League and problem solved.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Initially the idea would be to play games out of the traditional club grounds to keep ground hire costs to minimum. But yeah, that's how I'd split it too.
Sluggy
Roar Guru
That would simplify things in terms of fan travel. NH Manly, Rats, Norths, Gordon - mainly play at NSO SH Easts, Souths, Randwick, Uni - SFS Western - Eastwood, Parra, Penrith, Wests - Concord or Parramatta But don't give them silly names like they did in the ARC.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
I'd be fine with three teams coming from Sydney and two from Brisbane to form 10 teams and would allow for 9 rounds and a final between the top 2 or 4 depending on whether you'd want a nice neat 10 week or 11 week schedule.
formeropenside
Guest
Why? Please make the case. You may well be able to, probably on financial grounds, but you cannot make an assertion like that and leave it hanging.
formeropenside
Guest
Pocock and JOC were identified, but at that stage the bidding war of signing schoolboys to a full (as opposed to EPS or academy) contract was not common. So the Force offered full contracts with Firepower dollars to lure them away.
formeropenside
Guest
Wasn't this essentially the Super 6 back in the early 90's?
Sluggy
Roar Guru
I agree with most of this (and said something similar somewhere above). I think that it would be better to split Sydney into North Harbour and South Harbour though, as teams which have an identifiable past history. NH - Manly, Rats, Norths, Gordon, Eastwood, Sydney Uni (put here to even up the numbers at 6 each). Play at North Sydney Oval, with games at Rat Park & Milner SH - Easts, Souths, Randwick, Parra, Penrith, Wests. Play at SFS, with games at Concord & Parramatta. With 8 teams, there are only 4 home fixtures so the various home fans will only be 'travelling' a couple of times a season.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
I want to see the Australian Rugby Shield re-introduced as the necessary tier needed between club and SR. It was our only true domestic provincial championship. With the likes of both NSW and QLD Country, ACT/NSW, SA, WA, NT and Vic it provided the necessary representative nature needed and a nation wide footprint. All I would do is look to introduce a Brisbane, Sydney and Western Sydney representative formats into the competition in place of NT and SA initially. That would provide us with a provincially based national championship involving 8 provincial squads largely based on traditional representative boundaries. If the likes of SA and NT want to compete then that would be fine, but only if they're willing to organise from their respective ends. In terms of when to play such championship, if you look to work off a ten week structured season then it should be scheduled two weeks after the end of The Rugby Championship to attempt to ensure not only do you have the greater SR squad member's but also the Wallaby squad member's and the best up and coming club player's. In order to keep costs down in terms of accommodation, it should be set up that unless it's absolutely necessary that teams operate on a same day fly in, fly out routine. This would mean that in order for players to compete in their respective teams that they would need to be locally based. I would also as a group chase beneficial sponsorship agreements (by which I actually mean non-financial) with the likes of budget airlines of the likes of Tiger Airways to cover some all even possibly all the involved costs of air travel. By establishing deals such as this in the form of universal jersey sponsor etc the costs could be drastically cut. I would also suggest that at the end of every season a summer 7s circuit is worked out and established providing a strong pathway into the national 7s squad.
levelheaded
Guest
Interesting Article, but becoming biased! Problems with the Force and the Waratahs, what's the elephant in the room??? The Rebels... when the VFL became a national game, the Victorian Club strongholds struggled over a 5 year period - why?? The new teams ambushed the top talent and the older clubs needed to refresh their lists over that period, witha focus on development. I am sick and tired of brain washed one dimesioanl stories on this website - NSW is no longer the heartland of Rugby in this country, move on....I read that a salary cap will be introduced in 2013, why? They usually come in to neautralise talent and control costs. So where to for RUgby in this country, hold on, games will get clsoer, but talent will spread and in the long term this will be better for the game. The trick will be to maintain support for whatever team you follow as there will be ups and downs!!!
Kevin higginson
Guest
SR should follow the IPL import rules, where top players are allowed, but a squad must contain a minimum number of local players (own country). There shoul also be expansion to 18 teams, 6 from each, add Kings, central districts (Napier), and adelaide. Argentinian and islanders should be included as semi-home players (30 players from each region who are classed as non imports). Further expansion would include an American conference of 6 teams. The season would be intra conference (10 games), plus 6 inter conference games (using a seeding system like NFL, so that strong play strong and weak play weak, to even up the matches). When the Americas are added, this woul change to 2 from each conference rather than 3. As for ARC, there needs to be teams from the major heartlands, and major population areas, so Sydney, west Sydney, north harbour, Newcastle, gold coast, central coast, north qnsld, brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, adelaide, canberra, playing in 3 conferences of 4 (6 inter conference games + 4 intra conference)
Keir
Guest
I'm not sure why everyone seems so surprised that the existing Sydney clubs didn't get behind the concept. Randwick, Sydney Uni and Easts had very publicly expressed their opposition to the concept of the ARC and I'm sure the other Sydney club felt the same. Why would want another competition to spill their crowds? I've been attending games down at Coogee now for 20 years and it's sad to see how crowds have fallen, but to my mind the biggest reason for this has been because of the rise of Super Rugby which has taken all the best players from the clubs. Whilst this makes me sad I can't fault the ARU for wanting more and more super rugby teams. What I don't understand is where the crowds would come from to watch the ARC. People like myself kept attending Shute Shield games whilst the ARC was on, and the small numbers that remain committed aren't likely to ditch their beloved clubs to go and watch some new team. So really the crowds would have to come from new fans or non Shute Shield following Super Rugby fans and this is something that would take millions and millions of dollars, something akin to the money that the GWS AFL team has and this just isn't available in Australian rugby. I know that the Roar often presents an ARC love in, but there was no ARC when Australia won either of it's Rugby World Cups and the first victory pre-dated Super Rugby so obviously it's not as if the old system with it's emphasis on Sydney and Brisbane club rugby was a huge faiure. I'm not saying that we should get rid of Super Rugby and that club rugby should be the main game, I'm just presenting the opinion of someone who would prefer to watch a Randwick game than a Wallabies game, and certainly a lot more than a Waratahs game.
Charcoal
Guest
You're spot on Patstick, I agree with your analysis entirely. I also attended all of the Western Sydney Rams home games, although the crowds at Parramatta Stadium weren't great, but I think that has more to do with promotion of the Rugby brand in Western Sydney. I also attended the game at North Sydney Oval between the Rams and Sydney Fleet, and the ground was jammed packed and there was a terrific atmosphere. This was despite the fact that there were no northern Sydney clubs represented, perhaps with the exception of Eastwood which was in the Rams' camp. The ARC deserves another chance.
Patstick
Guest
Just a few points: 1. I think the ARC was (and still is) a great idea for Australian Rugby. I went to most of the Sydney Fleets games and really enjoyed the spectacle. It was entertaining Rugby, or as the powers that be call it a great product. And watching good Rugby at the picturesque North Sydney Oval (although I admit a south-east team playing in the north was stupid) is a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. 2. I like the idea of North Harbour, South Harbour, Western Sydney as the NSW teams, North and South Brisbane for the QLD teams with Canberra, Melbourne and Perth. With the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels already in Super Rugby, you would imagine the relocation costs would be slim to none at all. 3. If ground hire is a problem, why not play the games at the local schools that have the appropriate facilities, a great way to engage the core markets of children and families. I'm sure the schools wouldn't mind some extra exposure on a national scale, plus a little extra revenue wouldn't hurt their coffers. 4. Club Rugby to be returned to amateur status immediately. If the ABC are thinking of flicking its coverage of the Shute Shield, that would be a good indicator that this needs to happen for the sake of the only free to air coverage Rugby gets. If there needs to be payments made I would say the only one that needs to be paid is the coach. 5. Reintroduction of the ARS with the following teams: Sydney, NSW Country, Brisbane, QLD Country, ACT, VIC, SA, WA (maybe TAS & NT) Play this after Club Rugby season is over so it is a representative fixture, the best of each of the local leagues. 5. If we are looking at the ARC as a development tool I would also revisit the Australian Barbarians in the Pacific Cup with Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and NZ Maori. Great way for fringe Wallabies to get some game time and experience. How to juggle Super Rugby, ARC, Club Rugby, ARS, Inbound Tours, Rugby Championships, Outbound Tours and Pacific Cup into one season, have them financially viable, well supported and on both Free to Air and Foxtel, plus also looking after junior development and grass roots Rugby is a huge task that on current form seems well beyond those at the ARU, and any mere mortal as well. Love your articles Brett, keep them coming. And I have to admit I do tend to agree with most this sheek writes, is that weird?
nomis
Guest
No doubt Sheek about the beginning of traditions, but I don't think we can afford to start from scratch in this day and age. We need to build with what we have in some way. This is why I think NSW country and QLd country have some merit. They have the brand names to get it started, even if they don't travel as much.
AndyS
Guest
But how does that help? That just has all the same players in exactly the same teams - no new players, no improvement in standard, no additional development. Only way that might do anything useful is if the promoted teams raid the best players from the teams that don't make it. Take the players and halve the teams, it'd essentially knacker the three original competitions for the least realised gain.
Jagman
Guest
Everyone wants national comp but it's just not going to happen. How about a compromise? Noticed the Shute shield has a different format this year with the top six breaking away from the bottom six in a weeks time. Why not throw in some Canberra clubs and Mrlbourne clubs into a competition with the 6 best Sydney teams. The Brumbies now demand that their players play in Canverra and the Rebels are pushing that too. The distances are kept to a minimum by only having those three cities and the politics between qld and nsw are kept at bay. In the end it could become a semi national comp with the ability to expand if it catches on.