A way forward for rugby in Australia

Well said that man.

Rob9, one way or another we have to sort out the development path below S15. So "third tier" has to be made to work. It may not be an ARC arrangement. It may be rather that we have to adopt a national approach to our state club comps, with perhaps assistance from ARU in marketing and other issues. Someone proposed an interesting idea for state club comps running at the same time but independently, and followed by a national club titles series for the best teams. But whatever the solution, we need something systematic and done in co-ordination with ARU so that talent can be nurtured all the way. If we have Test and S15 with little underneath it, then that just continues our "house built on the sand". That will emasculate our test side when playing against Boks and ABs who have a strong player development system from school on.

Sheek, you left out Sydney University. That's 13 provinces

The AFL apparently realised they were in crisis when their grand final drew only 92,000 fans in the early 1980s. Seems to have worked... when will the ARU realise that rugby's in crisis? And what will they do about it?

Jonno you just dont know what you want do you or you have some kind of grudge against Africa and South America because your main argument about dropping us is the DISTANCE, so then you substitute us with wait for it.... North America lol if you havn't noticied North America isnt in your Area either. And then you go and compare the population of an entire CONTINENT with that of a single country? And you also seem to forget that Afica is the second most populous Continent after Asia of course, and Africa is set for something like 7% growth economy wise and that soon we'll take over from Asia as the Continent with the highest growth and yeah sure Africa has its problems but rugby is the only pill game played on the continent with no threat whatsoever from american/australian football or league so even if SA leaves super rugby we have much more options than australia because of the competitions we already have and the option of playing in european competitions atleast until the other african nations can keep up and another thing is that you guys will still have the same problems of japan or what ever asian nation providing the lions share of the pie and supporting you guys again and the question they would ask you is why should they bother?

You need to read the newspapers. The banks are not going to end up owning 9 as they sold their debt for well less than 100 cents in the dollar effectively taking the loss On the chin. It is now a fight between the vultures to pick the carcass. As for making $150 m they will need every cent as they have a $1.9 billion debt falling due in March.

Nine arent insolvent. Channel Nine make a healthy $150m or so a year. Channel Nine's owners, on the other hand, borrowed too much money to buy too many assets. If the banks end up owning Nine, they are still going to need the footy on to get advertisers.

I have no doubt it can be a better spectacle at times. However the variety of Rugby union provides so many more different styles, outcomes etc. Sometimes teams are evenly matched, their defences are up to the task and then there aren't many or any tries. That doesn't make it boring. Do you watch rugby only for the bare few moments of someone crossing a tryline? What about all the other charges, runs, tackles etc?

Mythical relationship?? The two countries have played each other in over 60 more test matches than any other country on earth! That’s a relationship! The facts are there and I’ve spelt them out above for you regarding the rugby history between Australia and NZ. The money isn’t there for a third tier in Australia. It looks like we’re going back down that path again but that would be a mistake. What’s needed is a restructured second tier. Yea Super Rugby expansion to other regions has been discussed before. Our boy JON has been the most vocal about it, but he won’t be there when the decisions are being made. I only hope that someone who has an idea of what fans want is in his spot. Breaking up Super Rugby has also been discussed before and as this article and the majority of the posts here suggest, it’s not exactly an unpopular idea. The off field situations within the ARU and the NZRU are far from ideal and something needs to be done to generate substantially more income. Is the answer including developing nations that would create even greater distances and more games in odd hours the answer? Where have these pie in the sky ‘world leagues’ successfully worked in other sports around the world? And look ahead to the future, when the likes of the US, Canada and Japan reach a certain point in their rugby development pathways, are they going to want to be involved in a league along with half of the rest of the world? It’s not the short or long term answer. They also can’t keep on flogging their respective national teams to beef up the bottom line which has been the trend in recent years. My suggestion (and the suggestion of author along with many others above and below) is a more engaging second tier that has a greater level of domestic coverage within Australia and NZ. Such a structure has the ability to increase interest locally as opposed to dropping teams in faraway places which will have no impact. And as interest goes up so does the money coming in. Add in the second champions league style tournament and there’s another source of revenue for the game in Aus and NZ. All the ARU and NZRU needs to ensure our rugby stars stick around is a TV deal that’s on par with the current one. A domestic league in Australia and NZ that has greater coverage and has the ability to generate more interest than the current SR format along with the regional tournament that’s being suggested will combine to create more content and will provide a good start for clawing back a deal that will ensure a viable and successful league. Take a look at the Pro 12 in Europe, or the Magners League before Italy was involved. The Celtic nations are geographically close and have a combined population of around 12 million. Not a huge market but they manage to do a pretty good job of holding onto most of their international stars and keeping them out of the far bigger Top 14 and Aviva Premiership. If done well, no SA doesn’t mean the end of the rugby world in Australia and NZ.

You know what you guys are right. I love watching 12-15 penalty goals being kicked. Its rivetting. Would it be any coincidence that Rugby's "golden era" in terms of widespread public appeal was when the likes of Rogers, Sailor, Tuquiri, Walker were parading their skills - and bringing with them a significant number of additional spectators / TV viewers ? Rugby COULD be a better spectacle than league, with a few rule modifications.

More importantly where would the Cheetahs be if they could hold on to their players?

Where would the Sharks be without Grey College- Bloemfontein?

The Brumbies always represented more than just the ACT. Yass, Goulburn, Queanbeyan and I think even the snowy mountains were in the Brumbies catchment before they took on southern inland. So you suggest they should isolate the fans that live in those areas by calling them the ACT?

totally agree.

No problem Col, and apologies for biting back hard but I tend to get a bit passionate when I’m accused of letting off cheap shots towards a code that I love and support when really all I’m doing is making educated observations. Not slinging mud. I’d like to think both of my favourite sports in the world can live happily side by side... too much to ask for some though. With regards to your observations here on RU I think you’re pretty close to the money. In no way am I suggesting RU would ever overtake RL or AFL. That’s never going to happen. But it doesn’t mean that steps can’t be taken in an already established marketplace to see RU become a more successful code than where it currently sits. That’s really what my comments here are concerning. With regards to the situation in Germany, your experience suggests you’re the man in the know there. I wouldn’t have thought RL in Germany to have any sort of footing and expected RU to be head and shoulders above. As a fan of both codes I’m happy to be proven wrong. I believe playing second fiddle only to soccer is a bit farfetched but again will be happy if that eventuates.

Hi NF, Thanks for telling me what I’m primarily a fan of... but you’re wrong. I couldn’t be any more split down the middle mate. I grew up in Cronulla in the 80’s wanting to be a Shark. Then the family moved to Brisbane in the 90’s and I attended a GPS school where I played rugby. When SR began a fixed my allegiances to the Reds. Still play rugby today and support the Reds/Wallabies and still a diehard Sharks fan (proud interstate member) and suffering fan of my state (NSW...). If you look at my previous comments you’d find that they’ve been pretty evenly split between the 2 codes and the majority of my comments centre around how I think each game could be better. I truly have a (equal) passion for both. I know you’re passionate about RL’s international game and growth NF. I’ve read other comments of yours that suggest this. I have complete respect for that and also the fact that you’re realistic about where the game is currently situated and how far it can go. Not many international RL nuts have that level of rationality about them. But you’re dead right. It would be a perfect world if RL had a greater international presence and RU had a greater domestic one. Unfortunately I don’t see great change occurring on either of these fronts. AFL is always going to dominate their states and RL will always dominate NSW and QLD. RU will be left to pick up the leftovers and continue to operate as a major niche sport player within the Australian sporting landscape. Growing RL internationally is a huge challenge. To have an impact on a sporting landscape is equivalent to having an impact upon a national culture and identity. Becoming a well exposed and popular sport is not an easy task and is bordering on impossible. Regardless, I’ll always continue to support both to be the best they possibly can be and continue to provide my opinions on how I believe each should go about it.

Fonza give it a rest mate, Union does not need to change the spectacle!! its a contest driven game and should remain as such! diversity is the best thing the game has going for it!!

absolutely agree - it needs to break even, but the objective cannot be to make money! The minute that money becomes the motivator or is even considered when making decisions (as long as it can be funded without losing money) is the point at which the comp begins to slip into what the ARU has become, nepotistic rubbish!!! I dont have a problem with the competition making money, it would be great if it could however i generally find if you do things right then money usually follows - is that too altruistic??

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the structure of rugby in Australia. They just need to make the product sexier to increase the spectacle, therby increasing TV and gate revenues. They could do this by 1. Poaching more leaguies again. 2. Rule changes which minimise the reliance of kicking and promote running rugby.

Rob9, Sorry to fly off the handle but I tire at RU guys sniping at RL. Always trying to blame RL for RUs problems. To get RU going again the ARU is going to have be disbanded a new body implemented that can work with the NZRU to start a trans-Tasman interclub series. The NRL has too much of a head start and now money for RU to threaten RL but the promotion of RU must be more competitive. Target the AFL, hard. Sydney and Brisbane have already a good RU market. Now, for many years up to this year I spend sometimes up to 4 to 5 month a year in Germany for business. I have now retired. RL is very well know game, due to Sky and RL is now being played across Germany with local games shown on the Evening news. The German nation RL team is recognised as one of Germany’s better known rep sides. Germans seem to like RL.