- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
There was an attempt to establish a rugby league side in Adelaide in the mid-nineties, which failed due to on and off field problems.
The club wasn’t competitive on the park and suffered from financial losses and poor crowd numbers. After the NRL reduced the number of teams in the league, the Adelaide Rams were booted out after just two seasons.
So if the Adelaide Rams were such a failure, then why am I suggesting that we try again, this time with rugby union?
I get the feeling that if a Super Rugby franchise were to be awarded to South Australia, the state would be slightly more prepared than the previous rugby league project.
The possibility of a franchise in a notoriously staunch AFL state is exciting. When the question is raised, the usual South Australian excuses come out like snails after the rain.
Things like: ‘we don’t need another team’ and the ever popular, ‘we don’t have the money’.
So do we need another super rugby franchise in Australia?
The short answer is yes, for the betterment of rugby as a whole.
My frustration is with the ARU and their apparent satisfaction with where they are at the moment regarding their talent pool.
There is no national competition and the vast majority of the current players are born and developed in New South Wales and Queensland.
They may play rugby in Canberra, Melbourne or Perth, but their roots are firmly in the blue and maroon of Australia’s rugby heartland.
There is no doubt that stronger competitions, better coaching and elite rugby in the other states would lead to better players coming out of these areas. This would in turn, lead to a more competitive national side.
What about the argument that there are insufficient elite players in Australia to sustain more teams?
This may be true but it would only be the case initially. South Australia has produced players that have managed to climb to the pinnacle of Australian rugby.
There are historical examples of people venturing out of ‘The Festival State’ in order to wear the green and gold of Australia.
However in the modern game there aren’t many. Women have fared better with three players representing Australia in recent times: Lee Fata was selected in the 2006 15-a-side squad; and D’Arcy Sadler and Bree Nathan were selected for the sevens squad in 2013.
If a franchise was based in Adelaide, then the standard of rugby in the state would lift and the talent pool would grow.
Last year the South Australian Rugby Union (SARU) hosted the Western Force and history was made when Hindmarsh Stadium saw Super Rugby grace its turf for the first time.
A President’s XV lost 42-0 but the score didn’t reflect the competitive nature of the game. Eleven South Australians were joined by players from the state competitions in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria as well as fringe players from The Force that bolstered the squad.
A week is a long time in politics but in rugby terms it wasn’t enough.
If these players had been able to work together for longer the result could have been different.
The professional attitude of the squad and the coaches showed me that the talent question would be answered very quickly in Adelaide.
Players from South Australia, in particular, Chris Bartlett and Patrick Williams, acquitted themselves well. Part of me wishes that they were born in the eastern States, as they would have received Australian caps by now.
So what about the enthusiasm for rugby in an AFL heartland?
The match was relatively well attended for a wet and cold Friday night, with 3,500 people watching from the impressive western stand of Hindmarsh Stadium, which with a capacity of 17,000 is a perfect size for a secondary sport.
Those players who travelled to Adelaide for the exhibition game showed enthusiasm and when the hypothetical question of making a living playing rugby in the City of Churches was raised, the response was positive.
The training facilities would need to be decided, but SARU could follow the Melbourne Rebels’ example and strike a deal with one of the AFL clubs to use theirs. So the foundations for rugby are there at a player and infrastructure level.
So, onto the subject of money. There seems to be an obsession with Australian sport being government funded.
What sport needs is a financial backer with enough money not to care if they lose it. (I would suggest Gina Rinehart but she strikes me as the kind of person that would know if her kids took $2 out of the change jar).
Sporting clubs need to move away from the Federal teat and start looking to private enterprise to fund the ever-increasing expenses of professional sport.
The Super Rugby competition is played across three countries and two continents – three if you count the recent game played in London – and the amount of money that would be required for the travel and accommodation for teams and management would give Wayne Swan a reaction similar to being trapped in an elevator with Joe Hockey.
The Western Force and Melbourne Rebels have shown that it is possible for rugby to succeed in non-traditional states but financially it is tough.
There is no dispute regarding that. Without a financial backer with more money than sense, there is little chance of top-level rugby in South Australia.
A lot of water needs to run under a lot of bridges and a lot of ducks need to line-up, but this shouldn’t be a pipe dream.
The ARU needs to look outside of the safe states and push rugby development in the minority states.
If not, there could be future superstars lost due to limited opportunities. SARU does impressive work in identifying talent and creating pathways towards elite rugby.
However, they are hamstrung by the lack of elite level rugby in South Australia.
This means that talented youngsters have to move east or west in order to progress in their rugby careers – a costly exercise both financially and emotionally for parents, as their children have to move interstate at sixteen years old.
Elite rugby in South Australia would create a goal for the next generation of rugby players without having to move halfway across the country.
The increased higher-level participation would lead to the next generation of Rugby World Cup and Rugby Championship winners, and hopefully a new generation of South Australian Wallabies.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.