Last weekend saw the British and Irish Lions kick off their Australian tour with a 59 to 8 victory over the Baa-Baa’s in Hong Kong. The game was essentially an exhibition game between two artificial sides, yet over 28,000 people paid good money to watch them run around.
This led me to think about a similar cash-cow for the southern hemisphere unions.
Thus the concept of the “SANZAR Special Forces”® was born.
For over a century the countries that make up Great Britain have come together to pick their best athletes to take on the world. The Lions have drawn on their best since 1888, the Great Britain Olympic team has always drawn its athletes from several countries.
It seems a little odd to allow one team to assemble from several countries while limiting the opposition to a pool of athletes from a single country.
To counter this imbalance, and generate some much needed income SANZAR must appropriate the Lions concept and create a new artificial touring side that comprises of the best of the Wallabies, All Blacks, Springboks and Pumas.
This side would tour the northern hemisphere every four years to take on all comers.
To further enhance the concept, at the end of each tour would be a short four side tournament, a celebration of the exhibition game circuit with the four exhibition conglomerate sides competing for cash and glory.
The proposed teams are the SANZAR Special Forces, the British and Irish Lions, Pacific Islanders Rugby and the Barbarians.
The tour would help fill the coffers of SANZAR and the unions, however a caveat must be placed on the earnings, it must be used for grassroots and “minnow” rugby – how else are the exhibition teams of the future going to be cultivated?
As a final note, the “SANZAR Special Forces”® is a working title. Roarers are invited to suggest a better name. Something that is inclusive and representative of all four nations.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
The point is this idea is, like the Lions tours, merely a commercial opportunity. There is absolutely no requirement for some sort of "share history" or any other airy fairy concept except putting on some attractive rugby that the punters will pay good money to watch. That is it, in a nutshell. The Barbarians is an artificial concept, the Lions are the same - a combined SANZAR team would have exactly the same raison d'etré as either of those two sides. When it comes to extracting money from the viewing public, bright, shiny, over-hyped things out muscle history filled anachronisms from days gone by each and every time.
Stellenbosched
Guest
Hi JfC, Wouldn't it be fair to include the Pacific Island nations in the Anzacs side, for the same exposure reasons? Is it not possible to have a SANZAR SF combined side playing the last test of a Lions tour? The next issue of course is to select the SANZAR SF side. Let the games begin.
mania
Guest
d4m rabbitz, agree with Well Ruck me even then what shared history in comparison does the SANZAR nations share? a SNAZR allStar team would be totally commercial and artificial
Dublin Dave
Guest
Be gone, heretic!
Well Ruck me.
Guest
Bloodlines? So the countries dont have a shared history because they were invaided by vikings, Normans and Germans? Id say thats part of their shared history and not and end to it.
DR
Guest
I hope this concept is seen one day. While there are a lot of doubters i see it being a lucrative exercise and one which I believe would work very well.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
That has some real merit. However I would like to see that SANZAR SF annihilate the Lions, just once :)
John from Canberra
Guest
Split the SANZAR "Special Forces" concept in three! Australia + New Zealand = 'Australian Anzacs' South Africa + Zimbabwe + Namibia = 'African Leopards' (allows developing countries near RSA to have exposure to big games) Argentina + Uruguay + Chile = 'South American Jaguars' (same reason as African Leopards) this way the regional background of such tours is retained, as well as staying competitive and appealing to crowds and media.
Dan
Guest
tosser well that comment is shxt and you must be a fly then hey
Dan
Guest
fark yer and just before the game we could rouse the troops before by saying those mfs out there sent 18,500 of our brothers to their death. for there war !!!! poms would die love it "private ready to go over the trench, ill be right behind you sir" lol
Mysonsaremaggots
Roar Rookie
Um how about we just have a best vs the best, so the All Blacks v the rest of the world. sad no Aussie will be involved Bahahahaha
Mmickey
Guest
Yeah, fair point actually. Phillips would fulfill the dummy half role for sure. I generally agree with you regarding the separate entities, which is why I wasn't proposing they play a compromise match, but actually get the Lions playing full-blown League. Again, an impossible concept, but an interesting fantasy exercise.
Carl
Guest
A fictional story about me defending my homeland from Australian forces. I scout out the horizon of the swamp taking a mental note of every thing I see, tiger tanks...two of em', panzer tanks...two of em'....infantry, 200 + change. ''This is gonna be tough'' I say to myself, I put in the first of only six bandalors in my rifle, its never tasted human flesh before. I reassure myself that I know this land better then anyone, and I will be happy to die, an advantage, no matter how slim. I quickly pop out of my cover, BANG! BANG!...BANG! BANG!...I decide not to shoot the last bullet, least they hear my gun throw out its empty bandalor. Four shots fired, four men hit, enough for now... I hope some survive, hopefully they call for medics, what they might call a miracle of someone surviving, I call chaos on the battlefield. I quickly run thirty metres to the east to my second cover spot, all carefully picked beforehand. I take out my Dad's hunting knife and promise to hold the leather grip between my hands once more, I kiss the blade and throw it into mass of troops infront of me, I hear a scream, and a smirk washes over my face. Surprise is gone, the enemy realises what has happened, and now take cover and fire into the bush, I recount to myself what I have done, 2 men dead by Tony, 2 men critically wounded by the hands of Tony, and one man has my Dads knife in his shoulder, I'll need to remember to get that back soon. One bullet left in the mag, I quickly pop out of the tree and fire, I think I've missed......''IM HIT LOW'' a soldier cries out....maybe not. I load Tony with a fresh clip, then I hear movement close, I quickly take out Samantha and see the enemy in front of me, I'm hiding in a shrub, I pop out and put her deep in his heart, then run to my next position, I decide its Samantha's time to shine and attach her to her brother Tony. ''Thinks are about to get interesting'' I whisper, as I hear the Panzer tank make movement towards me, little does it know hes coming right where I want him to........ \As I kneel behind the tree with the tank moving slowly towards me I remember what I was trained to do in this situation, enemy bullets fire out everywhere in all directions, one thing has gone to plan, they don't know where I am, I pull out Betty, an old grenade my Grandfather gave to me after I told him I fucked this chick on my street, I weird gift at the time, but now very useful, I pull the pin and run towards the tank... I jam it through a hole used for the machine gun on the front....BOOM!!! Smoke hisses out and the tank goes into a frenzy, I pat myself on the back....literally. A soldier spots me in the distance and a run back to my cover with bullets following my footsteps, I'm trapped, they know my location, and now I have no escape...I look at Tony....No! Not time to think about that yet!!! I can still do this!
jeznez
Roar Guru
Mmickey - I'm firmly in the 'they are two different sports and should remain so camp' but in the interests of playing along Phillips would be a hooker in League and play dummy half not halfback. Based on the current Lions squad you'd play both Sexton and Farrell in the halves with the rest not too dissimilar from what you'd picked although perhaps Roberts over BOD.
Mmickey
Guest
Haha that wasn't the response I was expecting first up, but thank you! Wouldn't it be facinating seeing a back like of 7. Mike Phillips 6. Jonathon Sexton 5. George North 4. Manu Tuilagi 3. Brian O’Driscoll (c) 2. Tommy Bowe 1. Leigh Halfpenny Matching up against 7. Cooper Cronk 6. James Maloney 5. Israel Folau (get him back for this one game haha) 4. Greg Inglis 3. Michael Jennings 2. Blake Ferguson 1. Jarrod Hayne
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
I like it!
Mmickey
Guest
It's incredibly unlikely for all sorts of reasons, but the concept is still too tantilising not to think about isn't it? If history is an issue, perhaps you could simply have an 'ANZAC' tour. One thing I would say though is that a lot of people have pointed out that the Lions tour works because they represent a combination of the lower ranked top 8 teams. However, considering the original Lions tours had nothing like this expectation or ranking, it's not really unreasonable to flip the concept on its head and have our boys head up there. How about this though for a 'would be fascinating but probably would never happen' concept: Have the Lions play 3 games of Rugby League to wrap up there tour - 1 against each SOO side, and 1 against the Kangaroos. Yes yes, I know - SACRILEGE! "Having a union team play Rugby League? Why, we should have you hung draw and quartered", I sense the more tribal amongst you thinking. And yes, I know League already has its own 'Lions' and they have a tour scheduled. But lets face it, the Rugby League "Lions" aren't anything more than a very small enclave of poor towns in the north of England and - frankly - they'd struggle to win a series against the socceroos in Rugby League; they're not genuinely a mix of the 4 nations of the British Isles best. The fact that they haven't beaten the Kangaroos in a series for over 50 years shows how little strength there is there. League is dying a very slow death in the UK, and so for the Kangaroos to really say they've proven themselves against the UK and Ireland, beating those jokers just doesn't cut it. Before I go on, I'll concede that there's no way in hell it would happen for reasons of inter-code rivalry, player fatigue, the incompatibility of the games etc, but given that the early tours involved the Lions playing fr!kken VFL teams in Aussie Rules, I reckon that it wouldn't be that out of whack with tradition to have them try prove they're so bloody good they can transcend codes and even beat the pants off the best of our more popular and talent rich Rugby code cousin. Sure, they'd need to spend a few weeks reorganising their team to get a League balance, and training them in League rules. But I reckon it could be done. Heck, if the AFL can play International Rules in a couple weeks, them I'm betting the Lions could work out a way to play League and give the Kangaroos and Origin sides a few very interesting encounters.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
All WallaPumBoks perhaps :)
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Actually mania, the members of the British Isles share more in common with the Scandinavians and Germanic peoples than they do with each other. Invasion, co-habitation and inter-breeding means the original bloodlines of Britain are very much in the minority. Hardly a reason to base a Rugby franchise on is it? I mean of the touring party Faletau, Vunipola, Tuilagi, Maitland, Evans, Corbisiero, Stevens (etc) can hardly claim millenia of British heritage...
Reality
Guest
Australia should just annex NZ, then the Wallabies will be the world champions and the best team in the world!!