- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
If you consider the Australian population increases by around 1.5% every year, we have to go back to 2002 to see worse figures for NRL crowds (trust me, I nerded up and did the figures).
And don’t tell me crowds arent important – they are crucial. Not only do good crowds bring in more money, they restore NRL credibility, which is harder to measure.
And players of any sport lift in front of big crowds – it’s a symbiotic relationship.
Anyway, less griping – more brainstorming! How do we improve things?
Firstly, ANZAC day. I’m not talking the ANZAC Test, I’m talking games on the day – the fans respond!
This year the Warriors versus Melbourne and St George versus Sydney Roosters games combined for 66,000 – two near sellouts.
Guess what? We can do even better.
I suggest we keep the Warriors at Melbourne game but make two more contests: St George versus Souths at ANZ and a Queensland team to play the Broncos at Suncorp (sorry Easts!)
I am sure we can crack 150,000 for the three games combined – we might even fill ANZ.
My second suggestion is permanent geographical divisions.
I’m not suggesting a Super Bowl finals system, because in the NFL it’s impossible for, say, the 49ers ever to play the Super Bowl versus the Cowboys, because they are from the same conference.
Normal top eight rules would still apply, this suggestion is for scheduling. I would split the league into northern and southern divisions:
North: North Queensland, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Manly, Penrith, Parramatta, Canterbury.
South: New Zealand, Melbourne, Canberra, Cronulla, Souths, St George, Wests, Roosters.
In a 16 team league you play everyone once – that’s 15 games – and then everyone in your division again for a total of 22 rounds.
The NRL could also cycle through a procedure to add two more games if desired (not my preference) and there would be a number of advantages.
First, certain rivalries are always crowd-pullers e.g. Souths v St.George, Parra v Bulldogs, intra-Queensland rivalries, Melbourne v NZ etc. It also minimises teams who draw poor crowds in some areas visiting too often, e.g. North Queenslandand and Gold Coast draw poorly in Sydney.
Secondly, it guarantees the rivalries above will happen every year at your team’s home ground. So the Broncos will always get a chance to host the Titans and vice versa. It would be silly for that match-up not to occur yearly without fail.
Thirdly, travel costs/times are minimised for teams.
Fourthly, proxmity increases the likelihood of fans being able to make away games if, for whatever reason, they can’t attend a certain home game.
Finally, it reinforces rivalries. Rivalry is what makes Origin so great.
There are some disadvantages, however.
It’s arguable that having to play very good or very poor teams twice could distort your teams chances of making the finals.
My counter argument is that the best two teams are likely to make the grand final no matter what.
Also, certain teams generally draw bigger crowds when they are travelling well, e.g. Souths, Broncos, St George.
So fans of these teams in, say, Brisbane would only see those teams every second year. This can’t be helped.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.