National Rugby Championship to launch in 2014

But that is crap, its been manufactured by the Broncos who crushed the BRL and any other opposition such as the Crushers (ironically). I hate that legacy. Anyone who knows about the BRL would have said Brisbane was VERY parochial.

Hated or provokes jealousy? - people are always jealous of success - one has an extreme amount of Shute Shield silverware and the other gets Wallabies to play and is growing like a bean stalk on steroids!

Balmain not a growth area?? - Balmain and the inner west, given the change in demograhics, is no longer a league heartland and its rugby club has gone from 3rd division in 2004 with two teams to 1st division with five teams. The junior club is the fastest growing junior club in Australia with 30 boys playing in 2011 to 120 in 2013. If quadrupling player numbers is not a sign of growth I don't know what is. Also, in the same way that Balmain Tigers supporters once hailed from adjoining suburbs like Lilyfield, Petersham, Lleichhardt so too will the Balmain rugby team - fan numbers will not be an issue.

"whose residents appear to identify with left wing politics and social progression above a private school boy game." - 20 years ago sure but Balmain is now like any other North Shore suburb demographically speaking and the player base for the rugby club is 90% private school boy. Not a fad just more that the club management are passionate about building the club and are haveing great success - something which always brings jealousy.

qsac is a terrible stadium to watch anything at though unfortunately. no one wants to use it.

I am all for the competition, but from your comment Brett (ie one side only for each of their regions) I tend to think Melbourne, Canberra and Perth have an advantage, as only having one team for each, they will essentially be their Super sides in another format, with established sponsors and set-ups, whereas a Sydney or Queensland club team would have to do more off their own bat, as (I presume) no one club would directly use their Super side's resources. What happens in SA and NZ ? Do some Currie Cup teams have a direct link to their Super sides players and resources at the expense of other teams ? Likewise do some NZ provincial teams (forgotten what their comp is called) have a direct link to their Super side's players & resources ?

Its a difficult situation for the teams that are slated for Brisbane and Sydney, the club amalgamated regional based model has its obvious beneifts and flaws. While the rich club/university model also has its advantages and drawbacks. The regional proposal: QLD Bris North & Bris South NSW Sydney North Sydney East/South or East/Central Sydeny West Pros: All clubs represented Doesn't exclude potential fans becuase of a lack of affiliation with a particular club Provides and obvious and distinct third tier Cons: Who funds these new clubs? Makes yet another team to follow in a crowded sports market (especially in Sydney with all the League Clubs). The EOI club/university based model Brisbane potential candidates: UQ, Sunnybank, GPS, Brothers Sydney potentials: SU, Manly, Balmain, who else??? Pros Uses existing structures and business models and brands that can (hopefully) sustain themselves Cons Excludes many fans who are affiliated with these clubs Creates a have and have-nots situation premier rugby & shute shield. Personally I like the NPC model in NZ. Each of the Super Rugby teams are represented in the NPC. Other teams play as well and are affiliated with particular Super Rugby teams. The Super Rugby squad members are spread throughout the NPC teams and not confined to super rugby clubs. In Australia we could have Reds, Tah, Brums, Rebs and Force with the addition of Sydney West (feeding brumbies), Sydney East (feeding rebels) Ipswich/logan (feeds the force). Eventually more teams could be added that represent country regions that also bolster the reds and warratahs Obviously the Rebels, Force and Brumbies have only been able to survive by importing talent from Sydney and Brisbane and would benefit from formal feeder clubs. It also provides an ongoing presence for the super clubs throughout the year and means they could continue to exist if Super Rugby were to disband. I know as I write this that this solution also has obvious flaws but its another idea that I think needs to be thrown into the ring.

I don't think the old ANZ stadium has seen much in the way of action since Lang Park was upgraded to become suncorp stadium. I imagine its a bit out of date and needs a make over. This would probably have to come from the government or a stadium sponsor. Ballymore's Mclean stand is looking a little tired though the rest of the stands are in good nick. wouldn't take much to make up to scratch. They need to open a few more bars though. At the Australia v British & Irish lions legends match we missed most of the game getting one round of drinks! ANZ/QSAC would be a good venue for a southern based team likewise ballymore for a central/north based team.

Are they trialling eye gouging?

The onus will be only cashed up clubs paying for good quailty coaches and having professional facilities to attract the quality players.

The Canberra Vikings won't need Queensland Rugby players they will be too busy bringing in Kiwis to fillout the side.

I think we are used to being a 'one team city' in national comps so we all pile in together and don't have that natural intra-city regional parochial tendency.

What I like about the sunnybank and UQ proposal for Brisbane is that as a natural fit, UQ will attract the educated rugby traditionalists, while sunnybank will attract the working class. Two genuine options for fans.

I had a look at the ARU books and at the end of 2012 they only had equity of 3million, they would have received a bit from the lions but they really can't afford for this to make losses for a few years they need it t be self sustained from day one. The NZRU have 97million equity and of that they have 51million of cash reserves

The Western Sydney Rams were very successful in the former ARC, getting into the semi-finals, notwithstanding the fact that the team was dominated by Eastwood players. I wholeheartedly support the new competition, which on the face of it seems to mirror the original ARC concept, but hopefully corrects the flawed implementation of that competition. It's a shame though that there is no FTA , as this will limit its exposure. If Foxtel is only showing one game per week, then why couldn't they allow a FTA channel to show another game. That's not going to challenge the financial viability of their broadcast deal.

And while your at it; add; http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/tigres-uanl/startseite/verein_7055.html http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/cd-universidad-catolica/startseite/verein_3277.html http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/club-universidad-de-chile/startseite/verein_1037.html http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/universidad-concepcion/startseite/verein_5622.html BUT, there are a few key things that you need to remember when citing university football teams in South America. 1) These clubs have been around for a long long long time and have entrenched fan support, a lot of the time their fans aren't graduates of the uni, or connected at all. Infact, the majority aren't, 2) They play in the top flight divisions of their countries, which you could argue that this new comp might be, but the Super Rugby will always take precedence over it. Other things to watch out for; I hope people learn from the Brisbane Roar experience. Now days crowds are pretty good and their is a broad base of support after going through some lean times. One of the things that I always encounter when talking to old school football types (Your Hungarians, Greeks, Italians, Croats, etc) is that they never attend Roar games because of the connection to the old Hollandia Inala/Brisbane Lions (The local Brisbane Dutch affiliated club). Would any of these teams fail to attract fans because of this? I.e Would supporters of other teams not support Uni, when just a few weeks earlier or later or whatever during the club season they were supporting their other team against that club (I assume the team put into the new ARC would still retain it's spot in the local club comp, or no?) Either way, would historical prejudice not hamper support? The same could be said for a local Brisbane club promoted up.

Ooops 40 000 was way over, still good numbers that could assist the new NRC teams.

Completely agree ncart I'm a formers Easts player and supporter and that's always been my minute beef with Sunnybank due to the pokies and the other clubs being more about families and socialising...I guess they are the necessary evil and I would support them. Do any Southside Brisbanites know what the deal is with old ANZ stadium/QSAC always wondered that there is a 48 000 capacity stadium barely put to use? I wonder if the Dragons could talk to Griffith and QSAC about a partnership? I went to Griffith and still have many friends involved on Griffith and it has developed a lot from the Grifftafe of old could be a nice UC like partnership with the Dragons it could supply free buses from the busway for the games. If they did I would immediately buy a membership and would get onto campus trying to drum up support. That would also create an awesome rivalry with the UQ/GPS North side team based at Ballymore. I also think if they get special membership deals it will be huge the Reds now have a mammoth membership base, nearly 40 000.

No, not really, not even 5% across playing numbers for MJRU