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Everyone talks about ‘running rugby’ as the the ‘Australian way’ of playing rugby, but I can’t recall ever seeing or hearing a definition of it. It doesn’t get a mention on the ARU website, nor the websites of our Super Rugby franchises.
Is it scoring tries? Is it scintillating backline moves? Is it driving mauls?
I think it’s something pretty simple. In a bid to define it, I thought it might be helpful to look at all the other Aussie sports that rugby is fighting with for spectator interest.
I’m going to try to put myself in the shoes of what we might call a casual or swinging fan. That is, the sort of people major political parties and sporting organisations have to attract if they want to be successful.
AFL
I’m not a huge AFL fan but I can at least watch it. The first thing you notice is there is a lot of kicking, and there is certainly a lot of running. They pass funny and have this weird habit of bouncing the ball on the ground in front of them as they run.
There are penalties and free kicks and marks but the refs, or whatever they are called, don’t get in the way of a good game. There is plenty of off the ball stuff too, more than you’d get away with in league or union, but the game flows and there is always plenty to capture the attention of the spectator.
The scoring system is very simple and clear. The goal is to kick the ball between the two middle posts and you get a good reward. The guy behind them gets really excited for you too. Kick it between one of the middle ones and a side one and the reward you get is just slightly on the better side of bugger-all.
Horse racing
You’ll notice there are eight or nine races on a program. They only run each race once. They don’t re-run it if someone is not happy, nor do they stop it in the straight if something gets up the nose of a steward.
Sure, there are things like protests and swabs, and the participants are trained to pee on a whistle cue from an early age. But by and large things flow pretty smoothly with no stoppages, and depending on how hard you gamble there is plenty of time between races to get a drink.
Rugby league
I won’t say too much about this one as I know it is a tender issue. The major thing you notice is a lot of movement and a lot of backwards and forwards running, very few stoppages and strangely they seem reluctant to kick penalties.
When do these guys get a chance to catch their breaths? They do like to lie all over the tackled player and slow the play the ball down though.
Motor sports
I’d hardly classify this one as a sport at all. Round and round and round all day long. The spectators get particularly animated when there is a crash and the likelihood of serious personal injury.
Aside from the odd good bingle every now and then it flows, but just a bit too freely for me.
Football
The only good thing you can say about this sport is that it helps develop footwork in potential league and union players. It is more popular than rugby, and the participants are quite happy to run around all game long and not even get a result.
I suspect a lot of mums and enlightened school teachers push children towards this sport. It does flow with minimal stoppages, from one end to the other and back again, and people seem content with that.
Cricket
T20 and one-day cricket is fun, while some people put Test cricket in an entirely different category associated with the drying properties of paint. But even in the most boring Test, the drama never stops.
There is this sense of continuous pressure and momentum towards an ultimate goal or objective. Sure there is no actual man-on-man physical interaction, but a good fast bowler can do a lot of damage with that little ball.
Tennis
Tennis is less popular than rugby, but I thought I’d throw it in anyway.
If you’ve got a really good serve in tennis it’s called an ace. You only get two of serves on one side of the court at a time, and the umpire doesn’t make you do it over and over and over again if he’s not happy with it. It’s either in or it’s out.
There are time limits on just about everything so there is minimal stuffing around, and the spectators get to see what they paid for. The umpires usually aren’t too irritating or officious, and it’s always a nice change-up to see a good dummy spit or some well administered racquet bashing.
So what is running rugby? I don’t think it’s necessarily scoring more tries or brilliant backs or explosive forwards. They are great, but the conclusion I draw from these other sports is that it is a game without mindless stoppages, allowing two teams to have a good, hard crack at each other with minimal interference from the man in the middle.
Action, drama, movement, a continuous contest. That’s what I think fans want, not having to carry a rule book in their pocket to find out what the hell that stoppage and penalty was for.
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.