The ostensibly incessant expansion of Super Rugby has reached a tipping point.
Recently, it was reported that Singapore and Japan, among others, had emerged as frontrunners to host a new Super Rugby franchise.
As SANZAR yet again seek to expand the competition, the notion of an Asian outfit has seemingly curried favour alongside South Africa’s Southern Kings and a potential Argentine club, taking the projected Super Rugby competition to 18 teams.
SANZAR has been quick to emphasise the benefits of an Asian franchise, stating that it may serve to stem the mass exodus of Pacific Island players to Europe with the lure of Super Rugby glory.
So, I shall endeavor to put this as delicately as possible. This is the most idiotic, financially-driven scheme rugby has ever seen.
Never before has a rugby organisation been so expansive, so doggedly invested in the extension of its empire that it compromises the very nature of the competition it strives to promote.
For God’s sake, when will SANZAR ever learn? This ingrained mentality of premature expansion has already crippled Super Rugby, yet they continue to expand for all the wrong reasons.
Is it to improve quality? Definitely not. Is it inclusive? Perhaps. Is it financially driven? Almost certainly.
We may praise the development of recent franchises, but the undeniable truth is that competition has weakened significantly over the past seven years.
Yes, the Western Force have turned heads this year. Yes, the Lions and Cheetahs play an entertaining, attacking brand of rugby. Yes, the Rebels have caused some upsets. But we must face the facts.
Until this year, the Western Force have been cellar dwellers, fielding a mixed bag of disillusioned troublemakers and home state discards. The Lions, Cheetahs, and Kings for that matter, while undeniably entertaining, have the defensive capacities of wet tissue paper, and the Rebels simply do not yet have the talent to compete in Super Rugby.
Now, imagine the consequences should SANZAR further expand to accommodate the Southern Kings, an Argentine outfit and an Asian franchise. The competition, already stretched thin, would threaten to snap.
Extended travel commitments across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, poor broadcast quality and international viewing times and a even wider range of player transfers would render both these teams and the competition itself useless.
At best, we would see one of these three teams escape the bottom three places on the ladder. At worst, a diabolical collapse of overall competition quality.
Allow me to present my humble alternative.
Southern hemisphere rugby requires stability. That in itself is painfully obvious. So, why not reach for a tried and tested method? Why not return to the round robin format of yesteryear?
Let us return to a simple round robin season, in which each team plays each other once before a series of knockout finals to determine a victor.
Away with the conference system. Away with the constant argument of not playing the hardest teams or having an easy region. Let’s just cut the nonsense and return to the elusive act of sense.
‘What about travel and unfair timetables?’, I hear people cry. Please enlighten me. What is fair about having an Argentine team fly across the Pacific for every away game?
‘What about opportunities for foreign teams and minority countries?’ What on earth is opportunistic about getting walloped each game by Super franchises littered with All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks?
Countries such as Argentina, Japan and the Pacific benefit far more from competitions such as the Pacific Nations Cup, in which they have the opportunity to play as an international outfit more regularly at a fairly even level.
The Pacific Nations Cup would serve Los Pumas far better than the Rugby Championship. Imagine a PNC in which Japan, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, USA, Canada and Argentina played six games each.
Yes, I understand the reasoning behind SANZAR’s expansive temperament, but it’s simply not compatible with contemporary Super Rugby.
While the development and inclusion of new franchises is important for the development of rugby, it must not serve to sacrifice the quality of the world rugby’s best domestic tournament.
Issues of finance and profitability should not take precedence over the game itself, yet to the untrained eye that’s exactly what’s happening right now.
But then again, what would I know?
deano
Guest
Do agree. But Australia also has massive growth potential
AndyS
Guest
Haven't seen any reports that discussed it. I'm going on what my mate and his kid said having attended, which was that it was oppressive. That from people that live there.
redbull
Guest
Owen, Japan and Korea are 45 degrees away from the equator, Europe is 60 degrees. Singapore is on it. That's a pretty serious difference. It doesn't cool down in the evening, it just isn't sunny. Northern summers are really very pleasant. So I don't really see a problem of seasons with Japan in Super Rugby. I also say we should get a petition together to get European rugby to change to Summer game an align better with SH. But yes, with an indoor stadium it would be survivable. I have lived in Malaysia for 5 years now so I would actually barrack for a Singapore team and finally get to see live rugby again.
sheek
Roar Guru
Nek, I've been around a looong time, & been discussing the problems of super rugby on The Roar long before you arrived. I know why they're doing it, but it still doesn't explain your sentence above. Anyway, I was bored. I'm often bored, which I why I post on The Roar. Memo to self: must get a meaningful life that prevents me from indulging in idle, meaningless chatter on The Roar. I really don't care anymore what SANZAR does anymore.
Nek Minnut
Guest
OMG. OK mate, if you only care about Australian teams then dont watch Super Rugby because in case you didnt notice, the whole idea of it is to include other countries, that what its about ffs. Amazed at this comment.
Nek Minnut
Guest
The must be doing it for no reason then Sheek, well spotted. Geez, why do people need this explained? Seriously. If Super rugby expands to places where it is shown through extensive studies that will generate money for Super Rugby then it benifits Australian rugby by revenue increases. Wtf do you think they are doing it for!? Sorry about the abruptness but sheeesh, you shouldnt need to be walked through this. Ask yourself why they are doing it and go from there.
melbourneterrace
Guest
Get over yourself WCR, F.U is right it's nothing more than a minor game amongst expats in Singapore compared to Football and Basketball. The majority of clubs is expat run and operated.
Eddard
Roar Guru
The turf (it's semi artificial) wasn't quite ready so they had to put all the sand down. Not sure about the roof. But the cooling system was in use and all reports are that it was comfortable enough to attend.
Bakkies
Guest
Is there enough it should read
Nobrain
Guest
The super rugby team for Argentina will be basically the one you just saw in the last window. Mr Pichot is using the Pumas to give experience to his players to form his SR team.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I have played a couple of seasons in Singapore. It is bloody hot but survivable. With the indoor stadium they will be fine. I don't think placing a team there is a great idea but they wouldn't be stopped by the climate.
AndyS
Guest
Didn't bode well then. They didn't use the retractable seating so the fans were an athletics track and more from the action, they didn't close the roof despite the heat and there was so much sand on the surface that it resembled beach footy.
Eddard
Roar Guru
It was. The Club 10's was the first event at the new stadium.
44bottles
Roar Guru
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Singapore_National_Stadium Looks bloody beautiful. Shame it wasn't opened in time for the Club 10's
Bakkies
Guest
Not in player numbers it ain't. It's gone up since the Force was established but in no way is it a Rugby place. Force rely on the eastern states and overseas players to fill their squad. There are a few WA products there now, in other Super Rugby sides or overseas (Jake Ball) but there is enough quality to fill a squad of 30 plus with quality. Despite Firepower and other incidents I still believe they have done a better job than the Rebels. I knew this would occur back in 2005 when RugbyWA won the bid over the VRU for the 4th side. It was a far better bid, more organised, there was a state Rugby facility at Perry Lakes and had publicity behind it.
44bottles
Roar Guru
I thought Rugby was quite popular in Perth. According to this it's the 2nd most popular by average attendance http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2014/apr/15/australia-football-interactive-statistics
kaiviti
Guest
An absolutely spot on assessment. The saying goes that good whiskey is best drunk neat, Super Rugby is like good whiskey, the more it is diluted the worse it begins to tastes. Regarding Rugby in the Pacific, the quality of the game has been growing in strength every year through the IRB sponsored Pacific Nations Cup, however, every year Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are forced to bring home their International players to make up the bulk of their teams. These players, who are scattered all over the world playing professional rugby because they cannot find work closer to home. Wouldn't it be wonderful for the game if Australia and New Zealand were to change their attitude towards using Pacific Island talent, after all the NRL have created feeder teams throughout the Pacific Islands which feed players into the NRL Club system.
Eddard
Roar Guru
Michael, it's not as far as traveling to South Africa from New Zealand. And time zones are more important than distance, and the Asian time zones fit in well with Australia. The silly part is that the proposed Asian team will play in the South African conference. That's the bit that doesn't really make much sense.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Umm...they do.
WSM58
Guest
Yeah it makes more sense to have 2 teams from Argentina so there is some competition for places in the Pumas test team. Also while we're at this conference system set-up, the more sensible option would be the Western Force joining the South African conference "look at the geography an air travel times", throw in another African Continent team and have 2 x conferences of 10 teams each "the Trans-Tasman conference - 5 x NZRU teams, 4 x ARU teams and a Asian team". Each teams plays 9 games within their conference and also play 5 x inter conference games, this way the Western Force still get to play the other 4 ARU teams. Total of 14 regular season games plus the finals series.