Watching the NRL grand final at a friend’s place, the game seemed to scream at me, “Are you not entertained?”
From big Sam Burgess playing on with a broken jaw, to Ray Warren going off like a raw prawn, the Big Dance was brilliant.
I’ll save you all the other quotes from Russell Crowe movies that are analogous to sport, as I’m sure you’ve read them all in News Limited papers for the last three days.
But what the game showed was that rugby union needs a Gladiator. A Frank Lowy or a Russel Crowe (please not a Nathan Tinkler). A man, or woman, who doesn’t see the game as a profit-making exercise, not a toy, but a passion.
In 2000, when they were kicked out of the NRL by News Limited, 80,000 Souths fans marched into central Sydney demanding they be reinstated into the competition. At the head of that movement were people like Andrew Denton and Crowe.
Crowe eventually went on to buy the Rabbitohs, and what a moment in their history that has proven to be. Crowe actually invested in the team, upgrading training facilities, meeting the players, treating their WAGS to a corporate box.
He has sunk millions into the Rabbitohs and will forever be a legend for taking a club on the verge of the death and turning them into a powerhouse.
In 2003, when Soccer Australia went broke, in stepped Frank Lowy, the billionaire owner of Westfield. Lowy saved football and in the ten years following turned it into a brewing storm on the Australian sporting horizon.
He appointed gun sporting executive John O’Neill, rebranded Soccer Australia to the current FFA, and established a national competition. He started a brand new national competition, and ditched the ethnic branding of the old NSL, along with Soccer Australia’s bitter politics.
So where, and who, is rugby’s Robin Hood? Surely given the game’s elitist heritage, there is a wealthy, passionate friend of the game who wishes to see it grow?
Yet passion and rugby are often seen to be mutually exclusive terms, in Australia anyway.
The last time I wrote a column for The Roar, prior to the Super Rugby final, I claimed that the Crusaders were chokers. The response from Crusaders fans was stunning – my head was on a stick. A friend of mine later explained to me that choking was the act of losing when you expected to win – not losing in away finals as the Crusaders have done – so I retract my claim.
But you would never find rugby fans in Australia putting anyone’s head on a stick. They’d be far more likely to quietly mutter in an adjacent room, or not be there at all.
Yet there should have been plenty of people to suffer the aforementioned fate – the IRB, for systematically allowing technical rules to permeate the game in the 2000s, for example. And Channel Nine for putting Rugby World Cup matches on delay in 2011.
Yet at times, rugby fans are far too rational – “Oh, I suppose they did that because it didn’t rate quite well enough,” would be the response of many fans. I can’t imagine NRL fans reacting the same way.
One can only hope that rugby fans discover the same vocal passion under a mighty leader like Frank Lowy or Russell Crowe – one who reinvigorates the game as a powerhouse on and off the field.
Bill Pulver is doing all he can as ARU CEO, but one suspects he may need the help of a Gladiator.
shantell53
Guest
I do not agree, read: https://sportheritagereview.com/2014/10/28/mementos-in-the-the-digital-age/
avonjeff
Roar Rookie
I have watched every state of origin match since 1983 and watched this years NRL grand final and the AFL grand final. The talent of the combatants is undeniable - NRL gladiators and AFL althleticism. Every team in both codes has plently of support because they have been tribal for decades. That will continue and rugby in Australia can never hope to compete with that tribal support. But more importantly there is a big problem with the Aussie psyche. We hate losing. With rugby competing on the international stage, with both Super 15 and Wallabies, support in Australia for the game depends entirely on the success of the Aussie teams. All the navel gazing about how rugby is dying etc is unfortunate. Sure it is frustrating at times but more often exhilarating. The game at Ellis park last year was a celebration of the game and the match this year was not far behind. IMO both games far exceeded anything I have seen in the NRL and AFL this year. But who cares. I have loved watching all games on Foxtel this year and if the market for the game is so limited that no free to air channel wants it, so what. If the majority of sports followers in Australia prefer their suburban comps then fine - its a free world. But just compare the support given to the NRL nines in NZ compared with the seven a side at the Gold Coast. The comparision does us little credit. But please do not suggest that the problem is with rugby and the administration in Australia. It is most likely that rugby will never capture the hearts of a large number of Australians. But I do not intend to lose any sleep over that.
Aidan Loveridge
Roar Pro
League is Union mentally challenged cousin and AFL......... well tbh AFL is just the most boring obscure game i have ever seen and maybe a few people around the world like league but practically nobody likes AFL except aussies. I dont want the aussies union team to keep declining because beating them makes me the happiest but other countries wont care everybody will gladly go up 1 in the world rankings
Spikhaza
Guest
okay
deano
Guest
Nrl final well put baby nfl copy really not what rugby looks for though it was boring game not in same world as the game at Ellis park on weekend not the skill not the tactics the afl grand final another flop too was over at half time no need to envy afl or league they'd swap all they have for a real world cup well theyd swap it even for one rivalry like bok abs and wobblies have
Murdoch
Guest
Are you sure thats right id think aru would get alot from tv rights super rugby rc has far bigger viewing numbers over 4 nations sa has 50 million remember so the rights must be huge so a super match could easily have far bigger tv numbers than afl or league also these games go worldwide you cant sell league or afl worldwide
Murdoch
Guest
Melbourne isnt the real world poor education afl is a game with little strategy or skill stolen from the irish Rugby needs to use it been global to attract more people i think ive heard the abs will fill the chicago bears ground next month no afl or league team could get more than a few thousand over there
Dally M
Guest
Don't expect that to change anytime soon. AFL concentrates on what it is, an Australian game, and doesn't pretend to be anything else which is why it kicks everyone else to the kerb in terms of crowds & TV rights.
Reality
Guest
You find them boring, but 60000 people turn up in Georgia to watch them scrummage the Russians off the field. Horses for course mate.
kesmcc
Roar Pro
As an all blacks fan who lives in melbourne I've got to say that rugby is not even on the medias radar here. If the wallabies are playing a test they might get a tiny column in the paper. And mostly the writers don't have much of a clue. Compare that to afl which dominates the papers even through summer it's a bit of a farce. I have to read the kiwi news and the roar to get my rugby fix every day.
Katipo
Guest
Spikhaza, I don't know if a millionaire knight in shining armour is the answer for Australian rugby. I believe the ARU doors are already open to that and no one has put their hand up. The heart of the problem is a lack of quality leadership across the sport in the Southern Hemisphere. That's the problem. We don't necessarily need a millionaire, we need leadership. People who can think creatively and cut through the politics to get things done. Sanzar obviously aren't that. Their inability to reach consensus on simple things like a common sense tournament structure is a prime example. If I'm being generous I would say Sanzar has done well getting things started in the first 18 years of professionalism but now it's time to jettison them and move SH rugby in to second gear. But where is the leadership to achieve that? There isn't any. I'm not holding my breath.
Scrumpoacher
Guest
Something needs to be done-crowd sourcing for marketing/advertising?
John Ryan
Guest
Well mate go live in France
alitis
Guest
that is why league is more interesting. it got rid of all the boring "dimensions" like contesting scrums, ruck mauls and lineouts
Reality
Guest
Not true in Queensland , 50k reds members. I may be wrong, but I thinks that's more than the broncos, roar and lions combined.
Storm Boy
Guest
Doesn't France's Top 14 have all of this already?
jason8
Guest
Sorry Mate but i would have to Say that the Union code needs nothing except a few teaks of their convoluted laws... i may be just another foreigner who cant seem to quite get the appeal of league which to be honest i find infinitely one dimensional - checkers to chess etc...
spikhaza
Guest
Love it
Mike
Guest
On a serious note, I have grown up in league territory, and they certainly do understand tribal passion. But then, I've seen the same passion for the Reds in Queensland. Having room for benefactors like Crowe is a different matter. Two things were necessary for that to happen (a) his own passion for that club; and (b) the system permitting him to do it. Note, in regard to (a) that there is more chance of someone feeling that sort of passion where there is a strong tradition - its understandable that Souths would be the club to attract it. St George RLC could have done the same. I think there may well be room for a person like that in the NRC. The fact that ARU is running it on a shoestring leaves it open for someone to come in with passion and means, provided he can win over the clubs behind the particular NRC side. If the benefactor does have true passion, and provided he is a bit flexible, then it could work And these NRC sides do have tradition behind them or linked with them.
Mike
Guest
Not true, Spikhaza!!! I am more than happy to put your head on a stick. Just tell me how long. :)