Johnny Wilkinson kicked. He kicked me in the heart and kicked the Wallabies out of the 2003 World Cup.
Religiously I reversed the result down at the local park. Role-playing with George Gregan spinning the ball back to me, as Stephen Larkham, under enormous pressure from the opposition, I kept my cool and slotted a match-winning drop goal.
In my head, I was closely followed by the commentary of Greg Clark.
Larkham forged himself as my hero when he sent Australia into the World Cup final of 1999. The subsequent title convinced me to sign up at my local rugby club, the Drummoyne Dirty Reds.
By 2002, Australia’s last Bledisloe Cup win, I’d mastered all Larkham’s on-field mannerisms. My loyalty was built on his black headgear, long white skinny legs and a never say die attitude.
Bernard Foley’s clutch penalty to win the 2014 Super rugby final was quickly overshadowed on the international stage at the hands of a 51-20 loss to the All Blacks, in Auckland. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) are left with a generation of players who’ve never seen the Wallabies lift a World Cup, let alone the Bledisloe Cup. They’re a sinking ship.
Despite reaching a surplus in 2013, the future looks bleak for the ARU. The financial buffer from the 2013 British and Irish Lions Tour will be of little importance with an upcoming starvation of any significant in-bound competitions in the next decade.
A recent article from ESPNscrum revealed that one of Australia’s most historic football codes could be “insolvent by 2015″. The article comes after a senior ARU official told colleagues of the fear that by April next year the ARU “could run out of cash”.
No money, and no silverware. It’s a situation the South Sydney Rabbitohs faced the late 1990s. It seemed unjust to dump 92 years of Sydney’s sporting history because of financial losses. When it comes to pain, bloodshed and near-death experiences, no club comes close to what the red and green working-class institution represents.
The images of South Sydney fans weeping in the streets when their club was kicked out of the competition in 1999 and then 80,000 marching to Town Hall to save the Rabbitohs a year later remain among the most powerful in Australian sport. These events illustrated the tribalism inherent in the working class NRL fans.
Rugby league is a gentleman’s game played by thugs, and rugby union is a thug’s game played by gentlemen. Putting the games aside, will the gentlemen jump in for their code like the working class thugs of rugby league?
The loyalty of rugby league is derived from environmental surroundings and a passion for your local tribe. You’re invested in the team from the moment you’re born. Nine teams within Sydney, on each other’s door step. Local rivalries ignited every week. The supporters are a little crazy, but it creates an electric atmosphere at the games.
The gentlemen of rugby union have Super Rugby. It spans three countries, with some games played in the middle of the night, making it difficult to form a tribal following. Fans are in different countries, rarely coming into contact with each other to voice their parochialism. Additionally, the ARU sold the television rights to paid viewing, making it difficult to grow Super Rugby outside of its upper class niche, and reach mainstream audiences.
Tradition and passion in rugby union is embedded in the history of private schools around Australia. You’re placed into an institution for six years, and over time develop a passion for the jersey. About 5000 people watch a Knox Grammar School and Barker School rugby game, then the following Saturday there’s 200 people at a Sydney University and Randwick Shute Shield game.
You’d have to think private schools are a pretty powerful product. Australia’s largest rugby talent pool has the Australian Football League (AFL) and the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) determined to overturn the throne.
Fees perpetually fuel the schools’ coffers, and old boys give generously for the jumper. They’ll build a grandstand, scoreboard, sponsorship, or put on a showcase dinner. The giants of schoolboy rugby must put the local school derbies aside and join together to save the game they grew up on.
It took a community of supporters who bled for the jumper to bring back the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Sitting on life support, the ARU needs a savior.
The Twins
Roar Rookie
OK you must be from QLD...and my post was not suggesting xenophobia - was that the word you could remember??? YES and you are right, there is no world team that is 100percent hom grown but in the example of Australian Rugby it is just a joke - they want to play with the BIG BOYS but they dont have the players. And what do you mean by your rugby league is a gentleman's game played by thugs...? I havent made any such reference - you must be one-eyed and blind in it...
nerval
Guest
Your last sentence, Qldfan, is nonsense. I love rugby league and I wouldn't say boo to a goose.
Hertryk
Guest
No more Tests at Spewbiaco would help getting more to games in Perth!
Hertryk
Guest
Excuse ME! Leave Mr Sinderberry out of THIS! We need him to continue what he started with Michael Foley in the West! Bugger Off!
Common Sense
Guest
"never seen the Wallabies lift a World Cup, let alone the Bledisloe Cup. " Shouldn't that be the other way around?
Tom G
Guest
Whilst I agree that marketing for the ARU is pathetic, the problem is much deeper than that. In fairness there is a newly installed marketing head who hopefully will straighten it up.so too early to blame him for the cretinous ad campaigns run this year. The key issue is the awful administration and board as at the end of the day they control everything and should be held to account for the Game's current plight including its marketing effort
niwdEyaJ
Roar Guru
Mark, I think the problem is way more deep rooted than marketing alone... a cultural change is what's needed and that requires someone at the helm with long term vision.. problem with most executives these days is they only care about results during their (typically 2-3 year) term and therefore they don't take a 5-10 year decisions into account as, even if they're good decisions, they won't be around to reap the rewards... so do what's best to maximise the returns in the short term is the name of the game... game really needs guys like Cheika who are there primarily for the love of the game, not because they need to pay off their mortgage...
RobC
Roar Guru
Thanks for the article The ARU, and others, has been looking a saviour for too long. For this amount of time, it has stuttered. I think the moment they stop taking this approach - Australian Rugby will turn around
Mark
Guest
rugby supporters need to do their bit promoting the game, ...and the ARU needs a marketing shape up
Qldfan
Roar Rookie
Now let me see, what was that word that Pauline Hanson didn't know it's meaning? Could that be you TT? What a fatuous post. Is there any team in any sport in the world that has 100% home grown teams. OH, and "Rugby league is a gentleman’s game played by thugs, " is wrong as well. It's thugs game devised by and for, and played by thugs
Midfielder
Guest
I think Rugby is copping in the neck a tad to much, it is not in need of saving it has a muliti million dollar media deal and still recieves heaps of main stream media... It needs to change things a bit and focus on its future needs ... it is very savable, its just has to choose the right direction to take...
Lion Down Under
Guest
Nice rant. Where was Josh Papalii born? James Tamou? Going back in time a bit Petero Civoniceva and Brad Thorn? Even going by your own, arbitary, rule of who is a "real AUSTRALIAN"* how many Wallabies have played for other nations? Just from the current Kangaroos squad you have Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou who've played for Tonga, Josh Mansour and Robbie Farah who've played for Lebanon and Aiden Guerra who's played for Italy. Jarryd Hayne played for Fiji. *Do the CAPITAL LETTERS make you even morer Australianer?
jutsie
Guest
agree or someone completely outside of the rugby set up who has been sucessful in sports administration in another code/country (like carmichael was when he first joined the reds).
Bakkies
Guest
I see Eddie Jones is pushing for Mark Sinderberry to take over from Pulver. It's not a bad suggestion. He has run the Brumbies and Force well and isn't from NSW and Queensland either. Has experience abroad with Sarries. Him and Carmichael are two good candidates.
Don
Roar Rookie
Did Pauline Hanson have twins?
AndyS
Guest
So I guess the question for all those cheering on the day for the good of the grassroots is...well, what's stopping you? If the GR will be better off when the ARU to go bust, refuse to take any money from them and get a head start. Or has everyone become institutionalised, content to rely on big daddy to solve all their issues? If that's the case, perhaps the ARU situation is the symptom, not the cause. Maybe the state unions should stop standing around with their hands out and start doing their job.
Magic Sponge
Guest
ARU has to go for destroying grass roots rugby. It is dead and buried and this was calculated by ONeil and Pulver, $200 levy for all teams to pay for lawyers due to aru inaction has to be the final kick in the teeth to the grassroots
hog
Guest
You are right melbourne terrace, the current structure is simply unsustainable.What is so frustrating is that you could see this coming ten years ago.It is the failure to grow the fan base through Super rugby that is ultimately the problem. While the die hard supporters are there, they have failed to grow the game through a product that is stuck on pay TV (and remember we have just signed up until 2020) and involves teams from three continents that the casual fans have absolutely no attachment to. Everything is aimed at the Wallabies, but slowly and surely less & less people are watching them, why because they are following other sports. They can expand Super rugby to bloody Mars, but it will make no difference, until they address the domestic product. But that won't happen because they are like a drug addicted to the ever dwindling revenue of their pay masters. What is so ironic is they cling to a unsustainable structure to protect themselves from guess what? cashed up clubs from domestic leagues overseas.
The Twins
Roar Rookie
NO one will save the ARU - it languishes at the bottom of the pecking order in Australia (and rightly so) - there is a paucity of HOME GROWN talen and as a consequence it is full of ex pat NZers, SA, PI, PNG et al....why would a supporter base want to support a team made up of anything but AUSTRALIANS - and when I say AUSTRALIANS - I mean born and bred there - anyone can become an AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN but that doesnt necessarily make them an AUSTRALIAN - get what I mean? So I say away with the beasties and I look forward to seeing the NRL become BIGGER because that has a supporter base that is proud and staunch and loyal - what passes as a supporter base for the Werribes/Wobblies/Wallies is fickle and will only ride on the back of a winning team - which they are NOT...
melbourneterrace
Guest
I have no doubt that Rugby is going to collapse on itself if nothing changes. While the rest of the world has seen growth, the game has been in freefall since 2003 and the ARU are utterly incapable of turning it around. The contempt for grassroots, reliance on milking of the wallaby cash cow and the failure of Super Rugby will all come back to bite us. What happens in ten years when the pay gap between here and europe is so big that young players just bypass SR and go straight to the Top 14? What happens when Rugby's private school base is eroded by other sports? SR teams are slack and are utterly reliant on schools instead of building academies. It's not like clubs have any money anymore to produce quality players. How is the ARU going to increase revenue when a) Fox Sports aren't willing to pay any more for the product and b) the state governments stop paying as much for Wallabies games due to the decrease in demand? ARU is going the way of Soccer Australia and I now say unfortunately that's a good thing. The game is going to need a serious kick between the legs before the fools at the ARU, and Pulver in particular, give any indication of real reform to how Rugby Union is structured.