Set Australian rugby's phoenix to flight mode

It was Saturday afternoon and me and the boys were getting ready for our soccer game in the change rooms, struggling through the weekly pulling of socks over shin-pads.

As we do, we were having a chat. For some reason, it turned to rugby union, probably because I brought it up.

I was soon to rediscover that my support of the 15-man code rendered me as an outsider. The four other fellas all either preferred league, or heavily disliked rugby.

“It’s so boring”, offered one.

“It’s just penalties and kicking, it’s so slow”, offered another.

“There’s too many penalties, and not enough tries. Every penalty is basically a set-piece – it’s like if soccer was just scoring goals off corners”. That last quote ended – you could probably say won – the discussion. We had all finished getting ready at this stage, so it was time to move on anyway.

Now, whatever, they can dislike union. It is their right to an opinion and all that.

Intriguingly, though, it didn’t really seem to add up to me – it’s hard to say a sport is unexciting when you play and enjoy soccer, almost universally recognised as one of the most boring games on the planet.

The same goes for cricket – some of the lads in the team play and enjoy that game, too.

I like all those three sports, though, because they all offer a contest and variability in play that is missing for the most part from rugby league. Before I start my ramblings, I’ll let Michael Cheika brilliantly explain the appeal of union, as he did in an interview with Sarah Ferguson on 7:30 a few months back.

“Look, I understand if you haven’t grown up with it, it can be a little bit difficult to understand but one of the key areas about rugby, which is important for anyone who’s watching it that isn’t used to it, is it’s all about a contest”, began Cheika.

“So, the scrum is a contest, the lineout’s a contest. Every tackle’s a contest. So the ball’s in contest every time that someone’s tackled.

“The other people can actually go in there and get it if they’re good enough. To see a guy like Israel Folau soaring up into the air contested against a guy like Israel Dagg from the Crusaders, for example, contesting the same ball, it’s brilliant to watch.

“And so, that’s the real thing about rugby: it’s a contest. I think that’s what drew me to it because everything is contested, and I’d like to think I’m a competitor, so I’d like to contest every ball.”

This idea of a contest infects the spirit of how union is played, as it does in cricket. For example, a penalty kick can be charged down in union, and unlike baseball any action a batsman makes in cricket always keeps the ball in play (i.e. there are no foul balls).

You can’t really say the same for soccer, but at a foundational level the world game follows the same ethic.

For instance, in soccer, the ball is always in play, and thus can always be contested. The only time the ball isn’t in play is before a set-piece or the goalkeeper has it, but the nanosecond the ball is kicked (or thrown), the ball is back in play (although not for a fair few more nanoseconds, as the ball travels and slows down, does it practically re-enter into contestation).

If you approach sport in this way, like I do, you can see that union in fact is far more similar to soccer and cricket than league is.

In league you can’t strip the ball in most rucks, or contest a play-the-ball, and rarely is a scrum contested. The six-tackle rule also enforces teams to attack and only attack, and which has the situation we have now where the vast majority of tries in league come from high kicks or grubbers from the enforced last phase.

Thus, the attitude that my teammates have to ‘boring’ union leaves me scratching my head. I can appreciate that a lot of people are put off from the game due to union’s traditional and continuing association with those born-to-rule – even look at the schedule for England 2015, only two cities in the north will host games – but that doesn’t explain everyone or everything.

Unfortunately though, there’s not much I can do about it. Add to my despair the fact that in these last few weeks there has been a renewed focus on the paucity of rugby union’s social and cultural (and financial) capital in Australia, with a fresh reminder of the code’s fourth-place among footballs in Australia.

However, starting from this weekend, I can see the beginning of a reversal of fortunes in Australian rugby’s hard-fought war, where us true believers can finally set our phoenix to flight.

First of all, it’ll be Cheika’s first game in charge of the Wallabies.

Secondly, the All Blacks will be playing the USA ‘Eagles’ at Soldier Field in Chicago in front of 61,500 on Saturday. This’ll be a boon not only to USA Rugby’s coffers, but also to rugby union in general.

If union can crack America, which it is making a bigger and bigger dent in year-by-year it can only be a good thing.

Recently, US rugby has seen increased attendances to collegial games and Las Vegas sevens, increased TV ratings, increased TV coverage – especially live telecasts on free-to-air networks, relationships being established between the NFL and rugby representatives because the NFL realises the threat of the game, especially in light of the brain-damage lawsuits.

The booming, blood-pumping Haka will be trotted out too, developing intrigue and mystery. And yes, I do realise that novelty will envelope interest in this one-off game, but it could also spark the game that numbers 450,000 participants in America into life.

Thirdly, the plan to increase rugby’s appeal doesn’t end there. In coming years, we’ll see rugby sevens at the Olympics. Tennis was introduced in the 1988 Olympics, with the tennis administrators hoping that the Olympic glory on offer would drive investment in the sport, especially from communist countries.

A cursory glance at nationalities in the current rankings suggests that this paid off.

We’ll also see a Rugby World Cup in Japan, in 2019. Finally, they can finally find a use for all those sumo wrestlers who don’t make it.

Unlike the incompetent and greedy world governing bodies of cricket and rugby league, the IRB has really got behind its custodian role, and is spreading the game in non-traditional lands. Cricket is focussing on perpetually touring the sub-continent, when they could be using their bonanza to give us more than eight Test-playing nations.

The RLIF, even after the surprise success of the Rugby League World Cup in England last year, decided to award the next event to Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, the IRB managed to make their World Cup selection without inviting allegations of corruption, either. FIFA is taking the wrong notes.

Furthermore, the IRB has encouraged more international Tests from countries outside of the top-tier. Next week, Georgia v Tonga, Italy v Samoa and Romania v USA are all fixtures. Last time around, they also encouraged experienced top-tier coaches to assist smaller nations’ preparations for the World Cup.

None of these things will benefit Australian rugby in the short-term. In fact, the main beneficiaries will be the other, rugby-madder nations and the IRB.

We like to point fingers at the Americans for being insular, but when it comes to sports, we’re not much better. AFL has no international presence, and rugby league is confined to an iron lung, and only in a few countries is it more popular than union.

With Australian rugby though, it’s inverse. While the AFL and NRL will continue to dominate domestically for years, Australian rugby will probably continue to splutter along. However, it definitely has a viable international scene.

I think people stuck in the Barassi Line bubble fail to consider the allure that Paris has over Penrith, or Cape Town has over Collingwood, when dismissing union. No Bond film would ever have a villain chase through Fountain Gate.

The game in Chicago on Saturday I believe will be the start of a long march back over lost ground, as increasing money and presence from the international scene will give the ARU an edge over the AFL and the NRL. It’s undeniable that the international status and vibrancy of soccer has aided its rebirth in this country, from the NSL doldrums to the David Villa and Del Piero-inspired tradewinds of only a decade later.

Maybe in 10 years’ time we’ll see Jarryd Hayne Jr leaving to go tryout for the California RU, dazzled be he by union’s bright lights. And maybe in 20 years’ time, we might even see Little Nick, son of Big Nick, not be the only one supporting rugby union in the locker room discussion, as he struggles to pull his socks up and over his (futuristic) shin-pads.