I’ll put my cards firmly on the table. I’m a league man, always have been, always will be.
I didn’t attend a private school and I don’t go to The Oaks at Neutral Bay wearing Country Road gear and R.M. Williams boots, so I couldn’t blend in with the rah rah crowd even if I tried.
I’m a blow-in, a fair weather supporter of the Waratahs and Wallabies. When they’re doing well, I’m their biggest fan, cheering as hard as I can from the couch, pub or ground.
I have been a member of the media for the past 20 years, primarily as a newsreader, sports reporter and producer. I’ve also worked for a couple of corporate bookmakers in my time, so there’s definitely a professional tie to my interest in the game of rugby.
It also should be noted my partner is a Kiwi, so having rugby conversations with my future father-in-law is a fairly regular occurrence when either of us cross the ditch.
Having said all of that, in recent years my interest levels in the game they play in heaven has dropped significantly. I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t name you the current starting XV for the Wallabies. I’d probably be able to name just over half a dozen players and that’d see me out.
Is it because there seems to be more and more Test matches these days and the turnover of players is so high? Is it because Australia now has five provinces in the Super Rugby competition and therefore it’s harder to keep up with the influx of players year on year?
Or is it that the ARU is good at promoting just to rugby people, and not trying hard enough to nab the casual observer like myself?
Obviously the Wallabies aren’t winning as regularly as they used to but media access to players has been reduced over the years, therefore it nullifies the ability to get to know the stars. In this day and age of content generation and social media you’d think the opposite would be true.
And to call a spade a spade, rugby has become a very boring sport to watch.
Rugby union has always been bogged down by the number of rules and infringements, even the most hardened supporter would agree it can be a frustrating game to take in. My father has always said rugby was a better game to play and league was better to watch. I tend to agree. I just can’t get excited by penalty goal shoot-outs from 45 metres out.
My interest was sparked by the Wallabies’ 1991 World Cup win. There was a couple of rugby nuts at school who urged me to watch and being a sports mad-kid anything Australia was doing on the world stage was a big deal. I was captivated by the skills shown in that tournament by the already established star David Campese, and the emergence of young talent like Tim Horan, Jason Little and John Eales.
Post that tournament rugby really enjoyed a surge of popularity in Australia that lassoed the fringe fans like me in. It kept us there during the transition to professionalism in the mid-90s and through the success of the early 2000s, but I’m sad to say that lustre has now gone for me.
Will it take another World Cup win to breed a new generation of Wallabies fans? Better marketing of players? A rejigging of the old ‘Wannabe a Wallaby’ commercial? Some rule changes to make the sport more visually attractive?
Whatever it is please let me know when rugby gets its mojo back, I’ll be the first bloke on the bandwagon.
david
Guest
whats RL? I have only lived in NZ and EU (and Us near college twons) and its only RU. seriously, I laugh at a RL v RU debate. one is known in many places, the other is a suburnab Aussie game (and South auckland)
Almond vans zymil
Guest
another educated South African we have here aussie roarers!!, even in South Africa you say "if i had a dollar" not "if i had a rand"
Mike
Guest
"seems we will never get over the damage deans did" Utter rot. Deans was a very good coach, and the haters are people we are better off without. "link was a breath of fresh air then the disaster struck" More utter rot. "i cant bring myself to watch them anymore" Excellent news. "a sad decline with such talent around" Its the other way around. Anyway, you can't bring yourself to watch them, so you will have nothing meaningful to say about them. QED.
terry ross
Guest
good article - i feel the same way about the wallabies current set up seems we will never get over the damage deans did link was a breath of fresh air then the disaster struck his treatment was a discrace i cant bring myself to watch them anymore a sad decline with such talent around
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Or the second
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Wally Lewis was the best league player of all time
Phantom
Roar Rookie
The scrum in rugby ensures that the backs stay in the backs. In league they are simply a joke.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Shaun Johnson is the one league player I would like available for the ABs. Simply amazing and could be better than Dan Carter. IMHO.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
I thought that the main reason for the S O O games was so Australia could win a league match
drainfish
Roar Rookie
I'm a rugby fan. I converted to it a few years ago. I play now. I disagree that it's all private school boys. The people in our club are varied, being backgrounds and professions. Also, rugby isn't dying, it's if anything becoming more popular. The main issue rugby faces is that it's funding model here comes from pay tv which limits it's exposure to younger audiences. Australia has a high participation of adult players, some of the highest in the world. We have more adult players than New Zealand. What let's us down is there is not a tier between premier suburban rugby and super rugby. The NRC and the ARC haven't proved to be good models. On the national level Australian rugby isn't as good comparatively than it was a few years yonder. However, it's getting more popular if anything. It needs to have a look at the lower tiers structure and its overall marketing to help see a generational improvement.
Rodney
Guest
Rugby has been drowned out of the Australian market and there are a multitude of detrimental factors at play. Domestically rugby hasn't got an advantage in any key demographic and almost always finds itself in the least desirable spot. Kick off times, number of teams, FTA exposure. In a decent size contested market the Super Rugby competition will become obsolete very quickly. 5 teams for just under 5 million people in New Zealand is the ideal sort of spread. South Africa is nowhere near ideal but its uncontested enough for it not to matter. The international game is great, but it inevitably is made to lever off of the domestic game which severely hampers it. All the players play in the domestic league, and the domestic league is going to be a major provider of press for international competition League is a factor, but only in that its directly competing with Union and trampling it in the off field demographics. Union isn't being given anywhere near a fair shot at competing with other winter contact sports while it remains on the retrograde Super Rugby platform.
Rodney
Guest
This is almost at the point of trolling. If your going to use the biggest figure for union you at least should give league credit with using a similar largest number possible figure. There are 57 countries (accoriding to David Collier, CEO of the RLIF) at the moment which have registered with the RLIF and at least a couple which haven't got their papers in but who've played matches in the past couple of years (Bosnia & Herzegovina). Union is twice to three times as big as league internationally just based on the rough figures. It's bigger, but that dosen't make league non existent. The only thing doing that is your own ignorance on the topic You clearly don't know the foggiest about League and aren't keen on the research so please refrain from spouting rash generalizations about a sport you know nothing about.
Dave H
Guest
Agree 100% Cullen was the smoothest, silkiest runner I've ever seen. I regularly watch the vidoes of his tries during the summer when I need a rugby fix.
wardad
Guest
Was forced to so as to keep in my mother in laws good graces . Havent watched RL in years before that .
John
Guest
Love the OAKS..
Rugby.ftw
Guest
The springboks weren't even in the first World Cup, it hardly counts.
Alvin Purple
Guest
I have and found RU is not that big either.
Alvin Purple
Guest
At least you are watching it as no one is watching RU anymore.
Billy Bob
Guest
Shadhaidoc FYI Johnno has only just recently learnt to read and write. Long time roarers will get get this Hi Johnno. Hope you appreciate the joke. Good point you made, though it has a few counterpoints.
Midfielder
Guest
OB Nail head re "its up to supporters base to get out there"""... The issue is the base seems to be dropping in numbers ... ratings, crowds, players, media space and revenue all down and have been falling for about 4 years ... There is a need for the decline to be stopped and to enter growth again... another 4 years like the last and the issues and challenges start to become very daunting ...