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Rugby union isn’t exactly in rude health at the moment, but at a time when the NRL is signing multi-billion dollar deals and thinking about expansion (with an impressive and well organised West Coast Pirates bid making a strong push), it’s depressing to read that union is considering contraction in this country.
Beyond the symbolic message such a contraction would send, there are practical issues.
To begin with is the fact that putting a second side in Sydney – as Spiro Zavos recommended – to compete against the NSW Waratahs would further dilute a brand that frankly doesn’t need any more damage done to it.
I know the Waratahs are a Super Rugby franchise, but its roots are in representative football, and as a brand it still lays claim to the whole state of New South Wales.
Putting a second Sydney team in the competition would just feel wrong while the Waratahs still participate in Super Rugby, and may end up doing more harm to Sydney rugby than good.
In addition, transplanting the Western Force and making them the Western Sydney Force would feel artificial, forced and frankly would likely be rejected by people in western Sydney as unrepresentative and cynical.
Western Sydney isn’t exactly an area the ARU have shown a ton of respect from a funding standpoint over the past 20 years, and so the idea transplanting the Western Force to Parramatta would solve rugby’s Sydney problem is fanciful.
That said, the Waratahs’ decision to play its games out of Allianz almost exclusively does make the NSW team less accessible. But that doesn’t mean rugby fans out west aren’t Waratahs fans.
Tahs supporters would need a good reason to switch to a new Western Sydney team, and I doubt many would feel the Force would justify a change of allegiance.
The Wanderers’ success has obviously created this delusion, but the A-League’s Sydney FC are not comparable to the Waratahs. Indeed, the Waratahs are forever stressing they are akin to the NSW Blues in rugby league, so maybe instead of looking for cheap gambles like dumping the Force in Parramatta and telling the people of western Sydney to support them, perhaps the Waratahs should share games between the Sydney stadia.
For instance, this year we have eight home games. What if the Waratahs played three at Allianz, three at Pirtek, one at Penrith and one in Newcastle? That doesn’t have to be the breakdown of course, but you get the idea; basically bring the bloody side to more of the people it represents!
Surely that is a smarter and more practical way of engaging Sydney rugby fans from beyond the eastern suburbs than saddling them with an underperforming team with no organic, local connections.
As much as I respect Spiro, his suggestion feels poorly conceived, desperate and would likely only further alienate rugby fans in both this country’s heartlands and developing regions.
If ever the ARU were to go down a path of two Sydneys for a future iteration of Super Rugby, there is only one logical way to do it, and that is to cut both the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs from Super Rugby and restore them to pure representative sides. Then you could replace them with pure Sydney and Brisbane sides that could provide room for more identities when future expansion takes place.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.