Hey people of New South Wales, do you remember the last time that the Sydney-based Super Rugby team – the one that has the nerve to call themselves NSW and wear our state’s flower as its emblem – played in your hometown?
Congratulations to the residents of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, who live within travelling distance of Allianz Stadium, where as of 2016 the Tahs play all of their home games.
And commiserations to the people of western Sydney, where the Tahs used to play two – yeah, two – games per season, at the white elephant that is ANZ Stadium, but decided to scrap that plan and move back east full time.
Still, at least you guys got two games per year for a little while. As for the rest of the state?
*Crickets*
I might be able to hear the faint sound of someone down in Wagga Wagga saying something about a trial this year, but they could just as easily be a Brumbies supporter.
The Waratahs calling themselves ‘NSW’ is a slap in the face to the people of the state they claim to represent, but refuse to play in front of.
Adding a bit of saliva in these people’s face, Tahs chairman Roger Davis was today quoted by Fairfax Media complaining about the prospect of having to move games away from the Eastern Suburbs, as the NSW Government plans to tear Allianz Stadium down and rebuild on the site.
“No one has ever spoken to us about a plan B. We haven’t even thought about where we might go,” Davis said.
Here’s an idea: go to NSW.
There’s a 30,000-seat stadium in Newcastle, and 20,000-plus capacity venues in Wollongong, Gosford, Penrith, and Albury.
Considering the Tahs’ biggest turnout for the year thus far was 24,000 for the season opener against the Reds, the above venues would all be adequate in terms of their capacity.
Heck, there’s even a 13,000 seater in Bathurst for games that aren’t going to attract a big audience.
Rather than be resigned to the idea that not playing at the SFS would decimate the NSW Waratahs supporter base – Davis told The Daily Telegraph “We’ll come back but we’ll be half the side we are at present because we’ll lose our fans” – why not see this as the perfect opportunity to embrace the millions of people the franchise has so wilfully neglected?
Head out to these areas a few days before the game and build some goodwill among the people your colour, crest and name all claim to represent. Hand out some water bottles and footballs to kids who have never seen your players in the flesh before, and gain lifelong fans.
Or just continue to do what you’ve always done – stay firmly planted in the notoriously overcrowded and fickle Sydney sporting market, and wonder why you struggle to get big attendances when you’ve had a few losses on the trot.
But if that’s the long-term plan, do the rest of the state a favour, and rename yourselves the Eastern Suburbs Waratahs. That way, maybe the next time there’s talk of expansion, the ARU will look at putting a team in a rugby heartland that’s being completely ignored.
bennalong
Guest
It's a crap stadium!
Josh
Guest
Terrific idea, I can picture the convoys of Mosman Tractors all happily travelling to Penrith with no complaints whatsoever.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Someone has to show me some love. First sign of going crazy. Actually I just missed the 10-minute window.
rebel
Guest
Interesting that everyone took spreading the love to meaning 20km.
Markus
Guest
Make no mistake, the trial in Wagga Wagga was a Brumbies trial. If it were not the Waratahs included to play (probably dragged along), the Brumbies would have played someone else there.
Markus
Guest
With the last home game at Allianz scraping in barely 20,000, it seems the vast majority of Sydney based supporters/members won't travel at all. Perhaps another group of Waratahs fans, even if a smaller group, wont' be quite as fickle.
Morsie
Guest
Dead right, and no where to go after the game or before the game, its a desert. I live in far western Sydney and would rather drive into the eastern suburbs for a night out in the football stadium precinct, and the restaurants, cafes and bars of Surry Hills etc, which is what going to a Waratahs game involves for me, than empty and soulless regions of the Olympic stadium precinct.
Mark Richmond
Roar Guru
They played in Albury, which like Wagga Wagga is in the Brumbies catchment area, not the Tahs.
Machooka
Roar Guru
I think the year (season) before they played at several regional areas during their trials.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Thanks Warren for the reply... and while I broadly understand what you're getting at I just have severe reservations as to how you acheive it. If at all. Hey, the comment I made to Bakkies was very much, like blatant, tongue in cheek stuff. But as you've also raised the 'Scotland' game I would say this to both of you. Firstly it was a Test match not a Super Rugby game. And secondly there were heaps of people who travelled from Sydney AND the Central Coast to watch that game. Ask Spiro as he was one of them. So, I suppose, it would be interesting, in the context of this discussion, to find out how many there at that game were Novas. Methinks maybe half, but we'll never know unfortunately. Anyhow, it would be fair to say it would be more than 25 eh! :)
bear54
Hang on UpnUnder.... do I detect a note of sarcasm????? Warren already made the salient points in response to your energetic reply so I will merely add a cheerful "what he said!!!"
Fin
Guest
And what a terrible night it was.
wolfman
Guest
while you delude yourself i'll live in reality thanks buddy
Griffo
Guest
I saw the Reds play in Townsville once.... 10 years ago, back before they wore red and when they were no good..... well when they were no good before they'd been champions. They played the Highlanders and surprise surprise they actually won. They might consider making another appearance in the North. Queensland is not just the South-East corner after all.
Warren Peace
Expert
Yeah, I took Roger's comment out of context a tad - he was making a separate argument, and needed to paint his situation as doom and gloom to make a point. But apparently so does the rest of the state. Because we don't even get trial games any more. Of course all other Super teams would travel to play in these other places. Most have airports, or are within a few hours' bus travel. And Wellington to Newcastle is nothing compared to a trip to Argentina or Tokyo. At the moment Sydney's 5 million people gets the Tahs a crowd of 20 or so thousand. Take one game a year to each of these other stadia and give the rest of the state a chance to show Sydney how lucky they are. As Bakkies mentioned, 25K Novos turned up to a midweek Test in the worst storm in a decade. The fans are there, they're just being neglected.
Warren Peace
Expert
There are three tenants of the SFS - Tahs, Roosters and Sydney FC. So really, only two tenants in the winter. And the SFS are battling to keep those three. All the grounds suggested above cater for both crowd and TV - they've all hosted NRL games. Bathurst is a stretch maybe, but the others are logistically very doable.
Warren Peace
Expert
Nope, this year a grand total of two trials were played outside of the major cities - one in Wagga Wagga, and one in Gosford (all that way away).
Warren Peace
Expert
That means 5 of the 7 odd million in the state are just a short train ride away from the coastal oases of Newcastle and Wollongong. What a lovely opportunity for those 5 million people to get "make a weekend of it" out of Sydney. And, for the record, this year the Tahs played one trial in rural NSW - in Wagga Wagga against the Brumbies. So pretty much a Brumbies home game. http://www.aru.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/1699/articleid/17272/waratahs-lock-in-2016-pre-season-schedule
Denby
Roar Rookie
The problem for me was not the travel to homebush, it was the fact that homebush is an aweful stadium with terrible food, expensive beer and horrible seating for a rectangular field based sport. It also has no atmosphere as it is too big for anything but 60,000+ crowds.
Nicholas Hartman
Roar Guru
Agree with you matey, but I it's not going to happen for the foreseeable future (even before you count in the fact that the Waratahs have signed a ten year deal with the SFS) The best they could do, and this is achievable, is organise a pre-season tournament like soccer does, and hold that out in Newcastle every year. If a rugby calendar is agreed upon, there could be a chance to invite Japanese or Euro teams for a bit of extra flair