“Before we know who we are, we need to know where we’ve come from and in doing so it then makes it easier to know where we’re headed”.
It is a saying that I have treasured throughout the years. I don’t know its author or if it had one or not. Regardless, it has stayed with me and given me clarity in certain situations many times.
I felt compelled to put this out there in lieu of Brett McKay’s article on the ongoing plight of Super Rugby in Aussie, published just recently here in these very pages.
So here’s the thing. What struck me after reading his fine article was the diversity between fact and fiction held within the ‘comments’ that followed said article. And while I acknowledge we now all live in the new world according to Donald Trump, I desperately felt a need to right the ship so to speak. Bring a little balance, fact, or, dare I say, some recent history into the debate.
So here goes. It was in the mid 90s that ‘Super Rugby’ as we now know it, was basically born out of two families. One family was rugby turning pro and this mother we’ll call SANZAR. The other was the man himself, Rupert Murdoch aka Foxtel. Both had the desire, both had the need to produce an exclusive product that would be sold to ‘pay per view’ customers. A marriage made in heaven, yeah?
After a hastily arranged, albeit expensive, marriage celebration between these two large families, the deed was done. A new union was created!
Very soon afterwards we were greeted with the grand announcement that ‘Super 12’ had been born and was now part of our world. This news was greeted with much fanfare.
At this junction I need to make mention of a previous birth, the so-called ‘Super 10’, but as it was born out of true professional wedlock we should really refer to him as the premature bastard child. Anyhow, stuff like this happens all the time in history so no real surprises here.
But back to the birth of ‘Super 12’ who had hit the ground running, like really running. So much so that in honour of his birth a ‘Tri-Nations Test Series’ was created to be held every year to celebrate the country of its origins.
Fast forward approximately ten years and SANZAR got that itch again and of course, naturally, Foxtel happily obliged her. Before you know it we had ‘Super 14’. Then, not long after that, guess what, we had ’15, 16, 17 and 18′ which is now called just ‘Super Rugby’. Also, SANZAR now wants to be called SANZAAR!
So some people are now calling this just way too much, over the top and plain ridiculous. Others say there is an urgent need for family planning, while some grumble about who does Christmas dinner this year and at whose place. Some have even called for, wait for it, for euthanasia.
Folks, ‘Super Rugby’ was always intended for the purposes of its ‘pay per view’ customers and the exclusivity that went with it. Obviously people were encouraged to go actually go to the games and watch them and it was these two audiences that were to make it successful. But, as times change, tastes change, the kids grow up, your hair falls out, well that’s pretty much where we’re at presently.
So people, keep your powder dry and let’s see what comes out of this meeting in London and if we don’t like what they come up with . . . Viva la revolution!
Jokerman
Guest
Not a bad phrase, Chook. Indeed it is like that. Kinda like a line or a path if you can see it in its totality. Take the wisdom from the past and like an alchemist seperate the baggage; then the journey ahead is sweeter; and has clarity. "Living and dieing we feed the fire" They were words from a god-like character in a book I love called Sacrament by Clive Barker. Pretty epic book. You will like it I feel. It's been a while...but the All Blacks will return eh? Just love the battle and banter once it comes. Three articles eh?! Well done !!
Machooka
Roar Guru
Sorry John R... I missed your comment for some reason when replying to others. Apologies buddy. What a cracker of an ad... it's still somewhat relevant :)
RobC
Roar Guru
Hahahaha. You're supposed to say careful Rob, he's a Blues supporter XD Cheers Mr Chook. Great article, keep them rolling!
Digby
Roar Guru
Careful Rob, This bloke crosses his fingers..... :)
Machooka
Roar Guru
Love you man... :)
RobC
Roar Guru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgcxGFmYyPs
RobC
Roar Guru
Thanks Mr Chook Gonna have a good time tomorrow. I vow to ignore the scoreboard My fam will join me, so I won't mourn alone
Machooka
Roar Guru
Hey, I almost forgot that you're in Brisvegas dis w'end to watch your REDs... enjoy buddy :)
Machooka
Roar Guru
Thanks donkey lover you Akari... and for what it's worth I cannot, for the life of me, entertain let alone contemplate your beloved Brumbies being culled. It's not an option buddy :)
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, You say, "The ARU is trying to create rugby fans." I have many friends and my two sons who were Rugby only a few years ago.They are South Africans, GPS & Associated Schools people, all brought up on Rugby. These friends and sons are now RUGBY HERETICS.they have been converted to Rugby League.They moved over of their own volition.They prefer to watch Rugby League.
Akari
Roar Rookie
Bring on the revolution if an Oz franchise is culled. I am not sure whether I'd completely cut myself from super rugby but it would be close to impossible to support any other team but the Brumbies. Nice one, Chooksy and thank you.
Midfielder
Guest
TWAS No argument Football has always been more popular than Rugby. No argument there was always an EPL Champions league base. My argument is very simple. From pre Hal Frank Lowy said the A-League was more important than the national teams... Gallop a few years ago when pushed on the issue said the A-League was more important than making the world cup or world cup success. The focus for years less money than Rugby was building a national domestic competition and having Football accepted as a mainstream sport. They have achieved that goal.... that senior national teams have performed well is a bonus. Rugby admins after the Super League war, and in fear of what league may do grabbed the chance of SR... that was fine... But SR was always a subscription TV product, it was never a national domestic competition nor a development league .. in fact SR raided the traditional structures like Shute Shield. After consolidation from SR 10 then SR 12 .. those in charge should have attempted at least to gather the various stakeholders like Randwick, Eastwood, Manly, Gordon etc and develop under SR a structure to grow and develop Rugby. Instead they sat back and assume all was OK.... and as the sporting landscape changed they did not react ... My point is the ARU IMO have no little attempt to build structures and systems to support Rugby in fact in many cases just the opposite ... the private schools via v district competition is an example of such. So I still say the ARU management over many years has not lead ... they have followed and the Rugby community has allowed this to happen, especially the Rugby media.
AndyS
Guest
Agreed, it was more the principle I was interested in. For mine the professionalisation of the NRC is the most important thing ahead of us, both in terms of seeing the real benefit in player improvement and in the various Premier competitions having professional players playing club rugby.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
No it wouldn't be a better investment I don't think. The concept would be. But doing it for a single year won't have any real impact. If this was a regular occurrence then I agree it would be better. But as a one off it wouldn't have enough impact to yield any real results, other than helping a handful of players have a better 2017 NRC season.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Midfielder, That's where the whole basis of your view is incorrect. Australian Football administration was broke. Football was popular. 104,000 people turned up to watch the 2000 Olympic Final in Sydney for example. In fact the 2000 NSL Final got over 40k attendance in Perth. in 2005 the Socceroos were able to draw 80k to games. The National Soccer League may not have been popular but there has always been huge local interest in EPL and Champions League. You cannot compare a sport trying to get existing support to move to local product, to trying to attract interest to a game as a whole. FFA has been working to get football fans to watch the A-League. The ARU is trying to create rugby fans.
Midfielder
Guest
CS & TWAS CS The A-League model is broken everyone including FFA agree. There are many articles, the issue is lots of different groups have lots of different and many ideas totally ignore the Australian sporting market place. However what is happening that I don't see in Rugby is a general agreement on the final goals, and much debate about the best way to get there. If I had taken a sport from Bankruptcy to a 100 + million & 135 million soon dollar turnover, with a functioning national domestic competition and national teams doing well. I would say well done and pat myself on the back... The Football community is saying thats yesterday's news we demand you grow and grow faster. Within months between FFA, the Clubs, the State Associations, the PFA and NPL clubs a new system will be developed. So you are right .... however success and greater growth rates are being demanded that is in contrast to the overall Rugby community who by and large accept what will be will be.... I simply find Rugby admins from as far back as the 60's have poorly managed the sport and its starting to hurt me thinks.. TWAS Just don't accept your logic pertaining to Football / Rugby say around 2000 to 2007. Football was bankrupt, unable even to fly the national team home, crowds at Socceroo matches often under 4, 000. Media was non existent and what media their was always negative and concerned a riot somewhere. Finally it was so inept, incompetent, inward looking, with jealous, infighting and inside deals it collapsed... its fair to say many within the game were corrupt .. What happened was SBS approached the government and Howard said find someone we can trust and we will help.... Johnny Warren [arguably the most respected voice in Football begged Lowy to take over] ... Lowy accepted and was endorsed by Warren and SBS meaning he had lots and lots of power... boy did he use it ... The plan if you want to call it that has always been to Implement Stabilise Expand Lowy implemented and the league has stabilised and everyone now demands growth. All the way through this journey the Football community has demanded it be part of it and watched everything FFA have done and never let them rest. The Rugby community has not had that energy nor willingness to argue structures and force change. At every level from fans, to clubs to the PFA [players union] its been pressure. So yes it has been a large player base, and clubs willing to invest... but much more its been driven by the Football community not willing to accept second best by FFA... Side note as its kinda important in the context of the push from within and also your post... In 2015 FFA released their whole of Football report and in that report it said that League, AFL and Union had 86% of their players watched the games they played on TV. Football has 18% of its player base watch... So to date the player base has not had a huge effect ... what has has been IMO very astute management ... and everyone in Football believes we are now in a position to grow the base. Just on the management side of things... compare the NRC and the FFA Cup ... one developed from the board and completed within 6 months... the other developed over 4 years with all stakeholders involved and essentially designed by the lower clubs... One is an amazing success ... one still cannot unite its community.
AndyS
Guest
I an cognizant of the Gross Player Revenue, but am not sure I buy it any more. Not being able to use the money for anything else is only true assuming all player wages fit under that umbrella. But the simple fact that they are spending nothing at all on NRC wages suggests to me they have already spent that minimum allocation and more on top. If they are already paying more for wages out of their own pocket, any saving could be directed wherever they liked. But even ignoring that, I would similarly ask a slightly different question...would paying $750k for Pocock to not play be a better investment in Australian rugby than paying $30k to the three best uncontracted players in each NRC team so that they can train and play all their rugby on a fully professional basis? It is still wages...
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, Did you read Nemesis's article?He is an absolute A-League fanatic, he does not follow another sport,(Midfielder will confirm this) yet he is proposing changes to the A- League.He continuously defends A-League soccer on the Football Site from AFL "invaders" Rugby in Australia needs dramatic change, maybe starting at the top.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
It had a bit of money. It wasn't in a better position. Football was the 2nd most participated sport in Australia behind swimming in 2003. Where it remains today. Rugby had some money in it's pocket from the RWC, but it also had no other windfall coming for another decade (Lions Tour), and had to fund 2 large losses for the next to RWC's before that. A good chunk of that went to trying to help fund premier grade rugby, to only result in a decline in participation. Soccer has always been one of the most popular sports. It just needed to get interest in the product it put out in Australia. Rugby Union was the 14th highest for sport participation in 2003. In 2012 it was 11th highest.
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, Always in a better position, like in 2003 when the ARU made a profit of AUD $ 45,000,000 from hosting the Rugby World Cup, I think Australian Soccer had its NSL. If Private Equity Partners were introduced into Australian Rugby, the ARU would have to be terminated.Then maybe Australian Rugby would get some decent leadership.