As the first rumblings of a looming Super Rugby restructure emerged, it became increasingly clear that professional rugby had entered a new and especially perilous phase.
Super Rugby has undergone a host of iterations since it first appeared as a ten-team tournament back in 1993.
SANZAR’s formation in 1996 saw the expansion to 12 teams, with that format lasting a decade before the introduction of additional teams, and, eventually, the conference model that exists today.
These changes have been driven by a desire to expand rugby’s reach and secure its future in the Southern Hemisphere. For many years Super Rugby appeared to be a near-perfect convergence of fan interest, player burnout and economic success.
Those days are gone.
Never has this been more evident than during the Brumbies’ trouncing of the Waratahs on Saturday. Henry Speight scored a stunning try that brought the meagre crowd out of its slumber, but those moments were few and far between, and I was forced to wonder how a local derby so passionately contested in years gone by had regressed into just another game.
French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery is quoted as having said, “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
‘Less is more’ is a principle that has been largely ignored by rugby’s power brokers, bent on force feeding ‘more’ into an already bloated calendar. Fed an endless diet of new teams and complexity, rugby has developed a chronic oversupply problem – the resulting waning interest has only been met with more of the same. More has become boring, and boredom equals death in the entertainment industry.
The usual noises about ‘hard economic decisions’ are already being trotted out. Culling the Brumbies, Australia’s most successful Super Rugby team, or forcing them into a merger with a Melbourne team seems ridiculous. But these are strange times indeed and, as evidenced by a series of inept leaks and conflicting statements during the past week, the leadership required to turn things around seems sadly missing from the ARU and SANZAAR.
Perhaps the only way to invigorate Super Rugby is to buck the trend and usher in the one thing that makes the boardroom suits squirm in their seats: scarcity.
During the years under which South African rugby was isolated from the rest of the world, the Currie Cup became the only way for local fans and players to engage with the game. This resulted in huge interest, massive crowds, and matches that often mimicked Test match intensity.
I remember what it was like to play at a packed out Bruce Stadium in Canberra every weekend. In those days, Super Rugby ran over three-and-a-half months. Every team played one another and the competition acted as an action-packed precursor to the Test window.
Only by prioritising quality ahead of quantity can Super Rugby in Australia return to those days.
Akari
Roar Rookie
But Roarers (ok 99%) are agitating for more local derbies and not less and against the current system where the Brumbies for example meet the 'hated' Tahs for one this year. I'm sure the Tahs and supporters would prefer a return match to have another go at the Brumbies this year rather than next.
Jokerman
Guest
The ones that are in it for the money at the top are partly responsible for its issues. They flog the product like any big business does. More local derbies, more teams, more games. They are unimaginative and just look to always add more. They just want bigger profits, but without much rugby nous and spirit, we come to a divided, unfair comp. The old format was fine. NZ have never changed. I always liked the provincial name like Wellington Hurricanes. It gave it more pride then calling it a franchise. They gave in to the smaller unions I think who felt excluded. Five NZ teams. Three or four Australia. Three or four SA. One Argie team. One Japan. One island team. Round robin with perhaps two or three teams that don't play due to the length of a round robin. Then a imaginative finals component. Top 8,5 or 4. The tweaks in the super format should have been gradual when it was working so well. One extra team added with a lot of consideration. A slight change in the finals format etc. Not a sudden four conference system that is unfair to a lot of sides. It was corporate greed that did this. Trying to extract more money whilst compromising with team values, fairness, history and fans. That all said they can tweek it back into place. They just have to keep it simple!!
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Exactly my point. On the basis you "remember" conversations that Rugby would one day overtake league. What measurable metric was this based on? It was pure hubris and hyperbole.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
So the alternative was to give up all control to another competition that was also to be played on Pay TV?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Kind of like how the Australian and NZ conferences are confined to one country?
NaBUru38
Guest
I'm pretty sure that Perth, Melbourne, Canberra and Port Elizabeth rugby fans won't like scarcity.
AndyS
Guest
And if the clock got turned back to something like '95, the same couldn't happen again because...?
markie362
Guest
Yea but dont forget clyde that whn the boks came out of isolation they got flogged by oz and nz.the teams may have been even but it was a low standard
Bakkies
Guest
Yeah Super League which was wasn't Rugby and the World Rugby Corporation that had Boks, Wallabies and ABs signed up to play in a rebel competition that wouldn't be official
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
The FTA model is broken. The model is you are locked into watching content at the broadcasters convenience as long as you want 50% of your viewing to be advertising and promotions. Trouble is, no one wants the ads and the advertisers are looking elsewhere. Future models will be subscription based with advertising either into the content or via some, yet to be described mechanism. FTA will wither as advertisers leave. Sports administrators would be dumb to lock into a slowly dying medium when new mediums and eyeballs are starting the gain traction and to become technologically feasible.
sheek
Roar Guru
Thank you Pickett, When I & my mates were younger, we loved our sport to a much deeper degree. Not because I'm saying "it was better then", not at all, but because we had plenty of time to savour each sport. They had defined seasons. Cricket usually involved one home season of 5 or 6 tests & a tour of a similar number of tests. That was it. You could reflect & savour the series just passed, & look forward to the next series, then the next home season. Ditto rugby union, ditto rugby league, even ditto soccer. Now it's all wall-to-wall sport, 24 hours. Who cares if you miss a couple of tests or major games here or there, you can pick it up & drop it off as often as you want. These days I have become discerning with my time. With rugby for example, must see is the world cup & Rugby Championship. Everything else I can take or leave. There's something to be said, in fact a lot to be said, about less being more.
sheek
Roar Guru
Yeah, that's because the NFL conferences & divisions are within one country. Did anyone think of that difference with super rugby.....?
piru
Roar Rookie
Ironic as it's the very conference and division system of the NFL that creates such intense rivalries
Pickett
Guest
I tend to agree with Sheek with his argument that less is more. If you read forums on most sports sites - NFL, NRL, NBA, Soccer, MBL, Rugby etc etc - all the fans seem jaded and seem to have lost their passion for their sport. It ain't just rugby fans. I believe the reason is pretty obvious....OVEREXPOSURE. We're seeing wall to wall coverage of sport on FTA, payTV, internet sites, forums (even like the Roar), you tube, video games. It is just blanket, wall to wall coverage of sport, 24/7 and 365 days a week. The only sport off the top of my head that has increased crowd attendance each year is the Australian Open Tennis which seems to be breaking records each year for crowds and TV viewing. There was a time when time when I'd watch Saturday match of the round on Saturday and a replay of the match of the ruond on Sunday night with Moose Mossop. Just two games per week. Throw in the Frank Hyde calls on the old transistor radio. Each with so much anticipation and passion. Now because of all the exposure sports gets, the novelty, fun, excitement, scarcity has worn off. Sports fans do feel jaded. It's a case of make as much hay while the sun shines because who knows what tommorow may bring. But the quick gain attitude may eventually kill the goose that lays the golden egg - for all sports!
Andyroo
Guest
What you are saying makes a lot of sense Clyde
Daveski
Guest
I do wonder how much all this rugby and all this travel affects the overall quality of product too. Players must be close to pretty much perpetually tired. Although maybe not this early in the season so there goes the Aussie's excuse. Those in favour of cutting the Sunwolves, I would say it's only they and the Highlanders offering any sort of atmospheric match day experience currently for the tv viewer via the size and passion of the crowds. Stormers, Jaguares and Chiefs occasionally.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Agree Harry... I love being nostalgic but it does little or nothing regards the future!
Harry Jones
Expert
Guys, the nostalgic argument is flawed bc in the heyday of the Currie Cup, we all knew we were watching the best of the best in SA play the best, for bragging rights. It wasn't the scarcity. It was best vs best
Republican
Guest
.....concur. Our proximity to NZ does not translate to a benefit in terms of Union in this country, as many assume it does. We would be far better limiting the number of fixtures v the All Blacks because the focus is detrimental to our morale and quite frankly a groundhog day of an event. We need to build a more dynamic selection of tests, while the Bledisloe should cease forthwith, for the sake of both nations. Familiarity breeds contempt which pretty well sums up the NZ, Australian sporting relationship.......
Tuc Du Nard
Guest
Can't agree more. Talent spread so thin that any bright spot stars turn to beige amongst the too many average players.