The golden era of Australian rugby was the 1980s and early ’90s, regularly beating the best teams and producing some of the most exciting players the world has seen.
What’s interesting is that we didn’t have an NPC or a Currie Cup. There was no Super Rugby. We just had a great club system and we played our brand of rugby.
We taught ourselves to play the running game and prided ourselves on it.
Fewer Tests were played, but they were so much more anticipated.
The whole World Cup movement began in Australia in 1987, starting the whole global rugby movement that we have now become the victims of.
Why did we push for it? Because we were doing do well we craved recognition. We believed we could beat the world.
In the glory days of the ’80s, when the Ella brothers reigned supreme, the flat backline style developed by the likes of Cyril Towers and the Randwick club was quintessentially Australian.
Yes, it was important to embrace the professional era and it was inevitable that we would all start moulding our styles of play around common denominators, but somewhere we forgot to play the Aussie way.
All these years of Super Rugby and recent tinkering by the governing bodies have brought the game down.
I have always assumed that, in a sporting context, ‘Test’ meant you would play your game in isolation from other countries and then, every so often, ‘test’ yourself against another country’s style.
But somewhere along the way we began to play too many Super Rugby games and too many Tests, so that we have lost the concept of testing ourselves.
More local derbies. More law interpretations. More games, generally. More of the same, drab press reporting, where most of the journalists turn up to pressers and ask mundane questions, just for the sake of airtime and noise, questions we already know the answers to.
Generally, Super 12, 14 and 15 were, initially OK as a format, with everyone playing each other once, but every form of entertainment needs freshening up now and then, and SANZAAR went too far with it.
Is it not time that we said enough?
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Super Rugby has improved many things. We have five franchises and the NRC, but we should now be saying to New Zealand and South Africa, “Thanks, we’ll go it alone for a while. We’ll re-discover the Aussie running game. Come and play us in Test matches – just not so many every year, because our calendar is full.”
Let’s all make the World Cup year special, not just another year where we play a few fewer Tests. Let’s have the new international windows, but use them for helping to develop the lower tiers of the game.
Stop trying to build ‘mega’ or ‘super’ comps. Let’s not worry about NRL or AFL.
Let’s work out a way to have a truly national club comp, with NRC and Super Rugby over the top. Let’s pull out of SANZAAR altogether and play a proper trans-Tasman comp. If the Kiwis don’t want to be in it, fine.
Maybe we could put something back into the game with five Aussie franchises and the Pacific Islands. Put it out on free-to-air and then aggressively find sponsors who want the TV coverage. Try to bring back players from overseas – there is the equivalent of two Super franchises playing in Europe and Japan.
Super Rugby is a tired model and SANZAAR doesn’t know what to do with it.
The Rugby Championship could stay, but I would love to back to tours (inbound and outbound, with Barbarians games mixed in) to re-discover the whole wonderful fabric of our game, centred around a truly national club comp and a second and third tier in the mix, somehow. That is how we will broaden the player base.
We are different in so many ways to NRL and AFL. Vive la difference!
Republican
Guest
......as you clearly have Kirky..........
Jibba Jabba
Roar Guru
:)
Kirky
Roar Rookie
A negative article of self aggrandisement by a seemingly ''know all'' spruiking a heap of untrue crap which can be torn down easily but it would take too much time and effort to do just that, a good suggestion would be, just ignore it!
Jacko
Guest
Ranked below the top 10 now? No way
sheek
Roar Guru
TWAS, It's not that I won't consider the outside world, I'm just not beholden to money as the first priority in everything. Most, or many Roarers think that broadcasting revenue is the "El Hombre Dorado" that will keep giving, like a balloon that keeps filling & never bursting. But some articles recently suggest not is all well in France & England, where those two comps have ridden increasingly on the shirt-tails of TV revenue ever since professionalism hit. It's been the same here. The super rugby model is tired & we need to look at it differently. Sometimes, the way things were done in the past actually worked!
concerned supporter
Guest
I agree RT, but when TWAS starts throwing rocks at you, you have got to defend yourself. Sorry about that, ,it did get off the point of the article.
Oblonsky‘s Other Pun
Roar Guru
I re-read it, TWAS, read exactly as it did the first time. I don't see where we are disagreeing? I had no emotion in my comment, I understand that coaches are going to follow the money, and a large number of the top Australian coaches are plying their trade overseas. Most of the ones left coaching in Aus are not as good as some of those overseas. That's the issue. I have no idea how your comment either supported or disproved my point. In fact, them seem totally disconnected and discussing seperate issues.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Now what are we talking about here? ...*S*
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, You say "So what you are saying is that cricket clubs pay absolutely no fees to central administration, making them one of the only sports in Australia like this?" That is exactly what I am saying. Do you want the links to a Sydney Premier Cricket Club's Financial Report?
Republican
Guest
........yes but I will this increase the interest in Rugby Union, for the often perceived brutal 15 aside game? Like Cricket, these truncated and splinter versions of respective codes evolve almost independently in terms of grass roots, elite skill set and spectator patronage. The womens AFL as with Soccer are playing the same game as the men and have not compromised the main game to this end. I feel that this is an important distinction, in this context..
Ian Brown
Roar Pro
Sheek if you are right in respect to some questions that I posed and that the SR competition won't change until 2020 then unfortunately AUS I think has been caught up in the murky world of SA politics. In other words the SARU doesn't like being told by the gov't how to run the code, ie franchises, quotas etc and wants to rest back control by saying that in 2020 when the new broadcast contract is signed then the SARU wants control. It has allowed the ARU rightly on wrongly to put 3 AUS franchises on notice about their future either in 2018 or 2020 depending on what actually happens. It would seem that each of these franchises is fighting back in different ways but nevertheless it is a bit harsh by the ARU in mucking around with the future of players, coaches, sponsors and most importantly fans. As you said in your response to my post that if you are right then the crap hits the fan in 2020.
Republican
Guest
........indeed and this is also so across most sports. Australias status in what have traditionally been sports that reflected our environmental and cultural way of life, have shifted while the rest of the World have caught up and overtaken us in sports i.e. Tennis, Swimming, Surfing et el. Tennis was a game for the privileged however here in Australia it was far more accessible to the populous than elsewhere, certainly in the 50's through to the 80's Access to tennis and other sports is far greater now than it was when Australia and the USA dominated this game, especially so in Europe. This is due to a growing global affluence which certainly puts any perceived sporting prowess on our part, into perspective.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
But did SANZAAR get too greedy? Or were they merely trying to keep up with the world around them? One of the biggest frustrations I have when having discussions with you Sheek, is your unwillingness to consider the world outside. You may not like it, but it's there and you either keep up or fall behind. I've been happy to defend Pulver on many things, because rather than listen to the populist drivel of a few outspoken faces, I look at the facts and make my view up and consider many of his decisions reasonable given the circumstances. If he and the ARU agree to the cutting of a team, I won't be happy to defend them at all. SANZAAR requirements agreement from all parties. ARU would need to agree for this to happen and for me to accept this as a reasonable decision, boy we'd need to be getting something good out of it. Some factors are SANZAAR's fault (the development of product that struggles to appeal to SA and Aus audiences a major one), but needing to compete financially in the market place and making many decisions that enable that is something that's not their fault as much.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
No. Just you. So what you are saying is that cricket clubs pay absolutely no fees to central administration, making them one of the only sports in Australia like this?
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, it's painful when someone challenges your supposed facts. You say,"CA charges fees. " You are dead wrong, the local cricket clubs charge Players &Members Subscriptions, NOT Cricket Australia. I was Treasurer of a Premier Cricket Club in Sydney.Cricket Australia has nothing to do with it.
sheek
Roar Guru
TWAS, The culprit now is SANZAAR. SANZAAR is an interesting beast. It is the creation of the ARU, NZRU, SARU & UAR designed to streamline their interests & manage super rugby & the Rugby Championship (before that tri-nations). It may be (I say is) that SANZAAR got too greedy with its expansion program, & probably thought expansion would cement its own position independent of the four national unions. Far from expanding rugby for its own sake, SANZAAR was probably looking to expand its own power base. That's the accusation I level at SANZAAR - political self-interest. Anyway, it's all come crashing down around them now. Their credibility as competent managers is shot, whatever transpires from here. I don't care if Pulver stays or goes, but he must do what is right for Australian rugby, & as far as I'm concerned - preserve the five provinces. For me, that's non-negotiable, with all due respect to Gatesy & others who prefer expelling one province. Whether that means five provinces remaining within super rugby, or breaking away, five it must be.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Also if you have more players by virtue of less competition you also will.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
God it is painful having any sort of discussion with you. The ARU charges fees at local level. It pays the costs of amateur rugby administration. It then distributes funds to the states. I think you will find the funds it distributes is greater than the fees it collects. CA charges fees. It pays the costs of amateur cricket administration. It then distributes funds to the states. If you charge higher fees you'll have more to distribute.
Ian Brown
Roar Pro
The self evident fact is that rugby as a code does not have the financial resources at the moment to compete with AFL and the NRL which are it's two winter competitors for both ratings and raw materials ie players. So how does the code start to improve it's financial position so that it can fund grass roots rugby which should lead to better quality players, coaches and officials coming into semi professional and fully professional competitions. Like most people to voice their opinion on this platform I am no fan of the ARU, nevertheless I think they may through either good luck or good management have a chance and that is growing rapidly female participation in the game. Clearly, AFL has joined in with their women's comp, NRL has issues with women in their code re the way the game is played and the history of alleged violence against women by participants. The one chip that rugby has is the meaningful international competition for it's marquee players so if I could offer one idea to the ARU it would be to be a long way ahead of the curve re paying the women's 7's gold medal winners, ie if you are not paying them the same as the men's then quickly do so and it will put the code ahead of cricket and AFL and guess what when young women including mother's play the game then they will encourage their brothers and children to take up the sport. If they don't have the funds maybe ask our under preforming SR teams to take a small hair cut.
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, You say " As far as I’m aware rugby charges much less fees than cricket, so unsurprisingly there are less funds to distribute." We both know the fees are only charged at club level in both Rugby & Cricket.Wallabies, Australian Cricketers etc don't pay fees to play. Premier Cricket Clubs in Sydney receive grants from Cricket NSW (via Cricket Australia) in excess of AUD $ 50 k per club. Club Rugby in Sydney & other states all receive NIL from the NSWRU (via the ARU)