Rugby in Australia is in a mess. There is no hiding from it.
The Wallabies were beaten by Scotland in Sydney, the Super teams are routinely beaten by the New Zealand teams. There have been a few wins between them in South Africa and Argentina but on the whole the picture is pretty depressing with dismal attendances at the home grounds even for the ‘local’ derbies.
Every forum you read has barbed comments about Bill Pulver and the ARU. Punters offering almost endless statistics on why Perth is better than Melbourne or vice versa and which team should be retained. And no-one is watching it on TV.
I personally don’t see any point in agonising over money that has already gone and am not wholly sure that attendances at the Fiji game in Melbourne this year or the Argentina game in Perth a couple of years ago should be a principal reason for ‘culling’ a team.
I do however see Super Rugby as one of the main culprits in the decline of the standard of Australian rugby at the top level.
I mean when you sit back and look at it, the situation is crazy – 18 teams of professional sportsmen playing across multiple time zones, now in Southern Hemisphere and occasionally Northern Hemisphere conditions, week in and week out.
Every good player in New Zealand will have had at least one go at their opposite number before the international season kicks off, and more than likely it will have been a winning experience.
How are you ever supposed to catch the All Blacks off guard when every Kiwi prop has mastered their opposite number previously and most of the backs can look at the Australian backline and have pleasant recent memories of slipping a tackle or running past them for a try in acres of space?
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
The main reason for the removal of three teams from the competition as I understand it is to improve the competitiveness of all teams and therefore improve the competition.
This from SANZAAR but I’m fairly sure also from the Broadcasters. Why else would they change the format in the middle of the cycle? No one is watching, but people have been watching less and less over the years. Why now?
One problem could be the success of the Champions Cup in Europe. When they changed this format, they didn’t send any teams down the waste chute in the process.
The traditional TV market of the UK and Europe must be turning off Super Rugby to watch their own teams instead. More punters watching domestic rugby than Super Rugby? Surely not.
There has been plenty of evidence to suggest that the rugby public in both New Zealand and Australia are not watching the Super competition on Sky/Foxtel. So why would the broadcasters keep paying for it if it weren’t for the appeal of the tournament to overseas markets?
From memory, in the UK, most sport on Sky is punctuated by adverts for Sky or for betting companies. When Skybet launched, they used the slogan: ‘It matters more when there’s money on it.’
I took this to mean the people at Sky saying to the punters: ‘It matters more (to us) when there’s (your) money on it.’
If the competition here in the Southern Hemisphere is not competitive enough, that tells me that from the broadcaster’s point of view, people won’t watch a foregone conclusion and from the advertiser’s point of view, people won’t bet on a foregone conclusion. Not a good investment.
So what better way to improve the odds (intentional pun but admittedly poor) than to sack off three franchises worth of employees, fans and so on.
The amount of passion in the forums from supporters of all five teams in Australia makes me wonder why we don’t see it so much of it at the actual games.
Has the Super Rugby tournament completely neutered that intra-national pride? Being the best team in Australia seems to count for little in rugby union but it is everything in NRL, AFL and soccer. It gives players and supporters a sense of pride and achievement. It even gets on free-to-air TV.
Maybe time to consider a knockout competition to replace the Super Rugby system? Pools followed by knockout stage?
Games against overseas opposition would be less regular. You may only play the Blues in Auckland once every three or four years but you could have two competitions that you could potentially win.
Plus, if the games were that competitive, the betting companies, advertisers and TV broadcasters would be lining up the funds. It might be worth thinking about before the actual end of the broadcasting cycle. What happens if it is then decided that Australia should ‘cull’ another two teams?
Sterling
Guest
Agreed. Initial 8 would be North Harbour, Western Sydney, Eastern Sydney, ACT, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane & South Queensland (a more accurate title for the current Queensland Country NRC team). They are all capital city based to have the best chance of having a ready made following. South Queensland is an initial venture into regional areas. With 8 teams, a double round robin could be played in the 3 month NRC window. If Super Rugby is pissed off altogether, it makes the NRC a lot more relevant (and Premier Rugby during the regular season for that matter) and fans would relate a lot more to provincial teams. I.e I'm a Queenslander who doesn't live in Brisbane. A long time ago I used to feel a connection to the "Queensland Reds", but not so much to the franchise called The Reds who happen to play in Brisbane. If it was first passed the post, then it would be even more interesting as every game would count for a lot more. Less is more! Then, as Sheek as suggested so many times in the past, a champs style comp played in the regular season featuring the best 2 from each countries national comp would be even more interesting/engaging. Future expansions, in no particular order would then be Hunter Valley, North Queensland, Central Queensland, NSW Country, Adelaide and TAS.
piru
Roar Rookie
Timbo I think if it were that simple it would have happened already. I only keep Fox for rugby and Game of Thrones - no way I'll renew if the Force go
Waxhead
Guest
thanks for reply Alex - on your numbers 1) I totally disagree with you and suspect you've never played any serious competition sports. I have never heard anyone say this that has. 2) I said put up or shut up and all you posted was another unsubstantiated claim. And at ground crowd numbers are not an adequate or accurate indicator of popularity anyway. TV ratings are a better indicator. 3) Again I totally disagree with you. Losing Australia as a top 10 nation wud be no more than a minor loss to the future of world Rugby imo. The game is far bigger than any 1 individual nation.
Chris
Guest
Too messy just have the Aussie Super sides in New Zealand Provincial to make a Trans Tasman comp and then below have a semi pro comp and big up the Shute Shield and Old Premier and winners of both comps face off for Australian Grand Final but no NRC.
Chris
Guest
Just have the Currie Cup as a comp and bring in the Aussie Super teams into the New Zealand Provincial comp and the winners of each comp can face off for SH Super Cup Grand Final....christ it can't be that hard SANZAR.
Alex James
Roar Rookie
Thank you Timbo. I fear you are correct. Cheers.
Alex James
Roar Rookie
Hi Wax, Thanks for the comments: 1) I don't believe you need to get ruined by every player in your position in NZ every year in order to progress and learn. Maybe just once or twice. 2) crowds at all SR games. 3) I disagree. World Rugby needs Australia and their pedigree. Twice world champions, runners up last time. 4) I'm intimating that the NRC needs to be high profile as you go on to state. Basically the NRC needs to give fans something to cheer about so they can celebrate some success. It feels like SR is just doom. Brumbies make finals but no one expects them to win etc. Cheers.
Alex James
Roar Rookie
Thank you Bob. I agree, it needs serious debate. Cheers.
Timbo (L)
Roar Guru
I didn't realize that the ARU had released the criteria. I would like to read that manifesto. I was still of the belief that it was all a smoke screen and it would end up being the team that is cheapest to dump (the Force at this point in time). There was no official indication that it was going to based on team performance nor grass roots development.
Unanimous
Guest
The standard solutions adopted by nearly every other sports are things like salary caps, drafts, revenue sharing, transfer fees, equal catchment areas etc.- things to cause teams to be competitive. SR instead has national bodies undermining their own regional salary caps with 'top ups'. It has policies to restrict player movement between teams. It has no transfer fees to incentivise player development. The revenue is shared via hierarchical political processes that change from time to time with no apparent basis. Team catchment areas are completely unbalanced in terms of player production. It's easy to blame SANZAAR and national unions for these problems, but those bodies are products of the rugby communities from which they come. Rugby generally is still stuck with an amateur mindset. While some of the solutions' suggested in articles and comments sections are good ideas, there is little awareness that all teams in all sports are the product of rules created by the sport or the league. Competitiveness comes from these rules, and discussion of these rules and their application forms a significant part of other sports. Rugby people seem not to get it. Super 12 happened to work really well in Aus and NZ, but this was because it was set up for the time and place. SR has been unable to adjust to market changes, both outside SR and within it, because the southern hemisphere rugby communities learnt no lessons about league management from the good start. After a slow and patchy transition to professionalism, northern hemisphere leagues are becoming more professionally run. The southern hemisphere has a lot to learn
There isn't much I can do about our rugby intellect mate, the ever increasing number of experienced players leaving, the best SA coaches leaving, there is not much left.
The statement is not false. Look at our ever worsening results since 2007, look at our super rugby record in the last 7 years. Then tell me my statement is false.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
You do know that there is a quality Premier Grade competition in Perth?
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
+1000
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
If the Force get cut ( and they shouldn't using any objective assessment of the criteria published by the ARU) Foxtel can absolutely be sure that their subscribers will go down in Perth. The only reason I subscribe is to watch my team. Netflix, Stan etc are much cheaper for movies etc.
sheek
Roar Guru
Crazy Horse, Yeah I know that. You do it with creative thinking. I would create two new provinces called Eastern Australia, based in Newcastle, & North Queensland, based in Townsville. EA is effectively Northern NSW, without using as many words. Historically, there have been murmurs from time to time of these regions seceding from their mother state. However, nothing stopping it happening in Australian rugby. Also historically, both the surrounding regions of Newcastle & Townsville were great contributors to rugby before the 1907/08 split. Newcastle however, kept on contributing for much longer, while the rich talent of NQ went almost exclusively to league. It would be nice to get some of that talent back. Southern NSW has already thrown in its lot with ACT, so there is no reason why a similar split can't be made in Northern NSW, purely for rugby purposes. NSW Country would still exist in the Australian Rugby Shield (regional comp) feeding the non metro area of Central & Western NSW. While EA Country, ACT Country & Qld Country would serve a similar purpose for their provinces. I would in time, have a fully professional 8 team Australian Provincial Cup (APC) of NSW, Queensland, ACT, Victoria, WA, EA, NQ and hopefully South Australia (heavily subsidised in the early years). And a secondary semi-pro (modest match payments only) 8 team Australian Regional Shield (ARS) of NSW Country, EA Country, ACT Country, Qld Country, Tasmania, NT & hopefully maybe two other regional areas, say Vic Country & WA Country. The ARS would provide no other purpose really than to provide players from regional areas an opportunity to showcase their talents from their home base & perhaps win a pro contract with one of the APC provinces. However, realistically, ARU is losing so many players that this is unfortunately a pipe dream. I merely offer it to show what is possible if things were done differently.
Jacko
Guest
And how will you pay the players Waxhead?
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
So if you do away with the two country teams where do the other teams come from? There is life outside of the capital cities!
Jacko
Guest
Republican the only comp that has NZ in it that I dont understand is the Basketball. NZ and AUS basketball are in the same qualifying pool for WCs and olympics etc so I dont understand why one country wants a direct competitor to play in their comp. In the A-league, Aus and NZ are not competing with Wc qualifying and having a NZ team in there brings in extra revenue and estra players. As for the NRL....well NZ supplies 35% of NRL players so it CLEARLY improves what is nothing but a domestic comp anyway.
Jacko
Guest
Surely that statement about NZ taking more from AUS and SA is false. Why does a country that performs better get more from two countries that are performing worse...As a player and as a coach I wanted to play against the teams above me on the comp...I wanted to improve to their standard and I wanted ( as a coach) to get my players to see where they had to get to skills and attitude wise to be able to beat the best. That is a very weak excuse Im afraid and if SA and AUS rugby dont learn from the Best in the business, yet the best learn from those below their standard then Super rugby is dying because SA and AUS have given up. Try blaming , naming and shaming the people in AUS and SA that are failing to learn from their losses and have just given up....SA is playing much better than last year under the same coach...I think they have learnt massively from others and I think they are rediscovering their pride and passion...Last year was unacceptable to SA rugby and they have done something about it....Sure its not what I expected ( I thought the coach had to go ) but its working so far for them and I hope it continues...Now its time for AUS to get themselves sorted and start improving too