The 2017 season has been a challenging and revealing one for Australian rugby.
The Wallabies respectable performance in the Rugby Championship aside, the year has been punctuated by rapidly declining crowds, TV ratings and general interest in both test matches and the ever more complex Super Rugby competition, a fact that has contributed to the axing of the Western Force and all that entails.
Yet for all that, at this year’s Shute Shield grand final we saw one of the strongest and most passionate turnouts in years to witness a great match that truly celebrated the best aspects of the game in this country.
So what is going on here? Speaking to people in the rugby community, it’s fairly clear that the grassroots of the game in Australia is feeling increasingly alienated from the boffins who run the elite side of the game out of the ARU. The decision to agree to the current ludicrous Super Rugby format is emblematic of that disconnect, but so is the NRC, a competition that is entirely artificial and is completely devoid of any passion or support.
Compare last year’s NRC grand final with the Shute Shield of any recent year and tell me at which you’d prefer to be. It’s not even remotely a contest. This is because the NRC was superimposed from above along the lines of the FFA’s A-League’s model. In short, it’s a vestige of the John O’Neil era, when he’d come back to rugby from football and tried to apply the lesson’s he’d apparently learnt there.
(Image: Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Superficially you can understand the logic: create an overarching national structure above club rugby that could garner greater support and fill the tier between club and Super Rugby. Sounds good in theory, but the A-League model they chose was also based on a factor not present in rugby: a toxic and highly sectarian set of identities that made the old National Soccer League unpalatable for average fans.
That was the fundamental driver for a clean slate in soccer and made the idea of a new set of identities that didn’t have any previous baggage the best option. However, applying that model to a sport like rugby makes no sense for two critical reasons. First is that rugby’s grassroots are thoroughly inclusive and not beset by any volatile tensions. Second is that the grassroots are where the greatest passion is felt in the sport in Australia.
This is why the NRC – and the ARC before it – failed to gain any sort of traction. Unlike the NSL, where fans were looking for respite from the old identities, rugby fans remain fondly attached to their old clubs and see little reason to become involved with some plastic construct that has no history nor anything below it.
The ARU correctly identified that it couldn’t afford to fund a national competition on its own and that it needed private money after the ARC failed, yet it never looked at the concept from a first-principles standpoint to ask if it was even the right approach.
Perhaps if these new teams had more effectively incorporated the old identities, they might have had some traction – for instance, each grouping featuring a shield on their shoulder with all their constituent clubs incorporated – but that hasn’t really happened for the most part.
(Image: Jason O’Brien/Getty Images)
Obviously there needs to be a national competition, but why not build it on the foundations of club rugby? I would argue that we could build a much more sustainable competition with far greater interest from the rugby community if we were to simply have a national competition built on the strongest teams from within each of the major states.
It could effectively work as a quasi-promotion relegation structure following the end of the regular whereby we would have a 12 team national championship comprised thusly:
To make this work, the competition could run as a knock-out tournament separated into four pools of three, with the tournament ideally to be hosted in a single city to avoid constant travel. This would clearly advantage the home city sides, but it would cycle each year between Sydney and Brisbane, with potentially every third year going to either Melbourne or Perth.
This would give the competition a strong festival vibe that properly celebrates the clubs and also give it a sense of novelty.
(Image: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
As a funding model, to increase both the attractiveness of the competition and its level of play, participating teams should be given a share of whatever broadcast revenue and sponsorship that it attracts overall. Moreover, each team should be free to do an additional round of recruiting from within their own cities in the lead-up to the championship.
By following a model like this, the game could properly capitalise on the passion of the grassroots while also providing pathways for players to develop and gain exposure to a higher level than their average club level.
The downside of this would be that it would entrench successful teams within their own competitions, as each participant within the new National Cup would give them greater funding resources and exposure to a higher level.
However, because of the incentive model, each year clubs would have reason to broaden their networks, look for more sources of funding and indeed have a dream to sell to potential sponsors.
This model makes the most sense for growing the base of the game, building national appeal and generating a product that has genuine rivalries and passion.
Being built on the existing organic foundations of club rugby, it would be strong, sustainable, well supported – and be ready for future expansion.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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