World Series Rugby from the sideline

It’s the 17th of August 2018, I’ve just watched an absolutely ripping game of World Series Rugby played in near perfect conditions on the old East Perth Football Oval, now NIB stadium in Western Australia.

The season is over and I’m just going to take a mental recap of what has happened in the last year.

My uncle was a captain of East Perth Football Club, another uncle a runner for East Perth and yet another uncle was the opposition. As a child, I was allowed to go into the change rooms, meet the players and remember the awe I had for them. I felt privileged to meet them.

Perth used to be a small place a generation ago, but what a difference a generation can make. Now we have over two million people here, we have two cities rapidly approaching a third.

We have an urban sprawl a jumbo jet has difficulty jumping over, never mind the increasing number of jumbo jets and a rugby team which is solidly here to stay, whether Rugby AU like it or not. This is perhaps the biggest change in a season. Solidity. Even the TV presenters were asking if they had a job next year, nobody knew, but TV guys, yeah you do.

As I write, the Western Force have just disposed of the Panasonic Wild Knights tipped by most to probably win, in a heart-stopping, close competition. It completes a near perfect end to the first year of World Series Rugby.

Twiggy it seems has turned defeat into success not within a generation as most things take in Perth, but in a year.

It was only one year ago that Rugby AU, in an unfair and unexpected way, protected the Eastern states by cutting the Western Force despite the successful nature of the club. Not a tinkers cuss was given for the devastating effect that this would have on West Australian rugby, it alienated the Rugby AU with the entire fan-base.

In reply to this WA said: no.

Actually, we said more than that.

We used an F in No which is the first time an F had been used in No in Western Australian rugby for some time, possibly ever.

It was a very strong F too, the one that kind of demands attention.

This was backed by a billionaire who enjoys the game and could see that everyone else was just going to let this good team slide into non-existence.

That added a commercial strength to that F and it added a large u-shaped wallet as a statement to Rugby AU.

Andrew Forrest (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)

Now if you’ve read this from the Eastern States you are probably almost completely unaware of the disdain most West Aussies now have for Rugby AU. So I’m going to change the language as they no longer represent Western Australia.

We know that Rugby AU-East (see what I did there) don’t give a rats about WA rugby but I guess they’ll happily take our very best players. That’s a very one-way relationship and even Bachelor’s don’t like one-way relationships unless it’s in their favour.

We have some great playmakers right now like Jack MacGregor, Marcel Brache, and Andrew Deegan, but playing quality sides makes them great.

The Western Force’s plight is a great metaphor for the continual existence of anyone in WA. It’s a difficult environment to survive in. But survive the Western Force have.

However, somewhere within this year of survival things have changed, they’ve developed a new vibrant competition, a reinvigorated sense of self, the players and fans have adapted and taken on a do or die attitude.

As a West Aussie I cannot be more proud of the way that our rugby has resurrected itself and turned its back on Rugby AU-East.

It was unfair, unexpected and done in such a way that that even the Premier found it so distasteful he threatened Rugby AU-East with a breach of contract.

Just so you know, I feel there’s backlash and it’s coming.

And now we have a problem, as a West Aussie I feel a certain level of anxiety about the future and the upcoming two Bledisloe Cups.

I have never felt this before. Post-World Rugby Series, our focus will shift from state to country and now we will all have to remember that we aren’t that happy with the Rugby AU-East.

I also have much concern about the 2019 Bledisloe because of the choices this has the fan base of supporters making. Many are opting not to go to Optus Stadium, if they do they’ll wear blue to show support for WA or more are choosing instead to go to NIB Stadium and support WA rugby there.

Here’s the choice, next year’s Bledisloe will be held at the new Optus Stadium and I don’t really want to support the WAFL – not that I have anything against the WAFL – however, the WAFL are receiving $5 million.

This is money which would have been better spent on West Australian rugby. Each fan I suppose has to make a choice. By choosing to go, you are taking money away from WA rugby.

Bernard Foley of the Wallabies (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

This season, I’ve heard supporters moan about the way that the presentation of the game has been reinventing itself, trying new things.

They didn’t like the music, they didn’t like the on-field commentary, they didn’t like the power try idea, the buildup music, the chant…

Personally, I really enjoy a bit of innovation, the trial of new things, I am happy enough to watch a game with hooters hooting and drums drumming. I liked the skydivers and Wolfmother rocking out, even during the game the hype music, I kind of zone out anyway and watch the flow of play.

I loved the Indigenous involvement where the local Noongar people’s culture is more than involved, it’s an integral part of each game. and the dedicated indigenous round, these things bring fans together.

I can completely understand other supporters wanting a continuation of the old game, however, the new game cannot be the old game, things must change in order for it to continue.

We watched the old game go into cardiac arrest and no-one came from Rugby AU-East came to do CPR. Instead, what we saw a heart transplant, a new game put into a pretty good body of players, and some much-needed plastic surgery to add a bit more life and zing into it.

I remember the very first Western Force game, it had the same feeling of optimism as game one of this WSR series and the stands were full of people to scream “No you will not take this away from us!

What a wonderful feeling to have been at both of those games and many to have had their next generation, kids to look at players with the same awe I had as a child 35 odd years ago.

[latest_videos_strip category=”rugby” name=”Rugby”]

For every club, let the kids meet the players.

You create a dream, creating a dream creates future players, it’s simple.

Seeing the little leagues play on the same ground reinforces that it’s possible to achieve that dream, even if for most of us, it is a dream that peaks at a school or club level. WSR you are doing that right!

I do know that this season not only did I become a do or die Western Force fan (if I wasn’t already) but I became a fan or each club entering World Series Rugby that we played.

So thank you Fiji, Tonga, Rebels, Crusaders, Apia Samoa, Hong Kong Dragons, the Panasonic Wild Knights, without coming and playing there would have been no World Series Rugby to talk about.

In various articles, I’ve read that the Western Force would be unlikely to get the audience numbers to be worthwhile continuing the competition and that Twiggy would be no doubt crunching the numbers at the season’s end.

I’ve read many articles speculating about the waning numbers by people who were never there, probably not even in the same state.

Well the numbers are in and 104,348 supporters have turned out this season to NIB Stadium for the seven games held there. I think that’s a pretty good start, two of those games were held in freakish weather conditions for Perth.

I know I was there, it was horizontal rain, lightning and hail, but the show went on, the coffee was hot and people still showed up. Thank god for the coffee ladies and beer coats. OK not as many people turned up to those two games but a few did.

Tonight, another team has been announced for the start of 2019 to be located in Western Sydney which no doubt will be a great thing for Australian rugby in the short and long term.

I can only hope that the people of Western Sydney take something from the Western Force experience. Take more than an interest in World Series rugby.

For the Western Force fans, it’s a do or die thing now.

Western Sydney, it’s your turn.