Melbourne Rebels coach Dave Wessels says all Super Rugby stakeholders need to admit the competition is in a difficult position and needs fixing.
Super Rugby only has itself to blame for declining crowds and poor TV ratings, Melbourne Rebels coach Dave Wessels says.
Just 8,500 people rolled up for an entertaining Australian conference season opener in Canberra on Friday night as the Rebels downed the Brumbies 34-27.
The modest turnout in perfect conditions backs up the ACT team averaging their lowest crowds in club history last year.
Wessels says it is hard to see where the competition finds itself because he has fond memories of watching Super Rugby growing up in South Africa.
“(Super Rugby) wasn’t just an international rugby competition, it opened up a whole new world for me,” he told reporters.
“But we haven’t done a good job of it, to be honest. Me, the players, the administrators, all sorts of people.
“We’ve got to admit that, we’ve got to work harder and we’ve got to fix it because it’s actually a great product.”
But there are signs interest could be starting to rise after figures showed Super Rugby matches played in Australia attracted an average audience of 71,000 last year, up nine per cent on 2017.
The ratings are better than the A-League, but Super Rugby is still dwarfed by the AFL and NRL.
CJ
Guest
Yeah, the empty stands really stood out on the Brumbies highlight reel. If they keep playing like they did, I'm sure they crowds will come back though. CLL looked good - great comeback.
piru
Roar Rookie
TWAS RA don’t control what the independent media writes. The independent media writes about whatever they think will sell papers. Perhaps if RA gave them something to write about? Twiggy seems to have no trouble getting his latest announcements on telly and in the paper through independent news reporting
piru
Roar Rookie
TWAS would you be considered a prime target for league marketing? Do you watch, talk about, comment on league articles or otherwise engage in support for it? Obviously there was some kind of marketing for it, even I saw a little on social media – I think I even remember The Roar having banner ads for it Compare that to any rugby marketing – I haven’t seen any, and I would be happy to bet I engage with more rugby pages and articles than most. I’ve seen more for the six nations than I have for Super Rugby, end result I actually ended up watching some of it this year when I don’t normally bother.
Vix
Guest
You know nothing about rugby in Victoria. Victoria has produced dozens of home grown Wallabies, right back to the likes of Edward "Weary" Dunlop in 1939. Ewen McKenzie - Wallaby player and coach - is a product of Victoria. The fact is many young players have been head-hunted by inter-state clubs but some are coming back. There is a very strong club competition in the State - with two divisions. Get your head out of the sand and check your facts.
Wise Old Elf
Guest
Funny how you can watch American football till your eyes bleed in Australia, FOR FREE, yet rugby is too good to be on free to air tv. Well union, you've made your bed now and you can bloody well lie in it.
LifestyleSpecialist
Roar Rookie
Brett do we have any idea roughly of how much of RA's current TV deal is driven by sale of Super Rugby content vs Internationals? I'd have though TRC and other internationals would be worth about 35% of the total deal for RA? Super Rugby delivers a lot of hours but most of those are of little interest to local fans with so many overseas teams and the timezone problem. Could RA not carve off the Internationals and Super Rugby into different TV deals and maybe get more on FTA without sacrificing too much Pay TV money? Just a thought as it all seems to be bundled into one big deal right now.
ScottD
Roar Guru
Visionary! I vote Piru for RA Chairperson.
andrewM
Roar Rookie
Funnily enough WOE, the RA didn't have any qualm doing that to WA in spite of their growth figures and the strong correlation between this, the establishment of the Western Force and the increased ratio of local players in match day squads . All that growth was in spite of RA under funding community rugby in WA by almost half of what it was giving community rugby in Victoria, despite Victoria having about half the registered players in fewer clubs in a significantly smaller geographic area. Only SA and Tas were getting less. Looking forward to seeing the trend continue so I can blast them some more although the RA have been making the figures harder to find.
Ballymore Brumby
Roar Pro
I only got to two Brumbies matches last year due to non-Canberra work commitments, so can't comment on the comparison with 2018, but the biggest thing I noticed on Friday night was that the General Admission i.e. the cheapest (prices have gone up since it was $20 and a burger) seats seemed very sparsely populated.
Brett McKay
Expert
I don't, Jack, but nor have they corrected the wide reporting of the Brumbies being the only side not losing money. I'd imagine an organisation would want it known if that was true of them, too..
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
This is what I said, copied and pasted: So you’re just going to divert the topic? In actual fact there were more Melbourne produced players in the Brumbies than the Rebels on Friday. But that’s professional sport. Teams recruit players. They aren’t local rep teams. Why is NSW NRC only relevant? You want to disregard where it works to suit your point? I’d suggest you check your memory.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
No. I said the Brumbies had more. I never said zero.
concerned supporter
Guest
TWAS, you said, ''The Waratahs and Shute Shield have imported talent from Melbourne? Should we shut them down too?'' Probably the most inane comment in the history of the Roar. Well Done TWAS. The other day you, TWAS, said that MR had NO local players in their 23. Recall your statement.TWAS?
piru
Roar Rookie
Well when your sport is only played in three states of one country, you can afford to have all your teams in one big bag. Pretty much every other big sport either has conferences or promotion and relegation systems and people just deal with it - I will never understand the pigheaded resistance to it in rugby.
piru
Roar Rookie
I've got it! Cut some teams! Why didn't we think of this before!?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
No. They had 2. Tetera Faulkner and Pati Leota. The Brumbies had 3 Melbourne locals in their 23. Leali'ifano, Valetini and Samu. But regardless, how does that mean the game isn't growing? If juniors and fan interest is growing that doesn't mean there will be an automatic effect there. Contract cycles mean there will be ebbs and flows. Mahe Vailanu, Hunter Paisami and Sefa Naivalu were 3 locals that were in the Rebels system in 2018 that are not there in 2019 for different reasons. The Waratahs and Shute Shield have imported talent from Melbourne? Should we shut them down too?
clipper
Roar Rookie
Not really an indicative comparison. Compared to the NRL sides, the Tahs average isn't that bad - both codes averages in Sydney are heading south. Both SR and NRL have gone down over 5 years, while the Swans have had constant good crowds, but have always made the finals.
concerned supporter
Guest
''Have to laugh that people want to get rid of the Rebels. That is about the only part of Australia where the sport is growing.'' Hang on, last Friday, the MR did not have one local player in their starting 23 ???????
Wise Old Elf
Guest
Have to laugh that people want to get rid of the Rebels. That is about the only part of Australia where the sport is growing.
Wise Old Elf
Guest
The Rebels have their own radio outlet on Melbourne radio. Problem is with you out of towner sports is that they come down to Victoria and expect people to follow it without doing anything to promote the code. Like give people a taste for free on tv, not expect you to pay 70 bucks a month to access it. AFL tries to put itself on FTA where it can to drum up support. Storm hardly ever gets on FTA in Victoria.