Andrew Hore said this week there were three reasons why there were only 10,000 at the Waratahs’ game against the Sharks on Saturday night.
Firstly, he blamed the school holidays for not allowing the Tahs to get into school classrooms to promote the game.
Secondly, he cited the AFL and Wanderers for having games on the same night. Shame on them! How could they do this to the Waratahs?
Thirdly, Hore said the marketing department were “behind the eight ball”.
If this is the case, they should all be sacked. Surely they should have known that this game was on during the school holidays and that there might have been other codes playing that night as well.
Imagine if they had have got into schools, maybe given a few tickets away, and the possibility of attending the new stadium would have been a drawcard – I might have even attended for that reason!
But, alas, this didn’t happen and an opportunity to actually tap into the west was missed.
If they had held a holiday camp in the area and promoted the game by giving away a few tickets, what impact would this have had? They could have actually tapped into all those students who had the audacity to be on holidays in the lead-up to the game.
One factor Andrew failed to mention was the quality of the game. The past two games were two of the worst rugby games I have seen in a long time. In fact, someone I know (and there aren’t many) who did attend the game actually enjoyed the Shute Shield match more, with the comment: “At least they threw the ball around.”
There is no doubt success breeds success, but until those at the state and national levels get their heads out of the sand, admit their mistakes, and do something about it, rugby will continue to struggle behind the other codes.
Craigo
Guest
@Jimmy, That's true. I was surprised that the crowds was so small for a new stadium.
Craigo
Guest
You'd think all these X elite private boy school students and their stockbroking alumni would have $77 dollars to rub together.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
What I was trying to say Is that the NRL got a far bigger than average crowd because it was a big occasion. Rugby should have got a bigger crowd, in my opinion.
Craigo
Guest
The Super Rugby average in Australia in 2018 was 11,000 per match. The Waratahs getting 10,000 odd is what they would have got at the SFS. That's the Waratahs standard.
Double Agent
Guest
Agree Campbell. The way they've been playing for years now they really don't have the right to charge any more than say $25 a ticket.
Campbell Watts
Roar Rookie
What about the obvious reason - cost! At $77 (plus $7 booking fee) for a Category 1 seating area its a damn expensive night! Then you've got food and refreshments on top, plus transport costs.... All to watch a horror viewing spectacle like they put on last week? No thanks! Hence the sub-8k crowd. Why don't they lower the prices?? It would fill the stadium, improve atmosphere, sell more drinks and food = everyone wins! Seems easy to me...
Objective
Guest
The Waratahs marketers (use the term loosely) are bloody useless. Half the social media posts are cheerio birthday messages to largely unknown players who go from school to this thing called the Academy. Never heard of half of them. There's little connection. So good when a bloke you've been watching in Shute Shield gets a call up. But that's too infrequent. Then you've got players who I genuinely believe have reasonable skills, but when a kicker misses touch, throws a shit pass or whatever, you have to ask if they care. That's why people are leaving in droves. They still love the game - just not what's being repeatedly dished up at SR level.
Jimmy
Roar Guru
Whatever way the spin it, this looked bad. It was the opening of a new stadium! The reason the Eels had such a big crowd, in a competition that averages about half the figure (and about a third in Sydney) turned up because they wanted to have a look and mark a big occasion. If there are seriously no Union fans in the West, the others should have got on a train and supported the Waratahs at a magnificent new venue.
Hazzmat
Guest
Andrew Hore fails to mentions ticket prices and an opponent that still would not have drawn a decent crowd if the game was played at Moore Park. That matched with poor skills from some of the Tahs' most senior players meant for a poor spectacle. I went to this game as well as the previous week and couldn't decide on which was worse. Being on top of the 'action' but coming away with a loss, or winning the previous week but being so far away as to not see any of the action. One things for sure, there was zero atmosphere at both games. Yet in Andrew Hore's all-seeing wisdom, he extends Daryl Gibson's contract for another year before the season proper had even started. Being the head coach of the Tahs is obviously not a performance-based role because if it was, Daryl would be looking for a job at the end of the year.
Garry
Guest
David, is that you Michael Cheika?
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
That Dogs vs cowboys match at 6pm Friday would’ve given it a run for its money I heard.
Tokoloch
Roar Rookie
Hey David, I think it is the coaching that is the problem. It seems most coaches are preoccupied with winning (and there is no doubt that this is important) over teaching skills. Just look at the best of our schoolboy competitions and many private schools employ outside coaches (on big money) to coach their First XVs and because of this, winning takes preference over teaching skills. One strong point about Sth African and NZ schools rugby is that coaches take their teams right through from an early age to the First XV. For example, if you coach the 14 A's in one year, you take them through to the First XV. This way you have a team for a few years and you can focus on skills and become skilled yourself (especially if you want to coach First XV) and you don't have to justify your pay! One of the greatest skills coaches I have ever seen was former Wallaby Stephen James (now Skills coach with Canterbury Bulldogs) who took a junior Eastwood team and they never lost a game in 7 years (they did however, lose a State championship with a draw). His focus was always on skills and half of every training session was spent on these skills. There were games when he even refused to allow the boys to kick the ball out of their 22, they had to work and run it out. One only has to look at who RA employed as their defensive coach a few years ago, Nathan Grey who was coming off coaching the Waratahs to their worst defensive season ever. Look at our Senior coaching stocks, there's not much out and now one of brightest coaching candidates, Simon Cron, is now going to Japan. What hope have we got?
Gloria
Roar Rookie
People keep saying sense of ‘entitlement’ and ‘privilege’ with the Tahs but I never see or read any real evidence of it. They are just a team and get beaten by better teams. They have a Kiwi coach and a Kiwi CEO leading them off. Do these Kiwis also have a sense of entitlement and privilege?
Timmypig
Roar Rookie
Jack all kids registered at an SJRU club have a free season pass. Many of the kids at the rugby-playing schools also play club rugby. Both my kids used their season pass to get in. 10k was an outright lie, the 7890 figure quoted by Bamboo in another post seems more like it.
Double Agent
Guest
Well said David.
Double Agent
Guest
Crowds have been falling for 15 years at least.
Double Agent
Guest
The Shute Shield match on Saturday arvo on ch7 is nearly always more entertaining than super rugby matches involving Aussie teams especially NSW.
Marlin
Roar Rookie
some (me) might say Izzy deserted THEM!
Marlin
Roar Rookie
well said, sir. The other obvious reason as the author says, is the quality of the footy. Dire rubbish!
David
Guest
I am a Victorian and love good rugby, unfortunately Australian teams are not delivering anywhere near it. When I watch super rugby I usually see the kiwi derby’s first, these games are often of test match intensity full of tempo, skill, creativity , innovation and the ability to play what is in front of them. An Aussie derby might follow next and sadly I cannot use the same superlatives. What happened to those magic days when Aussie teams could mix it with any kiwi team, it was inspirational. I do not know the answer but something awful has happened and the loss of skill in passing,offloading, tactics and kicking is head scratching. Is it the coaching, the players, lack of a national approach to standards, I do not know. If anyone does please make a presentation to RA ASAP. Until there is significant change crowd numbers will not increase, the game has to sell itself.