Fox Sports believe Rugby Australia scuppered TV deal

.......this is so much more intriguing than the 'product' itself, to be sure.

Yep the golden rule here is "I am entitled to your opinion"! Humble or otherwise...

Fat fingers again! was meant to say "character references might". I will instruct my dietitian to reduce the calorie intake for the offending digits till things improve.

Is part of all this to and fro the lack of a clear picture of what's on offer? First example what is the future of Super Rugby? It has seen lots of big changes in the last say 5 years and if you are trying to sell the next 5 year view...well it's confusing. I get the free to air component. But some overall clarity on the back of some strategic planning in house by both RA and SAANZAR would have to go first. Am I missing something here??

A broad approach...or a broadside? Maybe both?

Let me know which hardware or farming supply shop stocks them in my size please. Oh and I am right handed just in case that makes a difference.

Ok...so one of the criteria for selecting to the RA board should be brothel success? Character referimight a but thin on the ground for that one Chook!! Unless you are fastidious in keeping receipts!

Nutter - I agree that her appointment coincided with some spectacular dynamics in Rugby and sports broadcasting. Her 4 year term may prove to be the most difficult since the advent of professionalism. Georgina Robinson of the SMH is suggesting her ongoing tenure will rest of her successful negotiation of the Rugby broadcast rights?

Melbournian, Mark seems to need to insult Australians, for reasons best known to Mark. ‘Convict’ is a poor descriptor as well, Mark. ‘Shackle Dragger’ is more imaginative and preferred, for mine. Thanks in advance.

Even Twiggy Forrest rate her as a huge improvement on her predecessor. Pulver received a $500k performance bonus in his last year, so she must get a huge bonus. Her challenge will be to herd the cats and maintain the bundled offer as Fox will attempt to divide and conquer by offering separate broadcasting deals to NSWRU-SRU directly.

Superugby does not generate enough revenue to cover its costs. It has to be subsidised by Test rugby.

There was the same media agenda against the NRL guy when he sidelined Fox.

...killing Super Rugby kills the competition that keeps most of the Walabies playing locally... I think that cat has bolted for South Africa as Superugby became a competition for players to showcase their talents for NH contracts and where players that are injured and/or lost form and therefore unable to secure contracts in the NH can still play. The cat is not yet out of the bag for Australia, but RA already realise that they have to sign up the next generation for as long as possible while they are cheap as they will not be able to afford them in a few years time. As long as RA cannot afford to pay top players what they can get in the NH the best they can do is to delay the inevitable. Superugby does not have the financial backing to be the premier Tier 2 competition in the world again, it has been losing ground year after year. SANZAR championed running, highly skilled and attack minded rugby by awarding bonus points for tries and ensured that the best players in the world play in the competition. However with time the partners undermined their own competition by some very poor decisions. The idea that you can restore former glory by doing what you did in the past is naïve.

Foxtel are blaring their horn and calling foul loudly through all their channels. Actions speak louder than words. If Foxtel actually cared for the sport they would make an effort to promote it. Foxtel have never done such a thing. Have a look at the Daily Telegraph (owned by Newscorp) - there are pages and pages of other sports. Have a look at how rugby is reported on their website, there are pages and pages of UFC, AFL, League, NBA, NFL, Soccer etc etc... Rugby? IF Castle gets it right and manages to get some quality rugby onto Free to Air (F2A) this will be a BIG win for Rugby long term. IF it works, F2A will bring in more viewership (which Foxtel currently restricts to it's own pool of viewership) and more viewership translates to more $. People may not like Castle but if you take your blinkers off she is doing this for the long term survival of the game. Great leaders make the tough calls and take the gamble for the greater good. If you ask me, Castle is doing exactly that. Good on her.

nutter I think she's doing a job. I see some good things happen, but really we don't know if she had any involvement. But they're happening. Most of what people want to criticise are Folau and Cheika and they want to ignore sponsor pressure, and the realities around replacing Cheika at that time. In both cases I think she did what a reasonable person would no (so the opposite of the majority that rag away here) and highly doubt it wasn't agreed with the board - who are her bosses. I don't doubt there are some genuine negatives that we haven't seen. if we start to see improvement in the Wallabies from here, and improvement in support, I'll consider she's done a good job. I just think most of the criticism is completely baseless.

Lattrel Mitchell

Neither can you trust RA as that is also the way they do business. They deserve each other.

What? You don't have yours already?

Mark, SR runs at a loss. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous at best. It was a market leading product when it was first launched but the gloss has gone off it. RA stated that the Wallabies is a profitable brand and Tests generals make money, especially BIL, TRC, England and Ireland tours. Secondly, yes Aussie SR teams are shite, but they won't get any better under this system. We need to find an effective way to fund Union in Australia that is successful. Thirdly, Union existed in Australia before SR was conceived and will likely survive SR's demise. Finally as a dual citizen UK/AU I object to you pejorative term "convict".

Time to grab our pitchforks imho. :silly: