With the recent unveiling of the 2021 Super Rugby AU draw, many were curious to see that the Waratahs are persisting with their push into Western Sydney with a dogged determination.
With the AU portion of the Super Rugby season seeing the Waratahs host just four home games, somewhat surprisingly three of them are in Western Sydney. Two are at Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta and one is at Stadium Australia in Homebush. Only one game is being played at the team’s temporary Eastern Suburbs base, the SCG.
With the construction of a new Allianz Stadium at Moore Park in full swing and Brookvale Oval also undergoing construction work to its northern grandstand, the Waratahs have fewer options than in previous years.
Yet moving three out of four home games this year to an area where attendance and participation for all levels of rugby union in the past has been nothing short of abysmal seems like a huge risk for the Waratahs and rugby as a whole.
2020 was a year of extraordinary circumstances and just the fact that we were able to have any sport at all was a success, so it’s fair to say we can discount any figures from last year.
Yet if we look at pre-COVID times, the Wallabies, Waratahs and the jewel in the crown of Sydney rugby, the Shute Shield final, all failed to find crowds anywhere near the 15,000 mark. The Parramatta venue hasn’t been kind to rugby.
The particularly worrisome thing for the Waratahs is that just after the ground was opened in 2019 and it was all new and shiny, just turning up to the ground to watch both NRL and A-League pre-season fixtures was the hottest ticket in town, yet the Waratahs’ first game at the new venue attracted just over 10,000 fans.
(Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)
Both the Waratahs and Rugby Australia came out in staunch defence of their strategy to play games at the stadium and stated that they had long-term plans to play games and be active in the region for the foreseeable future, and to their credit they have very much lived up to these claims.
As a resident of the area and a fan of league, union and football, I find myself more torn than ever on what to spend my limited resources spectating with my kids. Yet both the NRL and A-League are clearly ahead of Super Rugby, especially as more and more spectators will hopefully return in force this year.
The game-day experience seems to be more important to other codes. From the minute you set foot in Parramatta when the Eels or Wanderers are playing at Bankwest you know it’s game day. Punters in the colours hang out of bars and cafes near the stadium and the walk from Church Street across the river to the ground roars with chanting and atmosphere, matched equally when you enter the stadium.
The two Waratahs games that I have attended were devoid of almost any atmosphere, and there was hardly any presence of fans in the bars and cafes around the surrounding streets.
In a country that is obsessed with warring codes and the accompanying narratives, we have to accept that comparisons will be made, and now with its new broadcast deal with Nine Entertainment, rugby is in a position to strike back against much of its recent bad press and potentially win over new fans.
Led by Nine’s writers like best-selling author Peter FitzSimons, the sport is pushing back hard, particularly against the NRL and sports fans are taking notice. Yet if the game insists on playing in the same stadium at the same time, it needs to start taking attendance seriously, and offer some point of difference.
Those who speak out in defence of rugby constantly point out how the game is popular overseas therefore fans should engage here, but Australian fans don’t seem to care that the sport fills stadiums in Cardiff and Twickenham. They want to engage locally. They want to feel the rivalry and grow tribalism.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
While many cynics believe that the Waratahs are just parking their team in Parramatta until they get a shiny new stadium in Sydney’s east, the evidence to that doesn’t seem to stack up. It would be far easier to make a statement by packing out a smaller venue like North Sydney or Leichhardt in a friendlier neighbourhood, or if appeasing wealthy corporate backers and solidifying the bottom line were the only goal, then the club would call Homebush home this season and collect the six-figure sum granted to clubs just for scheduling games there.
Rugby and the Waratahs made a statement to remain consistently visible in Western Sydney and even through the worst of the pandemic they have stuck to it, even prioritising the area over regions like Wollongong and the Hunter. So this sort of tenacity should be commended, but the code needs to do more than just schedule.
Western Sydney is one of Australia’s fastest growing areas with an extremely diverse and dynamic population, with many of them – like myself – hailing from other countries. Yet there are massive opportunities here for sporting codes with new infrastructure and political spending galore.
Yet rugby can’t find a way to engage with this community and enhance its game-day experience and fan interaction. Many suggest it’s a bridge too far for rugby, and that the culture is just too different.
But the community here accepts all types and is open to all experiences. Rugby just needs to invite people in.
Micko
Roar Rookie
And what I was referring to was how the NRC SHOULD'VE been organised. A proper pro comp would be open to outside recruitment, even to the point of 5-6 internationals per squad. :thumbup:
Micko
Roar Rookie
Are you saying that a proper top level pro comp (replacing the poor SR model with Waratahs & Reds turned to franchises) with several Sydney franchises won't win a bloke you, and the rest of the Union crowd over? I'd be shocked if it was the main game in town, and that you (and the rest) wouldn't get on board!
Dave
Guest
WorldInUnion well it kinda is, what you're saying is a completely different point. On your point though, i hope your "moral obligation" extends to all racial groups that are underrepresented in Australian Rugby Union, there's plenty of racial groups on a per capita basis that are miles more underrepresented than aboriginals
WorldInUnion
Guest
That’s not what he’s saying at all Dave. It would be useful if RA could send out Andrew Walkers and Kurtley Beale’s just to do a few training sessions and Q&A. Find out where they are struggling to fit in ? Is it having access to gear, getting to and from training ? Adequate skills coaching ?? There are potential superstars who need to be heard, not just a ‘thumbs up’ from afar without understanding any challenges they face. It’s not only morally the right thing to do but also is a better way to invest than stealing Fijians from their high school competitions.
RibEye
Guest
Concerned Supporter I’m horrified he is a member of the SS. I have relatives who had to escape Germany during the Second World War. This is truly shocking :shocked:
Dave
Guest
Gotcha white people should stick to white role models and black people stick to black role models. That’ll work out well :thumbup:
Micko
Roar Rookie
I honestly think they'll be ok Andy. What you've got to remember is that Sydney is the worst of the capital cities in terms of size and traffic. It's an absolute nightmare. I'm barely motivated now to travel to many things here in Perth, which is massively overpopulated now, with massive growth in the last few years meaning daily life is getting harder and harder.
AndyS
Guest
You could say exactly that about super rugby, with the advantage of everyone only having one team to support in Sydney with loads of attached history. And that is going how? So without any of the tribalism that you think would have made the NRC work, what evidence do you rely on to say multiple artificial new teams would be an instant hit in Sydney when they never have before and the times it has been tried (GWS, etc) have been associated with long term massive investments? You are really just betting everything on two/three new SR teams created out of nothing on a shoestring, so what makes you think they will take off like rockets?
elvis
Roar Rookie
Save the aggression for the rugby field. We can read WITHOUT needing capitals....
jeznez
Roar Guru
I don't doubt it Mick. Haven't caught a League match for a while, an Origin match about 4 years ago was probably my last - that was a hell of a match, was 4-0 to NSW at halftime. Think there had only been one incomplete set and one missed tackle in the entire first half. Was immense, Fifita leading the charge for NSW. Not even sure what the final score was but gee that first half impressed me. That said I don't even watch as much Union as I'd like these days so other codes don't get a look in.
MickDonovan
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately the next players are almost all playing in the NRL All Stars next month. Not sure if you watch League but they have some serious talent at the moment, would run rings around many of the Wallabies squad.
MickDonovan
Roar Rookie
No my son choosing a role model that has has come across similar challenges and prejudices as he will face is not whack, it's entirely necessary.
Dave
Guest
Choosing your role model based off the colour of their skin is wacked.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I don't think I would need to say anything. As per my point before, Freo or Port fans never kept tabs on how many locals made the side, just being in the big time sufficed. You're conflating a lack of interest in a manufactured nothing comp like NRC that couldn't even get something as simple right as making them rep sides to create more public interest, with a hypothetically full pro league that's the centre of the public and media attention. Plus the pure stats of where Union players are from in Australia means there would presumably be a good percentage of locals in that side, and that's regardless of whether the franchise actively sought to recruit locals or not.
AndyS
Guest
But that boat has sailed, as the NRC has been scratched. So the better question now is, what would you now say to get him (and lots of lost or new supporters) to support one third of the Waratahs, padded out with players selected from anywhere? That seems to be what you are proposing to replace SR with...
Micko
Roar Rookie
Because they're at the big dance Andy! If I told you I was taking you to the Royal Show, and then took you to see some couple of kids performing tricks, then how would you react? Give them a seat at the big show, then watch their attitude change! The point was for the NRC to be successful it had to do something the other comps weren't doing Andy to get the fans in. They could've been genuine rep teams: selected from the Shute Shield sides and promoted to their regional team...instead they mixed up all the players! :thumbdown: What would you say to blokes like Concerned Supporter? How would you now get him to support the NRC comp???
AndyS
Guest
Indeed. And if they have various Sydney sides in a SR replacement, why will exactly the same thing suddenly not matter at all? Your whole premise is that making something like the NRC a replacement for SR would succeed by engaging with all that tribalism, but if they are signing players from anywhere then would be rejected in just the same way as the NRC. And with everything bet on it, the sport would be history in the professional space. Either the supporters wouldn't care about the origin of the players and it would effectively just be splitting up the Waratahs, or they would care and they'd see it much as they did the NRC.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Absolutely I would Andy!!! When Freo entered the AFL in 1995, did people not support them because of a lack of locals? How about Port Adelaide in 1997 Andy? The point is as a lower profile development league the NRC should've engaged the Sydney fans as genuine rep teams: logical promotion based on regional/geographic tribalism. What the hell was the point of shoving Warringah players around to different Sydney sides???
AndyS
Guest
No question the administration could have done a better job of the NRC as a second tier development comp, on so many levels (personally I'd go far further regarding that particular failing, and frequently have). But that certainly doesn't mean the same model would then somehow be a roaring success as the first tier professional comp. Tribalism is just one aspect, but you surely can't point to the Warringah example as symptomatic of why people didn't get behind the NRC, then blithely assume they'd just happily ignore the same issue as a SR replacement.
concerned supporter
Roar Rookie
Ribeye, Suggest you get yourself a Roar identity, so your posts are on records. Jeznez is a genuine, bona fide Roar Guru. His latest article on SRAU teams in detail is brilliant, much more detailed than one would find in any newspaper or thread. He is a member of A SS Club, are you?