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Opinion
It’s been pretty much a generation since Super Rugby captured my imagination.
At that time, I had not followed any professional sport for many years following the demise of the North Sydney Bears rugby league team.
Super Rugby is now gone, like the Bears. Whatever its replacement, without the South Africans, it is not ‘super’ rugby. I have no rugby involvement except as an observer: Today I mainly watch overseas games. Stan can count how many I watch, and in which comps.
I don’t see any long-term upside for rugby in Australia. Our top-tier game is a joke. No matter which team might temporarily be in the ascendancy, there is no structural balance between the five teams.
If there can be a successful national rugby competition, it will come from splitting the New South Wales (read Sydney) and Queensland (read Brisbane) teams into mutually combative constituent teams.
Looked at from that basis, both the traditional New South Wales and Queensland state constituent administrative bodies appear redundant. So why continue administering rugby union in Australia state by state?
The obvious administration structure below Rugby Australia would correspond to a sensible breakdown of our top-tier domestic competition. That involves breaking New South Wales into four provinces – North Sydney, South Sydney, West Sydney and the rest of NSW. I can only guess for Queensland, but I assume it would make sense to break it into three – as an example, North Brisbane, South Brisbane and rest of QLD).
With teams based in Perth, Melbourne and Canberra, that yields a workable ten-team competition, which corresponds with ten lean provincial teams.
Actual provincial boundaries could be determined on a practical rather than a rigid basis, consistent with the Brumbies’ existing links to parts of New South Wales. Regardless of whether the guts of administration were centralised in Rugby Australia or decentralised among the ten provinces, each province should ideally have a respectable chance of inherent competitiveness in Australia’s top-tier national rugby competition.
Each one of these ten provinces can be directly accountable to Rugby Australia for their progress in developing rugby competitions, both school and club, in their region. For the multiple Sydney and Brisbane provinces, that involves a crossover with existing premier comps.
I’d work with other Australian football codes, not just rugby league, to introduce a low maximum wage for all players under 21 years of age and to agree to ban the professional contracting of minors. Such measures might not ultimately be achievable, but they are arguably for the betterment of all footy codes.
As far as I can work out, not doing much more than watching rugby on my TV. Fixing it in Australia is not rocket science.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.