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Opinion
Let’s admit it Super Rugby of late has not being so Super with crowds down, atmospheres dwindling in Australia and performances lacklustre apart from the ever-present bulwark ACT Brumbies.
The spectre of the losses of the Australian and National Rugby Championships still creates a pivotal void in Australian rugby.
The mythical “third tier” of Australian rugby has always been a sound idea.
The benefits numerous from nurturing talent and giving amateur players professional experience, creating an additional entertaining competition for rugby fans with local content and buy-in, broadening the club rugby appeal to a larger region and allowing Super Rugby teams to be more representative teams that pick the best professional talent which will develop that critical player depth that wins competitions.
A competition that captures players at schoolboy level and steers them away from ending up in the NRL where there is a multitude of opportunities for advancement.
The challenge that these top-down competitions faced in 2008 and 2021 was that once the top stopped funding they withered away to history their potential wasted without the time to spend carving out their own followings, traditions, and rivalries.
Club rugby on the other hand remains the ever-present, dependable grass roots of rugby union in this country, it exists often in absence of those at the top and keeps the fires of rugby burning through good times and tough times. When club rugby was at its height old heads will tell you that Australian rugby was firing on all cylinders and likely drove Wallabies golden eras.
An ever-present problem with Super Rugby is that there is a distinct lack of passionate local derbies or grudge matches and even those that exist lack the same intensity of old and are often overshadowed by the NRL or State of Origin.
Tom Wright of the Brumbies (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Games like Dolphins vs Broncos or Roosters vs Rabbitohs illustrate that there is nothing better than that cross-town backyard “brother against brother” competition to get fans fired up. Meanwhile club rugby still remains a bastion of local passion, volunteerism, and cross-town rivalry. The atmosphere of a Queensland Premier Final Ballymore crowd although small completely exceeds the sedate, dull Suncorp Stadium that the Reds currently hold.
So, with that said I would argue the time for a national club rugby competition either happens now or later. But who plays?
I have taken a deep dive crunching the numbers on the social media following of Australia’s rugby Clubs with teams from Queensland’s Premier Rugby, NSW’s Shute Shield, ACT’s John I Dent Cup, Victoria’s Dewar Shield and WA’s FMG Premier Grade as well as some regional clubs.
Compiling the Facebook and Instagram follower results to get the top 20 Clubs in Australia, I’ve included their last premiership and current standing in each competition for added information. With out further ado I give you Australia’s Top 20 rugby clubs.
While social media is an imperfect metric and has several factors impacting it such as the level of activity and the nature of the fanbase it can be a useful tool to understand the engagement of a club with their community. Below analytics were based on the official men’s senior club pages.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Number 1, likely is a surprising result given the club has faced financial struggles despite this driven to top spot by a sizeable Facebook following was…
1. The Parramatta Two Blues: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 21,000
• Instagram: 5,891
• Last Premiership: 1986
• Current Table Standing: 8
2. Gordon Highlanders: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 8,000
• Instagram: 11,200
• Last Premiership: 2020
• Current Table Standing: 4
3. Sydney University Football Club: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,800
• Instagram: 9,754
• Last Premiership: 2022
• Current Table Standing: 7
4. Randwick Rugby Club: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,834
• Instagram: 9,403
• Last Premiership: 2004
• Current Table Standing: 5
5. GPS Rugby Club: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 10,000
• Instagram: 6,137
• Last Premiership: 2018
• Current Table Standing: 6
6. Brothers Rugby Union Club: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 8,700
• Instagram: 7,174
• Last Premiership: 2016
• Current Table Standing: 5
7. Manly Marlins
• Facebook: 8,600
• Instagram: 7,149
• Last Premiership: 1997
• Current Table Standing: 2
8. Warringah Rats: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,900
• Instagram: 8,131
• Last Premiership: 2017
• Current Table Standing: 12
9. Eastern Suburbs: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,400
• Instagram: 8,483
• Last Premiership: 1969
• Current Table Standing: 10
10. North Sydney Rugby Union Club: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 8,599
• Instagram: 6,000
• Last Premiership: 2016
• Current Table Standing: 3
11. Easts Rugby Union: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 7,000
• Instagram: 5,302
• Last Premiership: 2020
• Current Table Standing: 3
12. University of Queensland Rugby Football Club: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 6,500
• Instagram: 5,321
• Last Premiership: 2021
• Current Table Standing: 7
13. Southern District Rugby Club: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,000
• Instagram: 5,496
• Last Premiership: 1957
• Current Table Standing: 4
14. Eastwood: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,600
• Instagram: 4,788
• Last Premiership: 2015
• Current Table Standing: 6
15. West Harbour Pirates: Shute Shield
• Facebook: 6,000
• Instagram: 5,299
• Last Premiership: 1929
• Current Table Standing: 9
16. Souths Rugby Union Club: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 5,038
• Instagram: 5,247
• Last Premiership: 2015
• Current Table Standing: 4
17. Norths Rugby Club: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 7,200
• Instagram: 2,760
• Last Premiership:
18. Wests Bulldogs Rugby: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 5,818
• Instagram: 3,924
• Last Premiership: 2022
• Current Table Standing: 1
19. Tuggeranong Viking: ACT John I Dent Cup
• Facebook: 5,900
• Instagram: 3,226
• Last Premiership: 2018
• Current Table Standing: 1
20. Bond University Rugby Club: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 4,700
• Instagram: 4,121
• Last Premiership: 2004 (Gold Coast)
• Current Table Standing: 2
21. Sunnybank Rugby Union: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 5,900
• Instagram: 2,653
• Last Premiership: 2011
• Current Table Standing: 9
22. Hunter Wildfires: Queensland Premier Rugby
• Facebook: 4,700
• Instagram: 3,821
• Last Premiership: New Entry
• Current Table Standing: 1
Notable Mentions: If country rugby followings were included, they would rank high in the list with NSW Country at 8th and Queensland Country the 13th most followed in Australia.
Townsville, Noosa and Illawarra represent other strong regions not included in Shute Shield or Premier Rugby.
The Penrith Emus former Shute Shield members make the list still surviving in the John I Dent Cup while the Canberra Royals, Gungahlin Eagles represent ACTs other top teams, The Melbourne Harlequins, Melbourne Rugby Club were the top Dewar Shield clubs while Palmyra and Wanneroo were the top Western Australian rugby cubs by following.
There is a notable difference in the data between Facebook and Instagram in profile with country and more battling areas more likely to follow on Facebook while younger more engaged followers in the inner city and universities more likely to follow through Instagram.
8. NSW Country Rugby Union: Regional/Subby Rugby
• Facebook: 12,000
• Instagram: 3,407
13. QLD Country Rugby Union: Regional/Subby Rugby
• Facebook: 10,000
• Instagram: 1,633
23. Townsville and District Rugby Union: Regional/Subby Rugby
• Facebook: 6,000
• Instagram: 1,661
24. Penrith Emus: John I Dent Cup
• Facebook: 5,900
• Instagram: 1,096
25. Canberra Royals: John I Dent Cup
• Facebook: 3,300
• Instagram: 2,845
26. Noosa Dolphins Rugby Union Club: Regional/Subby Rugby
• Facebook: 2,900
• Instagram: 2,943
27. Gungahlin Eagles: John I Dent Cup
• Facebook: 2,900
• Instagram: 2,514
28. Melbourne Harlequins: Dewar Shield
• Facebook: 4,000
• Instagram: 1,387
29. Illawarra Rugby: Regional/Subby Rugby
• Facebook: 3,500
• Instagram: 160
30. Palmyra Rugby: FMG Premier Grade
• Facebook: 3,700
• Instagram: 1,620
31. Wanneroo Rugby: FMG Premier Grade
• Facebook: 3,400
• Instagram: 1,681
32. Melbourne Rugby Club: Dewar Shield
• Facebook: 3,200
• Instagram: 1,715
If we compared competition teams to a % Shute Shield would account for 45% of followers, Queensland Premier League 26%, Wastern Australia’s FMG Premier Grade 10.4%, ACT’s John I Dent Cup 10.4% and Victoria’s Dewar Shield 8.7%.
I leave it there for Roarers and your thoughts? Do you think a national club competition is a way forward or doomed to failure? Would you create another NRC style competition instead? What teams would you include?
Or are we doomed to languish with a disengaged not so Super Rugby for the long term?
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.