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?
ScottD
Roar Guru
Yes, state and club annual reports are easily available for some but probably not others.
Rugby stu
Roar Pro
If you know where these are publically available I will do a part 2
jeznez
Roar Guru
G’day SD. I think that would be great from a rugby perspective but I doubt it will bring much revenue. A hard sell to get the average punter to tune in with the biggest name players out.
Billy Boy
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :laughing: happens to all of us. On another note what has happened to the Wildfires this year, they are a very good side compared to previous years
ScottD
Roar Guru
Hamish says RA has plenty of money, in fact they are rolling in cash.
ScottD
Roar Guru
Thanks. I doubt that the number of Facebook and Instagram followers is really the measure we need. Perhaps a useful measure but what about number of players in the club, members, financial health etc?
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
South Africa use to have a club championship that played out over a couple of weeks every year in Durban where the top clubs were represented. It was good to watch but as there was not enough interest it was dropped when the rugby agenda became too buys. What is working now in South Africa is the Varsity cup, which is a themed club competition restricted to students that is well supported by alumni and students - complete with a good mix of running rugby, alcohol and fun. What is called a student is pretty fluent. South Africa has a rugby culture at their Universities and takes rugby often more seriously than studies. For example, Stellenbosch University is (I read) the largest rugby club in the world and Pretoria University in my days had 26 rugby fields that was all occupied in the week for their internal competitions. As a rugby referee you can easily do 2-5 matches in a day. Maybe that can become an option - although I think it is more likely to succeed in AFL.
Wig
Roar Rookie
Cardigans from grand ma were great and the sleeveless card'is hide the photos. Was well and truly over the hankys and undies us kids twice a year from Nana. A bit older was the original old spice packs :thumbup: . Nice one stu :thumbup: im not up with it all but hell the more comps lower down the better as if daftagate ever makes it in there will be nowhere for these fellas to go up the chain.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Barrie always was a snappy dresser.
PaddyBoy
Roar Rookie
Yeah I'd love to see an NRC, we all would, but maybe it's something on the horizon, post 2027 WC maybe? Build on a bit of momentum? I'd say even then it's maybe still too soon. We don't quite have the following yet to justify an entirely new competition. :unhappy:
camrugby
Roar Rookie
Love the idea of a national club competition, however I cannot see how clubs could afford to participate. Most clubs run on a fairly tight budget and are based around volunteers doing a lot of work. The costs of interstate flights, accommodation, food etc., may be a step too far for some, if not most, rugby clubs. To have a properly funded national competition that sits under Super Rugby, you will need significant financial investment and television coverage in an attempt to attract sponsors. I have previously suggested on this site, that a national university rugby competition, run similarly to college sport in the USA, could be developed in AUS. I note that 4 out of the 5 SR teams in AUS have a university as a jersey sponsor. This is a strong indicator that universities want to be involved in rugby. I also note that many universities in AUS have rugby teams competing in the Prem Rugby competitions in their respective cities. These rugby clubs already exist and have a supporter base - they don't need to be created from scratch. Rugby needs a carrot to dangle in front of young school levers. The chance to play ‘college rugby’ for one of the ‘Big 8’ universities in Australia and gain a degree (or part of a degree), on a full/part scholarship, could be the carrot to keep them in the game. Looking at the annual revenues of AUS universities, they can easily afford to fund a 'college' rugby team. Based on AUS universities history with rugby and their current sponsorship of SR teams, they WANT to be involved in rugby. I also believe that a televised competition would get good ratings. Many alumni would tune in, as would current students. That's a lot of potentially influential people taking an interest in their old university, and most importantly, in rugby. Australia's onshore international education sector is forecast to grow from 650,000 enrolments today to 940,000 by 2025. This means that a national ‘college’ rugby competition could also gain international exposure from international students that return home.
Rugby stu
Roar Pro
Very true. Bringing back and NRC is definitely important but the amount of cost associated and the way it disappeared makes me worry that it will never return whereas the Clubs will pretty much always continue regardless so atleast you bed down something that can sustain itself and the clubs don’t disappear like the ARC and NRC which killed the followings they were trying to develop
Rugby stu
Roar Pro
Bad error on my part, must have been too many Guinness that night before hitting submit. Hunter Wildfires are not only in Shute Shield but they are coming first which is a great achievement
SDRedsFan
Roar Rookie
I don't see why we don't just keep the existing Super Rugby clubs going for a longer season with an Aussie comp, and include a Reserve Grade and U20s teams as well to give those next level down guys more game time at a better level than club footy. As Jez highlights, the existing Super Rugby clubs have a far bigger fanbase than the local clubs. Not everyone lives in the cities either, so if the SR clubs go, you're asking those of us who don't to find a team that we have no connection to, which is why QLD Country has a decent fanbase as well. I'll travel 750km to watch the Reds play, but I'm not going to do it to watch GPS or QLD Uni or whoever. As I was watching the SOO last night (I only watch 3 league games a year and they're all on Wednesday nights in June and July) I was thinking it's just one of those quirks that QLD and NSW love rugby league, southern Australia and the NT love AFL and NZ loves rugby, just like the yanks love their weird sports. I really can't see it ever changing, so rugby has to live on the fringes. To me, just like SOO, state based parochialism is one of those easy things to tap into. If you give that away you're really putting yourself behind the 8 ball.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Barrie Unsworth begs to differ!
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
You too?
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I didn't realise Royals was still kicking.
SDRedsFan
Roar Rookie
"I wore an onion on my belt as it was the style at the time"
PaddyBoy
Roar Rookie
Great article mate, really interesting figures. The Illawarra breakdown particularly interesting... 3500 on FB and 160 on Instagram :laughing: I'd love to see a comp where the top teams from each state play off, but why not start by running a mini Heineken Cup style tournament after the finals? Start with top 3 from Syd, 3 from Bris, 2 from Can maybe? It would be cheaper to organise but would still build a foundation for a long term comp to grow organically. Theres often been a game between the SS and HC winner so even expanding that to the top 2 of each comp would be a start.
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
A national club competition has merit. But, and it's a big BUT, it doesn't address the issue of not having a tier between club and super that is of a higher level. A National club competition will just give some of the current coaches and players a bit more game time. Now that in itself is a good thing, but it doesn't address the current deficiencies that our players and coaches have when they need to move from club up into Super level.