Rugby is struggling, there is no doubt about it.
We are less than a week away from the start of Super Rugby Pacific, and unless you were a faithful follower, or reader of The Roar, like me, you wouldn’t really know it.
Some good things have happened in the last six months (like Les Kiss appearing to breathe life into the Reds for example), but these are being overshadowed by the need for the Waratahs to hand everything back to Rugby Australia, the financial woes of the Rebels and the rumblings of similar financial issues with the Brumbies and some of the NZ clubs.
Rugby in Australia is screwed if things don’t change, and if they aren’t careful, NZR could easily get dragged into it as well.
I was heartened to hear the new Chair of Super Rugby Pacific, Kevin Malloy, say that things must change, but then was quickly deflated to hear him say one of the first things he wanted was to try to get more free to air coverage in NZ.
(Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
The fact is the way the product is delivered to market is not the problem. The product is the problem. No-one cares. Dwindling crowds, dwindling tv audiences, dwindling interest from sponsors.
The product must be changed, and by that I don’t mean tweak the offside rule from kicks. I mean junk the whole SRP competition and either leave NZ and Australia go their separate way or work together to make SRP financially sustainable.
Personally, I want SRP to remain but for that to happen there needs to be enough money available so clubs can have a salary cap of around $10 million or more without going broke.
Here is my wish list for what needs to happen to make this happen:
1. Create a new entity, much like the Ligue Nationale de Rugby in France. Let’s call it PRiNZA – Professional Rugby in New Zealand and Australia.
Watch every match of Super Rugby Pacific ad-free, live & on demand on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport
The focus of PRiNZA should be to develop a profitable two-tier professional rugby competition with promotion/relegation by 2030 and Kevin Malloy can remain the Chair.
RA and NZRU could remain shareholders of PRiNZA, but they should not have a say in how it is run, and it needs to stop being a training competition for the All Blacks and Wallabies. National players should be available for specific windows during the season like they are in the Northern Hemisphere, but shouldn’t be required to stand down so they are fresh for national games.
2. Start with the current SRP clubs as the foundation. From 2025 they should be funded from a combination of revenue sharing from PRiNZA (that comes from broadcasting and sponsorship) and club initiated revenue from membership and sponsorships. No more handouts (in the form of money or player top ups) from RA or NZR.
3. All SRP clubs need to operate under the same salary cap. RA and NZR to agree they will pay their national players separately from their SRP clubs. I don’t care how or how much.
Similar to the NRL, players can’t be paid significant “unders” with the rest coming from third parties.
5. In 2025, turn SRP into a full home and away season. All teams to have 11 home games and the competition to be 22 rounds plus finals. Squads might need to be expanded, but clubs will have more change of increasing revenue with more home games.
This will give PRiNZA time to renegotioate broadcasting and sponsorships. RA and NZR could work with PRiNZA to maximise revenue from the Wallaby and All Black broadcasting rights, or they could negotiate seperately.
6. In 2025, PRiNZA to invite clubs to be part of a 2nd tier competition starting in 2027, with promotion/relegation starting in 2029.
7. In 2026 (or 2025 if possible!, PRiNZA to start a Champions trophy type competition with the Japanese One clubs.
I get that this is not going to change the fortunes of struggling clubs immediately or turn around the win/loss rate between Australian and New Zealand sides. However, I think by making these changes it will at least set professional rugby in Australia and New Zealand on a more sustainable footing.
Wig1
Roar Rookie
Lucky Phil have you done a feasibility study on all this
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
Similar to the NRL, players can’t be paid significant “unders” with the rest coming from third parties. The whole idea that you have a salary cap that only apply for the weakest teams while your stronger teams are paid over the top with 3rd party payments and Wallaby top-ups is stupid. To promote a fair competition the opposite should happen.
RugbyDad
Roar Rookie
I'll admit to checking :laughing: Well played :thumbup:
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
I have worked in large multi-national companies the majority of my life at a high level all my life.. so your assumptions is quite incorrect as is your assumption I am opposed or support anything. Add to that I don't want anything. I am highlighting where the challenges are.
Wizz
Roar Rookie
Yes that's correct but some seem in great joy officiating them...
carnivean
Roar Rookie
So you want to pay for 6 different marketing teams to do 6 different things? We can't afford that from many angles. At some point WA has to collaborate with RA. If they continue to assume that RA is going to mistreat them then we can never get anywhere. I'd also suggest that most of the people who are opposed to this have never worked in a large organisation.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
Refs didn’t make the rules, they just officiate the game in accordance with them.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
Not sure it’s refs… they are just people who officiate a set of rules and guidelines. Change the rules and guidelines. Another issue I have is playing on for advantage. There goes another bunch of time that I will never get back. The game doesn’t flow, because everything is analysed and blown up one way or another for a penalty, a scrum which gets reset multiple times, that one team takes advantage of to get a penalty. It is getting harder and harder to get a flow on, which is why tactical kicking is so much more important these days. Eddie went as far as to suggest not playing with the ball. Obviously a nutty idea, but the thinking is based on if you don’t have it you can’t get pinged. The problem with it if you don’t have it you can’t score, so then you are going to have to kick all your points and need a kicker like Pollock which Australia doesn’t have,
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
Only issue here, is you are suggesting a top down approach as opposed to a collaborative one. Or at least that is a big reason for the mistrust is that states like WA think they will work with them for what works best in their state but rather apply some cookie cutter approach that comes out of Sydney head office.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
Well then I suggest the Force’s marketing is working a lot better in WA, than the Rebels is working in Melbourne. Would both be better under the RA umbrella? How is the marketing working in NSW and QLD?
Wizz
Roar Rookie
Fair call Phil but I recall when football had that stigma in Australia of milking penalties the masses stayed away from watching it..Refs have ruined rugby as a spectacle too many many former fans and it's getting worse.
Redman
Roar Rookie
I like some of your ideas but I think the major issue at the moment isn't the governance, tournament structure or politics. The product is shit, has been for the last 7-8 years. I have countless friends who use to be massive Rugby fans and wouldn't miss a game of Super who now hardly even follow the Wallabies. How many times have you sat down keen to watch a game only for it to be a complete fizzer and you find yourself wondering why you bothered. The game needs to change because has become boring as bat shit.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
The only point I strongly agree with is #4.
Wayne
Roar Rookie
Hi Phil, not on something like this. In my line of work, it’s been bankable feasibility type studies for large corporations and World Bank projects. Only one I did with some similarities is on high-speed rail related project where the market feasibility was the crucial component.
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
If the players are injured during an extended SR season then what does that make of the Test season? The NH model is not to be followed: the fact that three of the four semifinalists at last year's RWC testifies to why player management can't be ignored. That and the concussion court case.
Cec
Roar Rookie
Yeah I know, hence “wouldn’t be ideal…” but if the product is starving then at some point they lose that content. That’s not a win-win and their thinking needs to change
Paulie
Roar Rookie
I see your point but you are dwelling of the revenue structure of Super rugby in Australia and New Zealand....how about releasing the shakle rules of rugby that is straggling the game and get sports people to watch our game, simplify the rules and make it free flowing...who wants to watch a push over try with a 8 man maul...love the game but its becoming to predictable.
Honest Max
Roar Rookie
Your opinion is just an opinion mate.
Wizz
Roar Rookie
I don't see not beating the kiwis as a major roadblock to the comp... Melbourne has to go and it looks like they will so I'm assuming other teams will recruit them, hopefully Force are allowed to bend a rule or two and get lots.Refs like in league state of origin are told to stay out of it alot more because if it keeps going the way it is it's getting unwatchable too the masses.Dangerous tackles of course can't be let go but scrums collapsing ,line balls and other things constantly pulled up just let it go and get back that exciting free flowing game ..it's a game of entertainment not the Magna carter.
RugbyDad
Roar Rookie
I don't NOT like the idea, and to be fair, any thinking outside of the box is to be applauded, the system as we know it is broken, and I don't think the answer is a simple one. What 99% of other sports have, is a club competition. Clubs based in major centres, like Penrith in the NRL or North Melbourne in the AFL, or districts like Macarthur or Central Coast in the A-Leagues. They then play for representative honours for either the state (NRL) or straight into the national team (Sorry AFL......). Our club competitions, irrespective of how parochial those supporters are, aren't a patch on the other three, yet we put what is effectively representative rugby at the forefront for the hearts and minds of people. it's like watching state of origin for 17 weeks in a row. It's high quality, but it isn't what really grabs people. There needs to be a story. The story of the hardships a player or players had to go through before they earnt their place in the representative team. Sport is about stories. The product is good. The Rugby, for most part, is entertaining. But if people aren't captivated by a story, then what is going to compel them to watch? We need to push club rugby to the front of peoples minds. Rivals like Brothers and the Students in QLD, or Manly Marlins and Warringah Rats in Shute Shield. Have SRP be the 'Premier' Grade, but raise club to 'First' Grade!! Until that happens, it's going to be a struggle for the long term.