I am a rugby fan hanging on by a thread to a game I have followed for over 50 years.
It brought immense joy, frustration and disappointment in that time, but none more so than the current rugby climate. I am not alone, with many long-term fans expressing disappointment in today’s game.
The latest being All Black legend Tana Umaga who expressed his concerns with rugby losing its fans through a dying product. “We need the people in our communities behind it and we have to make sure that we’re going out there and giving them what they want,” Umaga told RNZ.
It appears to me that the major focus is on Super Rugby whereas attention should be on the NPC (National Provincial Championship) which is the foundation of rugby in New Zealand.
Super Rugby gives the impression it is purely used as a springboard for players to chase after the All Blacks radar, which makes the fan an afterthought. Tana Umaga said on Tuesday, “we have just got to make sure that we keep the essence of what rugby is about, that’s our point of difference.
“That’s what makes us unique, and we don’t want to lose that. We don’t want to be following anyone else, we need to be innovative about what we do and trying to understand what people want so that we can give it to them.”
Coach Tana Umaga of Moana Pasifika arrives ahead of round one Super Rugby Pacific on February 24, 2024, in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
Umaga’s Moana Pasifika side is indicative of what is wrong with rugby union.
The side is unable to find a permanent home, which makes it look amateurish. We also have one of the leading sides, the Crusaders playing from a make-do Orangetheory Stadium which from a television viewing platform is uninspiring.
I do appreciate it is biding time before the new Christchurch stadium is built and this comment is only related to watching a game on TV. Rugby games need to be the whole entertainment package from TV coverage, marketing and excitement to attract viewership.
Rugby has only been a professional game for 29 years so it is young and immature with growing pains apparent. Rugby League has been a professional sport since the late 1890s which gives it a massive head start over union. What will the union game look like in another one hundred years? Surely better than now.
I have always enjoyed rugby league from the days of Phillip Orchard, Olsen Filipaina to Shaun Johnson but it was always the entrée rather than the main course of sports viewing. Not now, however, with league streets ahead in terms of entertainment.
I have been trying to put my finger on what league does better than rugby and it is still difficult to define, but if I had a choice of watching league or rugby as my sporting pleasure, the former wins out.
Phil Gifford aka Loosehead Len is another who fears for the future of the game. “But I’ve been more spooked by the fact some of our greatest players and coaches have, both in public and privately, said how watching the game they grew up with is no longer their priority. If people who have loved the game all their lives are struggling to engage, how can we expect the average fan to be riveted?”
It was all summed up perfectly by The Bounce writer Dylan Cleaver who wrote, “The Warriors’ 20-12 win over the Knights in a re-run of last year’s home playoff wasn’t an amazing game, but it looked like a hell of an occasion, and often that is more important.”
The NRL teams are striving desperately every week to win a long, tough competition with the only focus on the glory of such an achievement. What does Super Rugby bring? Teams going through the motions to promote their best players to the All Blacks or Wallabies.
Which reminds me, why would you send Super Rugby teams to the great rugby outpost of Melbourne to host games to predominantly AFL fans? Take the game to the hardcore fans and do not live on hope that you may convert one or two AFL supporters. Those in charge of rugby need to create memorable sporting events for the fans and not pander to the egomaniacs and their wants.
The reason why I write this shows the care and passion for the game of rugby union which I still believe at its best is the better game of league and AFL. But things need to change to avoid rugby slipping into the abyss.
Todd
Roar Rookie
Crappy, tacky, cheap and downright decrepit stadiums across the country - this is the curse of sport in NZ based on (un)economic reality
Andrew Nichols
Roar Rookie
I too loved the armature days. The players could really motor....Such an electric atmosphere.
Leachy
Roar Rookie
Reds average over 16k.
Jetka
Roar Rookie
And yet somehow League doesn’t have a constant stream of players trying to slap the ball down. Probably would be the same result for Rugby if they tried to get rid of their ridiculous rule or at least their interpretation of it.
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
>What does Super Rugby bring? Teams going through the motions to promote their best players to the All Blacks or Wallabies. I am not seeing this. Mind you, I don't see League as entertaining, in fact it's boring. The Super Rugby I'm watching has players and teams striving to excel. Perhaps you aren't watching the same matches I am. It's possible, there are quite a few matches every weekend.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Fun fact: only six of the 16 team URC average over £10k, but nobody ever mentions that
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
Just going by what I saw last night with the game between Broncos and Storm which was a great game with superb atmosphere and the game on now between St George and Knights which is a fantastic game played in horrendous conditions, rugby has some work to do. It is possible to like both games.
Mike88
Roar Rookie
FunBus no question there were some exciting games. I think most people saw the quarterfinals as incredible. But drop down further and further - even at SR and equivalent the game is punctuated by too many decisions. Its stop start.
ORF
Roar Rookie
The contest for possession that defines rugby doesn’t exist in league. Anyone not liking this aspect of the game, would be much happier watching league. However World Rugby’s constant tinkering with the Laws to speed the game up normally has the opposite effect. There are far too many penalties these days and a significant number of them are debatable. As a result officials are having far too big an impact on the Game. The game went professional about 30 years ago but the administration is still very amateur.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
I’m old enough to remember the games from past eras and rewatched some of them. The game has never been quicker, more skilful or athletic than it is today. The Welsh sides of the 1970s -or any other team from that era - would lose by 80 points to any of the top 10 sides today.
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
“Crowds are down, television audiences are down, the NPC, the provincial competition, draws tiny crowds … club rugby is struggling to stay alive especially in small towns. The game itself, I think, needs to have a good hard look and say to itself ‘How can we make this game more attractive a) to watch and b) to play’.” Both experts list the same issues that are tripping rugby up. (Tony Johnson and Phil Gifford) They include governance – where a review has said big changes need to be made, but provincial unions are pressing back against them – complicated rules, lack of money filtering down to the provinces, mystery over what’s happened to the money from the controversial Silver Lake deal, head injuries, the elitism ruining schoolboy rugby, other sports eating into rugby’s dominance, and the future of the women’s game.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
The penalty is to discourage the action. Would you like to see more passes slapped down and less tries?
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
There are far too many opportunities in rugby to kick for goal which slows play, is exaggerated for the infringement, and is boring. A deliberate knock on/attempted intercept is just another chance to kick for goal. There are those from the kick and clap brigade who enjoy the sight of penalty after penalty. I don't.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Do you think its a good thing? The rule is to reward attacking play and discourage cynical play - for a game that is apparently more entertainment (league) dont you think its odd that shutting down entertaining play is lauded? I suspect perception plays a factor.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
A lot of these things like the six again and short drop outs have fans complaining both about the rule change and the constant changing though.
largeunit69
Roar Rookie
Reds, Waratahs, Drua, Crusaders, Chiefs, Blues, Highlanders, Hurricanes all average over 10k
Footy Franks
Roar Rookie
Watching NRL. Ra hate fans, rugby is more exclusive than ever whereas NRL is just easy to watch. You watch rugby for the internationals only.
ScouseinOz
Roar Rookie
Is Rugby really communal or global? It's still a niche sport and there is nothing wrong with that. It's played in more countries than NRL or AFL but that doesn't make a sport global. It's a crutch that some rugby fans cling on as Super Rugby has declined and the NRL has boomed. World popularity is also not really a reason to like a sport. I love football, don't mind golf and can't stand tennis. I don't really care that they are played all over the world. I love the NRL and still watch it back in UK, more so than the Super League competition down the road. Wasn't a fan of AFL at all. Formula One bored me after Nigel Mansell retired. Now it's probably 100 times more lucrative. Don't care. Football is scarily communal. Me and my friends once had a 2 hour kick about against a bunch of lads from Naples, in a Dublin park. Their English wasn't great but better than our Italian. We only knew where they were from because a few were wearing Napoli shirts. It was the same with them seeing our Liverpool and Everton shirts. The rules were implicit. There was even a bit of local pride in the performance. This could happen in almost every country. It's probably why that sport got so big back in the day with most countries seeing British Sailors kick a ball somewhere. Far easier than trying to work out the LBW rule! Rugby Union is having a few growing pains is all. Some countries have got better and others have declined. The Rugby World Cup, Six Nations and Top14 seem to keep going up, while the other comps appear to be falling or stagnating. There are some good games and some bad games. The game has become a lot slower and played in 90 second bursts. Some people prefer that to other eras, and other fans prefer the way the game used to be played. Most sports aren't really that recognisable from the early 90s. Sometimes we only watch the highlights of old matches as a comparison to today's versions and forget about all the boring bits that have been cut out.
soapit
Roar Guru
And not being able to enffect the rules
Guess
Roar Rookie
That’s just a matter of opinion that league is more entertaining. I can’t sit through 15 minutes of any ” the best in ages ” league game without dying from boredom. League doesn’t do anything better. Unless you think popular always equals better. If you do then take soccer it’s the most popular sport and it can’t get more professional than that. Is it really the best sport or the most entertaining? It’s profitable and shiny but soulless and sterile like all those corporate stadiums. I like Christchurch stadium. It has unique atmosphere. I don’t feel doom and gloom you describe. Maybe it’s you and those you mentioned just personally prefer league now. Tastes change.