Mushi, a national competition is needed to maximise revenue from broadcast partners, streaming, sponsors and grow the sport. Any sport that doesn’t look to grow gets gazumped by other sports. The vast majority of the elite footballing athletes of tomorrow in Australia will go to rugby and the AFL if rugby league can’t compete in terms of wages, profile of the game etc.

Whilst I don’t oppose your idea and agree it has merit, there would be some challenges with two divisions. The concept of promotion and relegation is not part of Australian sporting culture. Arrangements for funding from TV rights would also be contentious and people would want the best players in the top division.

If Melbourne for example were relegated, would they be forced to release someone like Cameron Smith?

Nick Symonds, they did go into administration you know? The club is struggling with big on and off- field problems you know?

Because double or triple header matches is the only way the NRL can fill ANZ for club games and create the atmosphere at that stadium

Yes, but it is also an opportunity for Sydney to compete for people coming from interstate to Sydney for the long weekend. They can go to the Easter Show and the NRL, all in the one place.

No different to the days when lower grades would play matches before the main game. I once saw five matches played at Kogarah Oval on the same day.

My idea is that people go to the Easter Show and the football. Olympic Park has copped with large crowds for Origin and Bledisloe tests when the stadium held 110000 people.

PJ,

Yes, 100% right. The Olympics is aware of this and have brought these sports in to the Olympic movement.

Hi Marcus,
You make some good points. Unorganised sports is a big skill builder. For example, kids who play touch footy or basketball with their friends every afternoon after school develop their talents.
Soccer and basketball has risen. The AFL has actually only increased 1% in participants since 2001.
One thing I should have highlighted better in my article is that participation numbers in organised sport across the board have dropped 7% while the population has increased by more than 30%.

Hi “The Bear”,

Great observation. It fits in with the premise of my article.

Part of the expensive fees structure at many of these private schools include professional coaching to play in competitive sporting competitions and pathways.

Comprehensive state schools can’t offer the same pathway opportunities and can’t compete with the private schools resources that are at their disposal. The exception to this would be the state sports high schools. Nevertheless, the sports high schools offer school places based upon talent displayed in competitions organised outside of school. In other words, existing participants already in competitive and organised sport.

Hi Anon,

Yes, you are right. However, Serbian tennis and Brazilian football do not have to compete with half a dozen or more other major sports like the Australian context for the best athletes.

Hi Peter,

You have completely missed the central premise of my article.

Pathways and talent development is, of course, a factor. I am not denying this.

However, the amount of cream that flows to the top is contingent on the cream in the mix. A drop in the number of sporting participants, due to costs being a prohibitive cost, leads to less talented kids capable Of progressing along an elite sporting pathway.

But apparently I am a “wood duck”, what would I know…

Hi Max,
You make a good point about other countries. I’m sure there have been funding increases overseas, leading to better facilities, retention of athletes and the hiring of well qualified people in their pathway programs.
What I am pointing out in my article is that the calibre of athlete that Australia used to produce at the elite level has dropped across the board. Less participants leads to smaller talent pools to put into pathways.

Dear Phil,

Yes, I do. I didn’t want the article to be too loaded with data to support my hypothesis.

In 2001, Australia’s population was 19.15 million. Now, in 2019, it is 25.1 million. That is a population increase of 31.6%.

Participation numbers, not percentage of participants in the population, has dropped across most sports during this time. There were approximately 4.2 million participants in all organised sport in Australia in 2001. That number dropped to 3.9 million by 2016, representing a drop of 7%.

Median age from 1998-2018 increased only marginally, from 35 years to 37 years.

The costs per season for some sports per person is something, in hindsight, I should have embedded in the article. Here is a snapshot:

Golf: $1641
Swimming: $1559
Tennis: $1381
Cricket: $1142
Softball: $909
Athletics: $878
Rugby Union: $790
Hockey: $828
Basketball: $735
Aussie Rules: $565
Touch Football: $490
Netball: $435
Rugby League: $342

(These figures exclude travel expenses)

Price to earnings ratio in Australia between 1995 to present has increased from approximately 4:1 to 8:1. This ratio is higher in Sydney.

The NSW Government has issued $100 vouchers to help support costs for sport to families for children’s participation.

Working Class Rugger,

I was going to propose almost the same model as yours, except 80 overs would mean the first innings bowling team would end up having to face a hostile attack for 10 or 20 overs at the end of the days play.

Would you have to bowl out your opponent to win the test under your model?

Hi Steve,

There is significant merit in that comment. I remember Lara’s 277. However, it was scored on day 4 of that test from memory?

The first two days at a Sydney or Melbourne test usually get very large crowds. After that, the crowds fall off the cliff. Hence, the merit of a three day model, with an actual result guaranteed will keep crowds turning up for the third and final day.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for sharing those statistics.

Your view of what is good and healthy attendances is definitely not aligned with mine. These crowds are disappointing to say the least when you take into account the fact that India and Australia were playing off for, arguably, the top spot in world cricket.

How many Indian fans were at these matches? This should be factored in your analysis. There should have been a full house for at least days 1 and 2 for each test.

I recall the Sydney and Melbourne tests getting 200,000 aggregate days in the past. Melbourne especially. Considering the huge population growth in Sydney and Melbourne in the last 10 years, the crowds should be growing, not declining.

This is international sport. The stadiums should be packed.

CA don’t want to play tests in Brisbane anymore because the crowds are not turning up. Adelaide and Perth’s crowds should be much bigger than this, considering the beautiful arenas those cities now have for test cricket.

I hope that I’m wrong. I hope the crowds come back and we see a new generation of fans fill these wonderful cricket grounds around Australia. Our great sport deserves nothing less.

Hi there,

That’s a very good question. I was thinking about this scenario before I put this idea forward.

Perhaps “bonus” overs could be given to the team that bowls out the other team. An incentive to set attacking fields and attack the batsmen perhaps.

The posts above have been very critical of my idea. This suggested format is just an idea…. very open to feedback.

I don’t think test cricket at the moment is very healthy. The crowds against India last summer were dreadful. I disagree with Jeff that things are just fine the way they are.

We can’t continue to kid ourselves. I love test cricket. I would like to not change anything about it, but sport has to change with the changing world.

Another click bait article from this author. I can only assume he operates purely on creating provocation and certainly not on displaying logic or critical analysis.

So, here is what we have all learnt from this article:

1. A team in Adelaide is a safer option than a second Brisbane team. Okay, sure, the people of Adelaide are just so fluent with the rules of the sport and the sports’ personalities (not!). Pay no attention to the fact that the game is hardly ever on free-to-air TV in Adelaide, yet, Brisbane/QLD has its own semi-professional Rugby League competition!!

2. We have also learnt that the Superleague war at the time of the South QLD Crushers inclusion to the competition had nothing to do with their failure. Brisbane just can’t possibly support two NRL teams, end of discussion! It didn’t work 23 years ago when Paul Keating was Prime Minister and when Mark Taylor was Australian Cricket Captain. So therefore, it won’t work now.

However, the Superleague war was ALL the reason why the Adelaide Rams and Perth Reds failed. Nothing to do with the fact there was a very limited market for Rugby League in those states at the time!

3. We have also learnt that poor crowd figures for the underachieving, uninspiring Crushers from 23 years ago is the reason why we should never dare put a second team in Brisbane ever again!

Ignore the crowd figures for the Magic Weekend, or any of the QLD derbies at Suncorp Stadium, that is just a figment of our imaginations. Those crowds of 40,000 for these fixtures are all outliers and should not be considered in any analysis.

4. We have also discovered that there is a massive support base and dozens of corporate partners just waiting for a team in Gosford. Apparently, regional teams in Rugby League have a great history of success.

Just look at the great success the Illawarra Steelers were. The mighty Gold Coast-Tweed Head Giants blazed a trail! And look at the massive crowds the Magpies drew when they relocated to the Macarthur region in the 80’s. Notwithstanding the millions of dollars each of these clubs made from all of the corporate sponsors who jumped on board.

5. Finally, just when this article couldn’t provide any more incredible insight, we now have all learnt that Christchurch is ready to rock the NRL with a “rivalry” with the Warriors. Ignore the fact that Christchurch is a quarter of the size of Auckland, is smaller than Wollongong, that Rugby is king in this town and daylight is second. Also ignore the fact that Wellington is twice the size of Christchurch and has a far better established Rugby League community than Christchurch.

What do I think? This article is absolute rubbish. That’s what I think.

Manly play out of a terrible ground, desperately in need of the planned upgrade and redevelopment to improve the game day experience. Don’t you think this might have something to do with their poor crowd figures and member numbers?

Have you thought about the fact that Rugby League needs to clean its image and culture up if it is to attract more supporters from this affluent part of Sydney? You can’t blame the Sea Eagles for this.

If you think Manly are a hard sell for Rugby League, the people of the North Shore are even harder. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Bears have no history or culture of success, Manly at least have that, as well as the fact that everyone sees the Sea Eagles as the competitions villain.

I tend to agree. Nothing ever works on the Gold Coast. It’s economy is temperamental and it’s a transit/party town. I’m just concerned that if there’s no presence and the AFL got things right, the area and surrounding regions will become AFL territory.

This is the worst article I have ever read on the topic of expansion.

Let’s just get rid of two of the biggest and most popular brands in the NRL in the Sea Eagles and Bulldogs. Great idea! I’m sure Channel 9 and Fox would like that move for their TV and viewership numbers!

There is absolutely no support for the Bears to return. Their fan base was small fickle at the best of times (which were rare) and the proposal to replace Manly with Norths is ridiculous. At least Manly have a history of success and a support base

Central Coast? History will repeat itself with this idea. Regions never work. Look at Illawarra and Campbelltown. You can probably include previous Gold Coast failings as well in this. You need teams in cities and Gosford is nowhere near city status. The Mariners in the A-League are going down the drain because of this problem.

How can the author of this article overlook the Logan/Ipswich corridor? Or even Redcliffe? This is untapped rugby league heartlands.

And was this article trying to make us laugh with Darwin? More people live in Kogarah and Rockdale combined than Darwin.

The only redeeming aspect of this article was the call for NRL teams in Perth and Christchurch.