there’s only one choice open to you: stop watching and stop going to games. And that‘s what I‘ve done after 60 years of playing, refereeing and supporting Australian football. The game is great, but its administration is and always has been woeful.

The Age rarely has any reporting of matches or the A-League in general, unless it’s bad news for football. The game won’t grow when the media owners have no interest in supporting it. Their money is invested elsewhere and they want to protect their investments. End of story.

Chris1, your comment is one of the worst comments I’ve have ever read in this site. I have been involved with and a fan of football for over 60 years. I do not support any form of racism or drug abuse, but when was that even mentioned in my comment. My comment is in respect of simulation in football being a blight on our sport. I made no reference to other sports because the article is bout football and simulation. It is not patronising to point out a fact, but if you can’t understand that, perhaps you should consider not participating on this site.

If there’s one aspect of football that rightly holds the game back from acceptance by a broader audience it is simulation and the pathetic antics of players falling over and rolling around like cut snakes when hardly touched. Football will never win broader support in Australia while this is allowed to continue. It is the most commonly heard complaint from the non-football community and the main reason they will never accept the game. I’ve heard it for 40 years or more – cry babies rolling on the floor, not men enough to play rugby or AFL.

Get rid of it now. Coaches must coach it out of existence by emphasizing zero tolerance and backing it up by benching players who use it. It is clearly a form of cheating as well as unsportsmanlike. Match Review Committees must have the authority to suspend players who seek to gain an advantage from simulation. It kills the game’s ability to grow its acceptance in a sporting community that is focused on rugged contact sports.

Future 12 Team Australian Rugby Championship, to build from a sustainable start:
– Sydney Waratahs
– Western Sydney Rams
– Hunter Wildfires
– Brisbane Reds
– East Brisbane Tigers
– Adelaide Black Falcons
– Canberra Brumbies
– Melbourne Rebels
– Western Force
– North Qld Bulls
– Gold Coast Aces
– Illawarra Lions

If the existing SR agreement in place is causing clubs to go bankrupt and is financially unsustainable, then surely RA and it SR clubs would be within their rights and appropriate clauses would sit in the existing contract to end their participation at any time? Just wind-up the exisiting SR clubs and start new clubs to reflect the domestic structure required.

Would it be too cynical to wonder if part of the AFL’s tactics is to ensure any stadium built is primarily suitable for AFL and to reduce the possibility of a rectangular stadium more suited to every other football code being built in the near future, if ever?

I’ve sometimes wondered why Brisbane Roar never ditched the “Roar” name and became Brisbane Rovers in recognition of the oldest football club in Brisbane. Far more embracing, traditional and engaging name than Roar. Yes, I understand that the Roar name evolved from the former Brisbane Lions soccer club after the name was taken by an AFL club, but “Roar” just makes me think of a three year old responding to “what noise does a lion make?”, not a football club name.

This battle is no longer about saving the Rebels rugby club. This is a case of a corporate bankruptcy and three competing interests.
Firstly, it is about the Rebels Board members saving themselves from being financially liable for the debts of a business that is bankrupt. Directors have a fiduciary duty to ensure the business is a going concern and are personally liable for the company’s debts if the company fails.
Secondly, it is about the people who invested heavily in the Rebels parent company, BRC, which is also bankrupt, and who have now lost their investments entirely. We are talking losses in the millions and people of stature, so this matter will be litigated until the cows come home.
Thirdly, it is about Rugby Australia’s survival and the professional game itself in Australia. Rugby Australia clearly does not have the funds to repair the damaged Rebels or to make good on any funds allegedly owed to the Rebels. Loss of a legal case or being forced to pay costs could be catastrophic for Rugby Australia.
This will be civil war that none of the three competing interested parties can afford to lose. Yet there can be no winner, only losers, of whom the fans will lose the most. What a mess.

Perhaps Newcastle should be talking to the other Newcastle, who will be here in May, about an investment and alignment. Good chance to the talent academy sorted and some meaningful funding for football in the Hunter region, as long as we can overlook the Saudi ownership issues. But given the choice – Saudis or no club, at least the Saudis would be putting the money to good use.

Looks like a primary school kid designed the jumper. Probably the worst footy jumper in world sport.
Re the stadium or no team, is extortion the same thing as negotiation? Just wondering..

Gamball!

Denotes:
Purpose: Gambling
Game: ball game

Tries become known as “Bets”. Conversions could be for “Double the Bet or Nothing” Matches become “Gaming Sessions”. Penalty and field goals would be for quarter of a Bet.

Baldrick would call it “Not Union Football”. Yes, Not Union Football (NUF), played by Nuf Nufs.

This is such a financial mess and so filled with venom between the parties, I doubt there can be any form of future trust and cooperation between the parties. I think RA, the State unions and the SR clubs are all at fault in allowing the state of Australian rugby to fall into this complete state of chaos. Although I generally have a low level of confidence that any government can do anything positive on anything, I think it is time for the Minister for Sport to step in here in order to avoid Rugby’s current Board and the various State and SR club Boards destroying the broader game in Australia, including loss of the Lions Tour and the World Cup. Failure to act early may mean rugby falls back to an amateur code in Australia and the Wallabies are no longer even a second tier team. A complete independent review of the RA, States and SR clubs financials should be carried out and a report handed to the Minister. In the meantime, the RA Board should be dismissed immediately and the Minister for Sport should appoint an independent chair and directors with the specific tasks of reviewing and restructuring the entire Australian rugby governance eco-system.
I can’t see any other way forward than a complete tear down and rebuild with new people involved and new governance systems taking a completely fresh look at how rugby competitions in Australia should be structured for the benefit of fans and players.
It might take 5-10 years to rebuild the game‘s foundations, but it is clear that the current mess is unsustainable.

And given “The Australian” newspaper has not been profitable for years and is carried by other parts of the Murdoch Empire, would The Australian also suggest it should be shutdown? One can only hope.

A conference-based league is the best way forward if the competition is to expand and operate a season draw that is fair to all clubs. The only other way is to have a draw based on every club playing all other clubs once each season, so an 18 team competition would only have 17 rounds which won’t please broadcasters or clubs I suspect. A conference system with two 9 or 10 club conferences allows more games and a better-balanced league.

I do not however, support a system that provides Sydney centric and non-Sydney conferences. That would mean non-Sydney teams criss-crossing the length and breadth of the country from Townsville to Perth, to Melbourne and to Auckland throughout the season, while Sydney based teams only must get a local bus ride. That might suit a money-focused Mr. Politis and his Roosters but is grossly unfair to all non-Sydney teams.

A better solution would be a “Northern Conference” and a “Southern Conference, with the clubs from each aligned to the “Northern Maroons” and the “Southern Blues” in a “State of League” series (replacing State of Origin”. This would also allow non-Qld. and NSW players to also to play in the series (without twisting the eligibility rules), based on the conference that are playing in at the time.

The initial nine-team conferences under an 18-team league (assuming Perth enters rather than PNG) could be:

Northern Conference:
Brisbane, Dolphins, Gold Coast, Nth Qld, Auckland, Newcastle, Manly, Parramatta, Penrith.

Southern Conference:
Easts, Wests, Souths, Canterbury, Cronulla, St.George-Illawarra, Canberra, Melbourne & Perth.

This structure would allow the main local rivalries to continue and at the same time, spread the travel load more fairly across the conferences with each club playing their inter-conference rivals twice and their cross-conference rivals once, for a total of 25 games.

A conference system, while not everyone’s cup tea, does allow more opportunity to add future clubs and can also provide an exciting end of season finals series with the Northern and Southern Champions playing each other in the Grand Final. It also provides a re-boot of the State of Origin series as it re-casts to a North (Maroons) versus South (Blues) series with the best players from each conference playing each other.

So, while I think Mr. Politis is on the right track with a conference system going forward soon, the structure of the conferences needs refinement to reflect a fairer structure than just Sydney and non-Sydney conferences, and the opportunity to restructure the state of origin series should be taken at the same time to allow all players in the NRL a chance to participate.

The best thing that can happen to rugby in Australia now is for a rebel domestic rugby competition and national administration to emerge that completely usurps the current RA and the state unions, and signs up the best players and the best clubs cross Australia. A cashed up rebel union would soon gain acceptance with World Rugby when RA and the State Unions go broke, probably inside 12 months. Please let it happen soon and get rid of this redundant pack of useless old boys network that is too entrenched in the past. We have to break free of what has clearly failed at all levels and a complete and total rebuild under an entirely new organisation and structure is the only way forward.

I was a Rebels fan and a member for years. Here is why I stopped going to games and what I think would get me back:
1. Over officiating games with minor technical infringements continually stopping the game. What really annoyed me was seeing long phases of play under the advantage rule only to be be called back for a minor “technical” penalty when the attacking team had clearly more than enough advantage. Advantage should be for no more than four phases maximum. At that point, the attacking team must decide whether to take the penalty (by stopping play) or play on.
2. Video ref’s should be restricted to watching for foul play only. There is nothing worse than seeing a try scored and then disallowed minutes later after countless slow motion replays picked up something that was not clear and obvious in real time. Real time is where we all live!
3. Send-offs kill a competitive game. People pay good money to watch games at stadiums and on pay TV. It’s not fair that games are continually destroyed by send-offs for technical infringements, like “intentional knock-on” when attempting an exciting intercept, especially when the send off is for anything other than foul play (punching, intentional head high tackle, etc.)
4. Repetitive scrum setting because the ref insists on perfection. Just let the play continue if the ball comes out in favour of the non-offending team.
5. Players sitting down for an injury break when they could be treated off the field allowing play to continue. If player needs treatment, they should be taken off the field unless it is unsafe to do so, while play continues.
6. Penalty goals dominating score lines. Rugby is about scoring try, not milking penalties. Increase try points to 6, and all goals (penalty, field goal and conversions) worth 2 points only.
Rugby has long be said to be a game for the players rather than spectators. If that is to continue, it has no business being a professional sport. Rugby needs to listen to fans and adapt the game to something fans are willing to support. It must be fans first if they want to run rugby as a professional competition that expects fans to pay for the wages of players and administrators. If they want a purist player driven competition that is not fan friendly, then let it revert to amateur rugby and forget trying to sell it to fans beyond players and past players. Professional rugby is paid for by fans. We buy the stadium seats and watch the game on TV, which allows for broadcast rights income. Entertain the fans, don’t bore them! Otherwise, go back to amateur rugby and forget super rugby and national competitions.
Finally, if Super Rugby is not sustainable in its current form, I would suggest the ARU take the current five SP teams (call the Waratahs “Sydney Waratahs” and Reds “Brisbane Reds”} and add three more teams to make 8 teams for a domestic super rugby competition. Then stick to it to allow time for the competition to develop. The top two or four Australian teams at the end of the domestic competition can play off against the top two or four NZ NPC teams for the “Tasman Cup”.

Summer soccer sucks! Watched Macarther v Perth. It was awful. Low skills game often played at walking pace. Dreadful ball control and passing. All no doubt contributed to by the heat. And then there is VAR. It is meant to rectify clear and obvious mistakes. If a mistake is not clear and obvious in real time after one viewing, it is not clear and obvious. I’d rather cop the odd refereeing mistake than loose the immediate thrill of a goal that follows scoring while we wait for some dude in a studio to view an issue 25 times in slow motion to see if their was a minor indiscretion. As for send off’s and yellow cards, they seem to hand yellows out for next to nothing these days, often when a free kick alone will suffice. Second yellow pile-up resulting in more reds and games being spoiled as a result. Referees need to remember that people are paying good money to watch a competitive game, not an over-officiated VAR TV show.

Ditch summer soccer and ditch VAR.

Plus, it gives a code a platform for expansion by bringing new clubs into the league through a second division, rather than expecting them to succeed on and off the field immediately at the top level.

Great article, Chris. The passion of fans who stick with their clubs as they slide up and down the leagues is one of the key ingrediants to making this a great league. They love their clubs and will watch and support them no matter which level of the league they are playing in.

It often bemuses me when people on this site decry having second divisions in NRL and AFL with promotion and relegation, saying it is not in our “culture”. I wonder if it is because they are not that rusted on to their clubs or if they just need to be seen in the top division even if it is continually in the lower half. Personally, I think the passion intensifies when your club is battling to avoid relegation or to win promotion, rather than the ho-hum of just existing in a single tier competition. To me, the battle for P&R makes a league far more interesting throughout the season for more than just the top club’s fans and also helps raise the standard of a league by discouraging squatters from sitting on licence to play in a closed league but not adding any value. Lower divisions also provide clubs with an opportunity to rebuild and return to the top division, without the risk of relocation, merger or bankruptcy that seems to be a constant threat to those that continually underperform in a closed competition.

I love the battles that clubs in the UK face to reach the pinnacle or to avoid the big drop, and engagement the clubs have with their local communities who support their clubs with pride, through thick and thin. The history and tales of great feats are endless. I wish someone would make a TV series in Australia focusing on the history and backstories of our great football clubs of all codes.

I’d have to differ, Brett. The broadcasters are absolutely investing in the sports they broadcast, in the same way they invest into TV shows they make for broadcast. They take a popular game/show concept and promote it and advertise it to make it more popular. Make no mistake, they look at these sports as an opportunity to grow their own businesses and profitability by developing and popularising the games to maximise audience and to increase advertising earnings. I’ve seen it done and was involved in a product that was local to Australia and through sports and broadcast deals, took the product world-wide to become a global brand. The more the broadcasters invested in the sport and the associated brand, the more the product grew to a certain point where it plateaued and further investment was not required. The broadcaster in Australia and other countries all made solid profits from the arrangements, as did the sport and the brand that was associated with it.

Christy, you hit the nail on the head here. The money received from broadcast rights are the life blood that sustain major sporting codes on Australia, and elsewhere. Without the huge funds received from broadcasters the AFL and NRL would also be struggling. The broadcast deals for AFL and NRL enable massive promotion and advertising, as well as support in associated newspapers and radio stations, which along with the cash drives these two codes to success. Take those deals away and they would quickly come back to the field with rugby and A-league.

Rugby Australia needs to go to Nine/Stan and drive a deal that emphasises an investment into the future of rugby. Broadcasters must realise that the end product is directly related to the funding, promotion and support that they deliver to the code, because that is what drives growth in the game and in the audience. its as simple as that. Broadcasters are either in it for the good of the game, or get out of it and let someone else take it on. The trouble is, Channel 7, Foxtel and Nine Entertainment are already heavily invested in AFL and NRL, and it’s unlikely those sports will allow those networks to be equally involved in another code that directly competes for audience.

The APL Board and management should have as required training compulsory viewing of “Welcome to Wrexham” streaming on Disney. It shows what sticking with the core reason for being and engaging with proud and passionate fans can do. Great show for all football fans.

Are our A-League clubs doing enough to connect to the communities they claim to represent. How much focus is being placed on building their fan bases beyond the rusted on supporters. Doing the hard yards, visiting local clubs, schools, shopping centres to promote their clubs; getting more people interested enough to at least attend one game just to see what he club and the league is all about. Building passionate local support that becomes the lifeblood of the clubs.
I wonder if many of the clubs are trying to represent too large a region, and so it’s too hard to develop deep passionate engagement because the focus is too broad. Are they trying to drive the engagement nail a mile broad when a more focused approach of getting the nail a mile deep would be more effective, and so avoid ending up with shallow engagement that slips over time and with poor results. Deeper more focused engagement might result in more resilient fans that support through thick and thin and from which further growth can be achieved. Just a thought, sometimes it’s better to focus on a dedicated market than trying to spread the love to far. Can a club called Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane etc really service and get deep engagement from such large areas?