Roar Guru
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Basically the Rebels are being asked to sacrifice themselves to cover the losses the game as a whole made because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
SOAAR may or may not have solutions to the problems in the game, but if RA try to cut the Rebels next week then it’s time for SOAAR or someone to replace the RA leadership.
Culling the Rebels would be so preposterous as to defy description. With the Rebels gone, soon the NRL could decide to just offer any Wallaby in Australia 1.5 million and finish off the Waratahs and Reds-sponsors and TV would pull out, crowds would collapse and the game would actually be dead. The biggest shock would be the Wallabies having no players to field a team that could win a single match each year.
Alternatively they could accept the private consortium’s proposal (although the part about moving out to the distant edge of town doesn’t sound convincing).
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Yes, so for example you might consider a second Brisbane team or Gold Coast.
You ask the broadcasters (plural, as you can move to whoever has the best offer):
Which will you pay more for? They will have a preference.
Then you see what private equity interest there is in team in either place.
You also speak to advertisers.
Of course factor in other considerations.
There might be some quite surprising results.
There is an enormous fear that new teams would struggle financially, but it can be costed before risk is taken.
I also imagine that most of the new teams from now on will be like the Force and Rebels in involving private equity.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
I’ve watched plenty of northern club rugby in the end and don’t understand how it could be thought better to watch.
There are money and time zone advantages but otherwise not sure.
The other thing about South Africa is the game has so much support. There are plenty of areas that can get very good crowds and large playing numbers.
It seems to me it never needed to have its main competition playing with anyone else and would have been self-sufficient like France and England.
It could have also taken part in an international tournament for variety rather than ad the main thing.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
So it’s a half-way arrangement, a little like Australia but one stage further.
Of course in France there’s more full-blown ownership which has created the richest and most successful national league, but a team that doesn’t win (although there are probably other reasons).
New Zealand’s more concentrated centralized model has yielded better results, though might have done with any model, and in other cases such as Wales has completely failed.
How are South African fans responding to watching such completely different teams?
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
Sure, but Super rugby isn’t very popular in New Zealand either.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
Thanks for that.
The big question I’d have is how much money they brought (very relevant to the dire financial situation in Australia and New Zealand).
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
If you’re happy with the result then all is well.
Wallabies in danger of losing Hanigan to ambitious French club just as forward enters his prime
True but look at the way the NRL can create domestic heros rather than international ones.
The problem is rugby’s inability to make someone playing domestically a hero.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
Yes, both are true.
Players moving overseas will always happen.
In this case though it’s unlikely.
Two separate ideas.
Wallabies in danger of losing Hanigan to ambitious French club just as forward enters his prime
Yes, and the All Black coaches knew he could do that and knew at a crucial moment it could be useful.
He and Nonu were also friends and had a much more mature and unjealous relationship than players in other countries competing for the same position and so this try is a fitting culmination to that.
Hansen's done Joey Manu no favours comparing him to SBW. He'll be more like RTS - and Foz is the reason why
‘The newest board member worked for the NRL.’
Maybe they all should have.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
Yes, although there are risks in it.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
That’s he excuse South Africa made but really they’d been considering this all along for time zone and financial reasons.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
‘Of greater importance was moving SA franchises towards private ownership’
Please develop.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
URC is so untribal that Welsh rugby is experiencing a similar catastrophe of popularity to Australia.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
‘Last year I warned that if we didn’t start performing at the Wallaby level, here in Townsville we may not survive until 2026 or 2027. This year down to four first grade teams from a recent seven.’
I’m sure you’re right but it also shows how too much of the game’s popularity has been built solely on the Wallabies’ performance instead of trying to make the game attractive at tier two level.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
This is always going to happen.
RA have done what’s reasonable by offering a top-up but shouldn’t break the bank for him.
Instead put the money saved into keeping three young players in similar positions.
Having said that I doubt he’ll actually go to a ProD2 team however much money is on offer.
Wallabies in danger of losing Hanigan to ambitious French club just as forward enters his prime
You’d need to be a washed up, alcoholic country and western singer to sign this one now.
'Definition of madness': Rugby reform must start with total cleanout of RA board - and this should happen next
It’s a good point. Basically you go to the broadcasters and ask them how much they’ll pay for a team in a particular location. They’ll know the number of games they’d get and the area covered, and they give you a price. Advertising is then factored in along with any private equity involved.
On that basis you decide how many and which ones are possible.
So you cost it in advance rather than just trying some and hoping they pay.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
This can all be priced in advance with broadcasters and what’s possible known. They may well pay more for certain areas than others.
Once advertising, as private equity if there is any and costs are factored in, and then the number can be known.
Australia probably has a lot of potential markets-the issue in the beginning is players.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
That sounds good.
You’d probably have to get everyone playing in the Champions Cup though to make more money and play simultaneously as in Europe to spread interest.
In terms of number of teams what’s possible can be discovered by getting it priced by broadcasters who will say how much they’ll pay for more teams.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
The bizarre thing is that Super AU and Super AO were domestic, but also linked to Super Rugby Trans-Tasman (although should have been played at the same time), so there was both domestic and international.
The domestic points could even be counted to Trans-Tasman as well.
In future it could be altered, reshaped, marketed in any way.
But at least it was something that began to bring a domestic tournament of some sort into the format. A first step.
Then it was thrown out…
In terms of the A-League the greatest irony of all is that it was John O’Neill who created a near perfect format for the wrong sport (and one which enabled it to severely damage rugby).
Call that Super rugby AU if need be. Make its point also go to the Trans-Tasman format if necessary.
But it needs to also have a separate table with a separate finals series. The winner can get an automatic Trans-Tasman finals series.
Also, not that much needs to be changed to do this.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
The amazing thing is that this has been known for twenty years.
The only change in that time has been the addition of the Rebels, pushing the season a little later, and adding teams in distant places as if they’ll save the day. None of this fundamentally addresses the problem though.
'Easy to throw stones': RA chairman hits back at mudslingers' 'hypocrisy' after calls for AGM board cleanout
If Ben is that massive and powerful it’s best to avoid doubting him again.
Also, perhaps Eddie Jones chose his RWC squad through matching on Tinder.
If Australia is looking for big men, let's not neglect the old and the fat
From everything that can be read publicly it seems as if RA have been considering dropping a Super rugby team from Melbourne altogether, but as they did with the Force.
Any outcome that retains them is better than that.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival