Roar Guru
Joined August 2009
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The weekend slaughter of the Melbourne Rebels at the hands of the Cheetahs may seem only a fair and logical fate for a team…
The IRB is a jolly club where some old amateurs of the game can go to earn a good living, travel the world a…
Ask any Wallabies supporter the reason for the team's recent troubles and you will receive almost any kind of deluded response. Robbie Deans has…
[caption id="attachment_19653" width="300" caption="Barbarians\' Sonny Bill Williams of New Zealand, right, alludes being tackled by Wallabies\' captain Stirling Mortlock (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)"][/caption] New Zealand…
[caption id="attachment_16085" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The Waratahs\' Timana Tahu runs in to score as he\'s tackled by the Reds\' Mark McLinden during their Super 14…
Most Australian rugby fans probably know very little about Danny Cipriani, as it seems do most Australian journalists. They hear some vague ideas of…
What can explain the cataclysmic loss to Scotland this weekend? How could a team which last year looked in better shape to challenge for…
Australian rugby, despite a cheering victory last weekend, is in dire condition with falling popularity at both international and Super levels and a national…
[caption id="attachment_8856" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Wallabies coach Robbie Deans talks to the team during the Wallabies Captain\'s run in Sydney on Friday, July 25, 2008.…
[caption id="attachment_1721" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy - Managing Director and CEO of Australian Rugby John O\'Neill"][/caption] There's one man who has had a…
Great breakdown of these issues.
‘Reported Australian crowds in 2024 range between about 7,000 (Perth) and 10,000 (for ‘Super’ Round), up to 17,000 or so (Brisbane). Go back to 2004 and double all those numbers for low, medium and high (42,000 at Suncorp, 34,000 at the Old Sydney Football Stadium, and 22,584 at GIO).’
This is like a death toll. Monstrous.
Sadly I don’t think most supporters care about the sport they’re watching. They watch to support a team and the sport itself is secondary.
It’s more about what others around them watch, which identity is playing whom and whether their team is winning. That seems to be the ‘tribal’ pleasure that pulls them to watch.
If they were rugby aesthetes like the Roar experts and posters who are beyond mere support it would be fine, but in reality almost any sport could be put in front of them and were those circumstances satisfied they’d be happy. Look at the sports followed worldwide.
Five surprises, five disappointments and five things to figure out as Super Rugby 2024 reaches the end game
‘RA remains committed to Rugby in Victoria, and will continue to actively consult with relevant stakeholders, as well as our legal and financial advisors regarding next steps. We will confirm our position on the future of the Melbourne Rebels Club in due course.’
A menacing final paragraph.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Should have had one twenty years ago.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Yes, the big decision in the end and maybe the real decision behind the scenes may actually be:
‘Are we willing to give up control to a private owner or not?’.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Go and ask the people who wrote the articles.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Post-pandemic it’s no one’s fault.
Pre-pandemic it’s RA’s fault for not providing them with a strong enough team.
I would write an article about the lack of any distribution of playing talent but fan articles are not read these days.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
The point there is that without another pandemic in future it’s more financially sustainable.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Good point.
By the way I found the list of NRL players who had a rugby background including many lost from the game. Couldn’t get it behind the paper’s paywall but it’s printed elsewhere:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-11929581/The-NRL-stars-union-experience-thrive-Super-Rugby-Wallabies.html
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
I heard there are but they wanted more control over the team than RA would allow.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Sure, but third tier is only a support. It’s what the second tier is that makes the difference.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Excellent point. I remember when the Rebels were first created one reason given was that the broadcasters were willing to pay considerably more for a team in Victoria than elsewhere.
In addition, there are the Wallabies produced in Victoria and the minimum competitiveness of the national team.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Not making crowds income for three years or receiving the RA grant is the main cause.
Yes, they were overspending anyway but it could have been managed without this freak financial disaster.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
I’d guess two more Sydney, one more minimum Brisbane, Gold Coast and Newcastle/Central Coast and down the line Sunshine Coast.
Only major new market not accounted for (big enough for a team) Adelaide.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
All of the reporting has indicated that’s what’s being considered. The reporters are well-informed and won’t do so unless they know.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Well, this is so far something we are hearing about without full details, but I context etc…
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
The most ominous remark was the amateur era fantasy from Phil Kearns that there should be three teams.
You have to think that’s the RA dream.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
1) No pandemic=plus millions.
2) Majority private owner putting in money, like Twiggy. RA letting him do it.
3) Season ending in July for increased TV and crowd revenue (8 more games), and even if pushing RC a little necessary.
4) Continue the cost trimming at Rebels started recently.
5) Bigger thing that’s more of a change: the Australian derbies also form part of Super AU, with a semi and final for a trophy, generating more money and popularity. Even the finals revenue would help prop up the Rebels.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
That’s not what RA want.
They want to cut the Rebels and Force and have three teams as they think rugby will ‘shrink to greatness’ that way and destroy the NRL, AFL and A-League.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
The main point here is that the pandemic is the majority of the problem and that has passed we hope.
Yes the Rebels did still overspend but it was manageable.
Going forward there are some solutions. A season through to July would raise much more revenue for example with more games to sell to broadcasters and fans.
The biggest one though would be to have a majority owner of the Rebels. RA have been reluctant to let anyone have so much power over a franchise but millions are available that way and it could be the best way to make it economically viable.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
Jeznez, where would your new teams in this domestic competition be?
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
‘to keep the other franchises viable/competitive against the NZ teams.’
In their minds. With the Force cut it made no difference. The players will just go abroad or to the NRL.
The Australian teams this year are more competitive WITH the Rebels involved.
If cutting the Rebels is what RA privately want then indeed the leadership of RA should be changed to someone who wants to keep them.
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
The pandemic cut the grant the Rebels received each year by a total of some millions.
Over three years the Rebels lost a similar amount in crowd revenue because of the pandemic (and yes crowd numbers were down in 2023).
Taken together, that means any overspending wasn’t that much and could be managed.
So in terms of the future, the business can work but probably needs more private money to sustain it.
If someone like Twiggy can offer a massive 50 million, then there are probably options if they’re looked for
UPDATE: RA say they were blindsided over Rebels' finances, reject private consortium claim as administrator backs club's survival
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
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
Given that there are 9 NRL clubs in Sydney and 9 AFL clubs in Melbourne, I wonder how many fans have thought ‘Do I actually prefer to watch league or AFL as a sport in itself?’
Perhaps that’s why it’s so baffling to test cricket followers (like me) that the world is enamoured by T20. Aside from the convenience of watching, we’re perhaps wrong to assume a meaningful comparison of the sports as spectacles is being made by most supporters. They’re just supporting a team that happens to play a particular sport.
Five surprises, five disappointments and five things to figure out as Super Rugby 2024 reaches the end game