Super Rugby in Australia

[Beaussie]

You think ARU officials should be worried? Thoughts on a breakaway Super Rugby comp not involving the South African team?

A-League profits from tribalism as Australian Super Rugby clubs face uphill battle
Georgina Robinson

As A-League boss David Gallop tapped out a quick hero-gram to his stakeholders on Sunday morning, to mark a historic moment for domestic soccer in Australia, his rugby counterparts must have been crying into their corn flakes.
 
The 61,880 fans who packed ANZ Stadium to watch the Sydney A-League derby feasted on sporting tribalism at its very best, or at least its most vociferous. 

The spectacle could be a watershed moment for soccer down under, a long awaited coming of age for a sport with global claims that has nevertheless spent decades scratching for a commercial and broadcast foothold in Australia. 

The crowd just shaded the 61,823 who turned out to watch the Waratahs claim a maiden Super Rugby title in 2014 at the same stadium. It fell short of the 65,328 who filed in to watch the first Bledisloe Cup Test this year, but as a regular season fixture with minimal bearing on a finals campaign, it is hard to over play its significance.

While the A-League expertly exploits natural, tribal rivalries, Australian Super Rugby clubs are being forced to subsist on less and less of the same.
 
Next year, for example, in the second year of the maligned 18-team competition, each Australian Super Rugby club must make do with one less home game each year. To add insult to injury, the Waratahs will not host the Reds in Sydney and the Brumbies will not host the Waratahs in Canberra. Both fixtures are the chief regular season money-spinners for the respective clubs.

For the past two seasons, the Reds game has delivered the Waratahs' one of its top two or three regular season crowds: 24,000 this year, 26,700 in 2015 and 17,600 the year before. For the Brumbies, the Waratahs game is even more important. This year the derby match drew 20,100 fans, almost double the crowd of every other home game this season, with the exception of the Crusaders fixture, which drew 16,400. "Disappointing" was the understated appraisal of interim Brumbies chief executive Phil Thomson when the 2017 draw was announced last month. 

This is not another doom and gloom take on what SANZAAR maintains is still the premier provincial rugby competition in the world. It is a cold, hard look at the facts as they stand in Australia, which is 25 per cent of the joint venture. The disaster that is Super Rugby in its current iteration is costing Australian Super Rugby clubs financially. And that means it will cost the Australian Rugby Union, which must balance the twin responsibilities of funding the professional game and nurturing the community game. 

ARU boss Bill Pulver was frank about the challenges, admitting that after stripping cost from the business three years ago and helping deliver a record $285 million broadcast deal, the sustainability of Super Rugby still kept him awake at night. This year he informed the five Australian Super Rugby bosses that they had to make do with $500,000 less each year, $300,000 of which was earmarked for participation.
 
"The short term issue is the financial sustainability of the professional rugby game in Australia, particularly focused around Super Rugby. That's the thing I'm in a pretty constant dialogue with all of the Super Rugby clubs about, because it really does bother me that we are not able to invest more in community rugby," Pulver said.  "I do not want to see continued losses in the professional game eliminate our ability to invest in the community game."

Super Rugby as it stands in 2016 is truly a pact with the devil for Pulver, even though the ARU chief executive speaks glowingly of the strength of the SANZAAR partnerships. It delivers him the money he needs to fund his game, yet in a format that is quantitatively harming its domestic performance. 

A radical solution would be to go it alone with New Zealand in Super Rugby, leaving South Africa to pursue a future in Europe, which offers a friendlier time zone. The trans-Tasman clash is the next best tribalism in Super Rugby for Australian teams, with the Crusaders delivering the Waratahs their second biggest crowd of the regular season (26,971) last year and the Brumbies their biggest (19,398 in the final round). 

In 2009 the strength of that rivalry led then-ARU boss John O'Neill to very nearly convince his New Zealand counterparts to leave the joint venture and form a breakaway competition. The plan failed at the last minute, but the idea reared its head again recently. 

"That was an option we circulated fairly vigorously last time we did these reviews, and from an Australian perspective we did see merit in an Australia-New Zealand and potentially Asia competition," Pulver said. 

"That may be something still up for consideration in the long term, if there was a truly expansionary model put in place, but certainly in the short term New Zealand is very eager to continue the relationship with South Africa being part of SANZAAR. There are very long term rugby relationships there that are meaningful for them, and they felt that was a very important part of the outcome." 

In the meantime, with consultants Accenture due to report back next month on a preferred model for Super Rugby in 2018, Australian rugby administrators must watch on, helpless, while another rival emerges for the hearts and minds of future players and fans. 

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union ... ry5hg.html

[Fred]

They were taking calls on the radio the other day as to what the no 2 code for qld was as it was posited that ru has floundered. It was asked was afl no 2 or soccer? Someone said badketball now the bullets are back. RU is floundering though.

[Beaussie]

They were taking calls on the radio the other day as to what the no 2 code for qld was as it was posited that ru has floundered. It was asked was afl no 2 or soccer? Someone said badketball now the bullets are back. RU is floundering though.

Surely the AFL is No.2 in QLD with two teams as opposed to Soccer with one team. Basketball?

[sydneyfc]

its a dying game in sydney

[Fred]

The roar are popular. What soccer did in having comp start after rl and afl finished was very smart and allows a unique audience

[Beaussie]

The roar are popular. What soccer did in having comp start after rl and afl finished was very smart and allows a unique audience

The Lions and Suns would no doubt attract bigger crowds, bigger memberships, bigger sponsorship deals and tv ratings than the Roar wouldn't you agree? That being the case, clearly AFL is No.2 in QLD yeah?

[Beaussie]

its a dying game in sydney

Yeah must admit, there doesn't seem to be much hype or talk about the Waratahs these days. And Shute Shield rugby?

[sydneyfc]

its a dying game in sydney

Yeah must admit, there doesn't seem to be much hype or talk about the Waratahs these days. And Shute Shield rugby?

bloke at my work plays for west habour in the shute shield lol, hes probably the only news source i have on it unless i force myself to watch it on abc.

my boss is a hardcore warratahs fan and owns a corporate box at the SFS and ANZ to watch them and/or the wallabies play but doesn't attend anything else outside the odd origin game. even he says that the game is dying. hes a good lad though and will let us use his box from time to time for other codes that he has no interest in which is basically everything except rugby union

[sydneyfc]

The roar are popular. What soccer did in having comp start after rl and afl finished was very smart and allows a unique audience

The Lions and Suns would no doubt attract bigger crowds, bigger memberships, bigger sponsorship deals and tv ratings than the Roar wouldn't you agree? That being the case, clearly AFL is No.2 in QLD yeah?

what you say is true

but if i was to have a trump card i would say ok, but we have the socceroos whom i believe do pretty well when they play in qld(mostly brisbane)

[Swans4ever]

its a dying game in sydney

I think NZ aside it's dying everywhere

[AFLcrap1]

its a dying game in sydney

I think NZ aside it's dying everywhere

Lol
Yet you claimed recently that RU was a threat to RL
Lol

You're all over the place

A dying sport is not a threat to another .

Lol no wonder you didn't want to discuss what you posted ..

[Swans4ever]

its a dying game in sydney

I think NZ aside it's dying everywhere

Lol
Yet you claimed recently that RU was a threat to RL
Lol

You're all over the place

A dying sport is not a threat to another .

Lol no wonder you didn't want to discuss what you posted ..

Where did I claim that - last I posted on this subject was about AFL being played in Sydneys private schools - where I said the same - I don't know what ur talking about.

[AFLcrap1]

Of course you conveniently forget .

You didn't want to discuss it then
You don't now .

Usually happens when you're caught out bullshitting .
You were on a roll in that thread .
Caught out 3 times .
Then running .

So here it is
Can you explain how RU has suddenly gone from threatening RL to dying .



Re: FIJI close to entering NSW intrust Cup in 2017
Post #31 by Swans4ever » Sat Apr 23, 2016 6:46 pm

AFLcrap1 wrote:
Another bullshit post


He is not from Fiji .
Don't listen to the Aflol propaganda Dept



He was born in Aust .

Your failure rate is exceptional

& look at this swines
This is posting proof or a source .
You should try it sometime


Nicholas "Nic" Naitanui is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian… More
Born: May 4, 1990 (age 25), Penrith, Sydney
Height: 2.01 m

https://g.co/kgs/lDt2g

Over to you SGT Bullshit


Ist it funny that's what you took issue with, not the fact RL is under threat from RU - seriously your a pain of glass your so see through!!


:_<> :_<> :_<> :_<> :_<>


Lol this is hilarious
RU is dying

No it's not its threatening RL

No it's dying .

Lol
Sounds like a few posts from a few yrs ago .

Now which is it

[NRL&NFLweLaughATafl]

I think the trouble with Rugby in Australia is
1) lack of grassroots support.
2) little free to air coverage or promotion.

Has done very well to promote itself at an international level in America, Japan and Argentina. But is definitely suffering at a local level.

[leagueiscrap]

looks like the union needs a SL war like League did to make it half popular