Wally the Fly

The future of the rugby codes:

The single biggest promotional tool the International Rugby Board has at its disposal is the allocation of the Rugby World Cup.

That is why the decision to give the 2011 tournament to New Zealand over Japan is one of the biggest mistakes the IRB has made in recent memory.

Instead of taking it to a new and lucrative market in Asia they awarded it to NZ, which is expected to make a financial loss because there are simply not enough big stadiums.

The RWC has been played in Aust & NZ (1987), England and the other home nations (1991), South Africa (1995), Wales and other home nations (1999), Australia (2003) and France (2007).

The reasons why the IRB needs to take the RWC to new places is twofold; firstly if it is a true ‘world’ cup and a global sport then it needs to be hosted around the globe. Secondly, it will do wonders for the sport in developing countries (rugby not economically speaking) which will eventually help increase international competitiveness of other lesser countries which is good for everybody.

Rugby likes to boast that the RWC is the third biggest sporting event in the world but the statistics revealed in this ‘State of the Union’ report show how limited the global appeal of the game is:

• Of the 4 million players worldwide 2.2 million are English, 3.3 million come from the eight founder nations and there are less than 250,000 players registered in the top 10 most populous countries in the world.
• The 2007 World Cup Final was watched by 33.1 million people but 97% were from the founder nations and 27.6 million of those from Britain, Ireland and France.
• The top 10 countries in the IRB rankings constitute about 5% of the world’s population

As stated in the Putting Rugby First report “Japan (for 2011 WC) offered a much larger economy of far greater appeal to sponsors….. a Rugby World Cup in Japan would have provided a springboard to the fast growing Asian economies.”

The report points to cricket is using Twenty20 to capture the Asian market and Formula One has 40% of its races in Asia.

IRB announced in July that they will be charging a fee of $207 million and $248 million for the 2015 and 2019 tournaments respectively (both will be announced in July next year), which basically rules out most countries from putting their hand up to host the World Cup.

While this is disappointing it doesn’t mean ‘developing’ rugby nations can’t still be awarded the next two world cups.

Japan MUST be awarded the 2015 WC as it would solidify the game in Japan, which already has a vibrant domestic competition. It could also foster growth to the rest of the huge Asian market.

I would then say in 2019 that the RWC can return to Europe. But rather than go to England who are very keen to get the tournament in 2015 (my inner cynic feels this is pretty likely) I’d propose taking it to Italy. As one blogger put it Italy are “host to a various amount of fantastic stadiums, and the beauty of the Italian scenery can only add to the general ambiance that a RWC brings.” It could also convert Italians to the game or at least in having interest in it alongside football. Not to mention that it would be pretty easy for rugby fans from the home nations to travel there and it would be a similar time zone which is critical for TV audiences.

After that I pray the IRB drop their tournament fee and the RWC can be taken to Argentina (third in last year’s cup despite not having a professional league and not being part of a major annual competition) if their economy has picked up and then even the US and Canada.

Rugby officials need to think global because in this globalised sports world (trying not to use the work ‘market’), increasing global audience and growth of rugby will ultimately help the game at home.

Caption: 1995 World Cup, arguably one of the best moments in Rugby history

The future of the rugby codes:

While Queensland clubs are huge success stories there are non-Sydney clubs that are looking a bit shabby.

It’s a wee bit unfair just to talk about Sydney clubs on the chopping block so here’s the average for the past two years for all clubs.

Brisbane          33,147

Gold Coast      21,554

Nth QLD        19,104

Newcastle       17,315

Wests              16,674

Bulldogs          15,920

Souths             15,173

Manly              14,390

Parramatta       13,835

Easts                12,961

St George        12,378

New Zealand  12,333

Melbourne       12,093

Cronulla          11,827

Canberra          11,713

Penrith             11,467

At the top of the table you have four non-Sydney teams doing really well but conversely at the bottom you have three of the five teams with the lowest crowd attendance coming from outside the Harbour city.

The outcry of Sydney fans if something was to happen to their team would be predictable and quite fair. It would be along the lines of; why do I have to watch my team merge/relocation/go under when there’s even worse support in the entire city of Melbourne for their one and only team?

To put this in the context of the current push (well ideas floated around by ex-players, commentators etc) to expand into Adelaide and Perth, an idea put forward as a way to have a more national game. If the western expansion occurs at the expense of Sydney clubs couldn’t the same be said as the Melbourne argument? Why does my club with all its history and fans get pushed out so half a dozen people in Adelaide can watch a brand new team run around?

Would this mean that fans in Sydney could be lost to league forever?

Apart from sacrifices in the east, the next question about ‘winning the west’ is whether there is enough fans in those cities to support a team. People will point to the failure of the Storm to get decent crowds (or to get their owners any money) as a reason not to set up teams in AFL heartland. While this should be taken into account Warren Smith points out that Melbourne have a lot more major sporting teams (and I’ll add in sporting events) while Perth and Adelaide have a lot less.

The success of the Western Force means the Perth boat may have sailed for the NRL.

In 2009 Souths are playing Melbourne at Members Equity Stadium in Perth while the Bulldogs and Cronulla are planning on playing in Adelaide to tap into ‘new revenue streams’ (I love it when sport is talked about like that).

Will it work Hawthorn style and Perth become a de facto Souths fan base or Dogs/Sharks permanently calling Adelaide their second home?

Or will it be like Manly, Easts, Souths playing in Gosford where the locals don’t really warm to the fact it’s not their own team?

Or is it, as someone suggested to me this week, the first small step in an eventual re-location move for the Dogs or the Sharks?

The games in WA and SA next year will be an interesting experiment. The success will greatly determine any future representation of those cities in the NRL. It could be a great move.

Given the fact there are no World Cup games in either cities shows that Adelaide and Perth are simply not on the league horizon at the moment.

Even if the NRL were to expand, the question again is how the NRL will justify the move to rusted-on league fans in Sydney if it is their club that disappears.

Hard decisions are ahead and nothing less than the future of league in Australia is at stake.

Caption: Adelaide Rams and the Western Reds who haven’t been in action for a decade

WHILE Fyfe’s head slap on Adrian Trinidad was dumb stuff what’s even more frustrating was Trinidad’s pathetic milking of the penalty.

The absolute worst aspect of the game of football is the widespread tactic of diving to get a penalty.

This should never have become an accepted part of the game.

It is simply a form of cheating.

The FFA need to stamp it out because in a country of sports fans used to Aussie Rules and rugby and league, people watching the theatrics just think it’s a soft, pansy, poofy soccer sport.

Bugger waiting to see what FIFA do or say or what they do in Europe, let’s lead the charge.

Getting rid of the dive is actually really quite easy. Allow a judiciary committee to watch every game and if they see what they think may be a dive then they can charge the player and have a hearing. If the player is found guilty then they can be suspended.

It’s too hard for the referee, during a fast paced game to be able to accurately determine whether the player was legitimately tripped or they are in fact cheating through theatrics.

In some cases it would be hard to conclusively determine that a player has done a dive, fair enough but in others it would be very obvious.

If this system was put in place players would instantly get hte message that cheating isn’t ok and they know they’ll be caught out.

The future of the rugby codes:

There’s been a lot of talk about the future of the nine Sydney clubs. Whether nine is too many, whether mergers should go ahead, whether there should be relocations to the Central Coast or even to become a 4^th Queensland team and ultimately whether some should go under.

Sydney crowds in the NRL this year may give us an insight as to the future of the clubs. According to rlleague.com these are the average crowds for Sydney clubs in 2008.

1.      Wests: 16,386

2.      Bulldogs: 15,352

3.      Souths: 14,644

4.      Easts: 13,970

5.      Manly: 13,694

6.      Parramatta: 13,528

7.      Cronulla: 12,965

8.      St George: 12,596

9.      Penrith: 10,899

What conclusions can be brought from this?

Firstly that Wests Tigers (assuming their crowds don’t take a hit with their relocation to SFS), Bulldogs (highest merchandise sales of the Sydney clubs) and South Sydney (highest online hit rates of any club) are looking good. The figures are pretty interesting given that none of these clubs made the top eight this year. Also interesting is the fact that a lot of people nominate Souths as the first club to be dumped from the NRL. Perhaps that should first take notice of these figures.

Conversely in the success department we have Cronulla, who were third on the ladder but still had piss poor attendances. They got a few crowds of 6,000 this year and I’m surprised they got the average they did.

Look at St George who are a joint venture which begs the question of why they don’t have bigger crowds (may pick up next year with Kogarah being fixed up). The Wollongong area has a huge number of juniors and on that basis the club is surely safe.

And Penrith have the smallest crowds in the NRL! This is disastrous when you take into account that Penrith is: 

“a region dominated by rugby league to the exclusion of all else. Penrith, in contrast to virtually every other Sydney club, is free of competition…The closest A-League match is 60 kilometres away, an occasional AFL match is played 45km away, rugby has no elite presence in the area and the nearest NRL rival, Parramatta, is 35km away.” (see full Herald story)

Questions have to be asked of the Panthers (even though they have the most juniors of any NRL club).

Manly, Parramatta and Easts are in the middle of the lot with a similar crowd average. Given the location of the three clubs in the north, west and east you wouldn’t think they are going anywhere. Although Manly and Parra are struggle to keep in the black and the Roosters survival is secured by the fact that they are backed by the big end of town in Sydney’s east.

Some possibilities:

Penrith and Parramatta merge to form another big western Sydney team? Alternating matches between CUA and Parramatta Stadium.

Cronulla joins with St George Illawarra and become one big southern Sydney/NSW club. While the practicalities of the Dragons/Steelers merger make sense (Illawarra with the huge junior ranks and St George with the cash) the geography doesn’t (Cronulla-Sutherland is in between St George and Wollongong). If this came to fruition then you’d have a triple merger on your hands which could cause problems.

Cronulla joins South Sydney at least it could mean (if Cronulla agreed) that the name South Sydney could stick. Souths success (yes success, despite what you read in some papers, they’ve come leaps and bounds in the last couple of years) is partly tied with the bandwagon element but also with the brand of being the ultimate underdogs. The team that’s won more premierships than any other club but haven’t won since 1971 and weren’t even in the comp for a couple of years. Will that be completely obliterated if Souths merge with Cronulla (even if it is a very friendly merger to Souths like the Dragons/Steelers merger was to St George)?

Souths and Easts makes the most sense out of any merger but it just will not work. The Sideline Eye was at the last clash and the hatred, yes I’m using the H word, between to the two sets of fans was palpable. I cannot see these two foundation clubs ever coming together. Just look at Smith v Anasta, Fa’alogo’s shot on Anasta and the infamous chicken wing tackle on Craig Wing. And that’s only in the past year or two!

Caption: Empty empty seats at Homebush

Come on people, it ain’t that bad!

If American can have a “World Series” between two domestic teams then league can have its world cup.

As easy as it is to stick the boot in, the way the tournament will run this year is probably the best possible way it could be done.

Melbourne Test – they took an important match, Aust v NZ to Melbourne. But where the real genius lies is the fact that it is the same weekend as International Rules game, Derby Day and the Melbourne Cup so while they are promoting the game down south they are privately confident plenty of people from the north will be coming down to fill up the stands for an ultimate sporting weekend.

10 teams – given that the competition falls away pretty quickly past the top teams they’ve limited the number of countries competing, which may piss them off but it keeps it from getting out of hand (and financially under control I would imagine).

Opening game – Aboriginal Dreamtime Team against the New Zealand Maori and then the opening ceremony and then Australia v New Zealand… but wait for it… at the SFS NOT, I repeat NOT at Homebush. Now if that’s not enough to get Sydneysiders to fill the ground then nothing will.

Game locations – again smart thinking, playing the PNG game up in Townsville, much closer to the visitors homeland. Tests in Newcastle, Canberra, Parramatta and the lucky bastards in Penrith get what should be an absolute rip snorter of a game; Tonga v Samoa. The only criticism is that there are no games in Perth or Adelaide. Surely the Irish ex-pat community in Perth justified putting an Ireland game over there. Surely Adelaide would have been a better choice than Rockhampton for a semi-final. On the choice of Lang Park in Brissy over Sydney for the final I think everyone aggress is fair enough given the huge support for the game north of the Tweed.

RUGBY LEAGUE great Wally Lewis has come out and said that NSW and QLD not Australia should be represented at the league world cup.  

The Sideline Eye made a similar suggestion in its piece about giving rep league a shot in the arm in ‘Rep footy to bring the crowds back.’

THE NEWS that Fuifui Moimoi and Taniela Tuiaki will be watching from the grand stand instead of playing in the Tongan strip because they played for New Zealand last year is disappointing in the extreme. Yes, Mr World League official, letting players play for two countries makes International league a bit of a joke but its more of a joke when a good ‘minnow’ side like Tonga can’t put its best players on the field.

WITH TWO weeks to go until the official kick-off the tournament’s organisers do need a pat on the back for having the smarts to have a Aboriginals v NZ Maori game as the curtain raiser. It’s a great idea, gives a bit of spark to the tournament and will be fantastic opportunity for youngsters like Daine Laurie and Chris Sandow.

The future of the rugby codes:

Before the final installment of this tirade on the need for a National club competition in rugby I’ll just say what happened the other day. Wally was camped in front of the trusty Fox Sports News 513 watching a piece on how the Western Force had begun training. Flicking channels to find… the South African competition the Currie Cup! Later that day on the net, there was a story about the Kiwi competition (Air NZ Cup, formerly NPC). So while our best non-Wallaby players are doing sprint training and hitting the gym the Saffas and Kiwis are….playing rugby!!!!!

Anyway, here are some random ideas a potential competition:

• NO BAD NAMES: No ‘Sydney Fleet’ or ‘Ballymore Tornadoes’ or Rams or anything of the sort! (These are names from last year’s ARC for those playing at home). What’s wrong with having NO mascot and letting a nickname come over time?

• Keep the Saturday arvo 3pm game of club rugby going, most pro-rugby is at night now so keep the ‘sitting in the sun (preferably on a hill with a pie) watching rugby’ element. Let the ABC show it (they already show Sydney club rugby) live, we need as much free-to-air rugby as we can get.

• Why not do what the Barbarians do and let the players play with their club socks? So if a player is from Warringah and they are playing for the Northern Sydney team they have the team jersey and shorts but play in the green and white socks.

• The badge of the team should be made up of the symbols of the club teams that make up the side.

• As a way to keep the clubs happy why not let the clubs have a grand final and let the comp be first past the post?

• Absolute maximum price for any seat should be $15 for an adult. The Australia A v Tonga game at North Sydney Oval was 10 bucks for adults and $5 for students/kids. Make it dirt cheap so that when deciding whether to come to the game people don’t even think of the money. Wouldn’t hurt when there’s a good price difference between it and NRL games.

• Let people run onto the field afterwards like the good ol’ days of league and like most club rugby teams do now.

• Why not have a game before each Test match? It would add value to the insanely high ticket prices you have to fork out for Test matches and it would mean that the flow of people at the stadium would be spread out as the die-hards go early to catch the curtain raiser.

• Perhaps have one designated night game a week on Friday or even Sunday nights when Foxtel don’t have live sport to show.

• Promote the hell out of it. Last year’s ARC was such a non-event plenty of rugby people barely cared about it let alone anyone else.

The future of the rugby codes:

One idea on how a national club competition could work;

At the end of the Super 14 I’d propose clubs from both Sydney and Brisbane competitions come together and merge to form a smaller competition that plays at a higher level of rugby.

Manly, Warringah, Norths and Gordon would form the North Sydney team and play matches at North Sydney Oval and Brookvale Oval. The second team of Easts, Randwick, Sydney Uni and West Harbour would make up the ‘Sydney’ team playing at Concord and finally a western Sydney team made up of Parramatta, Eastwood, Penrith and Southern Districts (the latter more to boost the numbers of the Western Sydney team).

Alternatively, if Eastern suburbs fans aren’t expected to go to Concord to watch a game then how about Easts, Sydney Uni, Southern Districts and Randwick as one team based in the Sydney’s east and then Wests join Parramatta, Eastwood and Penrith as the Western Sydney team.

Then you’d halve the Brisbane clubs and either base one at the Gold Coast and one in Brisbane or both clubs in Brisbane (I’d think the former were preferable).

Due to the fact that you have Super rugby players living in Canberra and Perth (who wouldn’t necessarily want to split their year by going to Sydney or Brissy) you’d have a team in those cities. For the purposes of ‘evenness’ you’d have to have a system in place so that some would play for a NSW or QLD club while others would stay in Perth and Canberra.

That leaves a competition of seven sides but you would include an 8^th if and when a 5^th Super rugby side is created and base it in Melbourne (assuming it is going to be in Melbourne). I’d do this because of the huge costs that were involved in the ARC in creating the Melbourne team. If there were a Super 14/15 team in place then surely the infrastructure (for want of a better word) would be there.

The future of the rugby codes:

While the Australian Rugby Competition (ARC) last year was a financial failure (due to poor promotion and a lack of grassroots support) it was a huge on-field success. The standard was great and helped make players like Luke Burgess, Sam Norton-Knight and Dean Mumm become better players when they put on the Waratah (and for Burgess and Mumm the Wallaby) jersey this year.

While it will have its teething problems and there are plenty of obstacles, the creation of a national club competition is possibly one of the most important things O’Neill and the ARU need to do to secure the future of rugby union in Australia.

Here’s why:  

• Crowds - its time supply met demand, plenty of people are keen for a night or an arvo at the footy and its time that rugby caught up. In Sydney, there are two games of top level rugby (the two tests) once Super 14 is finished (currently only six or seven home games). Getting a thriving national comp up and running and people can pop down to the local oval to watch top quality footy rather than watching their local NRL team.

• Local rugby – Super rugby and Test rugby is great but there also needs to be a top level competition that actually has some local feel to it. A post Super 14 Trans-Tasman comp which has been proposed sounds great but lets get more top rugby to local grounds instead of just playing at the SFS/ANZ/Docklands etc.

• The Gap – Once Super 14 is finished, if you don’t make the Wallabies you are playing club rugby. The gap between International rugby and the Sydney and Brisbane club competitions is huge and there are plenty of Aussies who are on the cusp of national selection who should be getting high level matches every week. Apart from future / potential Wallabies a higher standard will also help Super rugby players and thus make the Australian teams stronger.

• Players – what a great incentive it is for blokes who aren’t going to make a Super 14 side but are great club rugby players. They have the chance to step up and this can even help them to get to Super 14 standard (even more important if we get a new Super rugby team in future). It would also offer a carrot for players to stick to rugby or for leaguies thinking of crossing over. So if they don’t make the Wallabies at least they have a full season playing Super 14 and then in a national club comp rather than playing club rugby in front of a few hundred people and not getting any money!

• Reignite - Rugby in Australia desperately needs a shot in the arm and an A-League style competition could just be the trick.

• Money – its another area that the ARU can tap into for revenue. Even if the competition still made a slight loss the ARU could look at the competition as an investment in rugby both from a high performance point of view as well as taking top quality rugby to the people, that is, promotion.

The future of the rugby codes:

The GF is a few days away but the Tele is reporting that a thousand Souths fans have already got their memberships for next season, having only opened 2009 memberships yesterday.

Membership has been signalled as a priority for league for its future growth.

League has never really had the membership culture evident in AFL. Compare League’s 70,000 members to the AFL’s 700,000 members. Souths have been one of the clubs to lead the charge; they headhunted the Swans membership guru and this year doubled their membership to 6,500 (third highest in Sydney) and are aiming for 8,000 in 2009. 

The NRL are talking about by creating an NRL membership division and a membership manager to help all clubs get fans to sign on the dotted line and become ticketed members of their clubs. ‘Membership is the best way to support your club’ – you’re going to be hearing that sentence a lot in the next five months (assuming the NRL fulfil its promise to get out and promote like hell).

The Bulldogs are advertising that they want 10,000 members by 2010 (currently just over 4,000) and advertising billboards on the back of bikes are driving around the Northern Beaches hoping to tap into Manly’s current success and get 5,000 members for next season. Souths have been smart about their memberships and other clubs should take note. They are offering ticketed members (apart from the usual goodies like merchandise discounts, members events, leagues club memberships etc) 14 matches; Charity Shield, 10 home games at ANZ, home game in Gosford and two ‘away’ matches at ANZ against the Bulldogs and the Eels thanks to a deal with the two clubs. The biggest carrot they are offering the Rabbitohs fans is the ‘first in best dressed’ option for members to purchase tickets to the trial game against Wests at Redfern Oval, South’s spiritual home.

The days of being fed by poker machine revenue are over and clubs need to get their arse into gear and focus on memberships come 2009.