Rugby Union dying in Australia?

Judgement Day

Came across this thought provoking piece here: http://frenchrugbyclub.com/ After seeing the large empty areas in the stadium for the Boks vs Wallabies game last Saturday, and the poor attendances during the Lions tour of South Africa I wonder if the game is also on the ropes there?

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30 August 2010


What future for rugby union Down Under?
by Paul Dearlove

In the latest of his exclusive columns for FRC, Pau captain Paul Dearlove reflects on the diminishing health of rugby union in Australia as it struggles to compete with Aussies Rules, Rugby League and Football...

Having just got back from a holiday back home it is interesting to see the stark contrast in the health of rugby union in Australia and France. What struck me is that rugby in Australia is dying while in France it appears to be going from strength to strength.

For those of you not familiar with the complexities of Australian sport, “dying” may sound like typical journalistic hyperbole, someone trying to whip up interest in an issue and generate headlines. But I assure you that it is not.

Australia is unique in that it has four established football codes, all played at the same time of year and all competing for the eyeballs of only 25 million people. Rugby league edges rugby union in New South Wales and Queensland, AFL (“Aussie Rules”) completely dominates in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and soccer is the sport of choice for youngsters and women.

To give you an idea of how hard it is to take market share from the other codes – the Melbourne Storm is a rugby league team that has played in the last four grand finals and has existed since 1994. It has some of the best rugby league players in the world and yet average attendance in 2008 was just over 12,000. The AFL, by contrast, over the entire competition in 2008 (176 games), averages 37,000 spectators. Rugby union, by contrast, has seen it’s market share slip from a high of 22% in 1995 to a 13.7% today – the lowest of all four codes.

Rugby is only consistent in that laws are consistently being changed

Complexity is also a problem for rugby union. All three other codes are relatively simple – if you watched a game for about 10 minutes you’d pick up pretty quickly what was happening. Rugby is only consistent in that laws are consistently being changed. Referees should also take some of the heat here. In efforts to enforce the laws, many have forgotten that they are also responsible for the spectacle. Rugby, if it is to be genuinely competitive as a world game, can’t be a kick-athon whistle-fest.

At the end of the day money and the fan base are going to be deciding factors in whether rugby union remains a niche sport in Australia, and it faces huge hurdles. Rupert Murdoch’s $30 billion Fox Corporation has a huge interest in rugby league (Quade Cooper, a potential superstar in Australian rugby has an offer to play league that is double – yes you heard me, double – what rugby union has offered), football is the only genuine world game and AFL has an enormously passionate and loyal following (a bit like rugby in France now that I think about it).

What is the conclusion? I don’t really know. It pains me to think of the force Australia could be in the rugby world if we took away rugby league and AFL, but that is not going to happen. At the end of the day rugby is not really dying in Australia (so yes there may be a bit of exaggeration in the headline) but it is certainly becoming a niche sport. Getting onto the rugby 7’s bandwagon early should be something the administrators think about (just look at the enormous success of 20/20 in cricket) but having seen the head-in-the-sand approach they’ve taken until now – I have my doubts.

Oh I have a solution – let’s start a rugby team in Melbourne... staggering!

LeinsterDub

I've read a dozen or so articles saying league was dying epically after the Storm incident .

JustinDee

LeinsterDub wrote: »

I've read a dozen or so articles saying league was dying epically after the Storm incident .

Far from it. The NRL and Origin are doing very well.

thomond2006

JustinDee wrote: »

Far from it. The NRL and Origin are doing very well.

Yup.

Am I right in saying that Rugby League is more popular than Rugby in Australia now?

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

Yup.

Am I right in saying that Rugby League is more popular than Rugby in Australia now?

Pretty much always was bar a spike around the 2003 WC

LeinsterDub

JustinDee wrote: »

Far from it. The NRL and Origin are doing very well.

Well that was my point . You get these articles for all the codes bar the AFL. League player goes to AFL league? Then league is on its knees etc...

thomond2006

Wasn't John O'Neill and the ARU the biggest advocates of the ELVs to 'improve' the game? No wonder.

JustinDee

thomond2006 wrote: »

Yup.

Am I right in saying that Rugby League is more popular than Rugby in Australia now?

I'd say so. An Aussie team be it the national or one of the S14 teams needs to win a comp big time. Upon that success, then they can see a resurgence in popularity.
I think they're building patiently myself. Definitely a danger in the RWC.

chris85

League has been the more popular code for a while. NRL and origins are the pinacle there. Origins games are the best.

PhatPiggins

JustinDee wrote: »

I'd say so. An Aussie team be it the national or one of the S14 teams needs to win a comp big time. Upon that success, then they can see a resurgence in popularity.
I think they're building patiently myself. Definitely a danger in the RWC.

The Aussies don't do patient losing very well though. I hope they don't do something stupid as Deans is the right man for the job.

subfreq

I fear the end of year tour could become a farce.

John O'Neil is keen on the idea of adding mid week games to the Autumn tour and effectively touring two different teams. Seperating the major test team and the midweek team entirely and adding new coaches to the roster to manage the midweekers.

Problem is he seems keen on Nucifora or McKenzie to helm the midweekers.

If Mitchell leaves The Force to head over to SA, which it looks like he will then Richard Graham will have to leave the Wallabies to take up the post full time.

I think it would be a scandalous undermining of Deans if they follow through with it all.

The administrative side of the ARU is floundering. They totally dropped the ball(no pun intended) after 2003 and failed to invest in youth and develop a viable national competition after the Super season. A Ranfurly Shield or Currie Cup if you will.

All those chickens are coming home to roost now. Deans has a **** job to be honest because the fruit of his hard work and labour will probably land in the lap of the next coach. He is taking the pain of developing Aussie senior rugby whilst everyone now gets antsy about results (rightfully if you are a paying punter too).

It's an impossible job.

amacachi

A quick wikipedia would correct or improve a few bits of that article. NSW (Sydney), Queensland and ACT are massively Rugby over Aussies Rules, every else is Aussie Rules. Union has been behind League pretty much since League's inception. Looked like it was gaining about 10 years ago after the ARL/Super League/NRL debacle but the public went back to League, IMO because they realised that once the league format was settled it was a far superior product and never lost sight of the higher entertainment value of league.
I also love how he uses Melbourne as a way to put league down, it's an odd thing I often come across with Union fans that they don't mind praising or recognising other sports except when it's League. The Melbourne team has only been around for about 12 years in an Aussie Rules city. Look where the Swans were 12 years in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Swans#Supporter_base
The NRL also overtook the AFL in overall viewing figures last year http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/rugby-league-claims-viewing-win-over-afl-20091220-l7gc.html Admittedly it's biased a bit towards League as it includes more matches than the AFL but the trend is obvious. I'm also fairly sure that League outdoes AFL in merchandise sales and gambling figures. Add to this that Spike now has the US rights to the NRL instead of Setanta bringing it to a far bigger audience. The number of youngsters registering seems to be rising nicely as well.

The challenge facing League in Australia is trying to balance expansion with keeping the Sydneysiders happy. Expansion to, say, WA would be difficult as well as it's probably easier to market a team who are "representing" a state against other state teams and teams from other countries than a team mainly just competing in one country.

The challenge facing Union in Australia is that League has finally gotten it's act together.

EDIT: Only for the Melbourne Storm fiasco the admitting of the Rebels to Super Rugby would've been the stupidest move ever, but with the break they've caught it could work out afterall.
EDIT 2: Just to correct myself, seems that the Storm had an increase in membership following the salary cap breach, so my previous edit can be ignored. :pac:

handsomecake

they are 1 loss away from losing to new zealand 10 times in a row,imagine us losing to england 10 times in a row(our closest rivals i suppose for historical and proximity reasons).our interest would wane,we would watch something else. its no fun when you get a hiding all the time.in fairness i think they have the makings of a really good team in aus. just selection/injury isnt helping at the moment.they also have too many multi faceted utility players, o connor,barnes,giteau,ashley cooper,beale.nobody knows their place. giteau has played scrum half,outhalf ,first centre ,second centre.beale has playeed at 10 for nsw,15 for aus.o connor 11,12,13,14,15.barnes has played 10,12,13. they need to settle on a ten and work their way out.also they need to sack deans or back him

handsomecake

handsomecake wrote: »

they need to sack deans or back him

I'd prefer if they got rid of J O'Neill. He's an awful windbag and comes across as a negative whinger in the press all the time.

thomond2006

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd prefer if they got rid of J O'Neill. He's an awful windbag and comes across as a negative whinger in the press all the time.

He does seem to "talk" a lot. :rolleyes:

Amazotheamazing

handsomecake wrote: »

they are 1 loss away from losing to new zealand 10 times in a row,imagine us losing to england 10 times in a row(our closest rivals i suppose for historical and proximity reasons).our interest would wane,we would watch something else. its no fun when you get a hiding all the time.in fairness i think they have the makings of a really good team in aus. just selection/injury isnt helping at the moment.they also have too many multi faceted utility players, o connor,barnes,giteau,ashley cooper,beale.nobody knows their place. giteau has played scrum half,outhalf ,first centre ,second centre.beale has playeed at 10 for nsw,15 for aus.o connor 11,12,13,14,15.barnes has played 10,12,13. they need to settle on a ten and work their way out.also they need to sack deans or back him

Part of the problem is they play each other too many times. If we played England 3 times a year we'd get bored of it too, imo.

B0X

I suppose once the Argies are included that might change a bit.

subfreq

Well part one of the reshuffle has to take place.

Mitchell has officially taken the job in SA so Australia are looking for a new assistant coach.

I wish they would drop any complicated plans for the Autumn tour but bring McKenzie in as attacking coach.