National Rugby Competition - already in planning

[Marcus]

The scoop is the ARU are already in planning mode for a national competition to kick off in mid-2005.

The proposal is an 11 team competition that will run akin to the Currie Cup and NPC.

4 - Sydney teams
2 - Brisbane teams
1 - Gold Coast
1 - Canberra
1 - Newcastle
1 - Melbourne
1 - Perth

The huge profit that the ARU will make from the RWC will ensure that sufficient funds are available to help get the competition up and running.

The competition is hoped to be played after the Super 12 but will not feature any Wallaby squad members. Instead the 90 or so players on S12 contracts will be made available and will be distributed among the 11 clubs evenly to ensure a balanced competition.

A national club competition will ensure the ARU have a fall back plan in case the unthinkable happens - No more Super 12 after 2005.

While its a bit odd to speak of 11 sides, its possible that an extra one will be added at a later date in the city of Adelaide - to make it a proper national competition.

While the details are still sketchy and with no official mention of a NRC on the aru's official site. The good thing is that the ARU are thinking about this and realising what many rugby fans have been calling for all along.

Article:- http://www.thewest.com.au/20030925/sport/tw-sport-home-sto113395.html

 

[incredible_holc]

ha what crowds are they expecting

knowing newcastle's attitude to anything not league youll be lucky to get 500 there

dont know about the others though

where in sydney it would only popular in the upper class parts

 

[roopy]

A 'Newcastle' team would be better off playing out of Maitland or Singleton or even further up the Valley.
There might be enough country yokels up the valley to give a bit of support to the team.
I think the Newcastle team in the Sydney grade comp lasted one or two seasons (the Wildfires).

 

[incredible_holc]

also where is the playing talent going to come from

just say a club has a squad of 25

well thats 275 players

there is not that many players of a high enough standard to give this comp any higher standard than club rugby

i predict it to fail within 2 years

 

[dimitri]

just like any other level of yawniooon










they will need to buy a lot of league players to make it viable

 

[Victor Trumper]

How is this to be financed?

I can't see it gaining commercial TV coverage, nor major sponsorship, and the crowds whilst may be high for some sides, overall would be comparitive to Jim Beam crowds. The difference being Jim Beam doesn't have the costs that come with a national competition. The WC profits may finance it initally, but I doubt wether the comp will be allowed to continuosly syphon funds from the kitty to keep it alive.

This is a genuine question to those who may no a bit more about it, ie I'm not trolling.

 

[Skippy1]

How is this to be financed?

I can't see it gaining commercial TV coverage, nor major sponsorship, and the crowds whilst may be high for some sides, overall would be comparitive to Jim Beam crowds. The difference being Jim Beam doesn't have the costs that come with a national competition. The WC profits may finance it initally, but I doubt wether the comp will be allowed to continuosly syphon funds from the kitty to keep it alive.

This is a genuine question to those who may no a bit more about it, ie I'm not trolling.

There's plenty of ways of financing these teams. There would be any number of sponsers will to take on teams initially. Also, if each team had a club house that was owned by the club and not run as a separate business/entity to the game side of things, revenue could be made in this way in order to pay for essentials such as jerseys and kit. Sponsorship from large businesses in the given areas would definately cover wages to start with. I'm sure the support of Union is not as sparse as some would think, and lets face it, those that do support the game are generally speaking, not short of a quid.

 

[incredible_holc]

ha it would never work

sponsership will be gone after the initail contract and then it will die

the quality will just be too low

 

[Victor Trumper]

There's plenty of ways of financing these teams. There would be any number of sponsers will to take on teams initially.

Who would they be? and why aren't they already on board with the Sydney or Brisbane RU comps. As I said I can't see them getting any FTA coverage on a commercial network, the only likely coverage would be ABC, which do everything in their power to eliminate sponsorship from their coverage, or Pay-TV, neither are going to be big attractions to companies wanting to sponsor a team.

Also, if each team had a club house that was owned by the club and not run as a separate business/entity to the game side of things, revenue could be made in this way in order to pay for essentials such as jerseys and kit.

Such as Leagues clubs, with all their current problems would not be they way to go, or club run club houses, another huge start up cost needed to be recouped, not to mention the likely effect it would have on other local pubs, who you would expect would be sounded out by these union clubs for sponsorship which they are unlikely to hand over if the clubs themselves are to be running competition for business in the local area.

Sponsorship from large businesses in the given areas would definately cover wages to start with.

see first point.

I'm sure the support of Union is not as sparse as some would think, and lets face it, those that do support the game are generally speaking, not short of a quid.

Well why aren't they attending the local club comps now. I think a Randwick v Uni match would be more of an attraction then a West Sydney v Perth game, whilst relying on a few well off supporters is hardly a safe long term plan.

Ultimatley if they do go ahead I hope it is a success, then it may lead Rugby League to pull their finger out and look at expanding their game, but I really can't see it working at the moment.

 

[Skippy1]

It's easy to be negative Victor. Try to boot on the other foot. Any suggestions from yourself on how it could be done then?

 

[Victor Trumper]

Any suggestions from yourself on how it could be done then?

Thats my point, I can't see it being viable for quite some time. If the ARU are willing to prop it up for a decade or so, which they may be planning on, then it may work as it will allow the teams to establish core support bases and cultivate long term relationships with businesses, but if they are given only a couple of years to make it happen, then I think it will struggle.

 

[Skippy1]

Any suggestions from yourself on how it could be done then?

Thats my point, I can't see it being viable for quite some time. If the ARU are willing to prop it up for a decade or so, which they may be planning on, then it may work as it will allow the teams to establish core support bases and cultivate long term relationships with businesses, but if they are given only a couple of years to make it happen, then I think it will struggle.

I'm sure the ARU will support it for some time. Hard for me to comment on the state of the game over there though I'm afraid. Been living here in England for the last 10 years. Would seem though, from the few mates that I've kept in touch with, that Union is gaining in popularity. I do believe that it is important that OZ has a proper National League of some description. I believe there was talk of trying to get a few teams into the NPC. Bad move I think.

 

[Victor Trumper]

Any suggestions from yourself on how it could be done then?

Thats my point, I can't see it being viable for quite some time. If the ARU are willing to prop it up for a decade or so, which they may be planning on, then it may work as it will allow the teams to establish core support bases and cultivate long term relationships with businesses, but if they are given only a couple of years to make it happen, then I think it will struggle.

I'm sure the ARU will support it for some time. Hard for me to comment on the state of the game over there though I'm afraid. Been living here in England for the last 10 years. Would seem though, from the few mates that I've kept in touch with, that Union is gaining in popularity. I do believe that it is important that OZ has a proper National League of some description. I believe there was talk of trying to get a few teams into the NPC. Bad move I think.

From a League supporter who has a passing interest in Union, I would assume the state of the game is the best its been in Aus for a long time, which you could probably say for Cricket, League and AFL as well. Good time to be supporting Aus sport I suppose.
I think union supporters would agree that Aus Union has had somewhat of a golden era in the last 2 decades as far as players are concerned which has meant the Wallabies have been consistently succesfull, which the ARU have taken advantage of, as you would hope, resulting in an overall improvement of the game in most areas. However, putting my negative hat back on, with the coming retirements of a lot of the current squad, the challenge is for them to continue with he success, hence probably their ambitious National comp plans.

I heard about the NPC plans, but I think I read somewhere apparently the Kiwis told them to cram it, they don't want the Aussies in their comp, maybe wrong but.

 

[Victor Trumper]

Skip,
All their opinions designed to hide their fears of the superior game succeeding with traditions reaching to heaven (the POPE played for POLAND and Bush played at UNI.,

You are using a frail old man, and a, possibly illiterate, war monger to highlight your percieved superiority.

Keep trying.

 

[Mint Condition]

The ARU want to implement the competition before the renegotiation of the broadcasting rights in the hope to get a larger amount. That would in part finance the comp. I think the ARU would want the teams to be privately backed. I'm sure there's enough Eric Watson type tycoons who wouldn't mind owning a rugby side.

Players would come from super 12 players, Australians currently playing overseas (there are heaps of them), the better club players that as of yet haven't forced their way into super 12, promising overseas players from countries where the game is strictly amateur and maybe some rugby league players.

It wouldn't be anywhere near the AFL or NRL, the fact is it'll be a super 12 length competition with smaller sponsorship, tv and general media coverage and smaller crowds but rugby can't do any worse than the NSL or the NBL.

I think starting a national comp from scratch will be very interesting. Hopefully it'll improve the standard of play and act as a bridge between suburban club rugby and Super 12. If the teams from Perth and Melbourne can get decent crowds behind them it should be successfull.

I'd think a lot more people will go to these games rather than current club games. The players will be professional, there will be promotion, decent sponsorship and hopefully some decent tv coverage at least on fox sports.

I think if they could get crowd averages of about 7000 or so to start with that they'd be happy. They just have to concentrate first on survival, and then building the competition up over the first decade of its existance.

The ARU wouldn't be going ahead with it if it wasn't a viable venture. John O'Neill, love him or hate him, is a very shrewd person. He comes from a banking background and wouldn't invest in this competition if he didn't think it was viable.

 

[Anonymous]

I think it will be hugely successful.

All you have to do to confirm this is go to TG Milner or Coogee Oval or any number of club grounds on game day to see thousands turn out nto watch club rugby in action.

And a note about Newcastle. Recently the Grand Final which was staged at the gardens sport stadium was played. There were more than a few thousand there. If it was a team in a national comp, they would get large crowds no worries.

 

[rugged]

hey, who thinks that a planned national comp will still go ahead now O'Neill has left? i'm a bit concerned that it will no longer be on the agenda.

i think rugby has to have something to offer over the NRL clubs. the NRL clubs put the best kids on contract at age 15 or before and rugby then has no chance. and what chance do the young players have of making super 12 compared with NRL? the young players would take that into consideration before making their choice. some of them get contracts with reds/waratahs etc and would be sitting round in the local comp waiting for a slight chance of making the super 12 8) team.

i have a son who is in the position of being looked at by both codes and i personally would like rugby union to be able to offer more in terms of player development (as in playing in a good competition). it seems there aren't as many opportunities in union as there are in league.

what are everyone's thoughts? 8)

 

[ripper]

And the leaguies are wondering how its finaced? The ARU Made that 60 mil from a world cup, thats probaly more profit then the last 3 world cups put together

 

[AuckMel]

They made 45 mil, and have been told 30 of that should be kept in reserve.

I note with interest, that Mr. Jones is now calling for a NSW and QLD type combined comp and not a national one.

 

[eastsrule]

Holc, you are a dickhead. All of your claims are not based on facts.

Last year I went to Newcastle to watch a Trial Match. Waratahs vs Crusaders, and Newcastle Stadium, or whatever it is called was almost packed.

I went up to the Central Coast to watch Easts vs Gordon once. There was a crowd of 3 - 4 000. Around the amount some League teams get.

You will find that this will not get any exposure on free to air because there is simply no room, but I am sure the ARU and Foxtel have been talking of a Rugby Channel when Foxtel upgrade their stuff.

The quality would be high becausae it gives the incentive of having an extra chance of playing for the wallabies. If you saw the quality of some players that have gone overseas because of the bullshit they have had to put up with from the NSWRU or ARU would agree that we let too many players go.

As for sponsorship, if club rugby can gain sponsorship, I am sure this could. Especially if it is on TV.

I am not expecting a competition the calibre of the NRL straight up, but I am hoping for something that will keep the players in Australia and to watch entertaining footy.