Polynesian Warrior
juniors
- Messages
- 3,590
Rugby media coverage grows in Russia, eyes set on RWC 2007
Alex Rabiychuk Monday, 17 October 2005
Football (soccer) remains the undisputed "king of sport" in Russia, despite the fact that the national team has just missed the ticket to FIFA World Cup, and rugby is far from being the second or even third most-watched sport. But things are slowly improving for rugby in Russia, and better media coverage is key.
Your average Russian sports fan knows very little about rugby and often confuses rugby with American football. Until recently, the only mention rugby would get on TV would be when a football commentator says about a particularly brutal cheap shot something like "this is not a proper football match but some rugby mayhem". Things began to change several years ago when first the 7TV sports channel showed the Heineken Cup, and now the RTR-Sport channel has weekly broadcasts of Russian Superleague matches. The broadcasts are not live and the quality of the commentary needs to be improved, but this is still a big step forward. RTR-Sport has an audience of about 50 million in Russia, and many sports fans in neighbouring countries get it on satellite (like myself in Ukraine), so it is safe to say that rugby on TV can now reach at least 60 million people in the former Soviet Union. In addition, popular sports newspapers Sovetskiy Sport and Sport-Express now publish regular updates on the national championship and interviews with coaches.
All this is good, but many observers are questioning the rationale behind broadcasts of the Russian national championship and argue that the money would be better spent on buying rights for Heineken Cup or Super 12 matches. They do have a valid point. First of all, the technical quality of broadcasts is rather low. Often times, the camera is slow to follow the ball when it is kicked or comes out of a scrum, and no such thing as reverse angle repeats could be observed. And of course, the fans unanimously bemoan the commentators for "boring" the audience. Second and most important, the quality of the game itself is obviously lower than that of Super 12 clubs, games are played at poorly equipped stadiums with the stands half-empty. A young sports fan who never saw rugby before would probably be unimpressed by the rugby action he sees on the screen and would not think of tuning in again or finding a local rugby club. Seeing rugby grands playing at packed stadiums can probably do a better job of arousing interest in the sport of rugby in Russia.
The Russian national team is going to play the HSBC Waratahs next week and RTR-Sport promises a live broadcast of the event, which is great news. However, considering the fact that the Waratahs have already beaten Romania pretty good and absolutely savaged the Czechs, what good would it make for attracting new rugby audience to see the Russian national team get crushed by the Waratahs? After all, the Russians have lost to the Czechs in the last two matches they had. Of course, no-one is saying that the broadcast should be cancelled, it is a wonderful opportunity for Russian rugby fans to see some good quality rugby by one of the world's best teams. But the point stands that the Russian Rugby Union and RTR-Sport need to consider showing good quality rugby from foreign competitions if they want to grow the audience at home and promote the game among the Russian youth.
In the meantime, RTR-Sport said they have already bought the rights to broadcast the 2007 Rugby World Cup, which can do miracles for the Russian rugby, especially if the national teams manages to secure a place in its group. The Russians don't have much chance against top 10 national teams, but having the team in the world's third most-watched sporting event may finally force the state to pay more attention to rugby. The Russian government is always keen on promoting the country's image and growing national pride at home. The situation with Russian sports is that the team has to show results first to get state funding. In light of the recent political developments, beating Georgia and going to the World Cup will push rugby higher in the state's picking order for sports funding.
Alex Rabiychuk Monday, 17 October 2005 Football (soccer) remains the undisputed "king of sport" in Russia, despite the fact that the national team has just missed the ticket to FIFA World Cup, and rugby is far from being the second or even third most-watched sport. But things are slowly improving for rugby in Russia, and better media coverage is key.
Your average Russian sports fan knows very little about rugby and often confuses rugby with American football. Until recently, the only mention rugby would get on TV would be when a football commentator says about a particularly brutal cheap shot something like "this is not a proper football match but some rugby mayhem". Things began to change several years ago when first the 7TV sports channel showed the Heineken Cup, and now the RTR-Sport channel has weekly broadcasts of Russian Superleague matches. The broadcasts are not live and the quality of the commentary needs to be improved, but this is still a big step forward. RTR-Sport has an audience of about 50 million in Russia, and many sports fans in neighbouring countries get it on satellite (like myself in Ukraine), so it is safe to say that rugby on TV can now reach at least 60 million people in the former Soviet Union. In addition, popular sports newspapers Sovetskiy Sport and Sport-Express now publish regular updates on the national championship and interviews with coaches.
All this is good, but many observers are questioning the rationale behind broadcasts of the Russian national championship and argue that the money would be better spent on buying rights for Heineken Cup or Super 12 matches. They do have a valid point. First of all, the technical quality of broadcasts is rather low. Often times, the camera is slow to follow the ball when it is kicked or comes out of a scrum, and no such thing as reverse angle repeats could be observed. And of course, the fans unanimously bemoan the commentators for "boring" the audience. Second and most important, the quality of the game itself is obviously lower than that of Super 12 clubs, games are played at poorly equipped stadiums with the stands half-empty. A young sports fan who never saw rugby before would probably be unimpressed by the rugby action he sees on the screen and would not think of tuning in again or finding a local rugby club. Seeing rugby grands playing at packed stadiums can probably do a better job of arousing interest in the sport of rugby in Russia.
The Russian national team is going to play the HSBC Waratahs next week and RTR-Sport promises a live broadcast of the event, which is great news. However, considering the fact that the Waratahs have already beaten Romania pretty good and absolutely savaged the Czechs, what good would it make for attracting new rugby audience to see the Russian national team get crushed by the Waratahs? After all, the Russians have lost to the Czechs in the last two matches they had. Of course, no-one is saying that the broadcast should be cancelled, it is a wonderful opportunity for Russian rugby fans to see some good quality rugby by one of the world's best teams. But the point stands that the Russian Rugby Union and RTR-Sport need to consider showing good quality rugby from foreign competitions if they want to grow the audience at home and promote the game among the Russian youth.
In the meantime, RTR-Sport said they have already bought the rights to broadcast the 2007 Rugby World Cup, which can do miracles for the Russian rugby, especially if the national teams manages to secure a place in its group. The Russians don't have much chance against top 10 national teams, but having the team in the world's third most-watched sporting event may finally force the state to pay more attention to rugby. The Russian government is always keen on promoting the country's image and growing national pride at home. The situation with Russian sports is that the team has to show results first to get state funding. In light of the recent political developments, beating Georgia and going to the World Cup will push rugby higher in the state's picking order for sports funding.
