adamkungl
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I haven't posted on here in a long while but the current state and direction of test footy has me itching for a ramble and xitters character limit isn't going to cut it.
It is of course great news to see improved crowds in the Pacific tournaments, headlined by this weeks reports that the Parramatta double header is the best test footy crowd in Sydney since the 1992 Lions tour. Unfortunately, it is absolute nonsense. Let's go back in time a bit.
In 2008 we had our first World Cup of the new international era, as marked by the failure of the 2000 World Cup and subsequent skipping of 2004. In Sydney the Kangaroos twice drew crowds of 34,000 against New Zealand, while Brisbane pulled a healthy 50,000 for the final. In previous years Sydney was averaging in the high 20s for games against NZ and GB, while Brisbane consistently managed above 35k and even 40k. These crowds were seen as disastrous for Sydney and so began an era where not only did Brisbane (fairly) get the premium matches, but Sydney received a grand total of one 'tier 1' test between 2009 and this very week, that being a 2014 Anzac test against New Zealand which drew in 25,000 fans.
Jumping back to today's breathless claims of Sydney finally appreciating test footy, it is fascinating to me to see crowds trumped up as a grand success in 2024 that would have been considered a massive dud in 2024 or 2004. And this is a double header too! Considering the lack of games in Sydney at all, there aren't even any actual data points to compare to. To punish Sydney for its perceived lack of effort in 2006-2008, the games organisers wisely took the Kangaroos in 2009 through to 2014 to places like: Melbourne (29k, 18k), Gold Coast (26k), Newcastle (32k), Townsville (26k), Canberra (25k). Not one of these crowds reaching the 34k Sydney hit twice in 2008 and effectively killing the Kangaroos as a viable brand in Sydney, occasionally justifying their own f**k up by throwing Sydney a rare bone for now underwhelming results. After the sad ending of the 4 nations, Kangaroos crowds tanked further Australia-wide, with anything above 20k considered a big result and Sydney still not seeing them live. This year's Brisbane crowd of 33k is the biggest Kangaroos crowd in Australia since the 2017 World Cup final (40k) - both results 10k down on 2006-2008 era and numbers similar to those which saw Sydney stripped of its place in test footy.
It is clear that the 2005-2017 era of international rugby league was underappreciated. It had its flaws, but was consistently putting up well-supported events and competitive results. The NRL, RLPA and media are all complicit in devaluing it. Refusing to maintain the Kangaroos brand in Sydney in response to poor crowds that were better than todays good crowds is a masterclass in self-sabotage. Back to 2024 and we have hope in the air once more. Perhaps it has clicked that we need to be playing at least 1 big match in Brisbane, Auckland and Sydney every year, with regions and non-heartland cities to follow as time allows. If we compare to history, it looks like we're back to 2005-2006. We have a new tournament format, we've had an underwhelming World Cup impacted by external events and internal failures, and again we have responded by over-correcting and gutting the thing. We're being sold something worse than we had 10 years ago and being told it's actually better. 25k is the new 45k crowd. Maybe in 5 years the new format will be great again. Maybe this time it won't be self-sabotaged but this is International Rugby League. Shall we lock in the next collapse for 2038 or so?
It is of course great news to see improved crowds in the Pacific tournaments, headlined by this weeks reports that the Parramatta double header is the best test footy crowd in Sydney since the 1992 Lions tour. Unfortunately, it is absolute nonsense. Let's go back in time a bit.
In 2008 we had our first World Cup of the new international era, as marked by the failure of the 2000 World Cup and subsequent skipping of 2004. In Sydney the Kangaroos twice drew crowds of 34,000 against New Zealand, while Brisbane pulled a healthy 50,000 for the final. In previous years Sydney was averaging in the high 20s for games against NZ and GB, while Brisbane consistently managed above 35k and even 40k. These crowds were seen as disastrous for Sydney and so began an era where not only did Brisbane (fairly) get the premium matches, but Sydney received a grand total of one 'tier 1' test between 2009 and this very week, that being a 2014 Anzac test against New Zealand which drew in 25,000 fans.
Jumping back to today's breathless claims of Sydney finally appreciating test footy, it is fascinating to me to see crowds trumped up as a grand success in 2024 that would have been considered a massive dud in 2024 or 2004. And this is a double header too! Considering the lack of games in Sydney at all, there aren't even any actual data points to compare to. To punish Sydney for its perceived lack of effort in 2006-2008, the games organisers wisely took the Kangaroos in 2009 through to 2014 to places like: Melbourne (29k, 18k), Gold Coast (26k), Newcastle (32k), Townsville (26k), Canberra (25k). Not one of these crowds reaching the 34k Sydney hit twice in 2008 and effectively killing the Kangaroos as a viable brand in Sydney, occasionally justifying their own f**k up by throwing Sydney a rare bone for now underwhelming results. After the sad ending of the 4 nations, Kangaroos crowds tanked further Australia-wide, with anything above 20k considered a big result and Sydney still not seeing them live. This year's Brisbane crowd of 33k is the biggest Kangaroos crowd in Australia since the 2017 World Cup final (40k) - both results 10k down on 2006-2008 era and numbers similar to those which saw Sydney stripped of its place in test footy.
It is clear that the 2005-2017 era of international rugby league was underappreciated. It had its flaws, but was consistently putting up well-supported events and competitive results. The NRL, RLPA and media are all complicit in devaluing it. Refusing to maintain the Kangaroos brand in Sydney in response to poor crowds that were better than todays good crowds is a masterclass in self-sabotage. Back to 2024 and we have hope in the air once more. Perhaps it has clicked that we need to be playing at least 1 big match in Brisbane, Auckland and Sydney every year, with regions and non-heartland cities to follow as time allows. If we compare to history, it looks like we're back to 2005-2006. We have a new tournament format, we've had an underwhelming World Cup impacted by external events and internal failures, and again we have responded by over-correcting and gutting the thing. We're being sold something worse than we had 10 years ago and being told it's actually better. 25k is the new 45k crowd. Maybe in 5 years the new format will be great again. Maybe this time it won't be self-sabotaged but this is International Rugby League. Shall we lock in the next collapse for 2038 or so?
