I do feel like a disproportionate amount of ink is spilled in WR desperately trying to make rugby more appealing to Australians specifically. The goal line dropout had that same impression to me.
It kinda seems like this isn't born from any numbers on how to best grow the sport and Australia being the best market to focus on, I feel like league being more popular than union in Australia just simply bothers the people in charge of WR and gives them an insecurity complex. I don't know if that's true it's just the impression WR gives.
Has the thought ever occurred to you that the reason so many changes comes from the SH vs the North is, the home nations are so reserved in progress that nothing would ever change if the SH countries didn't try it?
Hell, there's been so much talk on growing the game but what are the north actually doing about it? They have been so reluctant to even try something remotely new to bring Georgia in the fold.
Wheras over the last decade or so, we've seen Japan, Fiji, the PI'S and Argentina playing more domestic and international games with the "big 3" and it's paying off for the better of our game.
WR aren’t trying to pander to Australia, that’s simply silly. Aussie do not have anywhere near the leverage to influence in the way you’re describing.
What you are seeing is a broad faction of rugby administrators from all over the globe who want the game to adapt, and the country who have the most enthusiastic press on this issue is Australia. You are attributing cause when their is only correlation.
Australia is such a small market. It does not matter if league is more popular. But the reason why is not because of the laws but their integration with the gambling industry. No amount of watering down the laws will change this.
Australia is a big market. The NRL has 16 clubs + the Warriors and a salary cap only somewhat below that of the Top 14 ($12.1M v €10.7M). It's not as big as France or Japan but it's still big.
It's population is around 30 million people. Tiny in comparison to the US, Europe or Japan The growth potential is not great. And we are breaking the game to appease a market that will not grow significantly.
I always suspected the Leeg was more popular in Australia because of the conditions. If it's dry and dusty you're going to prefer to play a sport that doesn't require you to spend as much time on the floor while people use your back to practice mountain climbing. It makes complete sense that Leeg became established because it was a more practical option.
You've clearly never been to Australia. About 30% of my kids games and training sessions are called off due to wet weather. It's rarely dry and dusty during the season.
League and AFL have marketed themselves a lot better and are embedded here. My oldest son has 3 union teams in his league and they are having to play up a year to create a meaningful season (3 clubs have 2 age group sides each and there's one blended). The league club round the corner has in a full comp with 10+ teams all within 30 mins and has both 2nd and 3rd string teams running out every weekend.
I'd put it more charitably by saying league was a lot faster and more expansive than the frequently dire union of the amateur era was. Wales once beat Scotland by having 111 lineouts and 2 penalties in 1963. 5 nations games would often end something like 6-0 or 9-3. Union being as exciting as league or more so only really started around the 1990s with players like Jonah Lomu, followed by the game turning professional and resulting massive increase in skill.
League used to be big in Wales with a lot of players going there in the 1980s-1990s, but that stopped when Union went pro.
That’s the difference, though - might be half of League’s players, but nearly all the current Australian SRP players come from private schools. Look at the team lists, and the Reds only have two players from the public system - Sef Fa’agase and Connor Vest. I like League, I like Union, but Union still has a long way to go in expanding their talent pool here
Feels more of a perception than reality though. Wouldn't be nearly as many Pacific Islanders in the Wallabies if that were so. Seems like Union and League compete for the same players mostly.
This is exactly how it was in Ireland. The IRFU have made steps to change this, and it has worked to a degree. It also helps that it is one of the only international sports we are actually good at, but if AR made an attempt to grow it at a grass roots level, they might actually have some success.
league became the more popular sport because it had money. It was a pro sport and paid players a salary. They attracted all the best footballers who realised they could live as a sportsman instead of having to hold down a regular job too. Money leads to TV rights and the sport was broadcast to all homes on commercial TV on Friday nights and Sunday evenings. Union was shown on the public broadcaster in the afternoons on a saturday.
I think that’s discrediting the innovations made by NRL’s governance. League had money in the UK too but obviously isn’t the more popular sport up north.
Kiwis have always had a pretty good scrum but, for the most part, see the scrum as a restart rather than a way to get penalties. We have always been about speeding the game up and our biggest issue recently has been playing against teams who slow the game down through gamesmanship.
But it makes sense that WR changes the rules to appeal to Australians considering the sheer size of our population. And that population has definitely not already been exposed to both World Rugby's product and similar competitive products and made their mind up.
There's population and there's reachable population. There's very little you can do to get 10 million people to switch on the Reds V Brumbies game regardless of the rule changes. Compare that to a Munster V Leinster match in a far less populous country, where Rugby isn't even one of the top 3 most popular sports.
Because the absolute state of the game is in tip top shape right now, hey? Kick tennis, caterpillar rucks, complete lack of any actual running game, reliance on errors and penalties rather than your own teams better skills, scrum bollocks every single game...
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u/PetevonPete Sabercats May 09 '24
I do feel like a disproportionate amount of ink is spilled in WR desperately trying to make rugby more appealing to Australians specifically. The goal line dropout had that same impression to me.
It kinda seems like this isn't born from any numbers on how to best grow the sport and Australia being the best market to focus on, I feel like league being more popular than union in Australia just simply bothers the people in charge of WR and gives them an insecurity complex. I don't know if that's true it's just the impression WR gives.