damianFootball Wars Part 4- The Game They Play in Heaven
July 30th 2006 23:29
Rugby (Union)
The code with perhaps the most to lose from the recent surge of interest in the Socceroos has been Rugby Union who must be nervously looking at that new juggernaut of marketing. For decades now the sport has held the title as Australia’s most popular international football brand, only being beaten by cricket as the most popular international brand overall. However, with the emergence of the Socceroos that title is now seriously under threat which could effect union right down to the grassroots level.
One of the most fascinating stories of the football codes is the relationship between the two rugby codes which stretches back to the early 20th century here in Australia. Of the same origins, their development has been very, very different and the result has seen both codes take an almost oppositional approach to how they went about growing their respective games.
For Rugby Union, the original rugby, it was developed in the private boys school of Rugby in England. At a time where codified sport barely existed the rules of the game were developed to give the school’s students the discipline and teamwork they needed to be good citizens and soldiers. It also wore the little buggers out who were running amok across the countryside and was considered a solution to all their behavioural problems. There was some tweaking to the rules here and there but the key was of course the ability to pick up the ball which was at odds with the new soccer rules. Instead, rugby followed along the lines of the traditional Folk Football which saw everyone in the village split into two teams and trying their best to get the ball to their respective goal regardless of the means. Unlike the traditional games though (each village had different rules) the Rugby school used the sport as a way of indoctrinating its students which required a certain amount of exclusivity. Thus the Rugby old boys would get together across the Empire and play their sport, passing it on from father to son as a threshold into a way of life. Soon other private schools also took up the odd shaped ball (which wasn’t so odd shaped back then) and the sport became a major part of private school life and, subsequently, the upper class.
One of the most bizarre parts of the sport was perhaps the ideological doctrine it steadfastly held to. At the core of this code of conduct was the idea of Amateurism- the playing of sport for nothing more than the value of sport. This lead to the rejection of all forms of professionalism or payment for players which maintained the exclusivity of the code to those who could afford to take the time off work or didn’t have to work at all. What this lead to was the development of a football code that had very good links with the business fraternity, with networks criss-crossing the world, but with very few players in comparison to other sports. Of these few players none were (supposed to be) paid for playing.
Astonishingly this was the situation in Australia right up until the mid 90s when Rupert Murdoch, probably on a roll with his rugby league coupe, took the rugby union fraternity aside and suggested they got with the times. After a century of resistance the codes power brokers finally gave in to the corrupting influences of professionalism and rugby union set about making up for lost time.
Given the incredible resources for a game its size rugby union has been working from its strengths to develop a profile which works from the ‘top down’. This has seen the very successful Wallabies brand name used to maintain the profile of the sport as well as promote the Super 14 semi-domestic competition and has seen a degree of success as witnessed through the very healthy crowd numbers seen at rugby union games. This is all off the back of the codes most valuable asset, its international competition which is highlighted here in Australia in the very popular Tri Nations series and the Rugby World Cup which is probably the second largest football world cup in the world. It’s through these competitions and the significant world wide exposure that they generate that Union endures and thrives.
Unfortunately though the unique way in which the code promotes itself through its strengths also highlights Unions biggest weakness- its domestic arena. The lack of domestic strength has lead to the development of the Super 14 competition where club teams from the Tri Nation countries South Africa, New Zealand and Australia play each other on a regular basis. With the recent introduction of the Perth Force to the competition the competition has generated some very good momentum and improved it’s position domestically as a national code with good media exposure but the format does have its weak points. It is quite a bizarre idea, the code playing an international domestic comp where teams have to fly to every game they play and just goes to show how unique the code is but it faces the challenge of building rivalries between teams that really have nothing to do with each other. When was the last time you wanted to see those annoying Johannesburg people put in their place? Me neither. Luckily though the game can feed off the more traditional rivalries generated from rugby league with the NSW/Queensland rivalry flexible enough to extend itself to all sports and newer rivalries between NSW and Canberra also emerging.
But rivalry is not the only rugby league resource Union is feeding off and it’s with the poaching of rugby league players that rugby unions vulnerability is really exposed. The strength of Union has always been with international representation but the crisis with developing grass roots talent has reached a crescendo at the moment. Being able to poach talent is not a problem for Union as the code obviously has the money for it but when you consider that many of the biggest names in the sport have some sort of rugby league background the code is starting to look like a retirement home for big name League players. If these new imports are not carefully managed by the code things could soon reach a farcial level where all of the marquee players and the media exposure that follows them becomes an extension of rugby league’s NRL competition.
Fortunately though there are plans in the works to start a domestic competition in order to address this player shortage. The format for the new competition is still being worked out but it looks like taking on a similar format to that of soccer’s A League with a series of small, newly created clubs spread across Australia but you do have to wonder how it will work alongside the already established Super 14 competition.
One of the biggest problems facing Union, like soccer, is that they haven’t been able to secure a free-to-air television deal, instead relying on at-ground spectatorship and subscription TV. If the Super 14s cannot get free-to-air coverage and relatively small media coverage how is the new domestic competition going to be any different?
In an already crowded football market finding enough oxygen to exist will be a challenge for the new union competition but it is a step in the right direction. With a new domestic competition up and running there will finally be a clear pathway from grassroots rugby through to the Wallabies and will benefit the recruitment and development of new junior players to no end.
Finally, the greatest threat by far to union is the attack on the Wallabies. With the rise of the Socceroos there is now another high exposure football brand on the world stage, one that threatens to steal the thunder of the Wallabies. This was evident in the recent test matches played during the soccer World Cup which failed to sell out and were completely swamped by coverage of the Socceroos and the State of Origin, the Socceroos even pinching Union’s Weetbix ads. Were the Wallabies to lose ground the code would start to hemorrhage at its point of strength which would be disastrous. It is vital for the code in Australia that they continue to maintain their place in the Australian sporting calender and to do that they will need to maintain the popularity of its regular international competitions and the dream to play in the gold jumper.
But for all the dangers the code is about to face in this new age of football code competition rugby union in Australia has come forward in leaps and bounds. For a sport that has been professional for less than two decades they are now in the possession of a very decent slice of the football spotlight domestically with plenty of potential for expansion of the game amongst newer rugby union nations throughout the world. With the rise of smaller nations the code only becomes more attractive as an international game and that can only do good things domestically.
Some links:
Rugby.com.au- the place for all things rugby
Official Rugby World Cup site
The code with perhaps the most to lose from the recent surge of interest in the Socceroos has been Rugby Union who must be nervously looking at that new juggernaut of marketing. For decades now the sport has held the title as Australia’s most popular international football brand, only being beaten by cricket as the most popular international brand overall. However, with the emergence of the Socceroos that title is now seriously under threat which could effect union right down to the grassroots level.
For Rugby Union, the original rugby, it was developed in the private boys school of Rugby in England. At a time where codified sport barely existed the rules of the game were developed to give the school’s students the discipline and teamwork they needed to be good citizens and soldiers. It also wore the little buggers out who were running amok across the countryside and was considered a solution to all their behavioural problems. There was some tweaking to the rules here and there but the key was of course the ability to pick up the ball which was at odds with the new soccer rules. Instead, rugby followed along the lines of the traditional Folk Football which saw everyone in the village split into two teams and trying their best to get the ball to their respective goal regardless of the means. Unlike the traditional games though (each village had different rules) the Rugby school used the sport as a way of indoctrinating its students which required a certain amount of exclusivity. Thus the Rugby old boys would get together across the Empire and play their sport, passing it on from father to son as a threshold into a way of life. Soon other private schools also took up the odd shaped ball (which wasn’t so odd shaped back then) and the sport became a major part of private school life and, subsequently, the upper class.
One of the most bizarre parts of the sport was perhaps the ideological doctrine it steadfastly held to. At the core of this code of conduct was the idea of Amateurism- the playing of sport for nothing more than the value of sport. This lead to the rejection of all forms of professionalism or payment for players which maintained the exclusivity of the code to those who could afford to take the time off work or didn’t have to work at all. What this lead to was the development of a football code that had very good links with the business fraternity, with networks criss-crossing the world, but with very few players in comparison to other sports. Of these few players none were (supposed to be) paid for playing.
Astonishingly this was the situation in Australia right up until the mid 90s when Rupert Murdoch, probably on a roll with his rugby league coupe, took the rugby union fraternity aside and suggested they got with the times. After a century of resistance the codes power brokers finally gave in to the corrupting influences of professionalism and rugby union set about making up for lost time.
Rugby line out
Given the incredible resources for a game its size rugby union has been working from its strengths to develop a profile which works from the ‘top down’. This has seen the very successful Wallabies brand name used to maintain the profile of the sport as well as promote the Super 14 semi-domestic competition and has seen a degree of success as witnessed through the very healthy crowd numbers seen at rugby union games. This is all off the back of the codes most valuable asset, its international competition which is highlighted here in Australia in the very popular Tri Nations series and the Rugby World Cup which is probably the second largest football world cup in the world. It’s through these competitions and the significant world wide exposure that they generate that Union endures and thrives.
Unfortunately though the unique way in which the code promotes itself through its strengths also highlights Unions biggest weakness- its domestic arena. The lack of domestic strength has lead to the development of the Super 14 competition where club teams from the Tri Nation countries South Africa, New Zealand and Australia play each other on a regular basis. With the recent introduction of the Perth Force to the competition the competition has generated some very good momentum and improved it’s position domestically as a national code with good media exposure but the format does have its weak points. It is quite a bizarre idea, the code playing an international domestic comp where teams have to fly to every game they play and just goes to show how unique the code is but it faces the challenge of building rivalries between teams that really have nothing to do with each other. When was the last time you wanted to see those annoying Johannesburg people put in their place? Me neither. Luckily though the game can feed off the more traditional rivalries generated from rugby league with the NSW/Queensland rivalry flexible enough to extend itself to all sports and newer rivalries between NSW and Canberra also emerging.
But rivalry is not the only rugby league resource Union is feeding off and it’s with the poaching of rugby league players that rugby unions vulnerability is really exposed. The strength of Union has always been with international representation but the crisis with developing grass roots talent has reached a crescendo at the moment. Being able to poach talent is not a problem for Union as the code obviously has the money for it but when you consider that many of the biggest names in the sport have some sort of rugby league background the code is starting to look like a retirement home for big name League players. If these new imports are not carefully managed by the code things could soon reach a farcial level where all of the marquee players and the media exposure that follows them becomes an extension of rugby league’s NRL competition.
Fortunately though there are plans in the works to start a domestic competition in order to address this player shortage. The format for the new competition is still being worked out but it looks like taking on a similar format to that of soccer’s A League with a series of small, newly created clubs spread across Australia but you do have to wonder how it will work alongside the already established Super 14 competition.
One of the biggest problems facing Union, like soccer, is that they haven’t been able to secure a free-to-air television deal, instead relying on at-ground spectatorship and subscription TV. If the Super 14s cannot get free-to-air coverage and relatively small media coverage how is the new domestic competition going to be any different?
Rugby World Cup
In an already crowded football market finding enough oxygen to exist will be a challenge for the new union competition but it is a step in the right direction. With a new domestic competition up and running there will finally be a clear pathway from grassroots rugby through to the Wallabies and will benefit the recruitment and development of new junior players to no end.
Finally, the greatest threat by far to union is the attack on the Wallabies. With the rise of the Socceroos there is now another high exposure football brand on the world stage, one that threatens to steal the thunder of the Wallabies. This was evident in the recent test matches played during the soccer World Cup which failed to sell out and were completely swamped by coverage of the Socceroos and the State of Origin, the Socceroos even pinching Union’s Weetbix ads. Were the Wallabies to lose ground the code would start to hemorrhage at its point of strength which would be disastrous. It is vital for the code in Australia that they continue to maintain their place in the Australian sporting calender and to do that they will need to maintain the popularity of its regular international competitions and the dream to play in the gold jumper.
But for all the dangers the code is about to face in this new age of football code competition rugby union in Australia has come forward in leaps and bounds. For a sport that has been professional for less than two decades they are now in the possession of a very decent slice of the football spotlight domestically with plenty of potential for expansion of the game amongst newer rugby union nations throughout the world. With the rise of smaller nations the code only becomes more attractive as an international game and that can only do good things domestically.
Some links:
Rugby.com.au- the place for all things rugby
Official Rugby World Cup site
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