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Totally. It's interesting to note the quality of the commentators vs the interest in rugby when you look at overseas. The commentators are totally accountable for the lack of interest in rugby in Australia. They're biased, boring, lack knowledge, and not really interested in what they do. That, combined with no free to air TV coverage, is in my opinion the main reason for the declining interest in rugby.
Personally I think that world is dead going forward. Good quality streaming is the ticket.
Hell, I am not even sure how to get my TV to work on free to air but I sure as hell have my computer hooked up to my TV.
This is what the ARU need to do to innovate. Sell their product to Pay TV/free TV as they do now for the big bucks and build their own streaming service which will have new games(potentially delayed to not upset Pay TV/Free TV) but most importantly archived games. Build a following with a pricing similar to maybe the Netflix monthly fee where the enticement is various pundit show, old matches on demand, doco's talking about old matches. etc. If you charge around $12 a month(small enough that it isn't cost prohibitive) and have 10,000 people subscribe, that's $1.5 million in the coffers for a very small amount of people, for what essentially would have a very low cost base besides the pundit shows, as once the older games are archived it's done.
Make that available world wide and look at ARU's revenue go up. All you would need to do is talk Foxtel into potentially a leasing of old matches and pundit shows, track down old archived matches, whatever we can afford and then make an original show every week or so to keep things ticking along and you have yourself the future.
Don't underestimate nostalgia or the wish to know 'what came before'. Think of a young kid who hears his dad talk about the time we got our first win at home, how the hell is that kid ever going to watch that game? Perhaps his old man could simply put it on the tele from the ARU/Foxtel on Demand Rugby Streaming Service (name needs work) and have a watch. Next thing you know the kid is watching the first season matches and feeling the excitement we all felt back then. His interest is engaged and he is ready for the next game.
That's why On Demand streaming is the answer, not Free TV/Pay TV.
Nbl have nbl.tv there are options for subscriptions. Pay minimal just get your teams games, pay more for whole comp.
Rugby could do the same. Team, comp, tests, pro12, aviva and a subscription that covers it all. Heres an opportunity that wont just make a killing for ARU but all the unions if the pool together. Sell it at prices that reflect economy. Australia pays higher but still for a decent prices, places like the pacific islands pay less and promotes rugby more and more
Love the idea and would sign up in a second..but when has the ARU/Foxtel Rugby ever shown it itself to be innovative?
I agree that the future will be streaming, but I'm just not sure we're there yet and can discount FTA TV. The trouble with streaming at the moment is trying to appeal to most new or part time fans, someone has to be prepared to go out of their way to watch it. I remember first trying to set up Foxtel online to watch Perth Spirit, it wasn't easy.
As a comparison, say Foxtel release the away games for the local team for FTA TV. So in Perth we would only get FTA away games for the Force. It would allow people to connect with the local team, would promote the rest of the games for Foxtel (while only releasing a few games each year), and would help get better attendance to the local games (since they're not on FTA TV).
Foxtel is like a necessary evil at the moment, but I really think they need to do better with their commentators - for the good of the game, as well as their subscription audience. The crazy thing is that I think Foxtel is accountable for the decline in Australian Rugby, but there hasn't been any discussion on their performance. The ARU don't need to lose a team - but they do need to get Foxtel to do a better job. (And also spend less on the Rebels, and scrap this crazy corporate model they are so intent on justifying no matter what the cost.)
Good article from more of the Victorian side but still very relevant.
Stirling Mortlock: 'The damage done to the rugby union is an absolute tragedy'
Stirling Mortlock
I am in disbelief to think that the Melbourne Rebels may play their last gameat AAMI Park on Friday night, in a stadium that was in part built to support rugby's place in Victoria. For that to happen would be such a tragedy and I totally empathise with the staff at the Rebels and the playing group who have had to carry this tension and anxiety through their entire season.
When the ARU and SANZAAR announced in April that one of the Rebels, Western Force or Brumbies would have to be kicked out of the competition, I initially I thought it was horrific for everybody involved at all three teams. I only played for two clubs and both of their heads were on the chopping block, so I was very disappointed.
I assumed there would be a process in place and perhaps a few weeks of uncertainty until a decision was made. And I figured that, once a decision was made, we would all get on with it. As hard as that is to fathom and comprehend, sometimes these things happen in life and in sport and you have no choice but to move on.
In the Rebels' first season, 2011, the Queensland Reds won the tournament; in 2014, the Waratahs won their first title. There was no talk about five Australian teams being unsustainable at that stage. But now, months after the initial announcement, the Rebels and the Force will end their seasons with this hanging over their futures.
Regardless of how it ends, I believe this situation and the damage done to the game in the process is an absolute tragedy for Melbourne, especially for all the people who got behind the establishment of the Rebels. There are so many fantastic people in Victoria who love the game and have poured their hearts and souls into the club.
It is very easy for people to say that Victoria is not a rugby heartland and the commercial return isn't there, but from my perspective the one thing that struck me straight away when I moved down with my family in late 2010 was the absolute groundswell of people who love the game and were so proud and happy to have the Rebels enter the competition.
But all the to-ing and fro-ing in the game this year has led to a lot of people all over the country being disengaged. The 18-team expansion of Super Rugby hasn't worked and clearly crowds have been affected across the board.
I have huge concerns about how the Super Rugby teams operate and clearly the competition needs to change; but to get rid of one team for financial reasons after we've received a massive broadcast uplift doesn't fix the problem that most of the provincial teams are struggling financially.
If the ARU wants to say that the five-team model was destined to fail, then it must take ownership of setting it up to fail as well. Clearly at this stage it hasn't.
Unfortunately, what we have seen from the ARU is that there has been a lack of leadership and direction. Getting rid of one team is counter-intuitive to growing rugby in Australia and I don't think it even goes close to addressing the real problems that the game faces – issues such as a lack of collaboration from the grassroots all the way to the professional level and being innovative with solutions to encourage more kids to both watch and play rugby in such a competitive sporting market. We also need to address the massive disconnect between the top tier of the game and its long-term supporters. The list goes on with things that need to change.
When Andrew Cox and Imperium bought the Rebels in 2015, I doubt that the ARU would have stated any concerns about the future of the club or of five teams. Chopping and changing the direction of rugby in Australia has not been conducive to any growth or development, or long-term positives for the game. That's incredibly disappointing on many fronts.
I was so proud to be a Melbourne Rebels player for two years and I was then involved with the coaching and commercial sides of the business after I retired, as well as serving on the board. If Friday night is to be the final game in the Rebels' history, I think it would be close to the last straw for so many people in Victorian rugby.
The club competition in Melbourne is getting better every year, developing more genuine local products coming through the pathways, with the likes of Rob Leota, Fereti Sa'aga, Sione Tuipulotu and Jordan Uelese all making their debuts in the last two seasons. Victoria's U20s and Schoolboys teams are getting better and better, but axing the Rebels would certainly diminish that growth.
I want to encourage as many people as possible in Melbourne to get down to the Stockade on Friday night for the game against the Jaguares. You just need to think about where we were back in 2010, prior to the club's inaugural season, and how proud we were to have a team to represent our city and channel that passion. For the Rebels, there are plenty more good times to come.
Stirling Mortlock was the Melbourne Rebels' foundation captain in 2011. He is the fourth-most capped Australian Super Rugby player of all time and captained the Wallabies in 29 of his 80 Tests. He now works as a partner of Peak Advisors in Sydney.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/st...13-gxalh8.html
Stephen Hoiles on Rugby kick and chase once again showed the Eastern States myopic view of Australian Rugby.
He said we should stop spending money on the 5th franchise and instead spend it on grass roots rugby.
AND NO ONE ON THE COMMENTARY TEAM QUESTIONED HIS IDIOCY......even Can Shepherd kept quiet.....SHAME ON YOU!!!
Apparently there is no grass roots rugby in WA or Victoria.
What a fuckwit!!!
Grassroots rugby = Shute Shield
Stated fact, listen to any media personality in Sydney.
C'mon the![]()
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Reece Robinson now looks to be heading overseas.
Where will the depth be ARU
#weakeradfour
Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”
Foxsports commentators saying the Rebels are going to hand their licence to the Victorian Rugby Union (may require ARU approval) but I can't find anything on it in media statements etc on the Rebels website or on Foxsports
May be a big move as the VicRU will fight harder than Cox to keep a loss-making side. Might also further flush out the ARU preference for removal - if their approval is required and they do so, it makes it virtually explicit that they are committed to it being the Force that gets the chop.
Vic Government are experienced in propping up loss making sporting events - see F1 grand prix.
Doesn't need flushing out Mac, it's been obvious from the day they gave the 5th licence to Melbourne that they no longer wanted rugby in WA.
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Repeat, doesn't change our legal stand.