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Brumbies considering second home
By Wayne Smith | January 25, 2008
THE Brumbies have conceded they are prepared to take some of their Super 14 home matches to Melbourne, but only in an expanded competition that would effectively double the number of games they play each season.
The Victorian Rugby Union is determined not to lapse into irrelevance following the cancellation of the Australian Rugby Championship and is trying to further strengthen an alliance with the Brumbies that was beginning to burgeon during the ARC.
The alliance essentially is about providing a pathway for talented young Victorians to play professional rugby. The Brumbies also benefit by being granted access to the Melbourne financial sector through the VRU's Weary Dunlop Club, but inevitably Victorian officials are hoping for more tangible returns.
"It's a logical extension of the strategic alliance that Victorians, having had their appetite for professional rugby whetted by the Melbourne Rebels in the ARC, would like to see some Super 14 matches staged in Melbourne," VRU chief executive Ron Steiner said yesterday.
It may be that Melbourne will get its own team if the Super rugby series is expanded when the new broadcast agreement comes into effect in 2011. Certainly that is what Victoria's sports minister, James Merlino, is hoping, particularly after the Bracks Government committed $260 million to the construction of a purpose-built rectangular ground near Olympic Park in the expectation that Melbourne would win Australia's fourth Super 14 team - the licence going instead, somewhat surprisingly, to Perth.
Bad enough there is no Melbourne Super 14 team to play in the new stadium when it comes on line next year, but the Rebels have been cut off at the knees.
"We're obviously disappointed the ARC has been disbanded after only one year," Merlino said.
"I look forward to the outcome of the ARU's review and a renewed commitment from them to the sport in this state.
"That should include a pathway for elite young players in Victoria and a Super 14 team. If rugby wants to get serious about the sport, they need a strong presence in Melbourne, the sporting capital of Australia."
But it may be that even if the Super rugby series does expand, it might do so in a way that leaves the number of teams unchanged and merely extends the playing season from 13 rounds to 26, with all teams playing each other home and away.
That is the model preferred by ACT Rugby Union chief executive Andrew Fagan, who can see no other way of the Brumbies staging some of their home matches in Melbourne.
Even then, he is reluctant to discuss it for fear of triggering yet another tidal wave of criticism from loyal Brumbies fans terrified their team is to follow the example of so many American sporting teams by relocating to a more financially attractive city.
"There is absolutely zero intention of the team moving anywhere," Fagan said. "The Brumbies are Canberra based and will forever remain Canberra-based. But if the competition was expended in such a way that we had 11, 12, 13 home games each season, then we would be open to the suggestion of taking a couple of them to Melbourne.
"If by 2010, we know where we stand about any future expansion of Super rugby and we find the season is going to be extended to 22 or more games, then we'd have those discussions.
"In the short term, we'll do what we can to assist player development in Victoria and look at other ways to ensure that Melbourne is well-placed to win its own team if new franchises are brought into Super rugby."
Fagan admitted the Brumbies had twice been approached by the operators of Telstra Dome to stage matches there. While any one-off game might be financially attractive, ACT officials have decided any monetary benefits that came from playing in a 55,000- seat venue (as opposed to Canberra Stadium's 25,000) would be more than offset by the angst it would cause their Canberra-based supporters.
Neither does the VRU find the thought of one-off games appealing.
"Who needs another one-night stand?" Steiner asked. "The worst thing we can do is beg people to come to Victoria. We reckon it would be good for them (the Brumbies) to come and we reckon it would be good for Melbourne to have them.
"It was like the AFL going into Sydney. The first couple of times it tried, it went for the quick fix. Then finally it took the long-term view and got serious. That's what we're doing. Any discussion about the Brumbies playing matches in Melbourne will be as a consequence of the VRU and the ACTRU working together."
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