Australian Rugby Union announce $9.19 million turnaround

[TOCC]

anyway, us arguing about it and throwing snide remarks around isnt going to prove either correct, so how about we agree to disagree on the subject

[AndyS]

What I find very interesting is that the NZRU is sitting on a sizeable chunk of money, at the same time as crying poor to the provinces and wanting to take the AirNZ cup back to amateurism...

[.X.]

Gee I stop reading a thread for a couple of days and the whole world goes crazy - The most level headed bloke I know, Burgs, is off throwing around snide remarks. and not only that getting smoted for it too.

Anywhoo - I cant let everyone have this level of fun without weighing in with an opinion completely out of left field and out of kilter with everyone else - well at least I hope it is.

I do not believe that we can compare the state of the Union (Australia) with the State of the Union (New Zealand). We may as well compare apple with sheep.

Let me explain why - I am sure I read it here some time ago - but 70%of the NZ population love Rugby Union. The same article also said that 20+% of the NZ population hated Rugby Union.

Now on this statistic alone there is no way that we can compare Australia and New Zealand. Wait for it Burgs - I am a getting to it.

If JO'N and the ARU board could get a market of 90% of the Australian population that knows what Rugby Union is. they would be ecstatic. Theoretically 3.5 States of Australia couldnt even tell the difference with Union and League.

New Zealand has Rugby Union and for those that dont make it - they try their hand at Rugby League.

Australian sport participation, sponsorship, TV coverage, media articles has Sports up the yahoo. Do I really need to list them? ok - just for you guys Aussie Rules, League, Soccer, Motorsport (whether we like it or not is a huge factor in this country).

What does Union in NZ compete with? Its not a rhetorical question - I would really like to know.

Why did Rugby go down hill after the 2003 Rugby World Cup - I have an opinion on this one to.

Channel 7. As soon as RWC'03 finished - so did the midnight telecasts of the Super14 on free to air. Perhaps JO'N and the ARU made a mistake with this - but taking Super Rugby off Free-to-Air TV certainly helped kill it.

That will do for now - let the battle begin.