Australian Rugby / RA

[wamberal]

Aurelius,


If a rich man is willing to throw lots of money around, and there is some success from that, I will suspend judgement until his venture is financially self-supporting.



Sustainability is the goal. When will this venture be self-sustaining?

 

[Killer]

Aurelius,


If a rich man is willing to throw lots of money around, and there is some success from that, I will suspend judgement until his venture is financially self-supporting.



Sustainability is the goal. When will this venture be self-sustaining?

Well I would have my money on Twiggy making this a self sustaining concept medium to longer term than on the cavemen led by clone leading RA to financial success.
The best they can do so far is try and throw up road blocks to prevent Twiggy's concept working, continuing their negative thought process's that have given us the current outcome.
RA should be throwing their lot in with and working with Twiggy if they had any brains.

 

[wamberal]

What "lot" can they throw in? Club rugby? Schools rugby? The Wallabies? 150 years of tradition? The players at all levels? Ditto the supporters as well?


I can only speak on my behalf. I am not for sale, neither is my love of, and record in, the game. And I think you will find that the vast bulk of genuine rugby people would feel a bit like me.

 

[Killer]

What "lot" can they throw in? Club rugby? Schools rugby? The Wallabies? 150 years of tradition? The players at all levels? Ditto the supporters as well?


I can only speak on my behalf. I am not for sale, neither is my love of, and record in, the game. And I think you will find that the vast bulk of genuine rugby people would feel a bit like me.

and in return Twiggy would help them make logical good long term decisions like supporting rugby from the bottom up. As he is doing in Perth and he said he would do for the whole country before getting shafted by clone.
No one is taking anything away from anybody, RA is doing a good job by itself of destroying all its history and traditions.

 

[Derpus]

So you think the cash strapped Rugby Australia of all the rugby bodies around the world should be the one pursuing the development of a rugby video game? How much exactly should they be spending on it and what is their expertise that will allow them to succeed in that area.

The AFL have pushed for the creation of video games. They are generally terrible and sell poorly. Their latest one is no different. How much did the AFL lose on that one?

Lots of people play FIFA, Madden or the NBA games who aren't football, NFL or basketball fans because they are sports that translate well into video games and they are consistently good games.

Rugby is a complicated sport and some of the key components of the game are never going to translate well into a video game. How are scrums, mauls and rucks going to work apart from button mashing?

Rugby games have generally been pretty poor and the only ones that haven't are the ones that came out a long time ago. Apart from improved graphics a new game isn't going to change the gameplay dramatically whereas the other sports have progressed massively in gameplay as gaming systems have advanced.

If a good rugby game did exist I don't think you'd find anyone disagreeing that RA should try and bring in fans from that but one doesn't.

Generally agree but i think a management game akin to FM would work well. It would never be a massive seller though, i don't think.

 

[Killer]

BTW Twiggy has the rugbyroos concept up and running introducing rugby to juniors all over Perth.
He is sponsoring the Premier grade rugby comp for the next 3 yrs and prob longer.
He has the Force academy for up and coming local men and women.
He is paying the rent for RugbyWA and no doubt many associated costs.
WSR for the lovers of rugby in WA.
It goes on and on, don't think for a moment that he would not apply this help Aust wide if he and WA were included in the future of Aust rugby.
Thank clone for that.

 

[Aurelius]

Aurelius,


If a rich man is willing to throw lots of money around, and there is some success from that, I will suspend judgement until his venture is financially self-supporting.



Sustainability is the goal. When will this venture be self-sustaining?

I have no idea. But what I do know is that we've seen more drive, energy and innovation in the last few months from Minderoo than we've seen from the rugby establishment in ... well, ever, from what I can tell.

I don't know what the future holds for World Series Rugby, but at least they're trying something different. All we're getting from the establishment is the same old, same old. Spending big on star players and "development coaches," and now there's even talk of going from four to three (because the last contraction worked so well...) - well, God help Australian rugby if the current lot get free reign over the game. The current administrators sure as hell won't.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

So, the Waratahs are spending money on "developmental coaches" who are absolutely distinct from sports psychologists who have absolutely no place in professional sport and are struggling for results and spectators.



Meanwhile, across the country a new start-up club backed by private money is advertising like crazy, experimenting with innovative rule changes to promote running rugby, offering the cheapest tickets in the country and hiring big-name rock bands to provide big name entertainment.



And right around the country, people are wondering just what Rugby Australia can do to turn the ship around. Maybe they should invest in "developmental coaching" at the board level.

I am just hoping us frustrated east coast rugby supporters can watch WSR or Twiggy Ball (my label) - broadcast details still hopefully to come (please!)....

 

[Killer]

Does anyone have any accurate numbers of registered players in Aust.
Their make up: Men, Women, juniors, 15's, 7's, Touch etc
And where they are in Aust.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Does anyone have any accurate numbers of registered players in Aust.
Their make up: Men, Women, juniors, 15's, 7's, Touch etc
And where they are in Aust.

Last time that was published was the 2012 ARU annual report I think Killer.

They started using the participation numbers for the Olympic funding (like all of the other sports) after that which aren't based on registrations

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[neilc]

I have no idea. But what I do know is that we've seen more drive, energy and innovation in the last few months from Minderoo than we've seen from the rugby establishment in . well, ever, from what I can tell.

I don't know what the future holds for World Series Rugby, but at least they're trying something different. All we're getting from the establishment is the same old, same old. Spending big on star players and "development coaches," and now there's even talk of going from four to three (because the last contraction worked so well.) - well, God help Australian rugby if the current lot get free reign over the game. The current administrators sure as hell won't.

I think that it is great that Twiggy and his people are putting such drive and energy into rugby in WA. What was RugbyWA doing previously? Force debacle aside, wasn't RugbyWA doing development of juniors etc? Were they not doing a good job of it, and if so, what is Minderoo doing differently? I am genuinely interested in good ideas that could be applied in other areas to improve development and I often wonder if it's not some individuals at local levels who might be creating roadblocks for grassroots development.

 

[charlesalan]

Not sure the Senate inquiry report or its recommendations made it to the new RA HQ:
Penrith Rugby Club cut from Shute Shield

Senate report and recommendation:
4.31 The members who are most substantially affected by the diversion of funds to Super Rugby are the game's amateur clubs.
4.32 The committee received evidence that, particularly in New South Wales, the reduction in funds flowing to lower levels of the game is affecting player numbers and development opportunities for players.
Recommendation 6
4.37 The committee recommends the Australian Rugby Union consider implementing measures outside of state based bodies which ensure the involvement and engagement with grassroots rugby union supporters, particularly in relation to consultation in decision making processes that concern significant change to the nature and future direction of the sport.

 

[Braveheart81]

How exactly do you propose that RA controls who the Sydney Rugby Union (a sub union of NSWRU) has in their competition?

 

[charlesalan]

How exactly do you propose that RA controls who the Sydney Rugby Union (a sub union of NSWRU) has in their competition?

grass roots funding would be one way

 

[Braveheart81]

Penrith has received some additional funding over the years. The club has far more issues than just money.

More money for the grassroots everywhere would clearly benefit the game. The question is how to generate a greater surplus that can be distributed and how it should best be distributed.

90% of the grassroots around the country would argue that funding Shute Shield clubs more isn't really the grassroots.

 

[charlesalan]

one way to generate a greater surplus would be not to pay $6 million to privately owned franchises and then try to cover it up with confidentiality agreements. Another way would be to pay each franchise the same amount for their Super Rugby Payments - see 2017 annual reports for clarification, not extra $4 million to one t franchise with no real explanation.

 

[charlesalan]

another way would have been to redirect the $500,000 incentive bonus from Mr Pulver to the club. The club has issues , sure, but with financial backing some of those issues may have resolved themselves.

 

[I like to watch]

Penrith has received some additional funding over the years. The club has far more issues than just money.

More money for the grassroots everywhere would clearly benefit the game. The question is how to generate a greater surplus that can be distributed and how it should best be distributed.

90% of the grassroots around the country would argue that funding Shute Shield clubs more isn't really the grassroots.

Got any details of who provided this additional funding and the quantum?

 

[hoggy]

Aurelius,


If a rich man is willing to throw lots of money around, and there is some success from that, I will suspend judgement until his venture is financially self-supporting.



Sustainability is the goal. When will this venture be self-sustaining?

Well 20 years later, we've found out the cost of sustainability of Super rugby. And it definitely wasn't worth it.

 

[wamberal]

Well 20 years later, we've found out the cost of sustainability of Super rugby. And it definitely wasn't worth it.

What should we have done when the game went professional? 20 years is not bad, in a world of change. During those twenty years we have seen some of the best rugby in the world, right here. And we were, in effect, partially subsidised by the revenues of other unions.


The much maligned ARU was willing to bring a Perth based team into the competition, when the easy option would have been to go with Melbourne. Were you happy about that?


Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did you criticise Super Rugby 20 years ago? 10 years ago?