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Australian Rugby / RA

Strewthcobber

Mark Ella (57)
Also it's a right of passage for a lot of Australians to have two years in the UK after Uni before heading home to settle down. Most pro athletes miss out on this when all their mates are over there. I understand the attraction.
The issue for us being that starting English/Irish players aren't choosing to come over here for two years
 

Micheal

Nicholas Shehadie (39)
Having lived in England for a year i can confirm that Sydney is at least 7 times better.

Unless you despise sunlight and happiness.


Having spent time there as well it's completely apples and oranges, except you can't get oranges in the UK and we can't get apples here.

After a while, you get sick of eating just apples. Tbh right now I'm pretty tired of just eating oranges.

Might go back to Berlin. Always been a big fan of pears.
 

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
These tv deals must be huge. I just can't understand how these clubs are making enough money to splash out big dollars on these guys.

Bath's capacity is 14,500
Exeter's is 12,800
Harlequins is 14,800
Newcastle's is 10,200
Sale's is 12,000
Saracens is 10,000
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
These tv deals must be huge. I just can't understand how these clubs are making enough money to splash out big dollars on these guys.

Bath's capacity is 14,500
Exeter's is 12,800
Harlequins is 14,800
Newcastle's is 10,200
Sale's is 12,000
Saracens is 10,000


They generally own the stadiums so a 10k crowd where you keep the revenue (but have to pay for stadium upkeep) is a strong financial benefit. You also get the food and drink sales.

A fair number of them also have private owners funding the losses.

It makes a big difference if you start out the year expecting to lose a couple of million and that's fine.
 

southsider

Arch Winning (36)
In other news, the Rabbitohs have pinched one of our best juniors, Joseph Sua'ali'i:

https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2019/02/12/rabbitohs-sign-young-talent-from-rugby-union-ranks/


I’m usually very against the whole blaming aru/state unions for having nrl sign our junior talent, you can’t sign everyone, you’re going to have to pick and choose and some players will slip through the cracks BUT they monumentally fucked up not signing this kid

Although if I’ve got this right he has signed for 3 years which means he will come off contract when he is 18? So not the worst case possible
 

barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
I’m usually very against the whole blaming aru/state unions for having nrl sign our junior talent, you can’t sign everyone, you’re going to have to pick and choose and some players will slip through the cracks BUT they monumentally fucked up not signing this kid


Jeez I don't know, the kid is 15. If people have issues giving a four-year contract to Israel Folau, I can imagine what might happen if we sign a 15-year old on a four year deal.......
.
 

kiap

Steve Williams (59)
Having spent time there as well it's completely apples and oranges, except you can't get oranges in the UK and we can't get apples here.

After a while, you get sick of eating just apples. Tbh right now I'm pretty tired of just eating oranges.

Might go back to Berlin. Always been a big fan of pears.

Is this a euphemism or am I reading too much into this?

eYUupBwl.jpg


Yeah, its just me. Carry on.
 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Although if I’ve got this right he has signed for 3 years which means he will come off contract when he is 18? So not the worst case possible


I don't really understand what value RA would get if they made a bigger offer to the kid now. Most of the rugby he plays over the next few years will be for Kings.

If the kid genuinely wants to play rugby league you'd probably pay him a lot as a teenager and then he'd still go to league as an 18 year old.

RA should probably make a play for him down the track but it depend a lot on what he wants to do. It's hard to recruit a player at that age who isn't very keen to play rugby union unless you pay him far too much.
 

wamberal

Phil Kearns (64)
Absolutely right. The leaguies have got deeper pockets, and more of them, and they are willing to throw money at kids who are far too young.
 

Aurelius

Ted Thorn (20)
They generally own the stadiums so a 10k crowd where you keep the revenue (but have to pay for stadium upkeep) is a strong financial benefit. You also get the food and drink sales.

A fair number of them also have private owners funding the losses.

It makes a big difference if you start out the year expecting to lose a couple of million and that's fine.

Yeah, it would have to be a real labour of love owning or investing in a sports team.

Just read this a few days ago about Perth Glory owner Tony Sage:

https://www.goal.com/en-au/news/tony-sage-reveals-the-millions-los/1d7ze2kfq280a16mjs6ixmi6lk

It says he's lost $27.5m since owning the club and has never lost less than $2m a season. That's a lot of passion.
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
Just changing the subject, I see on my facebook page for some reason a link has come through with a petition fot people to sign to dump Gallop as CEO of Aus soccer and how mismanaged soccer is and how many people are turning away from the game etc!!! Geez I thought to myself where have I read this stuff before? Is it that there are no Aussies capable of running sports in this country, or could it possibly be that it to easy to stir things up on the Net??
Just wondering is all!
 

Dan54

Tim Horan (67)
Jeez I don't know, the kid is 15. If people have issues giving a four-year contract to Israel Folau, I can imagine what might happen if we sign a 15-year old on a four year deal...
.

I know NZ rugby won't sign kids at that age, say it's much too young for them to decide, and doubt whether (in NZ at least) it even legal!
 

southsider

Arch Winning (36)
I don't really understand what value RA would get if they made a bigger offer to the kid now. Most of the rugby he plays over the next few years will be for Kings.

If the kid genuinely wants to play rugby league you'd probably pay him a lot as a teenager and then he'd still go to league as an 18 year old.

RA should probably make a play for him down the track but it depend a lot on what he wants to do. It's hard to recruit a player at that age who isn't very keen to play rugby union unless you pay him far too much.

I guess my thought process is, Tepai Morea was very outspoken saying that he would sign with parra after high school to repay the faith the eels showed him during his schooling years. There’s a more than decent chance this kid is going to be something pretty special and I guess at the end of the day everyone is probably right that he is too young to contract I think we may have just tipped the scales in leagues favour of signing yet another superstar
 
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