well, what steers the boat rugger? Or is what is the chicken and what is the egg...never mind.
Ok, so we (at least) get rugby on foxsports. The only reason I pay for all those bloody ads!
Still, it really annoys me that in many ways the coverage is still so bad. Ok, I get to watch every NZ and AUS game, but really don't stay up till four am to watch the SA games. But ya reckon I can watch them the next day?
Sometimes you can, last weekend seemed to be an exception (was an afternoon game on sun IIRC) and yes, they then replayed some games preceding that.
But this weekend, for the life of me when I checked the schedule, no replays oif the SA games. I might have missed them if they were at seven am or some idiotic time. I'll have to wait till tuesday to catch the games I missed!
So that is on a station which supposedly supports rugby, which caters for those already existing rugby fans, and still we miss out on games.
What hope is there for FTA coverage? 'Show us the ratings so we can cash in', yet we can't get ratings until they show (consistently) the games.
I am sure there are still hangovers from the COMMERCIAL interests that were invested in leeg. That whole super leeg thing years ago (what was it called?), IIRC the nine group invested heaps into it. We get one page in the tele, but have to wade thru fifteen pages of leeg. The average joe really does not know the game exists, if they watch one 'at random' they simply see something different than they are used to, and we all know the common human reaction to coming across something different, the usual response is to reject.
There are always exceptions to that of course, I mean I came across union after a life of league and converted instantly..but then again I was already bored senseless by leeg at that time which would have helped. So, it seems to me, and this can only be a long term solution, that the best way is to get people accustomed to the game from an early age. It would be a win if more people at least saw it as a viable alternative to watch as leeg. Two distinct games with their own joys, rather than the current oppositional viewpoint based on unfamiliarity.
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I mean, is there an actual reason that state schools play leeg and private schools play union? The weight of numbers there alone banishes union to a distant second place, add to that then all the 'class warfare' about the toffee noses etc, the fifteen pages in the paper, twats like gould etc constantly deriding union at every possible moment in the broadcasts..well no wonder really that the average joe leeg supporter thinks the way he does about the two games.
Is it official policy that public schools play leeg? Anyone know the history of that side of things? In any case, it has been mooted that there be some sort games of combined rules between the two codes, or many variations thereof, well it ain't gonna fly at the national level (aru vs arl)..but why not trial it and get it off the ground at school levels? Local private school in the district against local public school. Either one game our rules and one game their rules, or hybrid rules, at least expose the guys who will play/watch leeg to union, it may bear fruit years later.
I am not even so sure about having people watch test match rugby as their introduction if I am honest. I mean WE love it and can appreciate it. Tough, hard fought etc etc. But it terms of an entertaining spectacle?? Sure there are many that are exhiliarating, but as an introduction I suspect they'd be a minority.
Many many more Super Rugby games are exciting with the end to end expansive running (some of course turn out to be boring games) but that happens in any code. My gut feel is that in terms of excitement the lower levels deliver more consistently. (we might not see that when enveloped in the loss of our team, but an outside observer might be better placed to see the game in it's actual context and enjoy it more than we do drinking our sorrows away)
Basically, we have almost a century of 'brainwashing' from the media against union to combat, prob all the way back to Dally M. And which leegie even knows the story about that?? All the whining and hand wringing about 'union stealing our players' (which with their lack of history about their own game they don't even know how ironic statements like that are!). Heck, there very own top medal is called the Dally M medal!!
Hah, maybe that makes me a glass half empty guy, but I am trying to get to the bottom of WHY we are in the position we are in, and I wonder of the history of how it went down has a lot to do with it. If true, and we can spot it, then it may help to turn it around.
A solution is only a solution if it deals with the correct underlying problem. We need to break the constant union bashing/ignoring from the sources the public is exposed to. Can we do that by throwing dollars at advertising? That can't hurt, tho I have my doubts it will help (much)
Gee, I have to be honest, what really excites ME is playing against them somehow (forget the impracticalities for now). Kinda north meets south, whatever. But on a regular basis, it can't be a one off freak show. We lose one year...never mind we'll get payback next year. And vice versa.
There would at least be a few more pages in the paper whilst they discuss how they are going to select the team to beat us. For some part of the year.
