Ideas for NRC 2015

[Teh Other Dave]

On a positive reported by Pulver that NRC broke even in its first year...

I hate to sound like a suit, but that's important. How many going concerns break even in their first year? Would be great if this thing could remain self-sustained. The question I ask is, does this include for those running the clubs?

 

[Forcefield]

Spirit could go all black with a gold collar.

That's a good idea. Like the Wellington Lions.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Spirit could go all black with a gold collar.

'Stars' could go all Balmain orange and black hoops.

The Gold'n All Blacks. A winner for sure.

 

[KevinO]

1) Less Yellow
2) Introduce a Shield (Ranfurly Shield games in the ITM cup are always good) (I'm sure GAGR Shield can be donated by members of this site.)
3) Get local clubs more involved

Noticed in Melbourne that they didn't market through the clubs enough, it's the one time you can get all those Kiwi's living here (That still support NZ S15 sides) to support the local side and they didn't even know when games are on.

4) Offer free tickets to non-rugby schools to try get some interest in the game, in Melbourne especially as most kids have never actually watched a game.
5) Televise the Saturday afternoon/evening game

 

[Highlander35]

Surely what you should do is go down to the Uni's, and give everybody voucher for $15-20 entry and a beer/Cider/whatever.

 

[Quick Hands]

I agree that the NSW teams need some tinkering. North Harbour and
Western Rams both seemed to work ok. NH have a good connection to the clubs in the NE quarter of Sydney, so I think that it will build quite well and have significant community support. The Rams should go well too, not sure what happened to the local clubs and who was in or out - if they fix that up they shouldn't have a problem.

The big problems lay in the south and east where titanic egos wrecked any hope of a coherent competitive team. Just at the moment that Uni got to stand (almost) alone on the big stage, their dominance of club rugby began to wane. I did think they'd make a better showing though and it was a little ironic that they finished bottom.

The Uni desire to stand alone ( in a marriage of convenience with a subbies club) co-incided with a similar Randwick desire to stand alone and an inability for Easts and Randwick to come to any agreement. This left Randwick and Easts in a curious arrangement with NSW Country.

If it is the desire to have a country team in - I can't see the value in aligning them with 2 inner city clubs. Easts, Randwick and Uni need to sort it out for the good of the game in inner and eastern Sydney. If they can't, someone needs to crack heads.

Agree with the numerous comments on yellow jerseys - can't really understand the attraction and it doesn't seem to be the tradtional colour of many of the areas who wore it either.

 

[Teh Other Dave]

Agree with the numerous comments on yellow jerseys - can't really understand the attraction and it doesn't seem to be the tradtional colour of many of the areas who wore it either.

This is the problem - they are the traditional colours of ALL the teams that wear them. WA rep teams wore gold with black, NSW country wore orange and black, Brisbane rep teams have traditionally worn blue and gold stripes, as has the Stars' main feeder club, Sydney Uni. Perhaps the stars could have more blue in their jersey, Perth could have more black in theirs, and Brisbane could use a blue change jersey.

 

[Quick Hands]

This is the problem - they are the traditional colours of ALL the teams that wear them. WA rep teams wore gold with black, NSW country wore orange and black, Brisbane rep teams have traditionally worn blue and gold stripes, as has the Stars' main feeder club, Sydney Uni. Perhaps the stars could have more blue in their jersey, Perth could have more black in theirs, and Brisbane could use a blue change jersey.

I can live with NSW Country and Brisbane City if they traditionally wear yellow. As for the rest - WA rep teams wear black and gold, but this is a Perth team and not even the Force have a predominantly yellow and black strip, Uni could have had mainly their blue with yellow as the secondary colour.

 

[RugbyFuture]

let the unpaid interns be paid and search for quality youth who would like to be in sports admin and build a respect for rugby rather than exploit under experienced and employed people. You baby boomers actually have to give opportunity to the next generation.

They need someone at the ARU who has a greater emphasis on the NRC greater than the overall marketing and comms manager, who can focus on the marketability of all the sides and the competition as a whole. Manage what jerseys the teams get etc etc.

Interestingly the lowest social media engagement of the NRC games was through the official buildcorp NRC account followed by the stars, do they not want to invest in knowledgeable people in new media and building an audience?, the same person who could help administrate and communicate more directly with the NRC teams could help them understand the importance or manage the lack of their presence.

Many of the teams already had unpaid interns who have alot to add to the game, don't let them slip into obscurity with their passion for the game!

Trust me.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Some great ideas - hope people involved in running the NRC at ARU level see some of these ideas...

Like the idea of encouraging fans to bring a mate along.....some sort of incentive maybe....not quite sure how this would work but something in this as opportunity to bring those back to rugby who left it (due to seeing as penalty kick fest etc)....

 

[Omar Comin']

I've had some ideas I've posted on this site and on the roar, but to repeat the more significant ones:

1. Live streaming with commentary of every match not broadcast by Fox. This should not be up to the clubs to organise separately. One YouTube channel and a decent NRC website should be the home for all streamed matches. Having all the matches in one place will increase awareness, viewing numbers will grow and tribal support will develop. The competition will not grow without tragic rugby fans becoming tragic NRC fans and advocating to others. And tribal support will not develop while most games can’t be seen.

2. Double header events in Sydney and Brisbane. Each season should feature a weekend of double-headers, one in Sydney (SFS) featuring the 4 NSW teams and one in Brisbane with the two QLD teams against inter-state rivals. Promote the hell out of them on social media etc. Need to get 20k+. These should be events with a rugby theme, think local bands, sevens matches before and between the main games, kid zones, mini food / craft beer market etc.

3. Free NRC passes for junior rugby players. Every registered junior and student rugby player from the cities holding games should receive a pass (in the form of a plastic card) that provides free entry to all NRC matches in their city. The cards should include a fixture list. Alternatively each team could do this individually and give them out to their relevant junior clubs.

4. Combined Super Rugby and NRC memberships - as others have said here too.

5. Cut out all mentions of '3rd tier.' It is a terrible way of branding a competition. Just awful. No one makes the error of referring to Super Rugby as '2nd tier rugby?' so why do people call the NRC the 3rd tier all the time.

Also I am all for the challenge shield idea. Lets make that happen.

 

[Omar Comin']

Oh and another one I had was about a marquee player allowance. There was talk before the competition started that one of the teams (guessing the Stars) was trying to get Jonny Wilkinson to play for them. Rumour was that the ARU nipped this in the bud and said it would be a 'bad look.'

That's nonsense! It's exactly what the competition needs. If any team is willing to spend the money to bring in a big name international player then let them do it! The publicity will benefit everyone.

 

[Wilson]

Oh and another one I had was about a marquee player allowance. There was talk before the competition started that one of the teams (guessing the Stars) was trying to get Jonny Wilkinson to play for them. Rumour was that the ARU nipped this in the bud and said it would be a 'bad look.'

That's nonsense! It's exactly what the competition needs. If any team is willing to spend the money to bring in a big name international player then let them do it! The publicity will benefit everyone.

Given the tight budget teams were working with this year I think they were right to block it initially. If there are enough teams with the the money to sign someone and a willing player looking to sign then a one marquee per team might be worth looking at next year, but realistically it may have to wait another season, until players start moving around after the world cup. Potentially it's something you announce next year to happen in 2016, giving teams time to sort out their marquee player, and as a carrot to foxsports in ensuring an extended tv deal.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Given the TV ratings and importance of foxtel to the whole competition the priority should be working out how to maximise the ratings for the broadcast games.

By all accounts fox have been disappointed with the viewer numbers but will give it one more year.

Unless they improve the whole comp is toast.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Yes and no Strewthcobber....watching a game on fox where stands are empty does not help with appeal...but yes you are right that view ratings on fox are key....

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Oh and another one I had was about a marquee player allowance. There was talk before the competition started that one of the teams (guessing the Stars) was trying to get Jonny Wilkinson to play for them. Rumour was that the ARU nipped this in the bud and said it would be a 'bad look.'

That's nonsense! It's exactly what the competition needs. If any team is willing to spend the money to bring in a big name international player then let them do it! The publicity will benefit everyone.

From a marketing perspective the marquee idea is still a good one for my mind...need to build profile.......to build awareness...and attract people to the game....just think how many fans would trickle through to see johnny wilkinson play....

 

[Strewthcobber]

Yes and no Strewthcobber..watching a game on fox where stands are empty does not help with appeal.but yes you are right that view ratings on fox are key..

First step is to get more spectators into the stands which the camera is facing.

I realise there's issues with sun etc but you could make it look like at least somebody is there

 

[Omar Comin']

Given the tight budget teams were working with this year I think they were right to block it initially. If there are enough teams with the the money to sign someone and a willing player looking to sign then a one marquee per team might be worth looking at next year, but realistically it may have to wait another season, until players start moving around after the world cup. Potentially it's something you announce next year to happen in 2016, giving teams time to sort out their marquee player, and as a carrot to foxsports in ensuring an extended tv deal.

I don't expect most teams to want, or be able to sign a marquee international player. But it doesn't matter. If even one team is willing to spend the money to do it then I think they should be allowed to. They're not going to get some huge advantage over everyone else on the field, and while they would benefit the most off the field, the competition itself - and thus all the teams would benefit as well.

I mean we're only talking about a few guys that could create a real buzz in any given year. A Wilkinson or Brian O'Driscoll would have done so. Richie McCaw or Dan Carter when they finish up.

 

[Wazza2013]

Only a small thing

I we could organize a course of steroids during the off season for the Rams mascot to make him look a little more aggro.

2014

2015

Something a bit more appealing for the kids.

 

[RugbyFuture]

there was a new concept developed, unfortunately the person who designed it left before it was enacted.