SYDNEY, NSW (15/07/12) - In a fortnight that SRT has had a wealth of media releases, event advertisements, high resolution photos and almost anything we could ask for, at our disposal to cover the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks in South Africa, (courtesy of an officially appointed publicist), the administrators of schools rugby at the highest level in Australia have come across as a laughing stock comparatively. The contrast could not be more stark.
Just this past week David Campese (now resident in South Africa) lamented that 'if only Australia had an equivalent of the Craven Week'. Well, Campo, we do! The fact that you yourself seemingly did not know that the Australian National Schools Rugby Championships had just concluded, shows just how poorly these events were promoted to the general public.
In addition to the Australian Nationals Schools Rugby Championships, two Internationals (Australia Schools A' vs Tonga on Tuesday and then Australia Schools vs Tonga on Saturday) were played, yet, to the best of our knowledge, not a single media release was issued (certainly we have not received one, nor have we seen anything in the mainstream media).
The ASRU website, whilst showing the results, does not have any match reports, photos or anything that could be used by the media (assuming they would even take a look). Surely these events are of sufficient importance to warrant a dedicated effort to provide the media with releases to cover the events? And if these events are not considered important enough, then what is?
The mainstream media interest in rugby does not extend beyond the Wallabies and Super Rugby. Anything below that flies way below the radar, but that does not mean that those charged with marketing the game should give up! That is the very reason Schools Rugby Tribune came into existence. Yet, how does anyone expect the media to start covering schools rugby, unless the effort comes from those charged with promoting the game?
Super Rugby crowd attendance has a highly elastic correlation with the fortunes of teams. The Waratahs, a decade ago, attracted an average of around 34,000, now it barely gets 20,000.
The ARU / ASRU efforts (or lack thereof) in marketing the elite schools rugby events speaks of people that either no longer 'believe' in the cause, or alternatively are embracing the 'rah-rah' private school paradigm whereby rugby represents the elite in society.
One can expect and accept that private schools sports associations will do little to promote rugby, after all, rugby is not their 'raison d'être'. But surely the rugby authorities ought to?
Oh, just in case you wondered, Australia A defeated Tonga Schools by 29-5, and Australia beat Tonga by 70-13.