Dctarget
John Eales (66)
Kob you sitting on the mother of all insider gossip?
Yeah obviously people would be back. I'd be amazed if this happened in the next 10 years though.
Melbourne Rebels 2024
- Thread starter RugbyReg
- Start date
Yeah obviously people would be back. I'd be amazed if this happened in the next 10 years though.
5StarStu
Bob McCowan (2)
I would first need to believe that Rugby Australia were capable of thinking of such a plan, let alone wanting that, let alone executing it. I suspect the answer is still no, I wouldn't jump straight back in. The history of professional rugby in Melbourne suggests that there is not a real desire from RA to maintain a presence here, given the effort it requires, and I would need to be convinced that attitude had changed.
You're relying on the assumption that RA has even presented a competition plan to their broadcast partner for 2025 and beyond.
Does it seem unlikely that the Tarneit consortium have paid through the required amounts at this point?
Surely if they had they'd be shouting it from the rooftops that they had met their end of the bargain and Rugby Australia needed to act.
Surely if they had they'd be shouting it from the rooftops that they had met their end of the bargain and Rugby Australia needed to act.
Rebel man
Jim Lenehan (48)
Well if Melbourne had a team again I would come back to the game. Until then nothing, I have no interest in a national team that actively excludes my state
Dctarget
John Eales (66)
Eh come on, it's a fucked situation, Rugby Union is dying, there isn't an easy solution. I'll still support the Wallabies.
I don't get it, percentage wise the Rebels have been around a much smaller part of a lot of posters here than my life (read nearly 50%) but I'm not going to throw away rugby because of their folding.
Rebel man
Jim Lenehan (48)
Victorian first and foremost. Growing up I always wanted a side in super rugby, we got one I supported it for its whole journey and if they take it away then I am done with the wallabies
KentwellCup>ShuteShield
Bill Watson (15)
how tf are you mad at australian rugby, when it was the rebels who mismanaged themselves? be mad at the board members.
5StarStu
Bob McCowan (2)
I wish I could say the same but I doubt it. I have a ticket to the Lions game next year but that'd probably be it. Definitely don't see myself spending massive amounts of money on World Cup tickets. In the early days I, like many others, gave heaps to try and make this work, but as time's gone on it's become clearer that the same commitment wasn't there from everyone else. You get very few chances to vote with your feet these days.
5StarStu
Bob McCowan (2)
Amazing though it may seem, I can be two things.
Dctarget
John Eales (66)
My position too. Maybe I'm a sucker for rugby.
Strewthcobber
Andrew Slack (58)
Get down to your local club side. You're closer, the rugby is more entertaining, and the beers are cheaper
SouthernX
Jim Lenehan (48)
the rebels board is incompetent but RA isn’t that far behind them.
we will be the only pro sports league with no team in nations sporting capital yet we prop up Canberra with a nearly insolvent super rugby franchise where they take a lot of talent from Victoria because it’s not a large enough market to be self sufficient with developing their own players.
game is in a real dire position at the moment and I can see the wheel being reinvented in terms of provincial rugby.
5StarStu
Bob McCowan (2)
And just like that, I’m reminded why I left. If you’ve got a bunch of people processing the likely loss of a team that they love and that many have actively and directly worked in support of over many years, maybe let them instead of calling them stupid?
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
SouthernX
Jim Lenehan (48)
I think sully was actually referring to my post Stu.
there’s a lot of rugby fans in this country who want to wipe their hands clean of the rebels and put it in the directors/board basket of being blamed. They think once rebels go a lot of problems will be solved. (Which they won’t)
if money wasn’t a issue - I’m sure RA would support vic rugby in 2025 beyond.
5StarStu
Bob McCowan (2)
If he was then I apologise to you for my reaction Sully. My point is the same though - a lot of people in this thread are hurting, and equally the idea that we’re blaming the wrong person or group is really neither here nor there.
LearningCurve
Bill Watson (15)
Is Melbourne really the nation's sporting capital? Yes they get big crowds for AFL but this concept that Melburnians will support any sport has (I think) been proven incorrect with the poor support for the Rebels and things like the rugby magic round. RA needed (still needs) to look at the AFL expansion model and really put support into a team in a non-rugby location and work on developing the interest, like the AFL has done in Qld and NSW. But that of course takes money and rugby isn't making it. I want the Rebels to succeed and to keep a team in Melbourne but overall rugby isn't looking good. There was a bigger crowd for the women's State of Origin on a Thursday night in Brisbane than the last Reds game on a Friday night.