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Australian Rugby / RA

Merrow

Arch Winning (36)
Hasn't this been the Brumbies' MO forever? An insular, "us vs them" approach to anything and everything. A bit tiresome tbh
It’s worked for them. Can you really say you blame them for wanting to know who’s going to be in charge? It’s not like there’s any glowing candidates putting their hands up, or any half way decent decisions being made by RA in recent or not so recent history
 

LeCheese

Greg Davis (50)
It’s worked for them. Can you really say you blame them for wanting to know who’s going to be in charge? It’s not like there’s any glowing candidates putting their hands up, or any half way decent decisions being made by Rugby Australia in recent or not so recent history
Sure - but when the club's official media is republishing an article describing the situation as a "civil war", with they themselves calling it a "total takeover attempt", it goes a bit beyond doing their due diligence.
 

Brumby Runner

Jason Little (69)
Wouldn't handing over your licence to operate be reasonably considered to be a total takeover of the Super franchise? As I understand things, it is intended that the existing franchises will only retain control of the local club competitions. For interests sake, what other interests would need to be included to constitute a total takeover? Would it not be the case that once RA has the licence and all the financial, commercial and operational aspects under their control, they'd be able to close a club, relocate it or amalgamate it with any other of its choosing without any involvement of the skeleton club left behind?
 
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noscrumnolife

Bill Watson (15)
Hasn't this been the Brumbies' MO forever? An insular, "us vs them" approach to anything and everything. A bit tiresome tbh
Yes it is, and yes it is tiring. Ricky Stuart does it the same way, it is a bit absurd because Canberra is probably one of the easiest places to live and work in the country.

It's also evidently not true. Contrary to what they will tell you, they aren't uniquely underfunded (relative to the lack of $ in the game in general) and to the extent they are they should probably look at their commercial and marketing operations. Most successful team in the country in an uncompetitive market but they can't get a decent turnout to save their life. I don't know any rugby person who doesn't have a mixture of respect/admiration/jealousy towards the Brumbies. Except for the odd cooker here or there.

I do really love the Brumbies as a rugby team and what they achieve. Don't mean to be too down on them. Just frustrate me at certain times with the image they project to the world.
 
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Sully

Tim Horan (67)
Staff member
The Brumbies got no more and no less than every other franchise in the country. Every team took a hit during COVID-19, their situation isn't unique. Their crowds are traditionally smaller, and they've sold their ground and the long term lease they had after they sold the ground so it's hard to see where they expect to make money in the future.
 
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Doritos Day

Johnnie Wallace (23)
McLennan also spoke to FitzSimons in Paris, the morning after South Africa triumphed over the All Blacks to win a record fourth Rugby World Cup.
“Another world-class Australian coach heads back overseas,” McLennan said.

“Is it the coach or the system? Michael Cheika gets sacked in 2019 after a quarter-final loss and takes Argentina to the semis in 2023. The lunacy must end. The supply chain is broken. Centralisation is the answer.
“After losing to England, New Zealand, France, Ireland and Italy last year, it was a gamble worth taking but this proves the whole system needs to change. It’s up to the states now, the plan is there.
Is this guy for real? There's no shame losing against France and Ireland away... nevermind that the results were in part caused by a greedy administration who thought five tests in five weeks was a reasonable undertaking - something not even done at a World Cup.

Just have the humility to admit you were wrong and go. So over the chest thumping and carry on.
 

mst

Peter Johnson (47)
So where is this evidence?
Some Austadium and Wikipedia data for 2023: 8501, 7011, 10575, 8188. No reporting I can find for the back end of the season but indications of 8K+ average crowds seem about right. So that is 1.8% of the ACT population.

Compare that to the Tah's who reported a 25K crowd which is 0.84% of the Sydney (metro) population or 0.3% of the NSW population.

The arguement about small crowds will alwasy be an issue in small populations. It does beg the question why do the Brumbies not get more support noting the smaller population which limits players, crowds, revenue options etc?
 

dru

David Wilson (68)
Some Austadium and Wikipedia data for 2023: 8501, 7011, 10575, 8188. No reporting I can find for the back end of the season but indications of 8K+ average crowds seem about right. So that is 1.8% of the ACT population.

Compare that to the Tah's who reported a 25K crowd which is 0.84% of the Sydney (metro) population or 0.3% of the NSW population.

The arguement about small crowds will alwasy be an issue in small populations. It does beg the question why do the Brumbies not get more support noting the smaller population which limits players, crowds, revenue options etc?

Local population dynamics, available support, and crowd sizes are always going to be a question. The flipside of that coin though - if Australian rugby is going to host any domestic strength within a professional competition, let alone a domestic professional comp - how the hell do you do that if an entrenched and successful Brumbies can't manage in ACT?

As a quick comparison on population numbers I get ACT 430,000; Newcastle 320,000; Sunshine Coast 320,000; Wollongong 300,000; Ipswich 240,000; Townsville 200,000; Darwin 130,000. There is Adelaide which everyone seems to think is a non-starter at 1.3m.

Leaving aside Adelaide, the ACT is pretty much as good as it gets once you have nailed Brisbane/Sydney and then Melbourne and Perth. We really need to make the ACT work for Australian rugby.

The only alternative is Shrink to Greatness 2.0 by pruning our greatest success. Awesome <sarcasm implied>
 

Adam84

Rod McCall (65)
Now now, settle boys.

It’s no secret rugby has been poor at publishing crowd results online despite been announced at grounds. Austadiums is a publicly sourced website, you can go in and submit crowds if you have a credible source to reference it too. Hence why some are listed, and some aren’t.
 
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hoggy

Nev Cottrell (35)
Local population dynamics, available support, and crowd sizes are always going to be a question. The flipside of that coin though - if Australian rugby is going to host any domestic strength within a professional competition, let alone a domestic professional comp - how the hell do you do that if an entrenched and successful Brumbies can't manage in ACT?

As a quick comparison on population numbers I get ACT 430,000; Newcastle 320,000; Sunshine Coast 320,000; Wollongong 300,000; Ipswich 240,000; Townsville 200,000; Darwin 130,000. There is Adelaide which everyone seems to think is a non-starter at 1.3m.

Leaving aside Adelaide, the ACT is pretty much as good as it gets once you have nailed Brisbane/Sydney and then Melbourne and Perth. We really need to make the ACT work for Australian rugby.

The only alternative is Shrink to Greatness 2.0 by pruning our greatest success. Awesome <sarcasm implied>
And nobody wants to take into consideration that low crowds are partly due to lack of interest in the competition they are playing in.

Super rugby with the ridiculous schedule that finishes in what June or the first week of July.
Against teams from another country, why can they never get hoards of spectators when there playing the Highlanders, I mean surely the tribal connection to ????
A competition that is openly treated as glorified trials for the National Team.
Come be a member and watch your favorite players (when they are not being rested).
With Domestic Tribal rivalries, oops something like that.

And on & on. That's the issue with the game in this country, we've never tried to fix the problem.
 

Adam84

Rod McCall (65)
Some Austadium and Wikipedia data for 2023: 8501, 7011, 10575, 8188. No reporting I can find for the back end of the season but indications of 8K+ average crowds seem about right. So that is 1.8% of the ACT population.

Compare that to the Tah's who reported a 25K crowd which is 0.84% of the Sydney (metro) population or 0.3% of the NSW population.

The arguement about small crowds will alwasy be an issue in small populations. It does beg the question why do the Brumbies not get more support noting the smaller population which limits players, crowds, revenue options etc?
I think the question that begs the most, is why isn’t the ACT Govt doing more to support sports and fans; it’s the worst rectangular stadium in the country that features permanent NRL/Super Rugby teams. Regional towns have better stadiums than Canberra.
 
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Members Section

John Thornett (49)
You seem nice. You seem happy to anecdotal evidence when it suits you, but not from someone that’s only missed one home game in the last 10 years. Whatever…

except i'm putting up actual figures your saying thing the are "in your head"

actually the rebels got 95k to the tahs game last yr how do I know cause "its in my head"
 

The Ghost of Raelene

Simon Poidevin (60)
And nobody wants to take into consideration that low crowds are partly due to lack of interest in the competition they are playing in.

Super rugby with the ridiculous schedule that finishes in what June or the first week of July.
Against teams from another country, why can they never get hoards of spectators when there playing the Highlanders, I mean surely the tribal connection to ????
A competition that is openly treated as glorified trials for the National Team.
Come be a member and watch your favorite players (when they are not being rested).
With Domestic Tribal rivalries, oops something like that.

And on & on. That's the issue with the game in this country, we've never tried to fix the problem.
Yep. The Raiders seem to be doing much better at putting bums of seats in the same ground from what I can recall.
 
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