Melbourne Rebels 2024

[Rebel man]

Elaborate.

What have the Rebel Directors done to show case they actually have rugby at heart?

What has RA done? Apart from drive their pro NSW/Qld agenda back out of promises to support club rugby in Victoria. The Rebels directors put their own money into the club all be it in the form of a loan and fought to keep the club alive not once but twice as they had to take RA to court in 17 as well

 

[oztimmay]

Elaborate.

What have the Rebel Directors done to show case they actually have rugby at heart?

Some of them put up their own cash to help fund the Rebels? And through the VA process elected not to be a creditor.

 

[JRugby2]

Alright fuck it, I'm out on this much later than I should have.

I get the frustration and anger about the situation and parts of it are fair, but the seeming lack of acknowledgement of accountability on the part of the Rebels is bizarre. It honestly feels like crashing my car drunk and blaming the bar.

These Directors have run an organisation into the ground regardless of the support they had or had not from other bodies who have essentially donated tens of millions of dollars to keep players in Rebel jerseys on the field and giving a product to the fans to support passionately.

These self-proclaimed 'current' volunteers do not have your best interest at heart or the Rugby community in Victoria or wider Australia it seems.

Perfect analogy.

RA are by no means blameless here, but I don't think anyone who is claiming that the directors of Rugby Australia or the ARU are solely responsible for the issues the sport faces domestically has a grasp on reality.

A lot of the issues around the growth of the game, declining popularity, financial instability, inflated player salaries are very much global issues being face by pretty much every nation and their unions.

Sure - some are handling it differently (and better) and with hindsight you can claim mistakes have been made - but looking at the demise of the rebels and barking "RA's fault" because [insert generic statement about the any of the above] is such a lazy cop out.

 

[Slim 293]

So you know more than Rod McQueen over the restrictions that RA placed on the rebels when it came to recruiting? Cool to know

Maybe?

The Rebels faced significant challenges from their inception. Australian Rugby restricted them from signing players under contract until negotiations with the existing franchises were completed, forcing the Rebels to look overseas for competitive talent, a costly endeavour.

That's not controversial at all...

It was a RWC year and most players would've been going into their final year on their current contracts.

The comparisons with AFL doesn't work when they have things such as the draft and trade period.

 

[Tomthumb]

Super 12 last existed 20 years ago, worlds changed a bit since then.

It's a fair argument to make that having a presence in a densely populated area is a reasonable move to make to scale up any business honestly.

Having a tiny yet expensive presence in a vastly oversaturated market is hardly business savvy

 

[JRugby2]

Having a tiny yet expensive presence in a vastly oversaturated market is hardly business savvy

Well considering people have the demonstrable capacity to support multiple teams across different sports - you can just as easily say that at the time the market was untapped, rather than oversaturated.

And then the rest is the fault of the business - not the market.

A professional team in Melbourne still very much makes sense if executed well.

 

[Bullrush]

So you know more than Rod McQueen over the restrictions that RA placed on the rebels when it came to recruiting? Cool to know

The reality is that Australia did not and does not have depth and quality of player stocks to field 5 teams. The Rebels should have never happened.

Adam Byrnes, Laurie Weeks, Richard Kingi, and Adam Freier all came directly from Reds/Tahs to the Rebels in the first year though, so clearly it wasn't an absolute blanket ban

I think they were given an exemption on the number of international players they could sign as well.

 

[fatprop]

Well considering people have the demonstrable capacity to support multiple teams across different sports - you can just as easily say that at the time the market was untapped, rather than oversaturated.

And then the rest is the fault of the business - not the market.

A professional team in Melbourne still very much makes sense if executed well.

Meh, Melbourne is simply an AFL town, rugby is a sport not considered by 98% of their population

 

[Rebel man]

The reality is that Australia did not and does not have depth and quality of player stocks to field 5 teams. The Rebels should have never happened.

I think they were given an exemption on the number of international players they could sign as well.

lol

 

[Rebel man]

Meh, Melbourne is simply an AFL town, rugby is a sport not considered by 98% of their population

That just shows how ignorant you are comments like that

 

[barbarian]

Ultimately I think the Rebels players will just be happier at the Waratahs. They are finally in the hands of a stable, competent organisation with a rich history of success, both on and off the field.

 

[Tomthumb]

Well considering people have the demonstrable capacity to support multiple teams across different sports - you can just as easily say that at the time the market was untapped, rather than oversaturated.

And then the rest is the fault of the business - not the market.

A professional team in Melbourne still very much makes sense if executed well.

People don't have unlimited bank accounts to spend on said teams though. Nor do most people have interest so so many different sports

 

[JRugby2]

Meh, Melbourne is simply an AFL town, rugby is a sport not considered by 98% of their population

Ever heard of nuance?

 

[Tomthumb]

Melbourne has 27 professional sports teams. Calling it untapped is absolutely wild

 

[fatprop]

That just shows how ignorant you are comments like that

Clearly, ignorant, but in all my time spent in Melbourne all you see is AFL scarves on the way to games

 

[JRugby2]

People don't have unlimited bank accounts to spend on said teams though. Nor do most people have interest so so many different sports

Of course not, but Victoria does have the highest percentage of disposable income in the country by state and also we aren't talking about that many different sports here, relative to what is still working in QLD, NSW (both support professional clubs across AFL, NRL and SRP (Super Rugby Pacific)) and to a lesser extent WA (no NRL, yet).

 

[JRugby2]

Melbourne has 27 professional sports teams. Calling it untapped is absolutely wild

Only if you hold the belief that every sports loving resident supports all 27 teams?

 

[Tex]

Melbourne has 27 professional sports teams. Calling it untapped is absolutely wild

How did you get to that number?

AFL, league, basketball, soccer, hoolahoops?

 

[Rebel man]

How did you get to that number?

AFL, league, basketball, soccer, hoolahoops?

Probably by counting women’s teams as seperate from the men’s

 

[Bullrush]

How did you get to that number?

AFL, league, basketball, soccer, hoolahoops?

How many AFL teams are in Melbourne?

edit: Wikipedia says Melbourne has:

10 AFL teams
2 NBL teams
3 cricket teams
3 A-League teams
1 NRL team
2 Super Netball teams

That's not including teams or clubs in VIC but not in Melbourne and not including motor sport