Priorities For The New ARU CEO

[It is what it is]

Don't know if it's been mentioned but we need to lift our political profile to drive increased government revenue into our game.
The AFL and Football Australia have been masters at gaining investment monies off both federal and state governments while Rugby was shafted on the Ballymore development.
RL has gained state gov't monies over many years for club ground improvements in NSW. Meanwhile Sydney rugby clubs have battled at local council level without much success.
O'Neill seemed compromised over his Major Events roles but rugby surely wasn't the winner in government funding.

 

[Ruggo]

We need to show positive impact on broader society to be worth of increased govt funding.

You say to an aborigional kid no school, no footy and he will be the first to class. That is the reality and why they get so much funding. AFL can improve lives and communities it is that influential in society.

 

[It is what it is]

We need to show positive impact on broader society to be worth of increased govt funding.

You say to an aborigional kid no school, no footy and he will be the first to class. That is the reality and why they get so much funding. AFL can improve lives and communities it is that influential in society.

Agree on the AFL efforts, they are way ahead of other sports but what about Soccer?
That was a billionaire master politician pulling $40 million plus for a 20/1 shot (at best) of hosting a Football World Cup and they got it (the $$$ not the hosting rights).
Football and Rugby are international sports, AFL and RL aren't and it's time we started acting like a serious sport.
Meanwhile Coates, despite the Crawford Report findings, somehow received increased funding for the AOC which resulted in each gold medal won costing $10 million for Australian taxpayers.
If a politically astute and compelling program is required to gain funding, then put it together and get on with it.
If you don't ask, you don't get.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Agree on the AFL efforts, they are way ahead of other sports but what about Soccer?
That was a billionaire master politician pulling $40 million plus for a 20/1 shot (at best) of hosting a Football World Cup and they got it (the $$$ not the hosting rights).
Football and Rugby are international sports, AFL and RL aren't and it's time we started acting like a serious sport.
Meanwhile Coates, despite the Crawford Report findings, somehow received increased funding for the AOC which resulted in each gold medal won costing $10 million for Australian taxpayers.
If a politically astute and compelling program is required to gain funding, then put it together and get on with it.
If you don't ask, you don't get.

Our problem may lie in the fact that the leader of her majesty's loyal opposition and his would be replacement attended schools that are in the same school sporting system as the chairman and new ceo of the ARU.

Why does the government need to pander to those interests???

 

[TOCC]

To add to the one they are booing and not supporting already? Hardly anybody get's to the Homebush games unless they are a big game so you can't say it's a geographical thing. Build the support up for the Waratahs first and then it would be viable.

Sheesh, that is the whole point of competition...
Look at the Lions, Broncos, and Swans.. None of these teams suffered drops in attendance/members as a result of expansion teams.. In most circumstances it has given them a new derby match to publicise..

 

[wamberal]

One issue that is glaringly obvious is that, whenever highlights of any of our matches actually make it on to FTA, they invariably feature successful goal kicks. Once a month or so, a try is shown. I ask you, what does that say about our game?


We get 30 seconds once a week on FTA, or so, per channel, and all that it shows is Berrick bloody Barnes kicking a goal. And there are people around here who don't think that our game has serious problems. Even soccer highlights are more interesting, for crying out aloud.



There are none so blind, etc etc.

 

[p.Tah]

^^ we must be watching different FTA highlights. I'm certain they show the tries. It's pretty rare that a try isn't scored in a game.

Now ive just seen that the Wobs vs Wales from the Spring Tour is on Fox now. Looking forward to that highlight where Kurtley wins it on the bell.

Edit: it was a 10 min highlights package of..... 7 penalty goals and a try at he death. Ha!

 

[Bernie_Larkham]

With regard to government funding now that rugby is an Olympic sport we should, all things considered, be able to access much more government funding. While that maybe technically for 7snonly if it can be channelled towards facilities then it is a win win.

 

[barbarian]

One issue that is glaringly obvious is that, whenever highlights of any of our matches actually make it on to FTA, they invariably feature successful goal kicks. Once a month or so, a try is shown. I ask you, what does that say about our game?

We get 30 seconds once a week on FTA, or so, per channel, and all that it shows is Berrick bloody Barnes kicking a goal. And there are people around here who don't think that our game has serious problems. Even soccer highlights are more interesting, for crying out aloud.
.

I struggle to understand how this indicates our game has serious problems. It may indicate the Wallabies play boring rugby, but that is something we all know and accept. Saying it indicates huge issues is a bit much.
.

 

[wamberal]

I struggle to understand how this indicates our game has serious problems. It may indicate the Wallabies play boring rugby, but that is something we all know and accept. Saying it indicates huge issues is a bit much.
.

Okay, I will try to explain, although I would have thought it axiomatic that limited exposure on FTA is a major problem for our game, and that it is crucial that we make the most of the little that we get. When the little we get on news programmes is limited to goal kicks, we have a major problem.


At the moment, FTA exposure is limited to live telecasts of Test matches in some areas of the country, plus Shute Shield for a couple of states on Saturday afternoons, plus highlights in the news bulletins.

Let us assume that there are people watching the news bulletins who might be able to be attracted to watch either a Test match, or the Shute Shield, on FTA, or even to start attending matches live, at whatever level. For some of these people, the only rugby they will see on FTA is what is shown on the sporting news hightlights. For some people, these highlights are our only opportunity to give them a reason to be interested in the game we support.

The highlights that I have seen from time to time on FTA programmes have been, as I said earlier, pretty dire, with a heavy emphasis on goal-kicks, and very little else. "Offsiders" on the ABC has used these highlights to bag the Wallabies unmercifully, all season. I now longer watch the "Back Page" because I can imagine that what happens there is worse.

Compared to the wall to wall coverage that the AFL and NRL get, and that the A-League will get soon we are being swamped. That is a serious problem. Apart from anything else, sponsors need to see that they are getting bangs for their buck, and we are really behind the 8 ball at best in comparison with the opposition.

 

[barbarian]

I don't disagree with you, more FTA exposure can only be a good thing.

But the one question I have is when was the last time our FTA exposure was greater than it is now? The current coverage is exactly the same as back in the 'glory days' of the early 2000s, no?
.

 

[Slim 293]

It's definitely less, but that's also because nobody gives a toss that we've just lost to the AB's for the 279th time.........

And now you've got the A-League getting more TV news coverage, and it's certainly not at the level in soccer that Super Rugby is in rugby union..........

 

[Train Without a Station]

Sheesh, that is the whole point of competition.
Look at the Lions, Broncos, and Swans.. None of these teams suffered drops in attendance/members as a result of expansion teams.. In most circumstances it has given them a new derby match to publicise..

Can't comment on GWS, however as a Gold Coaster I can vouch for strong local junior & senior participation as well as support for both Rugby League and Australian rules in the region, giving the NRL and AFL reason to try and capitalize on this. In addition the Lions and the Broncos have both had long sustained support and crowd numbers, not steadily declining like the Tahs. By your logic, the GC would be a better option for a team. It would not be a good idea though.

 

[wamberal]

I don't disagree with you, more FTA exposure can only be a good thing.

But the one question I have is when was the last time our FTA exposure was greater than it is now? The current coverage is exactly the same as back in the 'glory days' of the early 2000s, no?
.

It possibly is, but back then the NRL was struggling and the A-League had not been invented yet.


We are in a much more competitive space now, our product is not as attractive as it was back then (people can say what they like about Sailor, Tuqiri, Rogers et al, but they brought huge media interest in our game), we were coming off a World Cup win, we had a Lions tour, and were preparing for a World Cup. We had a great team that played expansive and attractive rugby.


My solution is that the ARU has to work with Fox Sports and Ten to put together packages of highlights for each match, to be made available to all FTA outlets. Even the most dire game can be made to look half-interesting, if a highlights package is enlivened with a bit of clever cutting and pasting, and a good script.


Great news coverage is worth more than the best advertising, IMHO.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

injuries - reading the tahs 2013 thread I have a feeling of deja vu all over again: turner not training, horne not training.....

 

[TOCC]

Can't comment on GWS, however as a Gold Coaster I can vouch for strong local junior & senior participation as well as support for both Rugby League and Australian rules in the region, giving the NRL and AFL reason to try and capitalize on this. In addition the Lions and the Broncos have both had long sustained support and crowd numbers, not steadily declining like the Tahs. By your logic, the GC would be a better option for a team. It would not be a good idea though.

No thats not my logic at all, Sydney is a marketplace of 4million residents with more rugby union players and commercial support anywhere else in Australia... The Gold Coast has a weak economy and its rugby union player numbers aren't really that great.

Don't mistake the Waratahs poor performance on crowds and members as an indication of the potential of the Sydney rugby union marketplace. With a population almost twice the size of the Brisbane and player numbers to match, their is definitely room for growth and the city could easily accommodate a second professional rugby union team. If anything, rugby union may have missed the opportunity with the inclusion of Wanderers and GWS taking the western suburbs by storm.

 

[Train Without a Station]

Don't mistake the Waratahs poor performance on crowds and members as an indication of the potential of the Sydney rugby union marketplace.

Mate come off it. That's the only indication there is that we can consider. The Western Sydney teams seem to struggle the most in the Shute Shield. The money and the support obviously isn't there and there isn't the money to invest long term the way the AFL has done with GWS.

 

[TOCC]

Mate come off it. That's the only indication there is that we can consider. The Western Sydney teams seem to struggle the most in the Shute Shield. The money and the support obviously isn't there and there isn't the money to invest long term the way the AFL has done with GWS.

Hmm sure i guess that's like saying the QRU of 2010 was a measure of the market potential in Queensland.. When you have a monopoly on the market you are never going to have a fair representation of the potential by purely looking at that individuals results.

 

[grievous]

FTA TV, 3rd tier and junior/schoolboy rugby

 

[Aussie D]

Bill Pulver should forget schoolboy rugby and leave them to their own devices and concentrate all of the ARU's efforts on growing junior club rugby. IMHO private schoolboy rugby will look after themself (always have done) without ARU interference and by increasing junior participation in club rugby they will be able to expand the base by growing a new pathway into elite rugby. As for the development academies, young players need experience playing against grisled veterans in club rugby. The idea of picking kids straight out of school and playing them against the likes of McCaw et al without first being given a lesson by Aj Gilbert and senior players like him is one of the reasons why our U20 seem to struggle amidst all the hype at JRWC time.