Placing ads in the the respective papers is all well and good but how will they actually draw people to the games? Providing write ups is another good step but how do you garner interest from those who aren't already invested in the game? When you consider innovative thinking, these aren't particularly innovative and certainly fail to adequately address the growing presence of the digital media.
We have the bloke behind ClubRugbyTV on the board. Excellent. What are your capabilities in providing content? I quite like the idea of providing streamed content. How many games can you shoot in a week over how many competitions? Have you thought to look at perhaps some schoolboy content as well? Innovative would be to assist someone like ClubRugbyTV by providing them the support and most importantly the resources to grow there capabilities and build their programming. By investing in a concept and making it available for as many Rugby fans as possible. Yes, it my need to be at a small monthly subscription fee, but if you could get professional content of say the three major competitions (initially) and schoolboy content at your discretion. Or, in the light of some of the innovative thinking, how about the clubs get out in there communities beyond any piecemeal efforts and attempt to build a relationship with the that they would be relying on to support them either by turning up at the gate or watching on TV.
Of course, I know nothing of the inner workings of club Rugby and am sure to be given a right spanking by certain contributors. I'm just a fool who wants to see the player pathways improved to assist in their development so that we can provide a consistent stream of ready made talent for Super Rugby and the Wallabies.
If club Rugby could be transformed into something that could do this, (which unless one of the competitions manages to find a way to professionalize itself and draws all the top and emerging talent into just one pool, which is seemingly unlikely) then great. I'll support that. If we need the clubs to be the driving force behind a push to ARS like representative structure then super, I'd support that. If someone comes in with an idea of something new, I'll certainly look t it and see if it comes to something. I really don't care about club allegiance or loyalty. As someone who loves the game I watch as much as I can as often as its available to me. I couldn't care less about the politics of club rugby, I only care about player development and the creation of opportunities. Anything that will strengthen the games ability to compete in a competitive marketplace.
