Super 15... but where are our passionates?

[RedsHappy]

Groucho: Rugby in France is an interesting case, RedsHappy. The first stat to keep in mind is that 62,793,432 people live in metropolitan (i.e. mainland) France. This is about three times Australia's population. But Rugby in France is certainly winning market share within that large market: at the expense of football. So, French rugby benefits from a larger population base than Australia, but is also increasing in popularity. I wonder if it is progressing towards a 'natural level' that the sport may have already reached in some other places. It would be very interesting to try to pick these numbers apart and try to understand what the different factors are. I think there is a blog post in there.

Couldn't agree more Groucho. We need to analyse global 'modern success stories for rugby' and see what we can perhaps leverage from them for the sake of Aus rugby's improved prosperity. France is really interesting, hence the mention. Part of it is that soccer there is gaining a bad rap for distasteful crowds and mediocre playing styles - and the France disaster this year in the world stage will not help! I also suspect that something else is at work - many of the best French teams are driven by success-obsessed owners and leaders who are determined to buy the best players and fill their stadiums, i.e., they are better 'rugby businessmen and marketers' than the vin ordinaire we have running our complacent, old-school RUs here in Oz. Just look at Toulon, for example.

What strikes me about these numbers is how promising the prognosis is for Melbourne. People say how hard it will be to draw crowds in a new city but these numbers all point to the crowd appeal of rugby. The question is why Aussie crowds are falling now.

See my other comments today re Melbourne, and I agree with your general thrust. I am kept alive by hope for Melbourne, and I think there's a rational basis for that hope, especially given the Macqueen factor. PROVIDED, they play the brand of rugby that the everyday fans, voting with their feet and $s, have unequivocally demonstrated they want to see, which is NOT the game style typically favoured by the NSW and ACT RUs, hence in part the worrying crowd number declines there.

I'm with the 'loser' camp. We need to start winning, without winning ugly and ruining the game's inherent appeal to sports fans.... The need to get bums on seats is fundamental. No bucks equals no trophies and no funding for grassroots rugby and the future of the game.

100% right.