Sydney Club rugby on FTA throughout Australia.

[wamberal]

Sydney's club competition, the Shute Shield, kicks off this weekend, the televised match will be Eastwood against Southern Districts. This game is live on ABC TV throughout NSW (and, I assume, the ACT), and it will be replayed nationally on ABC TV on Tuesday morning at 3.30 - check your local guides.

 

[fatprop]

I thought the ABC had pulled the pin on coverage, excellent news

 

[wamberal]

I thought the ABC had pulled the pin on coverage, excellent news

It's in the Foxtel schedule, so I guess it is true!

 

[JSRF10]

Great news that rugby is on FTA, although surely there was a better available slot than 3.30am!

 

[Braveheart81]

ABC News gave it a plug on Tuesday night (I think it was) by having a segment on the season launch with all the captains and then saying that match of the round would start of Saturday afternoon on ABC.

 

[kronic]

Surely they could stream it online, like the final.

 

[antimony]

It was avaialbale on iview last year for non NSW people and was a great little rugby fix for those of us without fox.

 

[kronic]

That's not the same as a live stream. ABC do it with their 24 hour news channel.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I thought the ABC had pulled the pin on coverage, excellent news

I think there are rumours every year that Aunty will pull the plug because of budget constraints. Seems to be some brinksmanship on their behalf to get NSW RU (or SRU or ARU) to continue to subsidise the costs.

IIRC one of the Rugby bodies pays substantial amounts to Aunty for the coverage.

While rugby enjoys its "partnership" and popularity with the "sandstone" universities, "exclusive" private schools and the big end of town, Shute Shield will continue to remain on ABC.

 

[wamberal]

While rugby enjoys its "partnership" and popularity with the "sandstone" universities, "exclusive" private schools and the big end of town, Shute Shield will continue to remain on ABC.

How on earth do you come to that conclusion, Hugh? The Brisbane club competition used to be televised on ABC, once upon a time. There are sandstone universities (well, kind of) in Brisbane, private schools, and a fairly big end of town. Does not seem to have helped much.

If anything, the ABC is determinedly at the other end of the spectrum, I would have said.


And there is no series sponsor for Super Rugby in Australia. Maybe the big end of town is not all that interested, old chap.

 

[Braveheart81]

And there is no series sponsor for Super Rugby in Australia. Maybe the big end of town is not all that interested, old chap.

Is BNZ actually contributing more to Super Rugby in NZ than the Aussie franchises are each getting from their major sponsor?

Isn't it really just a case of one company effectively deciding to sponsor all five teams?

 

[wamberal]

Is BNZ actually contributing more to Super Rugby in NZ than the Aussie franchises are each getting from their major sponsor?

Isn't it really just a case of one company effectively deciding to sponsor all five teams?

Investec are the Series Sponsor in New Zealand, BNZ are team sponsors, analogous to St George for the Reds, HSBC for the Tahs, etc etc. Pulver made finding a series sponsor one of his first priorities, but, so far, no dice apparently. And the longer it goes, the less likely it will be.


The Series Sponsor's logo would appear on the surface of the playing field. Last year it was FxPro.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

The big end of town didn't get to be the big end of town for nothing. If they can use their secret masonic handshakes, nods and winks, passive persuasive skills, to not have to put their hands in their pockets to pay for FTA coverage for Rugby, then they will do so.

If it means that they need to talk to their left leaning, kaftan wearing, rope sandled, trendy hipster geek mates at the ABC Board then so be it. The afore said left leaning, kaftan wearing, rope sandled, trendy hipster geek mates at the ABC Board (many of whom attended sandstone universities and exclusive private schools and are wannabe big end of towners) are receptive to these requests because they secretly want to feel part of the big end of town and to be in the address books of the mobile phones of the people at the big end of town. As well as feeling good that they know the players in the big end of town, they are naive enough to believe that one day the big end of town will return a favour when needed.

Unfortunately the big end of town eats its young and will never return favours unless there is something better in it for them. In terms of sponsoring Super Rugby, let some other mug outfit shell out hard earned funds to sponsor Super Rugby. Cash diverted to Sponsorship is cash unavailable for annual bonus payments. They will be happy receiving the benefits of their corporate entertainment packages at the big games.

Who haven't I insulted with my gross generalisations?

The partnership mentioned in the OP is more of an inferred partnership by association rather than one based on cold hard cash. Members of these bodies frequently speak the jargon of sandstone universities and private schools having attended those institutions whilst growing up.
The ABC and Big End of Town could be construed as representing two parts of the same Establishment: a "left" Ying and a "right" Yang.

Why has Brisvegas Premier footy lost ABC coverage? Tricky, but perhaps ABC is only interested in power and influence (or lack thereof) and they may have concluded that that this only exists in Sydney Melbourne and Canberra. Why would they bow to the needs of Queenslanders?

 

[wamberal]

The big end of town didn't get to be the big end of town for nothing. If they can use their secret masonic handshakes, nods and winks, passive persuasive skills, to not have to put their hands in their pockets to pay for FTA coverage for Rugby, then they will do so.


Why has Brisvegas Premier footy lost ABC coverage? Tricky, but perhaps ABC is only interested in power and influence (or lack thereof) and they may have concluded that that this only exists in Sydney Melbourne and Canberra. Why would they bow to the needs of Queenslanders?

I think Robert Zimmerman said it best, Hugh, or rather, sang it. "The times they are a'changing". The big end of town in Brisbane is basically interested in the other code, unfortunately.

As for the big end of town getting something for nothing, for some reason the name of David Clarke, the co-founder of Macquarie Bank, keeps coming into my memory. How much did he put in to save NSW Rugby after the Concord Oval re-development fiasco? I forget now, but it was a lot, close to ten mill, I think.

Sadly, as Catherine Harris, former rugby tragic, now a member of the ARLC, said "rugby has lost its mojo". As I have posted elsewhere, the game had a bit of a chance at a big breakthrough in Australia, but we muffed it. It wasn't our fault, of course, it is the fault of the bloody rules, and our counterparts in the NH who do not care that we face serious competition.

In the meantime, if the array of friendly forces that you describe, actually do care about the game's future, they will need to think about emulating the late, great, David Clarke (and a non-rugby person like Harold Mitchell), and put their personal and corporate hands in their pockets, before it is too late, and the game retreats into the sandstone universities and private schools. And nowhere else.