Name the rugby player with the highest social media following. If you said Siya, Antoine, or even Quade, you’re not in the correct postcode. Ilona Maher, a squad player in the USA bronze medal winning Sevens team, is the correct answer. She has a shade over 4 million Instagram followers, which makes Siya’s 1.3 million not even close.
She’s an interesting study with her profile and has probably done more to lift rugby in the US in six months than the MLR has done in 10 years. She has even been on the US version of Dancing with the Stars.
Perry Baker – the 7s GOAT retires.
Perry Baker has called time on his decorated career. Starting out as a pure gas man t10 years ago he did the work and developed some serious skill to go with his searing pace. Some of his tries were just things of absolute beauty. It was reported earlier this year that Baker was likely set to retire after the Paris Games.
The ‘Speedstick’ is widely considered to be one of the greatest to have ever played the sport, and the American’s final season on the HSBC SVNS Series backs that up. At 37 years of age during the campaign, Baker finished third for tries scored despite missing some tournaments.
“It’s been an honour and a privilege to wear the jersey and represent my country on the world stage. From the moment I joined the team, I could never have imagined the experiences, the highs and lows, and the lifelong friends rugby would give me. Year one of my journey was especially life-changing as I met my amazing wife, and together we built our family. To my wife and family, I couldn’t have done this without your endless support and love. You’ve been my anchor, and I’m grateful for the sacrifices you made so I could pursue my dream.
“To my teammates, coaches, staff, and everyone in USA Rugby, thank you for believing in me, pushing me, and making every moment memorable. To the fans, rugby isn’t just a sport, it’s a family and you guys made me feel that everywhere I went. And to rugby itself, thank you for teaching me resilience, teamwork, and leadership that will live with me forever. As I step into the next chapter, I carry with me all the lessons, memories, and connections this game has given me. I’m excited for what’s to come and how I can continue giving back to this amazing sport.”
He looks to be heading into coaching so, hopefully, isn’t lost to the sport.
How I’d make Super Rugby the biggest rugby competition in the world.
I’ve got the negativity out of my system after tipping buckets on the Rebels Directors last week. This week I am being positive again.
Firstly, in my version I don’t care about how it makes the Wallabies or New Zealand better in the short term, that’d be the by-product. I just want the best and most economically strong Super Rugby competition possible.
Here’s a very brief version of how I’d fix and grow Super Rugby into the dominant rugby competition in the world. I’ve listened to the fine rugby economics podcast of the Eggchasers with Mark Evans (CEO of the Drua). His view is that to be the best you can be the argument is economic. The best players will naturally flow towards the money in sport.
As former Prime Minister Paul (Bearer) Keating once said our future lies in Asia. The most effective sport products relies on TV ratings. Sport is one of the few products that can guarantee eyeballs for events in a world where there are so many ways to consume content. This is why the AFL and NRL TV deals are so overblown.
Asia has approx. 4.1 billion people in it and if we aimed to have a competition that engages with 1 in a 1000 people across the region then that would mean a weekly viewership of 4.1 million people. To put that in context the NRL gets approx. half a million viewers on a Saturday evening. The entire TV rights would be packaged up into one deal across the entirety of Asia. I suspect it would dwarf the NRL and AFL deals and consequently allow the teams to run larger budgets winning the economic contest against the other codes for talent.
So, what would it look like.
5 Teams Japan,
5 Teams NZ
4 Teams Australia,
1 Team Hong Kong, Singapore (Moana Pacifica), Drua,
Teams to play others once and half of the teams twice. 17 teams allows a built in bye. The entire competition runs across a nearly 4-hour time zone making it easy to consume.
An NFL style league commissioner would oversee the running of the league.
A salary cap would be in place across the league and the commissioner would keep the books in place.
Players would be available for their own country regardless of where they play.
A draft for young players would be in place to equalise the comp with free agency for older players.
Each club could have a men’s and women’s team running in concert so each game could be a double header.
In a slow rugby week, my mind wanders. I am aware that this thought bubble won’t happen, but it would be awesome and grow the game to a level that would dwarf our Australian competitors.
