Finally: New national Rugby competition!!!

[Egan]

I thought this competition had legs and was great. However when I made these predictions...I did not realise the marketing would be WAFL standard...

Dibo, even the best of us make errors. If you continuously go out on a limb, it will go backwards, but I was extremely dissapointed in the turn out in Perth and across the nation.

I still think an ARC can work, it just needs a bigger budget. Something the ARU are reluctant to provide...

The A-League is successful due to money finally being put into marketing the code, the NSL in the eastern states was much of the same as the ARC. Due to semi-professionalism and adhoc marketing.

[Jeffles]

I thought this competition had legs and was great. However when I made these predictions...I did not realise the marketing would be WAFL standard...

The A-League is successful due to money finally being put into marketing the code, the NSL in the eastern states was much of the same as the ARC. Due to semi-professionalism and adhoc marketing.

Marketing you can blame the national body for but the budget is not necessarily something that it provided. It is something that is raised. Ultimately that led to its downfall. The ARU could not "provide" a budget when the competition had limited market value. The synthetic club entities with no local RU kulcha references and the absence of big name players made marketing very difficult. The short duration over which the competition takes place limited its value to a TV company. The ARU could have sold the competition more in terms of devoting more resources to it but not everyone would have bought the hype.

[Egan]

Not in the mood to discuss, but the Canberra Times had a great article about the short falls of the game times conflicting with some big rugby matches and the short sightedness of local officials but the huge issue it is for Rugby in that city that the ARC did not continue.

You had new sports administrators, you had many errors localy, a lack of experience from the top down and most of the players being semi professional.

Meant the Australian public, recognised it as an inferior product.

[hot_dogma]

Mazda is currently getting great bang for buck by supporting the ARC and North Melbourne.

[yob]

Mazda is currently getting great bang for buck by supporting the ARC and North Melbourne.

You really do need to wonder what could be wrong with their cars if they routinely exercise poor judgement across all facets of their organisation. Few million on north melbourne - maybe a few loose bolts. More on the ARC? Brakes could be dodgy.

[Nines]

Meant the Australian public, recognised it as an inferior product.

I guess they did .


.

[Simmo79]

So is this thing still on or what...?

(it's good to be back!)

[AndrewM]

From the few ARC matches I saw, I enjoyed the overall quality of play although the ELV took a bit of time to get used to.

The 'artificial nature' for want of a better term of the clubs themselves is what I found the weakest part of the whole thing - and I suppose everyone else did too.

[Simmo79]

Thread necromancy because the ARU is at it again:

The missing link in Australia’s player production line – a domestic competition on par with South Africa’s Currie Cup and New Zealand’s ITM Cup – will be filled for the next two years at least by a broadcast deal that enables the Australian Rugby Union to stage a national rugby championship without dipping into its pockets.

When announcing on Tuesday the establishment of a competition in many ways identical to the failed Australian Rugby Championship of 2007, ARU chief executive Bill Pulver indicated the key difference was cost.

“Many of the strategic reasons for launching the ARC when they did were actually well founded, in terms of putting in place a very important incremental step in the rugby development pathway,” Pulver said.

However, where the financial model of the ARC demanded the ARU pay the broadcaster to televise it, leading to losses of a reported $4.7 million, the new deal, signed on Monday with pay television entities Foxtel and Fox Sports, involved a commitment “sufficient to cover the ARU’s costs of running the competition”, Pulver said.
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Under the deal, which will run for a minimum of two years, and up to seven years, Fox Sports will broadcast at least one game each round, as well as the semi-finals and final.

The financial backing facilitates a competition Pulver believes will fill a huge void in the development structure. The national rugby competition – yet to be titled – will comprise eight to 10 sides, including teams from Perth, Canberra and Melbourne, probably three teams from Sydney and two from Brisbane.

Pulver discussed there being perhaps a North Brisbane and South Brisbane, a Sydney north shore comprising a collaboration between Northern Suburbs, Warringah, Gordon and Manly, a western Sydney side, as well clubs dedicated to fielding largely local talent from the ACT, Victoria and Western Australia. He said he would like to see a team representing country NSW, playing in regional centres.

Negotiations with Shute Shield and Premier Rugby representatives in Sydney and Brisbane had succeeded in reaching agreement to finish the club season in time to allow the national championship to start in mid-August, with finals around November. Matches will be played at smaller stadiums with broadcast capacity, many of which are available in that window. The championship would feature some “really interesting concepts”, Pulver said, including “innovative new rules”.

Discussions with potential applicants were under way. Applications close on January 13 and teams are expected to be announced by the end of February.

State players would be required to play, Pulver said, with participation covered under current ARU contracts. The National Rugby Championship Commission has been established to develop the concept, including the touchy issue of player distribution, but Pulver said he wanted local players heavily involved.

“The long-term objective is to create a player development pathway for all the major regions in Australia,” he said. “One of the things I’m not comfortable we have achieved in Australian rugby is that we’re populating the Force, Rebels and Brumbies with local talent.

“You’ve got to create a player development pathway from five-year-old kids all the way to the Force and all the way to the Wallabies.”

Pulver said the ARU wanted also to develop a national under-20 program to complement the under-15 and under-17 Gold Cup levels and school competitions. From there, players would progress to club rugby and through to the national competition system, where they would gain experience alongside and against state level players.

The end result, Pulver said, would be “a robust player development pathway in every major region of the country”.

“I’m not concerned about the depth of talent in Australia. I am concerned we don’t have the right development pathway. Now, the national rugby championship creates a comprehensive player development pathway that we think puts us on par with other countries. I think we’ll be looking back in 20 years and acknowledging what a pivotal moment this was in Australian rugby.”

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union ... 2z2xq.html

Let's see if they f**k up again. Time to re-read this thread too

[yob]

I thought the missing link was The Biggest Loser on network 10

[Rob]

It looks to be exactly the same as the last one.

What's the definition of insanity again?

[Simmo79]

well yeah.

But, playing devil's advocate I understand their desire to do this. Last time around there was a need to give non-Super Rugby players more playing time at a higher level. That need has become more urgent. Australian rugby is at a distinct structural disadvantage against NZ and SA rugby because of the short season of decent rugby those players get. They just don't get the games under their belt during their formative professional years. In fact the only players who get a lot of game time at a decent level are the ones who get run on spots with the Wallabies. Everyone else just plays however many games the Super 15 is now. The Kiwis and Saffers keep on until November with their domestic comps. Australia just isn't competing in the player development game and the results are there for all to see.

That said, if the ARU isn't serious about learning from the litany of mistakes they made last time around (summarised as "not finding an audience to pay for the bills") then they'll piss away more millions. And they're in a worse financial state now than they were in 06-07.

[yob]

Bad luck, should've engaged with people instead of carrying on a closed society for priveleged white kids.

[bazza]

Should just play an extra set of home and away games between the 'super' rugby teams.

other option is to appeal to their base and have teams including:
Old Kings
Old Joeys
CHS

[dibo]

Will we get to see if they ever do get a second name on the ARC trophy? I wonder where it is now, and I wonder what really was happening to the bloke in the bottom right of this pic.