Saffas going?
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All the talk seems to be about more rugby when everything but money seems to point to less rugby being the better option.
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@nzzp said in Saffas going?:
@canefan said in Saffas going?:
I'm not sure this move would make their rugby any better. How many players come back from the NH better?
Currently, most of them. Look at the standouts in the AUS and SA teams in teh RWC; a lot of them are coming out of the NH comps. They went away and got better. We have to do the same.
That said, SA always does this, and so far no joy. I'm not sure the 6/7N will compromise their travel for a few SA dollars. The big money is in England and France, and potentially Japan. SA is a medium earner in the scheme of things.
If they do go, it'll be curtains for us though. We just wno't compete with the big boys up north with the deep pockets if we can't get Japan up and running as a superpower.
Why would the 6N agree to include RSA, though? You rightly point out that most of the money comes from France and England, so it’s at best a marginal financial gain. But on the field, they’ve got a lot to lose, playing the 3x world champs every year. Plus there’s the travel factor. Plus there’s getting Scotland, Italy, Ireland and Wales to agree to it as they’re arguably the most at risk of this new team at least on the field
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Reflecting on this, and remembering that SA want to join NH as it's where the money is, the key road blocks have to be
- Seasons.
Playing summer rugby in SA would be a massive shift. It would be direct competition with Cricket (for instance), and out of step with the entire rest of the schedule (schoolboy, Currie Cup, etc). So you either have no pool of players playing footy during the 6N, or you have to rejig your entire calendar. Northern/Southern hemisphere calendar struggles exist for a reason.
1a. Seaons continued
You're now asking NH teams to go from what they had in Scotland at the weekend, to summer temperatures (high20's, low 30's possibly) in a week. Really not sure that's going to be feasible.- Travel
Similar timezone, but I think the 12H flight to Cape Town would be a real deal breaker. The longest trip at the moment would be Scotland-Italy; about 3 hours. Replace that with two or three flights depending on start/finish and it's a real headache.
The other factor in that is the fans. The reason the 6N is the best comp in the world (not the best rugby, but the best comp) are the fans, and the travelling fans in particular. Basically you kill that for one team completely.
- Buyin from Scotland, Wales (and maybe Italy)
Will they really sign up to playing a top team every year, and possibly getting humiliated? Not sure I see it, with marginal financial gain. Will SA really bring that much to the table?
This (http://archive.livewire.ie/international-rugby-union-revenues-reach/) from 2015 suggests not:
So overall, I'd be really really surprised if this happened. It's kind of like a developer offering to build a waterfront stadium - based on a lot of pie in the sky, hypotheticals.
- Seasons.
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@nzzp said in Saffas going?:
key road blocks
Questions on those:
a) If the "Springboks" play out of London, seeking Saffa exile crowds and with many Euro based players in the squad, would that affect roadblocks 1 and 2?
b) What role does CVC play in deciding the 6N future - does their partial buy out impact buy-in choices of others for roadblock 3?
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@Kiap said in Saffas going?:
@nzzp said in Saffas going?:
key road blocks
Questions on those:
a) If the "Springboks" play out of London, seeking Saffa exile crowds and with many Euro based players in the squad, would that affect roadblocks 1 and 2?
b) What role does CVC play in deciding the 6N future - does their partial buy out impact buy-in choices of others for roadblock 3?
Do you think the SA rugby public will be happy with having their national team effectively playing away for an entire competition?
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@canefan said in Saffas going?:
@Kiap said in Saffas going?:
@nzzp said in Saffas going?:
key road blocks
Questions on those:
a) If the "Springboks" play out of London, seeking Saffa exile crowds and with many Euro based players in the squad, would that affect roadblocks 1 and 2?
b) What role does CVC play in deciding the 6N future - does their partial buy out impact buy-in choices of others for roadblock 3?
Do you think the SA rugby public will be happy with having their national team effectively playing away for an entire competition?
and if they do play away, where is the player pool? Do you select out of the NH competition as none of your players are active?
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@canefan said in Saffas going?:
Do you think the SA rugby public will be happy with having their national team effectively playing away for an entire competition?
Depends. So, what do they lose and what do they gain?
For instance:
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Will the SA rugby public's much-loved home test matches in January/February/March be taken away?
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Will the SA rugby public's favourite Euro-based Boks have to move to Europe ... from Europe?
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Are there fewer Test matches for the SA rugby public to watch - or more?
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Is there less money filtered back to SA rugby and their public - or more?
etc.
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@junior said in Saffas going?:
@nzzp said in Saffas going?:
@canefan said in Saffas going?:
Plus there’s getting Scotland, Italy, Ireland and Wales to agree to it as they’re arguably the most at risk of this new team at least on the field
Oh really
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Seems to be a no-goer if the NH players get their way.
RPA warns of a mass player revolt over Seven Nations plot
The chief executive of the Rugby Players Association, which looks after England’s leading players, has warned against expanding the Six Nations.
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@Catogrande said in Saffas going?:
All the talk seems to be about more rugby when everything but money seems to point to less rugby being the better option.
Absolutely. Scarcity builds interest/demand.
I cannot be fucked with Super rugby right now. The comp is way too long and we're in the middle of our cricket season. I'll only start to get interested later in the comp when games start to mean a bit more. They've really fucked the whole format which is why crowd numbers are so poor.
Injuries are also a massive plague on the game now, with top players regularly out of action or missing as they need a rest, bringing the value of each match into disrepute as you rarely get the best possible sides playing each other anymore.
Sorry bit of a tangent from the thread topic but the world game needs a rethink as the balance is all wrong at the moment.
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@No-Quarter said in Saffas going?:
@Catogrande said in Saffas going?:
All the talk seems to be about more rugby when everything but money seems to point to less rugby being the better option.
Absolutely. Scarcity builds interest/demand.
32 team NFL. 16 games regular season. 1 month of playoffs. That's it son, you're done for the year. Do you think people watch every minute of every game? You goddamn betcha.
Rugby. 16 game regular season for 16 teams + playoffs. Then 6-9 AB tests. Then a 12 game NPC comp + playoffs. Then another 3-4 AB games, plus a meaningless barbarian style game if you're interested.
Way too much Rugby, and it gets overloaded. The Super comp is devalued, it's now just a feeder to internationals. Starting in January is way too early (and yet I got hooked on Week 2 games. FML).
Edit: and just to kind of make the point, apparently Super is now 15 teams. FFS.
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Quality over quantity. Time to go back to Super 12.
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@antipodean said in Saffas going?:
Quality over quantity. Time to go back to Super 12.
The round robin S12 was the best format. Sure it was pre-kids and there were more stars, but I was interested in all games including the games in SA. The home and away conference round takes away from the Mitre10 cup and I'm bored already
