The Current State of Rugby
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@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA but the RWC is still WRs main money spinner - and the RWC is nothing without NZ, Aus and SA.
Be crazy for them to ignore a drop off in interest in the the SH due to the Home Nations (perplexing) support of slow rugby.
Reality check: Europe would quite happily cut NZ and AUS from the RWC and it wouldn't affect the value of the product very much at all. Pacific nations as well.
The Boks they'd look at with more detail because of URC and other recent initiatives, but they would struggle to give less fucks about the two countries a day's flight away with limited fan base and a future under threat from a maximised market and narrowing pathways.
It has happened in Australia and is happening in NZ with the way schools are warehousing talent for the pro game, and clubs in the grassroots band are dying.
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@NTA i fear you might be right, i think what people underestimate on this side of the world is fans connections to their club will most often outweigh the quality of the rugby theyre watching
so even if we say NZ and Aus have the best players in the world...whilst fan in the UK might love seeing them as an exhibition every so often they would still just as readily go and see "their team" cop a hiding...complain the whole time but still go
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@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
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England’s coach has said he wants elite players, coaches and referees to meet
Foster be like
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@NTA I don't really buy this man. Rugby isn't like Football where a powerhouse can miss out on the WC entirely and no one bats an eye (Italy four x winners, missed it twice in a row). And losing two major stakeholders (even relatively smaller ones) is a big deal for a smallish sport when those two come from a pool of, what, eight major stakeholders?
A rugby world cup without the All Blacks... what a waste of time that would be.
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@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
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@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
@NTA I don't really buy this man. Rugby isn't like Football where a powerhouse can miss out on the WC entirely and no one bats an eye (Italy four x winners, missed it twice in a row). And losing two major stakeholders (even relatively smaller ones) is a big deal for a smallish sport when those two come from a pool of, what, eight major stakeholders?
A rugby world cup without the All Blacks... what a waste of time that would be.
You are kidding yourself, I’m afraid - there’s not a team out there that wouldn’t love not having to get up to knockout the ABs in a RWC semi only to go on and lose the final the following week.
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@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
He’s the coach of an NH team and has been on the RFU payroll for some years. Anything he says is to try and benefit them.
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@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
He’s the coach of an NH team and has been on the RFU payroll for some years. Anything he says is to try and benefit them.
Absolutely, but I am not convinced that his paymasters, or anyone else important in NH rugby, necessarily agrees with him. Moreover, would Eddie being saying this were he not from the SH? Not saying he doesn't want to benefit his current team, just that his natural bias and perspective from being originally from the SH must surely have some influence here.
Anyway, I think we are in agreement that even Eddie is not going to make things change. The way the game is reffed and played at the moment suits teams and unions in the NH. Whether that's right and how we got to this situation is irrelevant - what is relevant that, because of where are now, there will be great resistance to change, even if that change is being called for from someone working in the NH.
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@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@junior said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial said in The Current State of Rugby:
@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Derpus said in The Current State of Rugby:
He's not wrong is he?
Nope. Might be a lone voice from the NH though.
But he’s not from the NH…
He’s the coach of an NH team and has been on the RFU payroll for some years. Anything he says is to try and benefit them.
Absolutely, but I am not convinced that his paymasters, or anyone else important in NH rugby, necessarily agrees with him. Moreover, would Eddie being saying this were he not from the SH? Not saying he doesn't want to benefit his current team, just that his natural bias and perspective from being originally from the SH must surely have some influence here.
Of course it would and that’s probably a positive given his history plus the fact that he is now all consumed by English rugby and several 6Ns campaigns.
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Surely the customers should dictate how a professional organisation structures its product. If you don't have people watching then your revenue is going to drop.
Perhaps the product is doing better than we think and we should all STFU but from talking to casual and seasoned supporters we can all agree that the product on offer now is significantly less than it was.
I am happy WR are taking head knocks seriously but the entire card fiasco and stoppages are hurting the spectacle big time.
I do hope they talk to their customers and have a team tasked with creating a product that people want to watch.
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@pakman said in The Current State of Rugby:
Shag's take:
I only got a few minutes in and gave up after hearing mostly what I would consider Foster's take...
Comments are fun though. Mark Macken really bringing my thoughts on Irish fandom to the fore...