Highlanders 2023
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@friedrugby stick hunt in there, we're going to get battered so i would rather he copped it than anyone else
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@Crucial said in Highlanders 2023:
I would actually say that it's time for conversations about Highlanders management.
Highlanders/Otago face some challenges that the other franchises don't and that requires some clever thinking rather than finger crossing.
Dunedin is a small place. Way smaller than other Super Franchise cities. The University environment has changed and farming in the province relies on its' youngsters getting degrees from other places in order to get finance (farming can be extremely technical these days).
The pathways from the province are difficult given terrain and travel.
These aren't excuses, they are facts that all point to the Landers being extremely lucky if they find players from within their boundries meaning that they need to attract from outside.
The obvious attraction would be success and the rewards that come with it but that has to be built.
My question is what the Highlanders/Otago management are doing about that recruitment? Are there joint ventures with local business people to top up salaries? If there is money and interest in places like Queenstown then tap into it. The Rod Drury's and Peter Theils of the area are happy to support local ventures. Why haven't the Landers found patrons like them?
That would help monetarily.
The 'zoo' is an excellent idea that has provided some atmosphere at the games but what is going to get punters in from further afield?
Is the development/ academy programme respected enough? If not, why not?a lot of good points, i honestly think its almost impossible for us to truly thrive in the current format, might have the odd season where we shine but i just cant see Crusaders type dynasty's being formed
re investors, i think it comes down to rich people dont get or stay rich by throwing their money away and sports teams dont make money, the most obvious test case of this is Ryan Reynolds with wrexham, 3rd oldest football club in the UK (world?) so load of history, something huge to play for in promotion, city of 70k so not hugely smaller than dunedin...and the only way they've made money (maybe only broken even) is through the extra stuff like the documentary
the current model is about equality and not equity, so the highlander might receive similar support from NZR but they starting on the back foot for the reasons you've explained and probably more, we cant argue there is now a legacy of being 'the worst" NZ super team
i think the only way things even out is if the rest of the comp drops to our level more like the NPC, or at least 7-8 NZ super teams and only if we're not diluted back to southland and Otago
With the investor thing I'm not talking about someone just sinking money into the balance sheet. I'm suggesting that ways be found that are mutually beneficial.
Rod Drury for example has a software company set up in Cromwell that looks for innovative solutions to problems. What if a problem identified is the logistics of regional fans to get to support the team in Dunedin. Rod's lot comes up with an app that links transport/accomodation/meals/drinks options as self packages that can be used at individual and group (eg rugby club) level with good discounts.
This is the type of thing that he does in community support. eg he recently built an app for a startup group of locals offering to move personal vehicles from one end of the Dunstan cycle trail to another.
I'm not suggesting that he is interested in helping rugby, Just using him as an example of how support can take more forms than ownership shares.
Getting a group to underwrite a game in Queenstown is another example. Look at what the NZ Open does in attracting corporates from around the world for a special event. You could do similar in a rugby sense. -
@Crucial I'll tell you how to get crowd numbers - win games... it really is that simple, if the Highlanders were unbeaten heading into a weekend fixture late in the season (e.g Not this weekend which is duck shooting), I'd fairly confidently say the crowd would be around 18k, which is very good.
I know myself, I don't really want to go, because I know we will lose (though I'm going to anyway.)
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@friedrugby said in Highlanders 2023:
@Crucial I'll tell you how to get crowd numbers - win games... it really is that simple, if the Highlanders were unbeaten heading into a weekend fixture late in the season (e.g Not this weekend which is duck shooting), I'd fairly confidently say the crowd would be around 18k, which is very good.
I know myself, I don't really want to go, because I know we will lose (though I'm going to anyway.)
thats the problem though, the truly great clubs build supporter bases that go win or lose...not fair weather fans, carlton in the AFL had over 100k members whilst wooden spooners
concentrating on just winning is how we end up with 2013 and trying to buy in a couple of AB's...
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@friedrugby said in Highlanders 2023:
@Crucial I'll tell you how to get crowd numbers - win games... it really is that simple, if the Highlanders were unbeaten heading into a weekend fixture late in the season (e.g Not this weekend which is duck shooting), I'd fairly confidently say the crowd would be around 18k, which is very good.
I know myself, I don't really want to go, because I know we will lose (though I'm going to anyway.)
Of course that happens. We all know that there are lots like yourself plus fairweather punters.
The trick comes when the team isn't winning and you are trying to avoid a downward spiral of public and player interest. How do you keep engagement when a team is rebuilding? You can't rely on being winners all the time. For every winner there is a loser so logic tells me that over time relying on winning is stupid.
Look at other big sports comps that have underperforming teams. Some even market themselves on being underdog battlers FFS.
I have often supported teams that are in a category of 'we may not always win but you will get entertained'. -
@Crucial The Highlanders simply aren't entertaining though... perhaps I was a bit extreme, but unless you are a true diehard fan, who wants to go watch their home team get pummeled, playing drab rugby.
You don't have to win every week, sure, but you've got to show the fans something... that game against the Canes was shocking, and it has been backed up with a shocker of a trip to Aus.
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@friedrugby thats what i think rugby needs to work out, why do +40k afl fans go week in week out even if their team is rubbish...maybe not the same numbers but similar in football in the UK, thousands will go home and away spending hours and hundred of pounds going around the country
It what fans of other sports do, go to the pub at lunch time, catch up with mates, go to the game, its a whole day thing....NZ rugby fans just seems to go "meh...too hard"
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@friedrugby thats what i think rugby needs to work out, why do +40k afl fans go week in week out even if their team is rubbish...maybe not the same numbers but similar in football in the UK, thousands will go home and away spending hours and hundred of pounds going around the country
It what fans of other sports do, go to the pub at lunch time, catch up with mates, go to the game, its a whole day thing....NZ rugby fans just seems to go "meh...too hard"
Yep. Fan engagement. You actually want fans getting together and bitching about how shit the team is.
That's what I was implying. The management thinking needs to find innovative ways to engage the fans. -
@Kiwiwomble New Zealand is also very expensive relative to local incomes. Especially for younger people who don't outright own property.
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@Tim very true, there are also different attitudes, i know loads of people in the UK that have never and would never own a property, you rent for life, less common but still something ive come across in Aus
the things that stop rugby growing like other sporting in lots of parts of NZ might not be solvesable
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@Kiwiwomble Yeah, and there are other factors like transport. Hard to spend the day at the pub, if you have to drive etc.
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@Tim definitely, i have a really good corner pub 100m one way, another really good one about 700m the other way, we actually worked out we have 10-12 good pubs (not counting a couple that are basically pokie dens) within 20min walk, we even did a bit of a tour over the last several months of going to a different one every few sundays for a Parma and a Pint...all stuff i couldnt do in NZ easily
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@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@friedrugby stick hunt in there, we're going to get battered so i would rather he copped it than anyone else
Hunt's due... game winning drop goal me thinks
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@friedrugby said in Highlanders 2023:
@Kiwiwomble said in Highlanders 2023:
@friedrugby stick hunt in there, we're going to get battered so i would rather he copped it than anyone else
Hunt's due... game winning drop goal me thinks
He still owes us one
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@Kiwiwomble Named on the bench... that dagger is going to hit so good.
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