The Current State of Rugby
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A few other factors:
The influence of league. Particularly in Australia, but also NZ. This is most notable in the discussion around head contact, but also elsewhere. (Obviously league is big in England too, but generally there is a firewall between the two codes. In Australia many people follow both flavours of Rugby; in England, it's either one or the other).
This might be a contentious one, but I also think ignorance of the laws is part of the problem too. I'm thinking of Australia here, since most of the rugby media I see is Australian, but I get the impression that SA is similar. Kiwis on the other hand seem to know their stuff and be a bit more measured. (Obviously I'm generalising massively here, and I might lose Aussie friends, but hey ho...). Lots of Aussies are part time fans, rugby is maybe their 3rd or 4th or 6th favourite sport, so they're understandably not as familiar with the rules. The real problem is that the level of rugby commentary and journalism here is hopeless. Every time some decision goes against the Wallabies, the commentators pretend to be dumbfounded and outraged and shocked at the absurdity of it. Then at half time, the presenters are equally astonished and talk about how ridiculous it is. Then the next day, the newspapers run stories about the dumbest rule in rugby, and how the administrators and refs are killing the game. And the average fan who doesn't really know the laws comes away thinking rugby is a mess. I thought this might get better after we ditched Fox, but it seems 9/Stan have decided to plough the same furrow.
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@antipodean said in The Current State of Rugby:
Good points @junior and @gibbon-rib - it's only recently home nations rugby could be considered entertaining. They're not used to it.
If God had wanted us to throw it around he wouldn't have made it rain 350 days a year. Just give it to the fat lad to stick up his jumper like nature intended.
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@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
A few other factors:
The influence of league. Particularly in Australia, but also NZ. This is most notable in the discussion around head contact, but also elsewhere. (Obviously league is big in England too, but generally there is a firewall between the two codes. In Australia many people follow both flavours of Rugby; in England, it's either one or the other).
This might be a contentious one, but I also think ignorance of the laws is part of the problem too. I'm thinking of Australia here, since most of the rugby media I see is Australian, but I get the impression that SA is similar. Kiwis on the other hand seem to know their stuff and be a bit more measured. (Obviously I'm generalising massively here, and I might lose Aussie friends, but hey ho...). Lots of Aussies are part time fans, rugby is maybe their 3rd or 4th or 6th favourite sport, so they're understandably not as familiar with the rules. The real problem is that the level of rugby commentary and journalism here is hopeless. Every time some decision goes against the Wallabies, the commentators pretend to be dumbfounded and outraged and shocked at the absurdity of it. Then at half time, the presenters are equally astonished and talk about how ridiculous it is. Then the next day, the newspapers run stories about the dumbest rule in rugby, and how the administrators and refs are killing the game. And the average fan who doesn't really know the laws comes away thinking rugby is a mess. I thought this might get better after we ditched Fox, but it seems 9/Stan have decided to plough the same furrow.
Pretty much so summed up @NTA career on TSF there ..
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Interesting take by Nigel Owens.
"The game’s out of control" - Nigel Owens wants five law changes ASAP - Ruck
Popular referee Nigel Owens says rugby’s new Laws are NOT working to improve the game. Owens, who hung up his whistle two years ago, has come up with four possible…
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@Victor-Meldrew said in The Current State of Rugby:
Interesting take by Nigel Owens.
"The game’s out of control" - Nigel Owens wants five law changes ASAP - Ruck
Popular referee Nigel Owens says rugby’s new Laws are NOT working to improve the game. Owens, who hung up his whistle two years ago, has come up with four possible…
Welcome to the Fern Nigel
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@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
I think @junior is right, that is a big part of it. In the UK if you were to say that "new rules are being introduced to make the game more entertaining / attractive" this would almost universally be understood to be a criticism rather than a compliment. It's not as though people there are opposed to entertaining or attractive sport, but there is a level of cynicism that is generally not matched here in the SH (it would be assumed that such changes are probably against the spirit and traditions of the game and aimed at armchair viewers who don't understand the sport).
Maybe this is also a relevant point - because rugby is still a bit "niche" up north, rugby watchers are probably more likely to be die hard supporters than sport watchers. Again, this reinforces the point about the primacy of the success of your team / tribe, rather than the watchability of the spectacle.
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@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
A few other factors:
The influence of league. Particularly in Australia, but also NZ. This is most notable in the discussion around head contact, but also elsewhere. (Obviously league is big in England too, but generally there is a firewall between the two codes. In Australia many people follow both flavours of Rugby; in England, it's either one or the other).
This might be a contentious one, but I also think ignorance of the laws is part of the problem too. I'm thinking of Australia here, since most of the rugby media I see is Australian, but I get the impression that SA is similar. Kiwis on the other hand seem to know their stuff and be a bit more measured. (Obviously I'm generalising massively here, and I might lose Aussie friends, but hey ho...). Lots of Aussies are part time fans, rugby is maybe their 3rd or 4th or 6th favourite sport, so they're understandably not as familiar with the rules. The real problem is that the level of rugby commentary and journalism here is hopeless. Every time some decision goes against the Wallabies, the commentators pretend to be dumbfounded and outraged and shocked at the absurdity of it. Then at half time, the presenters are equally astonished and talk about how ridiculous it is. Then the next day, the newspapers run stories about the dumbest rule in rugby, and how the administrators and refs are killing the game. And the average fan who doesn't really know the laws comes away thinking rugby is a mess. I thought this might get better after we ditched Fox, but it seems 9/Stan have decided to plough the same furrow.
Pretty much so summed up @NTA career on TSF there ..
Nah, he's one of the good ones. I'm talking about the truly clueless casual fans who have absolutely no idea, like Phil Kearns
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@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
A few other factors:
The influence of league. Particularly in Australia, but also NZ. This is most notable in the discussion around head contact, but also elsewhere. (Obviously league is big in England too, but generally there is a firewall between the two codes. In Australia many people follow both flavours of Rugby; in England, it's either one or the other).
This might be a contentious one, but I also think ignorance of the laws is part of the problem too. I'm thinking of Australia here, since most of the rugby media I see is Australian, but I get the impression that SA is similar. Kiwis on the other hand seem to know their stuff and be a bit more measured. (Obviously I'm generalising massively here, and I might lose Aussie friends, but hey ho...). Lots of Aussies are part time fans, rugby is maybe their 3rd or 4th or 6th favourite sport, so they're understandably not as familiar with the rules. The real problem is that the level of rugby commentary and journalism here is hopeless. Every time some decision goes against the Wallabies, the commentators pretend to be dumbfounded and outraged and shocked at the absurdity of it. Then at half time, the presenters are equally astonished and talk about how ridiculous it is. Then the next day, the newspapers run stories about the dumbest rule in rugby, and how the administrators and refs are killing the game. And the average fan who doesn't really know the laws comes away thinking rugby is a mess. I thought this might get better after we ditched Fox, but it seems 9/Stan have decided to plough the same furrow.
Pretty much so summed up @NTA career on TSF there ..
Nah, he's one of the good ones. I'm talking about the truly clueless casual fans who have absolutely no idea, like Phil Kearns
'twas a joke, young @gibbon-rib ... which I think @NTA worked out ...
I have a theory that they are like this because of the way rugby is in Aus. Pretty much so an elite school sport, which means that getting schooled on the rugby field is close to the only thing in life they don't get what they want. Used to work in HK with plenty of Sydney private school boys, and they very much so lived their life like that.
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@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
@MajorRage said in The Current State of Rugby:
@gibbon-rib said in The Current State of Rugby:
A few other factors:
The influence of league. Particularly in Australia, but also NZ. This is most notable in the discussion around head contact, but also elsewhere. (Obviously league is big in England too, but generally there is a firewall between the two codes. In Australia many people follow both flavours of Rugby; in England, it's either one or the other).
This might be a contentious one, but I also think ignorance of the laws is part of the problem too. I'm thinking of Australia here, since most of the rugby media I see is Australian, but I get the impression that SA is similar. Kiwis on the other hand seem to know their stuff and be a bit more measured. (Obviously I'm generalising massively here, and I might lose Aussie friends, but hey ho...). Lots of Aussies are part time fans, rugby is maybe their 3rd or 4th or 6th favourite sport, so they're understandably not as familiar with the rules. The real problem is that the level of rugby commentary and journalism here is hopeless. Every time some decision goes against the Wallabies, the commentators pretend to be dumbfounded and outraged and shocked at the absurdity of it. Then at half time, the presenters are equally astonished and talk about how ridiculous it is. Then the next day, the newspapers run stories about the dumbest rule in rugby, and how the administrators and refs are killing the game. And the average fan who doesn't really know the laws comes away thinking rugby is a mess. I thought this might get better after we ditched Fox, but it seems 9/Stan have decided to plough the same furrow.
Pretty much so summed up @NTA career on TSF there ..
Nah, he's one of the good ones. I'm talking about the truly clueless casual fans who have absolutely no idea, like Phil Kearns
'twas a joke, young @gibbon-rib ... which I think @NTA worked out ...
I know, I'm probably just feeling a bit guilty about ragging on the Aussies so much. After all, I'm an Aussie too now, and I do love it here, I just think they need to take quality of rugby punditry into account when they do those "worlds most livable cities" surveys.
I have a theory that they are like this because of the way rugby is in Aus. Pretty much so an elite school sport, which means that getting schooled on the rugby field is close to the only thing in life they don't get what they want. Used to work in HK with plenty of Sydney private school boys, and they very much so lived their life like that.
I've not heard that theory before, there could be something in that
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@MiketheSnow said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Victor-Meldrew said in The Current State of Rugby:
Interesting take by Nigel Owens.
"The game’s out of control" - Nigel Owens wants five law changes ASAP - Ruck
Popular referee Nigel Owens says rugby’s new Laws are NOT working to improve the game. Owens, who hung up his whistle two years ago, has come up with four possible…
Welcome to the Fern Nigel
Agree with all of those but will also add “punish time wasting “
Tonight was appalling in game management by the refs. I’m not sure if it showed on TV but at one stage there were so many extra people on the field the Sky guys decided they could also wander out on their Segway have a go too. The ref was telling them all to get off but was being totally ignored.
Reduce the reserves, speed up the game
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@nzzp said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Kiwiwomble said in The Current State of Rugby:
@Crucial really, right from first principles?
- 15 players per team
- these are the field dimensions
- pass the ball backwards
- scrums and lines outs
we can't even agree on 3. Despite the physics being explained, videos being presented, etc. The difference between forward relative to the runner and forward relative to the ground are just not understood. See also Barnes, W.
This. So amazingly poorly understood by so many people involved with the game. And, it seems, 100% of the Irish.
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I think the other big problem we have in test rugby etc at least (apart from plethora of cards), is we almost never see 2 tests in a row with top teams on field, as it has moved to a game of attrition almost rather than skill, and the injury toll is bloody horrendus. Look at tests this week, Wallabies, English , Argentina, SA, ABs , Irish , none of them are going field preferred team probably. I think we all have a good idea what problem is, players getting subbed off etc and we now have bigger playerss in game etc, and I not sure there any thought of fixing it.
I hear 'experts' etc saying the worried the WC will be decided by cards etc, also will be decided by injuries , and ask is that what we want? -
I got caught out last night from the law book changes ans simplification. Ireland's first try had me wondering why it was allowed as the ball clearly hit the hoardings. The old law clause for quick throws used to say they weren't allowed if the ball touched anyone or anything over the touchline. That has been simplified to anyone other than the player that took the ball into touch and the one throwing it in.
Can't wait to see the outcry when a kick bounces off something into the arms of a player well away from the point of touch wo trows it in quickly for a try -
The Origin decider is a million miles more entertaining than any rugby game I have seen in years
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
The Origin decider is a million miles more entertaining than any rugby game I have seen in years.
Ardie agrees.
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@mariner4life said in The Current State of Rugby:
The Origin decider is a million miles more entertaining than any rugby game I have seen in years
Only 8 penalties for the whole match (4 each) and no endless use of the video ref even for the biff.
The viewing experience was greatly enhanced with those two things alone.
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I was thinking that this hyper extreme focus on safety is occurring at the top level where they have 100 cameras and 4 match officials, but the vast majority of games are taking place in parks where reserves from the respective teams are running the touch and the only camera is in a phone being held by a kid in a pram (modern day parenting but that's another story). The incidents causing all these cards at the top level probably happen repeatedly at every other level, but are obviously not picked up because it's logistically and technically impossible. So is the welfare or these players not being considered? Obviously there's a vast gulf in skill and speed, but these types of "card events" will still repeatedly occur and probably much more often. It's a pretty massive disconnect IMHO.
Ultimately, and as I've said a million times, rugby is a brutal and dangerous sport. Obviously you don't want it to be a murderous free for all, but there are limits to how much you can sanitise a game like this. Sometimes you wonder if those instituting the rules every played the game or that they believe everything occurs in slo motion.
