Are you excited about Super Rugby 2015? Be honest with your answer. I, for one, can’t wait to see my team get out there and attempt to win the trophy. They have come close before and have put on some great performances but have always been the bridesmaids. I will support them and wear the jersey until they or I no longer exist, but I cannot really say the same for other teams.
Any rugby fan will stay up long after the wise have gone to sleep to watch their team play on the other side of the world, but they wouldn’t do the same for another team. Understandably, but isn’t this a small part of the problem?
Ryan Vrede, writer for SA Rugby Magazine and other publications recently wrote about what a bore the 2015 edition is set to be. I agree with him to a point as this year doesn’t offer anything that the previous few years haven’t. The convoluted cross-conference system has muddied the clear waters of Super 12 and Super 14 format. SANZAR (South Africa New Zealand Australia Rugby) are determined to make things worse and even more confusing come 2016 with a 4 conference system and a play off scenario that will challenge even the mathematical minds of great astrophysicists.
There hasn’t been much excitement about the Super Rugby seasons lately and this isn’t just coming from cynical and jaded writers and journalists, the numbers of falling attendance figures and dwindling television viewers support the cynicism found in the rugby publications.
I wrote at the beginning of January about the decreasing stadium attendees (http://myrugbyblog.weebly.com/blog/disneyland-for-rugby-fans) and proposed a way for a stadium experience to change. In the article I quoted numbers from statistic websites that showed a clear decline in the turnstiles and stadiums were barely reaching the 20,000 mark.
This spectator decrease is indicative of the problems that Super Rugby face and if we had to count the problems of SANZAR and their shortcomings, we could run out of fingers and toes. The Super Rugby tournament used to pride itself as one of the toughest competitions in the world but I’m afraid to say that it’s losing its glamour and heading down the creek as an old and decrepit life raft. The interest factor is no longer what it was. Why?
Each rugby commentator can think of a few reasons why no one shows a general interest in the Super Rugby competition anymore, but here are a few of mine: over saturation, filler teams and lack of change.
Let me start with the over saturation issue. The old cliche that people have used, is that too much of a good thing is bad for you. It has been said so many times because it is true. There are 15 teams competing with at least 12 teams playing every weekend over 18 rounds. Let’s do the math. If there are 12 teams competing, that makes it 6 games a week and multiple that by 18. That’s at least 108 games without taking in the extra games when 14 teams are competing and not adding in the play off and final rounds. That is a lot of rugby to go through for any spectator and no matter how passionate you are about the game, if your lesser favourite teams are competing are you seriously going to dedicate an afternoon to watching them? There is just too much rugby to go through in a short period of time.
The teams that are in the tournament just to make up the numbers are the bane of the competition. It took 10 years for the Western Force to be taken seriously. The Melbourne Rebels don’t look like they’ll get any piece of the pie soon as they have to compete within the stronghold of AFL (Australian Football League) and Rugby League as well as the competing Super Rugby teams. The Lions from South Africa show glimpses of their former glory when they won the Super Rugby trophy in 1993, in the amateur era. The Cheetahs/Cats have been on the same page with flashes of greatness but nothing sustainable but the aforementioned teams still have a better reputation and standing than the woeful Kings.
The only conference that has legitimate competitors are the New Zealand teams, which in 2014 had a close race to the play off rounds with at least three teams in the knockout stages and the other two teams a few points off the pace. Even as a South African supporter, I had a keen eye on the New Zealand teams as they offered competitive rugby and excitement. Most were evenly matched and they offered more season highlights than the Australians and South Africans combined.
The New Zealand conference don’t have teams that make up the numbers as each team is capable of beating the other on the day, but there are teams that are always found at the bottom of the table and realistically don’t offer anything more than a practice run for the dominating outfits. I mean no offense to the supporters of these teams, but a Lions’ or Rebels supporter cannot expect the big trophy in their cabinet any time soon.
The lack of change is also a factor that bores people. I am fully aware that SANZAR are expanding the competition next year but this is not the change that I am referring to. In fact I believe that the expansion is a movement of greed (http://myrugbyblog.weebly.com/blog/the-super-rugby-expansion-is-convoluted-greedy). The inclusion of new teams from semi-powerful rugby unions will only add to the problem of filler teams and will offer little in the exciting change that I would like to see as well as flood the competition with more unnecessary games.
The change that would increase interest could be a two tier competition with the premier teams in the top tier and the secondary teams in the lower tier. It’s an old and trusted format that has been proposed through social commentary and mainstream media but I don’t believe that this idea has any financial legs to get off the ground.
The biggest movement in rugby at the moment is the growth of Sevens as they offer a competition that is never easy to predict and excitement over the abbreviated format. Could teams look at this formula? I do not propose dropping the 15-man game in place of a Sevens tournament, but rather incorporating the spirit of Sevens, this could mean having a double-header, depending on pitch destruction or even having a Super Rugby tournament for Sevens, in other words, each competing franchise can field a Sevens team and play on the same day.
A change of time and venue have been explored before with mixed results but with better investment and marketing, this could be another injection in the arm sorely lacking in the Southern Hemisphere competition. A match held in international stadiums for example, maybe have a game or two played in the Americas, Polynesia or Europe?
There are a few things that need to be done to defer the current tide of disinterest but it all boils down to the amount of money coming from broadcasters. If they restrict funding and flow of cash, some teams will suffer but the money that is commanded by these networks isn’t worth anything if the viewers, supporters and lovers of rugby decide not to accept what is on offer.
If there is a disinterest then we should look at ourselves as the greater rugby community and decide what we want, then act upon it. Public pressure will reap rewards and change and without us there are no teams, no broadcasts and no games. We should not lay down and accept what is being force fed to us but should deny what we don’t want and demand change.
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