If there is just one reason SA Rugby can highlight on why Australia should not get (read do not deserve) the 15th franchise, it should because their market does not support it.
The timing for the reports surfacing in Australia could not come at a worse time as Australia are locked in a fierce battle with SA Rugby and the Southern Kings for the 15th super rugby franchise to be awarded later this month.
The bottom line is, support for the game of union is dwindling in Australia.
Andy Marinos was recently quoted that the main criteria’s for awarding the franchise was that it had to make both ‘rugby and business sense’.
Just on the recently released figures coming out of Australia, awarding the franchise on those two points to the Aussies will make no sense.
From an ‘interest’ or rugby perspective, crowds have dropped by 37% for test matches in Australia as well as a staggering 30 000 for Super rugby in the same period (115 317 to 75 393).
And as we know, when numbers start to dwindle so does money from advertisers investing in the brand. Figures again show that advertising in rugby union has fallen by 13%, with rugby competing (and losing heavily) against other codes like AFL (Aussie Rules), Rugby league and soccer.
Research tracking the various codes ‘brand health’ listed rugby union as the “least entertaining, innovative, grass roots-orientated and social of the four codes”.
This of course has a direct effect on not only viewers, but players taking up the sport. Union membership in Australia also dropped a staggering 14%.
Australia’s main claim for the franchise seems to be based on sentiment where they believe that because South Africa and New Zealand already have 5 franchises, the deserved recipient of the 15th franchise should be them as they currently only have four.
The biggest problem they are faced with here is that none of their current 4 franchises has made the play-offs this year in addition to Australia only managing one win in 6 games in the recent Tri-Nations series with South Africa not only the Tri-Nations champions (only recorded one loss) but also the holder of the Super 14 title through the Bulls.
The Australian ‘brand managers’ believe educating the public on the laws will perhaps change these figures around where they believe the laws are too complicated for the public to understand.
But even that seems to be a poor cop-out to the problems union is facing in the country, especially if one considers that the proposed Melbourne franchise will be established in a market where Aussie rules dominate.
Perhaps Andy Marinos was correct when he said the Kings have a solid proposal bid for the franchise, because if one compares all the problems the Aussies are facing with union in their country, quite the opposite seems to be true for the Eastern Cape franchise.
Super Oz Jan
To be fair SA doesn’t deserve another franchise either.
@Loosehead –
Based on the criteria for awarding it…
Yes they do.
Arghhhhhhhhh, I wish this thing would just go away….. Melbourne is getting the award of the 15th Franchise…. you know it, I know it, everybody knows it…
Watch out after 21 October, the dogs of politics will be out to GET RUGBY again, because the bid failed…
@grootblousmile –
I am interested for when it goes into artbitration…
We have the population, the player numbers, and the TV audience, but does that make us worthy of the extra franchise? A far better bet would have been to get an Argie franchise in.That would be growing depth. As much as Samoa, Fiji, etc play good rugby, I don’t think that it would be economically viable to to include them. And besides, where NZ get their players from?
I would rather that Fiji, Tonga or Samoa gets a wild card team than the Aussies gets one.
Think about it this way…
SWD EAGLES, Border BULLDOGS and EP ELEPHANTS all fall under the new Kings Franchise region, right? So how about this, whether they get the 15th place or not, start the Franchise up, and play them in the CC qualifiers. Look how good the CC was this year, and that just because one more team picked it up, namely the Grikwas. Now imagine if the Kings play, and they are as strong as any other team, we will have 7 TOP teams competing week in and week out (one team to have a rest I suppose).
Anyway, my feeling is that the Kings still has a role to play in SA rugby, and adding them to the CC can work wonders.
Kings, great stadium. They said that they have the same player budget as a ave. SA team. Now, if they are talking about the SA Super 14 teams, they must have a BUTTLOAD of money. So players.
C’mon, we MUST get it.
Kings, great stadium. They said that they have the same player budget as a ave. SA team. Now, if they are talking about the SA Super 14 teams, they must have a lot of money. So players they can get (plus, if they can get some guys like BJ, CJ and Big Joe back in SA, thats only good for the Boks).
C’mon, we MUST get it.
I’m with you on that one Greenpoint, being an ex E.L boy, the wealth of talent in the E.C. must be nurtured, it will be for the good of SA rugby, and where rugby is genuinely played in the rural areas
My old school Dale College was in the top 2 schools in the E.Cape in my day, in the nineties they started allowing pupils of colour, and their rugby really suffered, my son went to Selborne who couldnt beat them in my day, and then thrashed them regularly.
Now with a majority black sudent group they are starting to play some damn good rugby and are once again climbing the rankings.
The Kings might suffer some growing pains, but will bear fruit in the future.
@Greenpoint-Gunner – @Manlybok – Somehow I think SARU will do everything in their power to ensure the Kings are not included. They hate Cheeky and ourfriend Tony!
@Manlybok –
“In my day” ??? 🙄
I think I read about that in the history books … Was that when the settlers wagons came from miles around to the monthly community gathering on the riverbank where the men played rugby before gathering around a fire to braai the fresh kills from earlier in the day & the women stood by & admired their men …
😆
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