For a person who is not a particular fan of the code, I have to concede that Sevens rugby is getting something right.
I have never been a fan of the compressed or shorter versions of any sporting code. In my view, nothing compares to test cricket, with the 50-over version somewhat exciting, but ultimately too much reliant on luck than skill, and the 20-over version even worse.
The technical intricacies that comes with test match cricket and test matches, or 15-man rugby is the thing that always appealed to me, but as most will tell you, these days, it’s about the product and its appeal to the public that counts.
The IRB in a recent conference they hosted invited a number of guests from other sporting codes, most noticeably NFL or American Football, to help plot the way forward to ensure rugby’s survival in the 15-man form in making it appealing to the general public and filling stadiums.
What struck me about this conference most was one comment by one of the guests where he mentioned that rugby will continue to struggle until the relevant authorities and administrators realise that supporters going to the stadium wants to be entertained. The type of entertainment he eluded to was obviously more than just the on-field entertainment or that provided by the players during the match.
Now the traditionalist (like myself) will cringe at the idea that rugby needs to be turned into some sort of rock concert in order to survive or compete for supporters and viewers attention against other codes, but the constant reference to dwindling numbers in competitions like Super rugby even, suggests this is a very real problem.
Locally there is also cause for concern. Apart from the Stormers and the Bulls very few unions manage to fill their stadiums to 80% capacity for matches, with some averaging in the low 20 and 30% per season!
Reasons for the drop in numbers vary, but mainly include the economic climate or that there is an overkill in sporting events making the sporting calenders too busy. Whatever the reason, Rugby union has to realise that they have a product they need to sell and make appealing to the public, and Sevens may just have provided the roadmap for this.
Sevens by large is marketed as one massive party, and a festival of rugby, which by my personal observations attracts crowds who could not care less about the actual results on the day as long as they had a good time.
Even when looking at the results, Sevens has almost been designed (by default) that any team can win on any given day. In the first 4 Rounds of the current IRB Sevens World Series, there has been 3 different winners.
Compared to the atmosphere at one of our more successful unions (Stormers/WP) on game day where the entertainment inside the stadium is limited to a Public Service Announcer with his private CD collection trying to hype the crowd up over some ancient PA system and some girls (and now boys) dancing on the field so terribly out of synch with the music if you sit more than 50 meters away, it is no surprise that people would rather stay at home using their R200 which they would have had to fork out just on a single ticket and invite friends over for a braai by the pool.
I am not a fan of Sevens, but given the choice of attending a union event or a Sevens event on any given day, I know where I will end up.
If rugby union is looking for a hint at solving their numbers problem, they should perhaps afford a peek across to their hind-tit sucking cousins who given the current trends, will even eclipse traditional union when it comes to its appeal to paying audiences.
hell Morne, what am I going to watch when they outlaw scrumming because it’s too time consuming, not exciting to watch and very dangerous!!
It’s always been like this…. the bigger the spectackle the better the crowd.
Even in the old gladiatorial days of the Roman Empire…. they had to feed humans to hungry lions in front of everybody, have entertainment in between bouts… and come up with new ways to make the games more cruel and “Bigger and Better”.
In other words it is deeply rooted in Human nature to want to be entertained to the extreme.
So, by all means, have Singing Artists before and / or after the game, have pretty poppies in skimpy outfits showing a bit of flesh, have huge speakers and sound systems, fireworks, sky-divers…that’s all good…
… but then we get to another thing and that is that slowly over time rugby rules have softened the game and these modern rules have taken away some of the gladitorial nature from rugby…
We just love to hate the hard bastards, the even harder tackles… we love to see a bit of fistycuffs, we love a bit of blood…
… but we hate scrums collapsing the whole time and scrums having to be reset continiously, we hate the slow process of “Touch, pause, engage”.
We also love to be able to have a beer whilst sitting at your seat watching ruggas, not having to do it in some tent hundreds of metres away.
There are so many facets to broadening rugby or getting spectators back…. so just do it, without constantly trying to tinker with the actual format of the game… get the party and atmosphere back into rugby!
@ tight head:
Howzit!
I think this article of mine is poorly written, it comes off with me suggesting union should follow or copy Sevens which could not be further from the truth.
Sevens, like league, ARL, NFL and any code has its own thing, changing the way it is played will change everything and union should not even consider this, apart from what GBS mentioned perhaps that laws need to be simplified perhaps.
What we cannot deny is that union is losing numbers every single year, not only from support, but participation.
Compared to Sevens who is not only growing year-to-year, but tournament to tournament nowadays I believe there is cause for concern, with union destined to follow the route of test cricket (an afterthought) with the shorter versions taking center stage.
What all those successful codes have done imo, is take their code, or sport, view it as a total product, and market their product as such at all levels.
Suggesting union in SA needs to get Jack Parrow or Patricia Lewis in for pre- and post-match entertainment to inrease its appeal is daft.
The whole product (experience) of union needs an overhaul, give it the appeal of a ruck concert and you will sell out every time, and once you sell out every time, sponsors and TV guys will follow to get exposure.
@ Morné:
Yes Morne.
I understand both you and GBS well.
The Sharks have employed a new advertising agency this year and from what I have seen and heard from people at the Franchise the Sharks “product” will be more exciting than ever before for fans.
Of course I am old school and do not want to see the game lose any of it’s character, but we must embrace change that is positive and understand the importance of marketing a rugby business in 2011.
I keep reminding myself that most provincial players of the seventies and eighties would not get close to making a Super Rugby squad in 2011.
What I mean by that is that the players are bigger, stronger, fitter and more skilled than ever before and that makes for a SH game that is very fast, very skilled and good to watch.
So, in short we are better off.
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