Rugby Union Thread

What Do You Think Of Rugby Union?


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HrvatskaDomovino

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Disappointed

I was hoping for a Reds win (I wasn't holding my breath:( ) so the Brumbies could make the finals. We played awesome at the back end of the season it was just unfortunate that we lost a few close games at the start of the season. Fairwell to Gregan, Larkham & Paul great servants for the mighty Brumbies:)

Schifcofske deserves whatever he gets, it was possibly the worse career move that he could have made!:eek:
 

grommy

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haha were hopeless at union but who cares union is hopeless anyway
 

Great White

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That is what yhou get for going to a sh*t game.

Even Riaders won't get beaten by that much.
 

Great White

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Would be hard to get picked without being able to prove yourself in a good team. I bet if Shifcofske played for a NZ team at the top of the table he would be more of a chance.
 

peachey

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Nice Comment From John O'Neill

How I'll Fix Union
daily telegraph

JOHN O'Neill returned to the Australian Rugby Union yesterday to outline a blueprint for salvaging the code he admitted last week was in "deep s...".The comeback chief executive, to start his second stint in charge later this month, raised key issues requiring urgent attention and claimed the game had suffered from "a lack of progress" over the past three years.

"The measures of popularity are fans through the turnstiles and ratings," he said after confirmation of a five-year deal."Our popularity is in decline. This is an objective assessment of someone who follows the market intimately."But we've got the basic ingredients. We just need to put it all back in the mixing bowl in better formation."

O'Neill argued his challenge at the ARU is on the same scale as the one he confronted on entering soccer three years ago.He said the game needed unity after recent political warfare between the ARU and the states; the code had to become more entertaining at provincial and Test level; the Wallabies needed to improve their win-loss ratio; and the trend toward "friendlies" involving below-strength national teams had to be stopped.

He also hinted at new recruits for the national body's management staff.

"I've been lucky enough over a very long career to have a wonderful group of people working with me and making me look good," O'Neill explained. "That's what I intend to continue to do."

It has already been suggested one of the contenders he beat to the CEO job, long-serving colleague Matt Carroll, will be brought on board.Asked how he viewed the task ahead, O'Neill replied: "How long have we got?

"What I can say is the really golden years of any sport is when off-field and on-field are absolutely singing from the same hymn sheet. We need a very concerted and unified game to be able to put rugby back into its rightful position."

O'Neill admitted he was leaving himself open if his mandate to effect change was not successful.

"The risk in some of this is that you get promoted as a white knight and a messiah and if the expectations are not met it's a long way from the penthouse to the outhouse," he said."We're in a very tough, competitive market and we're up against AFL, the NRL and now the FFA.

"If you look at the raw measures in 2003, off the back of the World Cup, we'd crept past rugby league and were No. 2 to AFL.

"I think the last three years, there's been a lack of progress, that's the best way to describe it."It's a small marketplace and there's a hearts and minds competition here for kids, mums and dads, fans, broadcasters, sponsors.

"There's incredible competitive tension in the market and if you stumble and don't have it all working in synch, someone is picking up your market share."You've got to see what's happening and respond. We have to accentuate the fantastic attraction of rugby too.

"We have an ethos, culture and value system that puts it apart from other sports. I'm proud to say that."But we also have to get people back to the game by playing not only winning but entertaining rugby."

O'Neill also supported an ARU board policy change two months ago that has opened the door for a foreigner to coach the Wallabies when John Connolly stands down after the World Cup.ARU chairman Peter McGrath confirmed the board had removed the condition that a Wallaby coach had to be an Australian.

"We want the best person for the job," he said.

O'Neill also said his most recent employer STW Group had been "understanding" and released him from his contract when they could have insisted on three months' notice.
 

Tunguska

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I don't see what the problem is Peach, it's true. Rugby had a huge status around World Cup time.

You might be living in a slightly sheltered, Eastern-Australia-centric world if you think that even for ONE moment League is the top football code in Australia.

I think of it like this, and I include Soccer because its a winter sport, though the A-League runs at a bizarre time. In terms of Australia-wide popularity, this is around the mark:

1) Soccer
2) AFL
3) League
4) Union

League and Union are flippable, but if Union fixes up the penalty-taking element that ruins footy games, there is every chance League will become just an east-coast thing and Union much greater.

Union is popular in Melbourne and Perth. They take Wallaby games there, and the ARL never has bothered will big matches. The Storm, crowd-wise, are a joke. In fact, crowd-wise, League is a joke - AFL manages to attract 35 000 - up to 60 000 or 70 000 for MCG and SCG club games. 1500 hundred at the game last night, with most averaging 14 000 if lucky.

The problem is with the League management. Nothing's really changed. In my opinion, Melbourne was a good step, but the issue lies in the lack of loyalty - due to the salary cap. Once a player gets good, he moves on to another club. League, then, won't have the level of 'die hard' AFL fans. Watch the AFL Footy Show. These people (the audience) are 'overtly' passionate when it comes to their team, much more than most leaguies on the NRL Footy Show. It's much harder to 'love' a club. Take Richmond, for example

Finally, the thing that union has in its favour is that it carries a glamourous image. The Super 14 is an international comp and League can't come close to that. League has also hung onto its working class image and lack of decent grounds (which, I, might I add love about our game) and its then less accessible. Thuggery in the junior ranks mean that mothers won't want sons playing, and less people get into the game. Union has less players, but is EXPANDING in WA and Melbourne. League is not expanding in any market, bar the Gold Coast. It's simply becoming a niche and the game's managers haven't done enough at grass-roots level to make it accessible. League is losing the war against its image when Soccer is now fighting back. We can't rely on union to stay down, either. AFL will always be huge in 60% of Australian households.

The thing League has going for it, and this is just about it, is the game itself. Great, flexible game. And the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Oh, and Greg Bird.
 

scott17

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Union is popular in Melbourne and Perth. They take Wallaby games there, and the ARL never has bothered will big matches. The Storm, crowd-wise, are a joke. In fact, crowd-wise, League is a joke - AFL manages to attract 35 000 - up to 60 000 or 70 000 for MCG and SCG club games. 1500 hundred at the game last night, with most averaging 14 000 if lucky.

.

melbourne victory in the a-league average around 30,000 each home game and they got over 55,000 ppl at the grand final which they won 6-0 woooo
 

brently

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tung is right - we've got the eastern seaboard stitched up, but union is the dominant rugby code australia-wide.
 

wang shark

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living out in the country kids around here still play league, union is still considered a rich mans game tweed coats leather patch types.soccer is the one that has the most junior participation in this district,until you get to high school and then known as poofs game but luckly no afl. we have to many derbys each week in the local league comp that would rival any in league so much hatred between towns ,its bred into you .league will never die out here .
 

Nulla Boy

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melbourne victory in the a-league average around 30,000 each home game and they got over 55,000 ppl at the grand final which they won 6-0 woooo

THATS BECAUSE MELBORNE/VICTORIA DONT KNOW WAT A REAL GAME IS.
 
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