Who is going to back down on ELV`s - The Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere. Has the IRB got a problem on its hands or will it side with the N/H countries as per usual. Link--- http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24020746-23217,00.html
A split there makes fewer obstacles for a union/league merger down south. I still wouldn't put money on it, though.
Australian rugby union is welcome to ******** off to league. Like league would even have them. They'd pick off Kurtley Beale and a few others and let the dead carcass of Australian rugby union rot on the beach. The IRB sides with the NH because the power, money and interest is there.
Nah there will be no merger in the codes in Australia. Too much historical bad blood and its not practical The previous poster obviously has a hatred for all things Australian -Does not like Aussie Rules - Rugby Union etc etc. However its a free world - He can think what he likes. But John O`Neil the ARU boss does raise some good points. On the other topic of the 2 codes expansion which is another reason why they wont merge. In fact a secret R/L document in Sydney has just been busted - A Doomsday plan to re locate if necessary a couple of NRL clubs elsewhere out of Sydney. The 3 S14 countries have just met and will look at expanding to include Japan and Argentina and also have talked to the US and Canada and South Pacific Countries. The next big question is will South Africa stick or move to the 6 nations in the NH.
I just don't see it happening. The top 64 or 65 (out of top 100) tv ratings in OZ for 2007 were rugby league games. There is too much money on RL and too much pressure from other unions (ie NZ, RSA, Eng) on union in Australia to have a merger. I mean common sense would dream up some sort of Harlequins situation where there was a union and a league pro club. Some guy played League for Lebanon and Union for France awhile ago, that was interesting to me in terms of world cup. Pity that the historical antipathy is so great.
Well I'm not really a big fan of you, but that's mostly because you actually take John O'Neill seriously. John O'Neill is a blowhard. He's done good work, but he's also had many strokes of luck. 1) The Super League wars turned a lot of people at least temporarily off rugby league. 2) The Australian rugby team had an outstanding group of players, many of whom also had very long careers, prolonging their effect. The best PR possible is to win the World Cup. 3) New Zealand signed some unwise advertising agreements, making them unable to guarantee clean stadia for the World Cup. O'Neill - and this is to his credit - jumped in with a proposal to host the World Cup solely in Australia. The World Cup was great and bought at least temporarily many new fans in Australia, but it fell into his hands. 4) The British Lions tour in 2001 increased interest in rugby in Australia. Lions tours are always brilliant at this, but O'Neill can't be given much credit for the nature of the tours and the sporting landscape of the time. The nature of the tours mean that the Lions could visit almost every metropolitan area in the country, the lack of a large stadium in Canberra meant that Melbourne had to be given a Test, and the public hankering for a competitive Australia-Pommies series which wasn't there in cricket or league could only be satisfied by rugby. As well the enormous numbers of travelling fans are great for notifying people rugby is coming. Again you can't give O'Neill much credit because it was Australia's turn to receive the Lions. Despite this he hasn't created a professional domestic competition, the profile of rugby in Australia is lower now than it was 10 years ago (crowds for Super 14 have fallen like a stone), and the ARU is nearly broke.
Well at least your reply explains your attitude to any stuff I post here. John O`Neill is the public face of Rugby Union in Australia - Rightly or wrongly. All his utterances are taken as reflecting that sport. It is up to the ARU to do something about it. He also had a term of running Soccer Australia for a while after the 2003 World Cup and his successor also had a mixed reception in the ARU role. Pretty sure the ARU rehired him to get the ship back on course after he initially said no. The resilience of Australian Rugby U was shown at Subiaco Oval in Perth last Saturday night in beating the World Cup Champions. If O`Neill had a hand in the hiring of the Ex NZ Crusaders coach as the National Wallabies Coach well good luck to him. And you never commented on the ELV situation where the Northern half the Rugby World wont accept them and the progressive Southern half will. Rugby U in Australia is in a very competitive enviroment and has to improve the product or fail.
There is nothing progressive about the Southern half. It's the North that is taking the game forward, filling stadiums in new markets. Southern Hemisphere rugby is broke. It's broke because of financial mismanagement, some of it by O'Neill, and complacency. Turning the game into a bastardised rugby league will do nothing to attract new fans to rugby, because if you like rugby league and are Australian you're already watching your local NRL team. en t PC's plans to improve rugby: 1) Stop bitching. O'Neill is driving people from rugby with his constant complaints that it's broke. This is horrible business (and it ain't broke anyway). 2) Start a domestic competition. Tender bids from private investors or clubs for franchises in a domestic rugby competition. Right now the rugby union domestic season effectively ends somewhere around May. People who are NRL fans almost must be NRL fans to have something to watch every weekend. 3) Lower ticket prices. Crikey, Wallaby tickets are expensive. There's 10,000 unsold seats for this weekend's Bledisloe Cup match - if supply isn't less than demand then start lowering ticket prices. 4) Get creative with marketing. The first Super 12 ad campaigns are legendary. Modify them and send them back out on the market. Embrace social networking. Use street teams to promote rugby. Offer sensible ticket prices with deals for families. Get famous people who are interested in rugby to talk about rugby. 5) Stop talking about f*cking Melbourne and focus on your current constituents who are turning from the game.