Will rugby union or another of Australia's winter sports die out?[/i

My mate has recently got back into rugby but with another code - Union. After his first game he told me if Union stays as boring as it is he’ll consider getting back into rugby league.

My cousin who plays Union in Scarborough would rather be playing league but Union is his only choice up they.

To say that Union is dieing is laughable. But its certainly going through some dire straits at the moment if you put all the voices of not liking union together.

This year even the union cheer leading types in Australia AND New Zealand have had two main topics.

The Rugby Union has been boring and major changes are needed.

The Rugby League has been sensational.



I think what you'll see is the Southern Hemisphere nations might start to look at playing a hybrid version of their game at "Super" 14 level to try and get spectators back. Of course this will be just ANOTHER step forward for union as it slowly makes all the changes League made decades ago.


The problem right now is for the ARU, NSW, WA, QLD and the ACT are bleeding money. Their playing stocks are terrible, they are bring players into their test team that Rugby League scouts have turned down multiple times.

On top of this, the NRL and AFL are starting to completely dominate the Australian sporting scene to the point where even Cricket is feeling squeezed out.

Its an interesting time. I do know the ARU will be praying the NRL doesn't expand into Perth any time soon (Which it will!) because that Western Force team of theirs is hanging on by its nails.

Changing your brand from one instantly recognizable to NRL loving Aussies (i.e. London Broncos) to one which is renowned as the quintessential middle/upper class, rah rah, city brand probably wasn't the best move in that regard, though it was clearly done to save the club.

Have a look at some of the Broncos attendances in the past, in particular when they played in the WCC. They've had sporadic 8k, 9k, 10k attendances (against Wigan too) but nothing consistent.

Quins have only managed 8k+ twice, once in their first game as Quins v Saints (intrigue) and once against Wigan (first game of 2008, half the crowd got in for free)

Seriously, how many Aussies in London can really take the Harlequins brand seriously.....foot.....shot.....

On a general level - some great marketing & PR minds have failed to make it work in London, Branson included.

I'd say a 4,263 attendance at the Galpharm for a play off fixture in the town where the sport began, in a county with 100+ times the number of participants is more embarassing than any of the Quins attendances personally....

North London [Barnet] to Twickenham 18.9 miles
by
public transport.


5 minute walk to catch
184 to Barnet tube station with a potential to wait 12 minutes for the bus
2 minutes walk to station.
potential to wait 6 minutes for train.
Barnet to Waterloo 41 minutes
Waterloo to Twickenham 30 minutes
10 minute walk to stadium

1h 46mins round trip 3h 32mins

[sizeaverage speed is 10.6981 mph[/size

yeah real conveniant

rlBattle of the football codesrl.

Its 20 mins on a train from Waterloo. How easy do you want it to get?

From dipping into rugby union stories from time to time I was under the impession that the IRB would always bail out the ARU should it really get itself into the .

Barnet last time i looked was a LONDON borough

Dont give them ideas

Read the thread...

Of course they'll put it in their catchment area. I live in N London & my nearest SL club is Quins so I dont see why I shouldnt be included in their catchment area. What the RFL have to do when analysing what that means is recognise that in a place like Castleford or St Helens or Hull there will be a different proportion of the catchment area that are likely to go through the club's turnstiles than in a city like London.

Sadly I fear that the task of marketing SL in London might be too big in the long run given all the hurdles they've got to overcome like the long journeys (mine is about 90 minutes), other competing events, limited media exposure in the catchment area, & the (for quite a lot of this season at least) not very great atmosphere when you do make the effort to get there.

That being said, I do think Quins could put a lot more effort into the marketing of the club. I got a cheapo ticket to one of their games this season in exchange for giving them my name & address. But they've not made any use of that. I've not received a single bit of marketing through my letter box to try to get me to go again. Mr Blanchard (?) said when he joined the club the priority was to get bums on seats. I agree, but it would be good to see some evidence that there's an effort going into getting that.

1h30 from my place too (Kilburn), hardly a quick trip. After the great Tube (provided it does work which is not granted) you have to walk 15-20min to get there. Great connection to the Tube indeed.

Clearly, the Stoop is not easy to access for most Londoners. Given the average hourly wage in London and the fact that every body is always running, an overall trip of 3h for a rugby match will only motivate the core fans...

As it has been said, don't look for RL coverage in daily local newspapers, it is quasi inexistant.