Comments on: Marinos: Saru looking north

By: CoffeeShopBok;-)

CoffeeShopBok;-) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:26:18 +0000

@robdylan (Comment 9) : I totally agree , moving up North will be a massive mistake. Our Rugby will suffer in the long run..Howcome the Southern hemisphere hav been dominating for decades now except the slight mishap of Eng winning the WC. Stay here and work it out.

By: rekinek

rekinek — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:03:11 +0000

heard this morning on reunion:

SA Rugby needs to serve unique political interest …

clearly SARU the most influential member of SANZAR but it should not put the gun to other memebers heads – sth along those lines

very interesting

By: JarsonX

JarsonX — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:29:51 +0000

isnt there a poll where supporters can vote?? I think if we quit sanzar, were goin to struggle when we have to play nz and aus in future, but playing NH teams might improve other aspects of our game, either way its going to be 50/50. Why dont they host the entire S14 and 3N in one country, and rotate them yearly?

By: try time

try time — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:29:26 +0000

@robdylan (Comment 9) : disagree, winning improves player confidence and rugby in general. the s14 is a huge burden on sa players as it isn't easy to succeed. currently only two teams in sa are getting that winning feeling and you can see the quality of players being produced by these unions. with time zones and easier travel a certainty with a tie to the north sa teams will benefit. a 6th sa team could also be entered into the comp and will be competitive. which is not case in the s14 now as we have 3 teams floundering at the bottom. that can't be doing player confidence much good.

By: robdylan

robdylan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:15:25 +0000

@VinChainSaw (Comment 14) : ok... let's pencil in 30 May? You guys come to us. When last did you hear from Quinny?

By: rekinek

rekinek — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:56:45 +0000

@robdylan (Comment 9) : me too – can you imagine this low scoring mud baths

plus it will be too cold for SAffas

By: KSA Shark ©

KSA Shark © — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:26:38 +0000

It seems that O’Neal is the only one who wants this expanded. The NZ unions certainly don’t.

Kiwis tackle NZRU over Super support
Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:08

Nine New Zealand provincial rugby unions have expressed their concern over the New Zealand Rugby Union’s (NZRU) support for an expanded Super Rugby competition.

The nine provinces, commonly known as the G9, believes an expanded Super Rugby tournament will undermine the provincial Air New Zealand Cup.

Counties-Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Northland, Tasman, Southland, North Harbour, Taranaki, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay unions have expressed “grave concerns” for the future of the domestic game, in a letter to the NZRU.

The five other ANZ Cup unions that are Super 14 bases – Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago – are not represented on the four-page letter, which came into possession of the Dominion Post newspaper.

NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs admitted that there were communication problems with the G9 but he stressed that the parties had the same interests at heart.

“The principles they have set out that they want to see in the domestic competitions we largely agree with, we are actually on the same page,” Hobbs said.

“There is a lot of communication, not all of it seems to be effective. We will have a look at that and see if we can do it better and we will try to do it better.”

The unions stated in the letter that New Zealand crowds in this year’s Super 14 “clearly illustrates that Super rugby is a tired concept.”

They are also concerned that an expanded version of the Super 14 would further lessen the possibility of New Zealand’s top players ability to play in the ANZ Cup.

“The group is concerned that if NZRU dumb down the ANZC [Air NZ Cup competition] as reflected in the financial modelling produced to date then rugby in New Zealand, as we currently know it, will be stuffed by the 2019 World Cup,” the letter said.

Asked whether Super 14 players would always be part of the ANZ Cup, Hobbs replied “that is certainly our intention and always has been.

“We are not prepared to compromise our domestic competitions,” he added.

The letter also requests the NZRU to extend the present SANZAR broadcasting agreement by just one year until the end of 2011, providing extra time to get the input and support of the provinces.

The nine union chairmen are to meet the national board to discuss their concerns ahead of the NZRU’s annual meeting in Wellington.

By: VinChainSaw

VinChainSaw — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:24:01 +0000

@robdylan (Comment 12) : I says I thinks that's a great idea!

By: fyndraai

fyndraai — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:16:12 +0000

@bryce_in_oz (Comment 3) : You are not correct. Game attendance numbers are very important. It correlates with the TV audience, if nobody is showing up at the stadium, nobody is watching on TV. There are also concession sales, advertising boards, hospitality suites, parking lots, merchandise sales and sponsers. If you add all these together you will find that it is not only worth more than the TV contracts, but the size of the TV contracts also depends directly on it.

By: robdylan

robdylan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:09:05 +0000

@VinChainSaw (Comment 11) : hey - let's do that braai towards the end of May. What say you?

By: VinChainSaw

VinChainSaw — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:58:05 +0000

@robdylan (Comment 9) :

I struglle to swallow that one.

NH rugby is pretty damn strong at the moment and will only get stronger.

To use an analogy – SA (and NZ I suppose) is the Brazil of the rugby world. England and France, well, they are still England and France.

Rugby is headed toward the footie situation where everythign happens in Europe, not away from it.

SANZAR is stale and o’Neill, and the Oz media, need to be put in their place.

I’d love it if SA had an elite comp, invitation only, once a year, for manybe two months.
Two or three saffa teams, with clubs and provinces from around the world invited to play.

Maybe SARU could launch an IPL rugby equivalent. There’s no reason why not. We are the world champs after all and one of the largest countries in terms of players and fans.

Dump SANZAR, they’re just holding us back.
And thankfully if we play with the boys from the north we don’t need to continaully tinker with the rules at the behest of wankers such as JoN.

Just do it already.

By: Ollie

Ollie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:37:22 +0000

@robdylan (Comment 9) : It will suffer it stays on the same course as now as well

By: robdylan

robdylan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:44:37 +0000

@Ollie (Comment 7) : and I think our rugby will suffer if we go to the NH

By: bryce_in_oz

bryce_in_oz — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:44:23 +0000

@KSA Shark © (Comment 6) : That it isn't... bud I'd rather scrap the 3N... make them rotating tours... and keep the S14... preferably with one less RSA team and another Aussie or PI...

By: Ollie

Ollie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:18:44 +0000

It’s interesting times that we live in. I can’t help hinking rugby in the SH has reached a fork in the road and it’s veeeerrrrrrryyyy important to the health of rugby in these 3 countries that the correct road is chosen.

@bryce_in_oz (Comment 3) : it is no secret and has been said by O'Neal and Tew that SA bring in by far the largest share of revenue for the SANZAR competitions.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:42:17 +0000

Supersport should be pumping in more than fox

By: Rahul

Rahul — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:41:20 +0000

@bryce_in_oz (Comment 3) : Im using the supporters at each venue to judge where the money is, not the gate takings. If the grounds are empty in oz how many people are watching on TV?

By: bryce_in_oz

bryce_in_oz — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:25:05 +0000

@Rahul (Comment 2) :

You still don’t get it do you… the BROADCASTERS fund the entire tournament… not the gate-takings… and with over 400 000 rugby mad Japies and twice that in Kiwi’s on top of the Aussie fans… Foxsports rakes it in…

I just hope RSA don’t exit SANZAR for want of the ludicrous ’6th team’…

By: Rahul

Rahul — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:41:20 +0000

They couldnt fill a bathtub with supporters in oz! Go Marinos, let them know where the money is.