“Rugby World Cup, the jewel in rugby’s crown, where every 4 years the sport of rugby holds centre stage and the eyes of the world are watching. It’s rugby’s chance to shine and win over a whole new fan base.
Or so it’s supposed to be. As a rugby fan and ex player, the RWC is my sporting highlight, 4 or 5 weeks of pure rugby with the world’s best players on show. But for those who aren’t ardent supporter’s, is rugby winning the battle over other codes such as soccer, or more particularly in Australia, over rugby league and AFL? From comments I have heard from those that aren’t rugby fans, after the world cup was done and dusted, I would have to say the answer is no. The majority of comments I have heard aren’t too positive. Too many penalties, the rules are too confusing, not enough tries scored, the list goes on. I am lucky enough to witness 4 games of club rugby every weekend for about 6 months of the year. Yeah there can be some bad games, but the majority are very entertaining and enjoyable and I reckon those who aren’t rugby supporters could be won over. Unfortunately club rugby struggles for popularity and once we get to the Super rugby level in most cases and International rugby in almost every case, the game seems to bog down and become unattractive. Individual flair gives way to the fear of trying something and failing and it becomes 80 mins of whistle blowing and penalty goal kicking.
So where does rugby go? Does it continue to plod along being dictated to by the powerful UK unions? Or does it make some radical changes in an attempt to gain some more mainstream support? One idea I have heard of is increasing the value of a conversion to 3 points while decreasing a penalty goal to 2 points. Would this encourage more teams to go for the try instead of plonking over penalty goal after penalty goal, or would it just encourage defending teams to give away more penalties as they won’t be punished as heavily on the scoreboard?
I would love to know everyone’s thoughts, especially those that aren’t fans of the game. What does rugby have to do to become more appealing? How can we attract fans from other sports to watch our game? Rugby has just under 4 years to get it right, otherwise we are in for another bore fest at RWC 2015.
The fatman out……….
adammourad
December 15, 2011
of all the sports in australia, local rugby is battling the hardest. rugby in general.
billy – do you know how the local rugby comps are going in europe?