Is it time
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Forum Name: Clubhouse chat
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Topic: Is it time
Posted By: Camquin
Subject: Is it time
Date Posted: 25 Apr 2020 at 22:57
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With both codes open and both codes suffering financial hardship and struggling for players is it now the right time to holdout a hand of friendship and consider reuniting. ------------- Sweeney Delenda Est |
Replies:
Posted By: Dobber
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2020 at 00:12
| Isn't League doing alright thank you very much, in Oz and NZ? Hardly likely to offer a struggling Union a hand down south I wouldn't have thought. Might be the other way round with our two codes, which ultimately makes it a dog's dinner and not a viable joining of forces |
Posted By: Raider999
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2020 at 14:09
League certainly has a large TVs contract in Australia (at the top level there is only 1 team in NZ - I wouldn't call that successful) It is a closed shop, so unless they have an expansion I cannot see it changing too much. Union in Australia has to compete with Aussie Rules as well as League so would be 3rd most popular at best ------------- RAID ON |
Dobber wrote:Posted By: Robb
Date Posted: 28 Apr 2020 at 15:15
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When hell freezes over! |
Posted By: Surreyben
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2020 at 14:24
| Rugby Union in Australia has been in trouble financially for a while now. Aussie Rules is the most popular sport in terms of bums on seats, with Rugby League and Cricket following. Rugby Union is fourth at best, with football snapping at its heels in terms of attendances at top games. |
Posted By: billesleyexile
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2020 at 15:20
I think that's a bit of a misreading of the situation with RL down there to be honest. Current Premiership RU tv deal is something like £200 million (and going down). The NRL's current 5 year deal is AUS $1.9bn, which at the current exchange rate is £989.6m give or take. They aren't so much eclipsing RU down there as grinding them into the dust. You've missed the fact that in the mid 90s it was basically a Sydney only competition (yes I know they played in Brisbane as well but Sydney was the M62 of Down Under). Since then they've added a team in NZ (and looking at the second one), and also pretty well all the teams not in Sydney. The big other expansion one is Melbourne, which IIRC the NRL bankrolled to NRL champions at a loss. I.e. they will play the long game and they do put their money where it counts for what they perceive as the long term interests of RL. They are ambitious, they are wealthy, and they are winning. Most worryingly, the money in NRL is now causing problems in NZ as they *are* starting to steal Kiwi RU teenagers who could have All Blacks aspirations. Money is talking and, from a low base, league in NZ is taking off. FWIW I think it's hyperbole/catastrophising (at the moment), but you are starting to see in the NZ media the sort of "Union in Crisis in NZ" stories that you've seen in Australia for 20 years.
------------- keep the faith |