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Where to now for club rugby in Australia?

By Andrew Campbell - posted Tuesday, 27 September 2005


The Wallabies current woes have highlighted the lack of strategic depth in Australian rugby and the side effects of the ongoing drain of Australian players to lucrative overseas competitions. For many years now the issue of how to provide a quality competition post Super 12/14 for players who are not required for Wallaby duty has been debated ad nauseum without resolution.

Driving this debate are questions of: how to provide a professional structure for developing players; how to slow the exodus of quality players to overseas competitions; how to ensure players who are called into the Wallaby squad have sufficient condition, and how to provide Australian rugby with the sort of strategic depth that New Zealand, England, South Africa and France draw from their domestic competitions.

Adding to the debate is the desire of the WA force to keep their new squad together in Perth following their Super 14 campaigns, rather than release their players back to the NSW and Queensland club competitions as the other three provinces do.

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In recent months the discussion about the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) proposed Super 8 competition involving Australia’s four rugby provinces and Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, has given renewed prominence to the regular debate on how to create a national club rugby competition in Australia.

The IRB had been proposing to underwrite the Super 8 which was to have been played on a home and away basis during June, July and August, following the completion of the Super 14. This proposed competition had the dual aims of helping the Pacific Nations and Japan develop by providing them with regular competition against good quality opposition, and providing a second tier competition for Australian provincial players not needed for Wallaby duties.

A key problem with this proposal, as pointed out by former Queensland coach John Connolly (Sun Herald July 10, 05), is that taking the top 150 players out of Australia’s rugby heartland - the NSW and Queensland club competitions - could lead to their collapse. These two competitions have been successfully developing excellent provincial and international players for well over a century. To consign them to irrelevance could inflict irreparable harm on Australian rugby.

As a result, NSW were adamantly opposed to the Super 8 proposal in its current form and were unlikely to take part unless its proposed scheduling was changed. From an islander perspective there were also likely to be problems. The cream of Fijian, Samoan and Tongan players who are not contracted to European clubs, were likely to pass over a winter scheduled Super 8 in favour of more lucrative contracts with New Zealand NPC sides. This would have resulted in the professional Australian provinces, missing only their Wallaby players, regularly running up large scores against inexperienced islander squads. Such an outcome may well have hindered rather than helped with the development of islander rugby.

Another complicating factor is the 30 game per year limit placed on Australia’s professional rugby players. As a result a player who, injuries permitting, managed to play a full Super 14 season of 13-15 games followed by a full Super 8 season of 14-16 games, would not have been eligible for club rugby, or for that matter the end of season Wallaby tour to Europe.

Realising the potential problems, the IRB have now replaced the Super 8 idea with a proposal for a one round tournament to be played in June and July between Australia A, the Junior All Blacks, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Japan. This new proposal has, however, been rejected by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) who are instead looking into holding a tournament involving just the four Australian provinces, minus their Wallaby players, played during June and July.

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The problems with this idea are twofold. First, its’ been tried before and was an abject failure. It was only a few years ago that NSW, Queensland and the ACT played an October tournament minus their Wallaby players. The fans stayed away in droves and there was little interest from sponsors or broadcasters. Second, it would still run the real risk of neutering the NSW and Queensland club competitions.

Of course the “have your cake and eat it too” way around this is to revive the Super 8 concept but play it as a one-round tournament concurrently with the Super 14. Currently NSW, Queensland and the ACT organise half a dozen one-off games during the Super 12 season for their second string squads. Having these squads play a more organised competition against islander squads able to access their NPC players, as well as Japan and the second string WA squad, would result in a much more even and entertaining Super 8 and be a far better development vehicle for all concerned.

Such a structure would also be a great marketing opportunity for Australia’s four rugby provinces. They could play some Super 8 games before Super 14 games and some as stand alone games, thereby increasing the quality and value of their membership packages. Other Super 8 games could be used for enhancing the development and exposure of rugby by being taken to regional areas such as Townsville, Bunbury, Wagga Wagga and the Central Coast.

This new Super 14 and Super 8 structure could then be complemented by a National Club Rugby Competition played post Super 14 during June, July and August. Currently the NSW, Queensland and ACT club rugby seasons are split in two, with each province running a competition during the Super 12 season (expanding to Super 14 in 2006) while the best players are away with their provincial squads. This is followed by a second higher quality “premier” club competition played after the Super 12 season, when most of the provincial players have returned to their clubs. While the NSW premier competition (which includes a club from Canberra) is the strongest, the top few Queensland clubs could comfortably compete in the NSW competition.

A national club rugby competition has been talked about for many years, but has always floundered on the rock of club and state self interest and rivalry. Despite this, there is no reason why some firm direction and financial input from the Australian Rugby Union shouldn’t give rise to a national club rugby competition that satisfies the needs of all four professional Australian provinces.

The needs of the ACT and WA rugby unions are pretty straightforward, they each want a position reserved for a club from their state in any proposed competition. In Queensland, my guess is that their desire is for more than a token representation in any national competition, and recognition of their historical position as Australia’s second strongest rugby province. NSW’s position seems to be that any national competition should evolve from their own club competition. These are not incompatible positions.

My advice would be that a new National Club Rugby Competition commence in 2007 after the conclusion of the Super 14, and be composed of the top six clubs from the 2006 NSW Premier Rugby competition (which would probably include Canberra), the top three clubs from the 2006 Queensland Premier Rugby competition, and a club from Perth consisting largely of the non-Wallaby members of the WA Force. On current form this would give you a ten team competition consisting of Sydney University, Manly, Eastwood, Warringah, Easts (Sydney), Canberra, Sunnybank, Gold Coast, Brothers and Perth. I suspect however that if this concept were adopted, Randwick would ensure they finished in NSW’s top six.

In NSW the seven clubs who do not qualify could be joined by the Illawarra, Central Coast and Newcastle to play in a state competition. Meanwhile, the seven Queensland clubs who do not qualify could be joined by a new club from either a regional area or promoted from the Brisbane subdistricts competition.

At the end of each season one club would be relegated from the national competition back to their original state competition, and be replaced by the winner of a play off between the NSW and Queensland state competition Premiers.

While the fortunes of promotion and relegation would occasionally leave the state competitions with an odd number of teams, this shouldn’t be a significant problem as the bye is now a commonly accepted part of modern sports fixtures. As they currently do, NSW and Queensland could still run their autumn local competitions involving all clubs (national and state) while the Super 14 and Super 8 are running.

Perth would need to be exempted from relegation as it wouldn’t be worth their while travelling enormous distances to play in one of the state competitions, however, in the unlikely event that their Super 14 squad minus some Wallabies did finish last, then the second last club could be relegated.

If this format is adopted I suggest the National Club Rugby Competition use the two week, top four finals format currently used in Super 12. This would allow a player whose Super 14 or Super 8 province and National Club Rugby Competition team both made their respective Grand Finals, to play a full 15 match provincial season and 11 match club season, and still have 4 games up their sleeve to allow them to be selected for the end of year Wallaby tour to Europe.

Such as structure, combining a Super 8 season running concurrently with the Super 14 season, followed by a National Club Rugby Competition built on the current NSW and Queensland club competitions, meets all the necessary criteria. It would provide a structured and competitive provincial competition to assist with player development in the islander nations, Japan and Australia’s four professional rugby provinces. Further, the long called for national club competition, having been constructed from the existing state competitions would strengthen rather than weaken club and Australian rugby.

Together the two new competitions would provide very marketable vehicles which could be used to draw fans and sponsors through the gate, increase TV audiences and raise the profile, popularity and financial viability of Australian rugby. They would also provide a strong development pathway for local rugby players, provide Australian rugby with the strategic depth that its main competitors currently enjoy, and help stem the flow of players to overseas clubs.

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About the Author

Andrew Campbell is a rugby fan and former adviser to NSW National Party Deputy Leader Don Page and ACT Liberal Deputy Leader Bill Stefaniak.

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All articles by Andrew Campbell

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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