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Where to now for club rugby in Australia?

By Andrew Campbell - posted Tuesday, 27 September 2005


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.

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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.

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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.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Andrew Campbell

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

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