Super Rugby is not yet dead but Sanzaar almost killed it
OPINION: Quality over quantity. Somewhere along the line, in the greedy grab for extra revenue, that reality was lost on Super Rugby powerbrokers.
Australia, South Africa, New Zealand; they are all equally to blame for bringing us to this ugly juncture that will, after court action is resolved, eventually result in three teams being cut for next season.
The blame game and emotive rhetoric, particularly from Australia, has flowed this week as the Western Force, along with South Africa’s Southern Kings and Cheetahs look set for the axe.
The cruel truth is to save Super Rugby from plunging into a state of disrepair, such drastic changes – moving from 18 to 15 teams 2018 – are entirely necessary.
That doesn’t make it any easier to stomach for those players, coaches, administrators and supporters directly affected. As in with any industry, empathy is needed for those at the coalface.
But the product as it stands is not working, and sending many broke.
The mess Super Rugby now finds itself can be traced back to the addition of the Melbourne Rebels, Australia’s fifth team, in 2011. Six years later South Africa, under political pressure to belatedly embrace the Eastern Cape’s black community, were foolishly granted permission for a sixth team, the Port Elizabeth-based Kings. Both were crippling mistakes.
Neither country had player depth nor funding to sustain those numbers, and thus the competition was severely weakened.
Australia’s domestic competition has eight teams feeding five Super Rugby franchises; New Zealand’s 14 provincial unions form its backbone. You do the math.
Ultimately, South Africa’s demands nearly put the dog to sleep. It allowed bold expansion into Japan, where the Sunwolves performances have been predictably dire, and Argentina, where the Jaguares have at least proved competitive. It also complicated the already convoluted conference model, turning off a host of fans.
In a short space of time Sanzaar managed to wreck a competition it had taken two decades to build.
Fingers got burnt; unlike Auckland’s housing market the bubble burst. Widespread falls in attendances and viewership have been so dramatic that those at the top of the tree realise what many others predicted long before now – expansion was a step too far.
The fact plans were publicly discussed to bloat further into the United States and Europe shows just how distorted the view became.
That broadcasters in all territories have agreed to reduced content for the same revenue speaks volumes of the current model’s lack of sustainability.
Part of the problem in all this is Sanzaar’s voting structure that sees the competition’s chief executive, Andy Marinos, effectively reduced to a powerless figurehead. Each of the national union partners holds power of veto, perpetuating a system where, until now, self interests have been too evident in decisionmaking.
Two key planks have largely insulated New Zealand from the drama unfolding around them; the central contracting model that sees everything funnel towards strengthening the All Blacks. And steadfastly sticking to the policy of only selecting local players for the national team. But if the current state of affairs continued, it was only a matter of time before the lack of offshore competition began to bite.
Like it or not sport is a business. All southern hemisphere nations are under constant siege from the player drain to France and England. It’s here the crux of the push to expand and push for more broadcast revenue originated. More money means more ammo in the on-going war to retain leading players. But economics alone can’t be the sole driver. The onfield product must still deliver.
Next year’s competition will not be perfect. For all the value the Sunwolves provide in terms of a pathway into Asia, concerns remain about their weak, undersized squad and secondary presence alongside Japan’s established domestic competition which features countless well paid internationals.
But a 15-team format next year, and a return to three conferences, is certainly better than what we have. Super Rugby is not irreparably broken but it can’t be allowed to lurch through another embarrassing fallout again.