Article by Guest Rugby Contributor, @rugbyoldbloke.
Despite there having been a fair bit of rugby on TV during the summer, I know that many fans will be waiting impatiently for the new Premiership season to kick off (probably literally in some games). Until then we have the Rugby Championship from the Southern Hemisphere and even some ITM and Currie Cup games.
Each year we have more rugby and just as importantly we get more coverage in the media. Televised rugby is now better than it has ever been and some weekends there will be wall to wall games from Friday evening until late on Sunday. For next season there will be three (sometimes four) Premiership games each weekend plus Autumn Internationals, 6 Nations, Pro 12, Top 14, The Rugby Champions Cup, Super 15 (or whatever the number is now), Women’s rugby, 7s and then the World Cup. There are probably even more that I’ve left out – but I got bored with making a list – so don’t get annoyed if I left out the one competition that your team won last year. I haven’t actually detailed all this to the Mrs yet – to be fair she likes rugby, but I think she got a bit suspicious when I told her we can only get the sports channels now as they’ve moved the satellite behind Uranus and the big tree in our garden blocks it a bit.
State of the Union – A Look at the Current Rugby Media Coverage
Us armchair fans have never had it so good – and I should know – I’m old enough to remember when the only rugby was on the BBC. We had the 5 Nations – mostly with two games on at the same time plus 45 minutes on Sunday afternoons of something called Rugby Special (now there’s an oxymoron for you). You got bits from a couple of club games, but mostly posh hoorays just talking about it. The Lions? – well you could forget that – unless you were a fan of whispering David Attenborough. The advent of Sky and more recently BT Sport has changed all that – sure you have to pay for it – but if it was still just the BBC we’d only have the 6 Nations and they’d probably still be playing two games at the same time. I don’t count ‘Rugby Not At All Special’ as the BBC would almost certainly have chucked it in favour of more reality like Grannies on the Game (which I haven’t made up by the way – except the title, obviously).
So all is spiffing on the rugby front then eh? Well not quite as it happens. There are some worrying things going on – on several fronts. Welsh rugby remains in turmoil with the Regions and the WRU seemingly unable to come to the table, much less an agreement. Since they are in the ‘Group of Death’ and I am English this is probably less of a concern for me than those on the other side of the Severn Bridge. Having said that, it seems daft to me for Adam Jones to have to go to Neath to train and for Sam Warburton to be sitting in the stands when Cardiff Blues jog out to play. There is also the nonsense that has arisen because of the Olympic rules – the idea that it has implications not just for the Rio 7s, but also eligibility for the World Cup is much like the tail wagging the dog! Again, being English my only real concern is not wanting to see Steffon running out for Les Bleus! (not when I think he should be wearing the rose anyway).
But there is another matter that I find of greatest worry – the money in rugby that has paved the way for all the great TV coverage, is also changing the game. There is little loyalty to clubs any more – that’s understandable – it’s now a career not just a pastime and you have to go where the money takes you. However, it must seem to loyal fans that they are supporting a different team when they turn up for the first game of the season – except for the colour of the shirts – at least it would be if the clubs didn’t change their shirt designs almost as rapidly as they change the playing squads! Just to prove I’m not exaggerating, here are a couple of examples – Gloucester have brought in 17 new players – with 20 moving on – only 3 of whom have retired. Newly promoted London Welsh have 25 new arrivals with 18 not required for the Premiership, despite having helped the team get there. Of the 18 only one has gone to another Premiership side plus one other to the Ospreys. For L Welsh this is not surprising, since their ambition next season won’t go much beyond staying in the top flight.
At the other end of the spectrum the two Premiership Finalists have only added a handful of players – presumably feeling that their current squads are strong enough for the new campaign. Does this carousel of changing squads matter? Well, probably not in the short term – and as long as we have (and stick to) a salary cap. But when that goes – and it almost certainly will if money continues to flood in from TV contracts and sponsors, then it’s just a short jump to reflecting the nonsense that is Premiership football. Obviously not on anything like the scale, but with a potentially similar effect on the strength of the National side. You could argue that the French national side has already been damaged by the high number of imports. The money in football is ridiculous now – every day the media and agents fuel the inflation in player values – if you were to believe even a fraction of the ‘supposed transfer moves’ even Roman would soon run out of cash and be looking to get a part on Channel 4’s ‘Benefit Street’.
Scaremongering? – possibly – but who really believes that there will not be a lot of plane seats from the home nations, as well as the Southern Hemisphere, all rammed with players heading to France in December 2015? Of course, many will only sign two year contracts and hope to return home in time to play in Tokyo and Sapporo in 2019. But some, at least, will find the rewards and the climate too tempting and may well re-sign.
The yo-yoing is already happening down under – Hosea Gear has returned from Japan and Sonny Bill moves from the NRL to the All Blacks as if he’s on the end of a bungee rope in Queenstown. For all these negative concerns I am looking forward with excitement to the new season and if you want to get irritated by more of my thoughts on the lighter side of rugby you’ll find my far less polite blog at www.rugbyoldbloke.wordpress.com.
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