Playing a game of Super Rugby in Fiji may be a nice change, but for loyal Chiefs fans who have turned out in high numbers this season, it’s a slap in the face.
With the slogan “Bula: Welcome to Chiefs Country”, Friday night’s clash between the Chiefs and Crusaders at ANZ Stadium in Suva has taken one of the biggest rivalries in Super Rugby offshore to a union in desperate need of financial support. It will be the first time that a Super Rugby match has been held in the Pacific region.
However, for the Crusaders, this isn’t the first time that they’ve played a Round Robin fixture away from their usual surroundings. The only other time that Super Rugby has been played outside of a territory that has a team in the competition was back in 2011. That day, at the iconic Twickenham in London, the Crusaders played host to the Sharks.
That match was advertised as a charity raiser to give funds for the Christchurch earthquake.
Clubs in English rugby slammed the decision to allow the Crusaders to use the venue, calling it a “commercial venture dressed up in charity clothing”. Super Rugby has not ventured outside the countries and unions covered in the Southern Hemisphere club competition since then, until Friday night when ANZ Stadium in Suva plays host.
Super Rugby In Fiji: No Reward For NZRU
Super Rugby is clearly going to grow more and more, and you would have to wonder how long it will be until a side representing the Pacific is introduced into the mix. However, is a team representing the countries of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga something these unions are financially capable of? One would have to say no, and the New Zealand Rugby Union shouldn’t be expected to help out with these costs.
Just how much of a success the Chiefs vs Crusaders clash will have in Suva remains to be seen, but the cost will almost certainly outweigh any potential income made. The idea behind these ventures is to grow the game of Rugby Union, but this is far from a requirement in a country like Fiji that is known for its brilliance in the Sevens arena.
The real loser here are local fans in the Waikato who have turned out in high numbers to support the Chiefs so far this season. It is bad enough that Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth has to cater for at least one Regular Season clash in a union that still doesn’t exactly appreciate having to hear that the Chiefs are their team. Until 2014, New Plymouth’s stadium traditionally hosted home games for the Hurricanes, and when the two sides met last year, the Hurricanes had far more supporters in the house than Chiefs fans.
Should the Chiefs lose to fellow New Zealand conference foes, FMG Stadium Waikato won’t host another Chiefs match until February next year.
Case in point? Look no further than the All Blacks vs Samoa clash in Apia last July. While it was long overdue that the champion All Blacks would play a game in the Pacific, the cost of making the trip still hurts the New Zealand Rugby Union today. With the British & Lions tour coming in 2017, so a big financial gain will come from that, and this could see the All Blacks venturing back to the Pacific any time prior to Rugby World Cup 2019.
But without big tours like the British & Irish Lions Series which pour in a lot of money to lean on, playing in countries like Fiji simply isn’t financially viable, no matter which way you advertise it or how good it looks.
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