Andrew Slack: Axing an Aussie Super rugby team will hurt but there is a silver lining

IT seems very clear that everything about Super Rugby’s future seems very unclear. And what’s also beyond dispute is that the current model is a mess, writes Andrew Slack.

No way through the Lions defence for Scott Higginbotham.

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IT seems very clear that everything about the future of Super Rugby seems very unclear.

What’s also beyond dispute is that the current model is a mess.

It’s all about the power and the purse, isn’t it? I suppose that’s why each football code wants to take over the world.

Soccer calls itself the world game, and not only is that completely justified, but my hunch is that will remain the case for the next thousand, or maybe million, years.

It might also take that long for it to be Australia’s overwhelmingly favourite footy code.

Thirty years ago rugby league took a State of Origin game to Los Angeles.

It was the start of the game’s desire to educate the Yanks as to the self-proclaimed greatest game of all.

No way through the Lions defence for Scott Higginbotham.

Last time I looked, the Super Bowl still outrates league on American television, so I’m not sure how soon the Seattle Superstars will be admitted to the NRL.

The AFL has done their bit in the townships of South Africa and is now looking to win over a billion or so Chinese so they can start barracking for Port Adelaide or the Hawks or whoever. I wonder.

All of these missionary adventures are admirable and perhaps may provide some useful tourism advertising for our great country. But is NRL or AFL ever going to mean much to people outside this land down under?

Similarly, will Super Rugby ever fascinate the hordes outside the traditional rugby states? At the moment, one could argue it’s not exactly riveting those within, but I’m a great believer in cycles, so let’s just be patient and optimistic on that one.

Rugby has some sort of attraction to the broader Australian sporting audience, but when we say rugby, what we really mean is “the Wallabies”.

Soccer and rugby have a huge advantage over the other two codes on the back of our national sides and the numbers and legitimacy of the opponents they face every year.

However, while your average sports fans in Melbourne, Perth and other rugby outposts could be persuaded by patriotic fervour to follow the fortunes of the Wallabies and Socceroos when international reputation is at stake, I’m unconvinced such commitment to the cause filters down to the lower levels of competition.

The Western Force and the Melbourne Rebels have their rusted-on supporters, but in the big picture of sporting economics those numbers are minuscule.

Lots of factors will come into the end result of the meeting that will determine the future of provincial rugby.

I

It was a tough day at the office for Dean Mumm and the Waratahs.

t will involve politics, broadcast deals, player burnout, player payment, player movement, scheduling, self-serving and a host of other things that will crop up as it hopefully wends its way to as pragmatic a solution as possible.

When expansion began to be the way to go a dozen or so years ago, Australian rugby jumped on the bandwagon, but the reality is we wanted to canter before we crawled.

We robbed the strong to create the weak and what we’ve currently achieved is five watered down teams.

Chuck in the tentacles of Japan and Europe and that Wallabies team of which the entire country should be proud, is potentially riding around with lead weights in the saddlebag.

There will be a lot of hurt, dissatisfaction, anger and unemployment if one of Australia’s five Super Rugby teams is made extinct.

No pain, no gain may well be sport’s oldest adage and for the betterment of the code in this country we may need to experience it sooner than we’d have preferred.

Originally published as Andrew Slack: Axing an Aussie Super rugby team will hurt but there is a silver lining