If the ARU is as soft in negotiating $40m TV deal as Reds defence then the game will be in peril

ROBERT Craddock went to Suncorp Stadium to watch the Reds being pulped 57-29 for their fifth Super Rugby loss in a row.

WHO said Australian rugby teams were soft?

The New Zealand columnist who claimed this last week is set to face legal action — from a group including a marshmallow, a bowl of mashed potato and a soap sud who are offended by the comparison.

Rumours also swept Suncorp Stadium on Sunday night an unnamed group of babies bottoms were preparing to mount a collective case over the claim that Australian rugby teams are as of identical softness to them.

The babies bottoms claim to have evidence they are much more robust than the Queensland Reds second half defence on Sunday.

If they can produce a soggy nappy, they’ll probably win the case.

I went to Suncorp Stadium on Sunday to view the Queensland Reds play the Crusaders just to see what it felt like to sit in the same seat on the terraces in a match which started exactly a week after the A-League final featuring the Brisbane Roar.

News_Image_File: Besart Berisha thanks Brisbane Roar fans in the A-League grand final — his last match for the team

This will sound strange but even though the Reds were pulped 57-29 for their fifth loss in a row I spent much of the game pondering who would you rather be — the Reds or the Roar? — a much tougher question than you think.

For all their current turmoil the Reds efforts off the field are something to behold.

The team’s form has been patchier than a cattle dog’s coat this season yet still the masses come — 34,010 yesterday and no less than 27,024 this season.

By contrast the Roar averaged just 15,000 for their home games before selling out their final.

They would do tumble turns of joy to get a crowd like Sunday’s in a home and away game.

It seems odd to say this but the Roar, with their three titles in four years, would do well to steal a marketing blueprint off the side who have just had their fifth loss in a row.

News_Rich_Media: Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder fronts the media after victory over the Reds.

You only have to see the giant billboards around the city which seem to be just in the right place to catch your eye to appreciate the astuteness of Reds marketing which includes clever ticket packaging which has netted them 38,500 members, more than any football club in Australia outside the AFL.

This is the next challenge for the Roar, to transform that end of season passion spike into bums on seats next year.

Let’s just say all 15,000 of the Roar’s average home crowd attended last week’s final. We’ll give the Wanderers 15,000 tickets.

That means there were 21,000 other Roar fans who materialised from the wilderness on the day.

The Roar’s mission must be to seek down these people and offer them the keys to their cave in a Reds sort of way.

News_Image_File: James Horwill and coach Richard Graham on the field after the big loss to the Crusaders.

Even in their season from hell you have to admire the way the Reds have disaster-proofed themselves.

But they must be careful.

As clever and creative as they were in their membership packages, the Reds must be aware that Brisbane is the city of the floating fan.

Anyone can have a bad season. If fans think a bad era is on the way they will soon look elsewhere.

I’m not the only one comparing soccer to rugby at the moment — ARU boss Bill Pulver is doing the same as he prepares for one of the most important deals in Australian rugby history over the next television rights.

Rugby, partially because they have fewer games to sell, have been left behind the television rights race.

News_Image_File: ARU chief executive Bill Pulver has a big task in front of him in negotiating the next TV deal.

The AFL ($250 million a year for 207 games) are rolling in cash and so is rugby league ($200 million for 201 games). Cricket gets about $100 million a year and even the Big Bash gets $20 million per year for the Big Bash.

Rugby, with just $25 million per year for a season needs an urgent cash injection to stop it from going broke.

The A-League, which gets $40 million a year, is the benchmark for rugby.

Pulver is aiming for that $40 million.

Some believe he is aiming low, that the game needs to at least double its revenue if it is to rescue itself from financial peril.