Iain Payten: Rugby union lagging behind NRL and AFL when it comes to self-promotion

THE Australian Rugby Union is lagging behind NRL and AFL when it comes to self-promotion, writes Iain Payten.

SOMETIMES you feel like rugby could do with a big fat dose of Tina Turner.

And by sometimes, let’s say last week. Or to pluck out another random seven days, the week before that.

This is the time of year where fans of all footy codes are allowed to bathe in blind optimism.

The time of year where all the sins of the past season are forgotten, and every supporter of every club is allowed to feel good about what lays ahead.

It helps when optimism and positivity are the default mood of a fan base, but as the season opener begins, that’s where the game itself has to help. It has to enable the enthusiasm.

For decades rugby league fans only had to turn on the TV to see a gyrating granny running down a beach with ET and Alfie, shouting to the world that the 13-man was simply the best.

AFL uses a similar playbook, with big ad campaigns declaring unashamedly their game is the greatest thing since Eddie Maguire invented sliced bread.

The danger is creeping delusion — um, people watching AFL on mobiles in China? — but here’s the thing: obviously both games can’t be no. 1 and yet the logic doesn’t matter a bit.

A stirring “here we go” campaign isn’t to win new fans, it’s to get the old ones excited again. It’s to get them buying new jerseys and memberships, signing up for fantasy leagues and wasting whole days on YouTube watching Tooheys ads.

So pop quiz: when does the Super Rugby season start?

Okay, you’re reading a rugby column so you know it kicks off this weekend, but how many friends and workmates have asked you that in the last month?

Where is rugby’s Tina ad? Where is the energy?

Despite the best efforts of the heroic rugby media (cough, cough), rugby’s pre-season hype feels flatter than a Sochi curling rink.

Relying on media coverage alone is a tricky and misguided tactic.

Coaches are reluctant to talk their mob up with the necessary flourish, but if they don’t play along they get accused of not doing their bit for promotion. (Morning, Waratahs).

Nope, the code has to sell the code, with as much brassy arrogance as it can muster.

The ARU has a duty to get rugby fans excited again, and catch the eyes of a few neutrals as well, with all the great stuff the game has to offer.

A change of record is well and truly overdue because the common line in the pub these days is rugby is a snore-fest.

It’s not — well, not always — but part of the problem perpetuating that myth is a failure of the game’s bosses to not only defend the sport, but sell the sizzle.

Rugby has a highlight reel to match any game. Take an extended lunchbreak through YouTube and watch show reels of Israel Folau or the Wallabies or the Lions series or Quade Cooper — the list goes on — and you can see how awesome rugby is to watch when played well.

Quade Cooper in action for the Queensland Reds. Picture: Darren England.

Australian teams deliver that entertaining game, too, with running and tries and ambitious attacking skills.

The Wallabies are a ball-in-hand team and the Waratahs scored the second most tries in last year’s Super Rugby comp. The Brumbies almost won last year, and Queensland have attacking weapons everywhere.

Winning is important, sure, but it doesn’t necessarily matter when selling the essence of a sport.

Not all NRL teams or AFL clubs win the flag, but hits and tries and screaming marks from all teams contribute to the Tina ads.

Rugby needs to seriously get its head in the game when it comes to self-promotion. It has an image problem.

People will tell you soccer is now ahead of rugby in the national pecking order, but that perception only exists because soccer officials have strategically pushed that line.

They’ve understood the power of mass marketing and media far better than rugby in recent years, and armed with the profile of a few marquee stars, positioned themselves as a major player.

The figures don’t actually back it up. Average crowds are still below Super Rugby’s attendances and TV ratings are too. Big derbies in Super Rugby get more than 200,000 viewers on Fox but a few weeks back two Saturday night games — one featuring Melbourne Victory and another with Sydney FC — both failed to get 50,000 viewers.

Declare you’re in a war with cricket, however, and suddenly you’ve got scale.

Rugby’s audience may often be dormant but it is massive when activated. The two highest rating shows ever on pay TV in Australia were the semi-final and final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

These are the eyes who need to see a rollicking Tina ad about Super Rugby on the telly at night.

People power is everything these days in the code wars.

Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver.

The AFL and NRL spend plenty on marketing but they also have an army of millions when it comes to promoting their sport. Loyal fans and even media do their bit.

Take the NRL Nines. There was good footy and dull footy but the only verdict available in social or traditional media was that the Nines was single greatest sporting event played since Moses chiselled out the little-known 11th commandment: “Thou shall not tackle above the shoulders”.

It’s the same collective chutzpah that saw the NRL walk into broadcast negotiations, demand $1 billion and get it — despite insiders saying that figure was overs.

But rugby doesn’t only suffer from reticence on the self-promotion front, it will talk itself down as well.

Just as the game should be ramping up the positives of a new Super Rugby season, the dominant message out of the ARU in recent weeks has been of a grim finances. The game is going broke, pay cuts are required, revenue is dwindling.

To be fair, it hasn’t been any sort of strategy and ARU boss Bill Pulver can’t be knocked about being honest when journalists ask questions. Transparency is welcome.

But Pulver ought to be wary about revealing so much of the bad so often that the good gets overshadowed.

Perception of a depression in rugby becomes reality and not only fuels pub talk, but when the ARU walks into a broadcast rights negotiation, any TV executive worth his salt will smell that financial desperation and drive an ugly deal.

The feel-good factor in sport can be powerful though, and better still, fast-acting.

Rugby needs to start promoting the positive, and quickly.

A new season begins this week so the ARU should go to petty cash this morning, scratch up some money for a blitz and get some hype buzzing.

For the fans’ sake, and for the good of the game as well.

Anyone got a number for Tina?