Australian Rugby Championship
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| Australian Rugby Championship | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | 2006 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country |  Australia |
| Current champions | n/a |
The Australian Rugby Championship rugby union competition that will commence in Australia in July 2007. The competition, similar to New Zealand's Air New Zealand Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup, aims to bridge the gap between club rugby and Super 14. The competition will initially involve eight teams: two from Queensland, three from New South Wales and one each from Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and Victoria. Each team will have 28 players, for a total of 224 players. There was some resisitance to the national proposal, in particular from some of the Sydney clubs. However, after a board meeting, the ARU announced on September 6, 2006, that the national competition is officially going ahead as planned. Further specifics regarding funding, teams and players are yet to fully be revealed.
Contents |
[edit] Teams
[edit] Location
When first announced, possible locations of the New South Wales sides included Sydney's north, central-west and south-east, the Central Coast and Illawarra. It is understood that the New South Wales Rugby Union gave up a fourth team to Victoria, in order to make the competition more national.[1] Queensland Rugby CEO Theo Psaros announced on June 2 that one of the Queensland sides will be playing out of Ballymore Stadium in Brisbane.[2] With this announcement, the other team has been speculatively linked to both the Gold Coast and Townsville.[3]
An ARU board meeting failed to finalise the locations of the new teams. However it emerged in the media that the QRU may in fact base both of their teams out of Ballymore. The decesion to not award the Gold Coast a team was met with mixed feelings from Queenslanders.[4] There was apparently "deep resentment" towards the proposition.[5] Wallabies coach John Connolly has said that there must be a significant point of difference between the two Queensland sides.[5] It was assumed that (at least for the first season), that both Queensland teams would play out of Ballymore, however, in November the Gold Coast was confirmed as one of the two teams.
[edit] Overview
| Overview of teams | |||||
| State/Territory | Team name | City/Area | Stadium | Club(s) affiliation | Super 14 affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Capital Territory | Unknown | Canberra | Canberra Stadium (25,011 Capacity) | Eastern Suburbs, Gungahlin Eagles, Queanbeyan Whites, Canberra Royals, Tuggeranong Vikings, Uni-Norths Owls, West Lions | Brumbies |
| New South Wales | Unknown | Central Coast | Central Coast Stadium (20,119 Capacity) | Central Coast, Gordon, Manly, Northern Suburbs and Warringah | Waratahs |
| Unknown | Sydney | North Sydney Oval (20,000 Capacity) | Eastern Suburbs, Illawarra, Randwick, Southern Districts and Sydney University | Waratahs | |
| Unknown | Western Sydney | Parramatta Stadium (20,000 Capacity) | Eastwood, Parramatta, Penrith and West Harbour | Waratahs | |
| Queensland | Unknown | Brisbane | Ballymore Stadium (24,000 Capacity) | Sunshine Coast Stingrays, Norths-QUT, Brothers, Wests, GPS and University | Reds |
| Unknown | Gold Coast | Carrara Stadium (18,000 Capacity) | Easts, Souths, Sunnybank, the Gold Coast Breakers and the Country Heelers | Reds | |
| Victoria | Unknown | Melbourne | Olympic Park Stadium (18,500 Capacity) | Unknown | None1 |
| Western Australia | Unknown | Perth | Unknown-probably Members Equity Stadium (17,288 Capacity) | Unknown | Force |
- Two S14 players from each franchise will likely play for the Victorian team.
[edit] History
The development of a national competition in Australia has been talked about for over a decade. When rugby union went professional, or "open" in 1996, talk of developing a national club competition arose. An investigation, known as the Crawford Report took place. The competition did not eventuate in the early years of professionalism, with the franchise-run Super 12 becoming the main focus of competitive rugby below Test matches. However, the idea never died, and always had somewhat of a presence since the mid 1990s. It became ever-more apparent that there was a growing gap between the local club rugby competitions and the Super Rugby competitions. Also, there was also a fear that on a national level, Australia would get left behind by the All Blacks and South Africa, due to perhaps their deeper domestic competition. After the massive financial success of the Australian-hosted 2003 Rugby World Cup, the proposal of starting a club national competition to bridge the gap between club rugby and Super Rugby came to the forefront once again.
The official announcement on the agreement of a national rugby competition in Australia was made in mid-2006, following a 70-person three day summit in Sydney that determined that such a national competition would be economically sustainable and commercially attractive. However, the competition was not with out its share of controversy, with the self-proclaimed "Coalition of the Unwilling" (principally, Sydney University, Randwick and Eastern Suburbs) was against the forming of a new level of competition, as it would have a detrrimental effect on club and grass roots rugby. Broadcasters have expressed interest in covering the competition, with the ABC being one of them, [6] as well as FOX Sports, and possibly others, which have yet to be disclosed. The ARU have estimated that they will spend around $2 million (AU) a year, over a $7.6 million investment. It is expected to be turned into profit by after the fourth season. On Wednesday, September 6, an ARU board meeting gave the competition an official green light.
[edit] Controversy
The competition has been somewhat controversial since its announcement in mid-2006, in particular in regards to what possible consequences it may have for the rugby clubs and what level of control the local clubs have. The most concerned have been those that are Sydney-based. However, many people feel the introduction of the competition is well overdue and will be great for rugby union in Australia. There are fears that the competition will hurt some of Sydney's weaker clubs. Both Randwick DRUFC and Sydney University Football Club - two of Australia's oldest football clubs were not happy with the proposal, and are pushing for stand alone entry in the competition. Shortly after the official announcement of the competition, Randwick formed a committee to debate the decision.[7]
In July, it was reported that the ARU was being asked to put the competition on hold, and delay its introduction, until there could be a guarantee that the rugby clubs could "survive".[8] However, the ARU later stated that it will be going ahead in 2007. There also appeared to be unanimous agreement that the competition is needed, as per a Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) poll, which showed that 88% of contracted players believed an extra level of rugby is needed between the Super 14 and club rugby. Those players also gave club rugby a 4.7 out of 10 for playing attributes, and an 8.2 for Super 14, and 8.7 for the Wallabies.[9] In addition, senior Australian footballers have come out in support of the new competition, saying that club rugby no longer has the intensity to prepare players for Super Rugby, though they added that Sydney is reasonably strong, it is not like that all over Australia, and that the new competition would correct the lack of depth.[5]
[edit] Format
[edit] Competition
The competition will run for ten weeks, with finals being competed over an additional two weeks. Each side will play ten games, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals where the winners will move into the final. The competition will kick off in July, after club competitions finish (they will run from March to July). Some have expressed concern that the competition will run near the same time that the World Cup in France will, though some argued that this is actually a positive, as a sport's profile is understandably significantly higher during a world cup. There will be in total, around 35 matches played in the competition.
[edit] Players
This timeframe will ensure the availability of Super 14 players (excluding Wallabies). There are no immediate plans for a draft, with players free to choose their team, although there will be a salary cap in place. Players will come from local competitions (which includes Super 14 players). Each Super 14 franchise is aligned with the respective teams, except for Melbourne, as Victoria has no Super 14 team (though they have in the past bid for one). Two players from each Super 14 franchise will most likely play for the Melbourne team. It has also been speculated that a Sydney club will have an affiliation with the team.[10] The ARU has shown that although 35 footballers will be on international duty for the Wallabies, over 90 Super 14 players will go into the national competition, which leaves way for over 120 footballers to step up from first grade club competitions.[11]
The ARU reported that they had received over 450 Expressions of Interest from uncontracted footballers (Premier-standard) who would like to be considered for selection. It is understood that each team will have the provision for one "marquee" footballer who will not be subject to financial restrictions of the player contracting protocol. The player can be either foreign or a non-contracted domestic footballer. If a team signs an Australian as their marquee footballer, they would still be able to sign up a foreign footballer, though they would have to fit within the contract restrictions.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ New national rugby comp for 2007. news.com.au. Retrieved on 3 June 2006.
- ^ Queensland Rugby begins planning for new competition. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ North's rugby chance. News.com.au. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ Two Brisbane rugby teams crazy: Connolly. SMH. Retrieved on 24 August 2006.
- ^ a b c New competition vital for Wallabies. The Australian. Retrieved on 25 August 2006.
- ^ Three places for NSW in national comp. Rugbyheaven.com. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ Power clubs to oppose national competition. Rugbyheaven.com. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ ARU asked to delay national competition. stuff.co.nz. Retrieved on 19 July 2006.
- ^ Sydney clubs consider alternative. rugbyheaven.com.au. Retrieved on 25 August 2006.
- ^ Opposition growing to new game plan. Rugbyheaven.com.au. Retrieved on 4 August 2006.
- ^ ARU Board approves National Competition. Rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 7 September 2006.
[edit] General
- "Rugby Workshop agrees to a new eight-team National Rugby Competition". rugby.com.au. Accessed June 2, 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rugby.com.au
- Research supports move to National Competition
- Queensland Rugby Union
- NSW Rugby
- ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union
- WA Rugby
- Victorian Rugby Union
- QLD Rugby FAQs
