A new Australian Era about to emerge.

RUGBY.COM.AU AND JAMES MORTIMER 16.JAN.2014

The Australian Rugby Union has confirmed it has received 41 Expressions of Interest from across the country for this year's National Rugby Championship (NRC) which will kick off in August.

The National Rugby Championship has been established with the support of FOX SPORTS and Foxtel to excite fans and enhance the pathway to develop elite players, coaches and match officials.

The 41 Expressions of Interest have been received from a range of individuals, businesses, existing clubs and syndicates wanting to be included in the inaugural season of the competition.

Representatives from all States and the Australian Capital Territory have expressed an interest in taking part, including interest from groups from country New South Wales and country Queensland.

Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver said the response shows there is real interest in a competition of this nature.

"This will be a truly national competition, and it's great to see we have more than 40 groups, clubs or individuals who could form syndicates with other organisations, partners and universities to compete," Mr Pulver said.

"A formal tendering process has now begun and we will be in a position to announce the successful teams to contest the National Rugby Championship in early March."

The National Rugby Championship Commission, which has been set up to establish the competition, will assess the tenders and will select the appropriate teams.

The Commission is chaired by independent sports consultant John Boultbee and includes representatives from Australian Rugby Union, Rugby Union Players' Association, Super Rugby, FOX SPORTS and Foxtel.

Selection will be based on a number of criteria including: financial performance; professional team staffing structure and environment; commitment to player development; venue facilities; links to Super Rugby clubs; and current or potential fan base.

The competition is expected to include 8-10 teams from major population centres across the country, with teams from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, ACT and Western Australia expected to be represented.




It this come to fruition Australia will become the dominant force in the SH. Well done AUSSIE  

The competition is expected to include eight to 10 teams from major population centres across the country, with teams from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, ACT and Western Australia expected to be represented.

You see, this is where I think where Pulver and the ARU are kidding themselves.

Yes, it will be great to have the NRC but I believe the model should be along the lines of a smaller Kiwi-style ITM Cup system -  split up into two smaller Premiership & Championship Divisions - no more than 6 teams in each.

8 or 10 teams won't work. You'd end up with 3-6 much weaker sides getting belted every round which wouldn't do much for the game in this country.

We can't sustain more than that really with the other 2 big winter codes. (football here is in summer - which will always be more popular than rugby in winter)

I'd basically go with a feeder team for each of the 5 Super Rugby teams + one other for the Premiership.

It might be more interesting if the teams had their own identities though; city / metro / region-based... not state or Territory... so no "Reds", "Tahs", "Brumbies", etc. Have a promotion and relegation for the last spot in the Prem each year.

So:

Premiership:
Brisbane
Sydney
Canberra
Melbourne
Perth
* (West Syd or South Bris... toss a coin the 1st year or whoever has the best bid)

Championship:
*Western Sydney
*South Brisbane (some games at Robina, GC)
Qld Country (based in Toowoomba or Ipswich)
NSW Country (based in Bathurst or Orange)
Newcastle-Hunter
Townsville
Adelaide

* one of the 7 above teams to start in the Premiership (probably Western Sydney or South Brisbane)

This organisation would be better than having say 3 or 4 teams from Sydney and Brisbane. Only 2 teams maximum from both cities.

r-w: Moving this to the Club Section.  

Would they not be better to have a 10 team division with two teams from each region.

From the example of the welsh in reverse you have made your championship teams more or less the same as the S15 team just called it by the city.

As Aus is doing top down then the championship should look to feed the regions and make each region sustainable.

Brendan wrote:Would they not be better to have a 10 team division with two teams from each region.

From the example of the welsh in reverse you have made your championship teams more or less the same as the S15 team just called it by the city.

As Aus is doing top down then the championship should look to feed the regions and make each region sustainable.

Problem is Brendan, at best we only have 6 or 7 strong teams... so 3 or 4 would be struggling in a 10 team division.

We tried it before with the ARC in 2007.

Very small attendances (ave. 500-1500... 3,500 for the GF) simply because they got it so wrong.

- Sydney Fleet was based at North Sydney Oval... when they were meant to represent the city/east/south
- Northern Sydney was told to support the Central Coast... based in Gosford.
- East Coast Aces - failed. There is a history of clubs failing at the Gold Coast. (note small crowds for the 7s... mostly ex-pat Kiwis and tourists)
- Adelaide Rams - they don't really differentiate between rugby union and rugby league in SA! Rugby will always struggle there.

The West Sydney Rams had strong potential... maybe... but don't forget they will be up against the WS Wanderers (AL), Bulldogs, West Tigers, Eels, Panthers (all NRL) and now GWS (AFL).

So that's why I say start small using players from the major suburban clubs in Sydney and Brisbane who could 'amalgamate' to form the new NRC clubs there (feeding into Waratahs and Reds), Vikings from Canberra/Queanbeyan/Tuggeranong can (already do) feed into the Brumbies, don't know much about the rugby scene in Melbourne and Perth.... it's miniscule! Adelaide even more so.

That just leaves our country regions in NSW and Qld plus the Newcastle-Central Coast-Hunter areas. Also, mid-far North Qld. The good ones already tend to move to the big cities to play; similar to the way in which players from the ACT (and from areas even further south and west) tended to gravitate towards Sydney - up until the 90s-00s even ... or from inland/north Qld to Brisbane.

I read somehere - somebody comparing our country regional towns to Biarritz or Brive (25,000-50,000 populations) - however this is not really the case in terms of rugby catchment area. In the south of France, there are more similar size towns every 30 miles or so.... here, it's 300 miles.

The other reason to keep it small is the timing issue.

It will have to be run from July? to October? and will therefore clash with the winter internationals here in the SH as well as the finals of the NRL and AFL.

There will be barely enough of a window to get 10 home and away matches + 3 weeks of finals (for a 6-team comp)... let alone a 10-team comp (18 rounds + 3 finals weeks?) which would finish in about November.

It would maybe have to start earlier in June (if 10 teams?) so there could be a few weeks rest before any AI tour in November/December and also avoid the pointy end of the NRL/AFL Finals. The whole country stops for both of those events... rugby wouldn't get a look in. It will be interesting to see what the ARU come up with. They'd have to try and plan it along a similar time frame to the ITM Cup matches.

In that case getting a league up that can bring players up to a standard below S15 is good regardless of how much it covers. As the OP says it will help Aus.

But they do need a growth plan

Yeah, that we do.

We've been winging it really since the start of the professional era (and before then as well) and have probably been punching well above our weight on the international scene - with no domestic national rugby competition in place. I'm always amazed how we do relatively well considering this handicap.

The budget for the ARC wasn't very substantial from the ARU and they lost around $5m (from memory) - so the extra injection of money from Foxtel / Foxsports for the new NRC will hopefully go some way into making this new venture more successful than the last attempt.

At least I hope so.

For the uninitiated (i.e. me), is this a completely new tournament with new teams?

Yes George.

Here we go from schoolboys / local suburban comps straight into the Super Rugby level... there's no national tier in between - like your Scottish League Championship, Pro 12, Heino, etc. Or ITM Cup, Currie Cup, Top 14. It's a glaringly large hole in our weak system.

Linebreaker wrote:Yes George.

Here we go from schoolboys / local suburban comps straight into the Super Rugby level... there's no national tier in between - like your Scottish League Championship, Pro 12, Heino, etc. Or ITM Cup, Currie Cup, Top 14. It's a glaringly large hole in our weak system.

You're right, Breaker. Scotland has all of these blocks in place.
That's why we're so much better at rugby than you guys.

Hey. Wait a minute.  

As of Friday - it looks as though the inaugural NRC will be comprised of 9 teams.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/rugby/national-rugby-championship-set-to-include-nine-teams-as-aru-looks-to-finalise-plans/story-fni2fydt-1226861729238

Sydney East - Randwick, Eastern Suburbs and Country NSW. Interesting that. No inclusion Uni of NSW now.

Sydney West - West Harbour, Parramatta, Penrith, Southern Districts and Eastwood.

Sydney North - Manly, Gordon, Northern Suburbs, Warringah.

Sydney Stars - (Inner West) University of Sydney and Balmain.

Brisbane

Queensland Central/North/Country - or Brisbane 2?

Canberra - Brumbies, University of Canberra and the Vikings (Tuggeranong-Wanniassa)

Melbourne

Perth

I still think there is one too many Sydney teams. In terms of geographic logic; Southern should team up with Randwick and Easts, Syd U probably with the Western Sydney team. Balmain? Not sure a 1st Division club is such a major force (there are plenty of other similar scaled and more successful clubs in the metro area) but well done to them for forming an association with Uni.

I still say it would have been nice to have seen a Newcastle-Lower Hunter Valley side instead of 1 of the 4 Sydney teams.

It will be interesting to see what Queensland sides are successful in their bids. No detail has been released yet.
It could be:
1. A North/South of the Brisbane river split (or a North-West/South-East split to be more precise...including the Gold Coast) or,
2. A combined Brisbane team and one of either a Central Coast/Qld Country, Far North Coast/Qld Country or something similar.

The Canberra team looks pretty strong - a good three-way joint venture. They have their ACT together.   

The Melbourne and Perth teams should be decent enough too. Rugby has come on in leaps and bounds in those States as evidenced by the improving performances and stronger showings in Super Rugby, increased attendances in those matches and solid grass roots programmes in place with some choice Kiwi, Saffa, Fijian, Samoan, Tongan and European ex-pats playing a huge part in the development of rugby there.

Teams announced

Brisbane City (QRU, Queensland Reds)
Queensland Country (QRU, Queensland Reds)
North Harbour Rays (Manly, Warringah, Gordon and Norths)
Sydney Stars (Sydney University and Balmain)
Greater Sydney Rams (West Harbour, Penrith, Parramatta, Eastwood and Southern Districts),
NSW Country
University of Canberra Vikings (ACT Rugby/Brumbies, University of Canberra and Tuggeranong Vikings)
Melbourne Rising (VRU/Melbourne Rebels)
Perth Spirit (Rugby WA/Western Force)

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/aru-announces-nine-teams-to-contest-national-rugby-championship-20140324-hvm7m.html#ixzz2wrdUkfxG

Melbourne Rising Bile?

Probably a reference to the Eureka stockade again.

Like Scotland, they need to get with the times.  

Can't say I'm a big fan of The Stars either. The Plague or Riot would have been more interesting.