World Rugby boss calls for reform

Well this is interesting our very own version of Sepp Blatter,Bernard Lapasset, has added further weight to calls for the structure of international rugby to be reformed. I particularly found this quote interesting:-

"We need to open up a new system for the 15-man game to bring the northern and southern hemisphere programmes closer together," said the Frenchman.

Does this mean he wants the 6N played at the end of the season ? Or does he want the 4N played after Christmas like the 6n ?

Take a read:-

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_59058,00.html

Who are going to have to change the NH or the SH. Money would dictate that it would be the SH who would have to overhaul their seasons to run in line with the NH.

Wouldn't mind summer rugby myself. Makes perfect sense to have as near as possible a global season.

Just in case you cannot access the link:-

World Rugby president Bernard Lapasset has added further weight to calls for the structure of international rugby to be reformed.

Speaking ahead of a lucrative sponsorship announcement for the men's and women's World Sevens series, the head of the game's governing body suggested the Olympic programme next year is causing a rethink of the XV-man version's role in the game, adding that a new system was required to ensure growth and sustainability.

"We need to open up a new system for the 15-man game to bring the northern and southern hemisphere programmes closer together," said the Frenchman.

"I opened up the debate at the executive committee meeting in Dublin earlier this year. At the moment one has the Six Nations, which is successful and the Four Nations (southern hemisphere international competition), which is less so.

"We have to look at the possibility of getting a new model of competitions, to grow profitability and to make it as attractive as possible to broadcasters.

"What is the best format, the quality of the competitions, the safety of the players? It is great to create opportunities and to aid the development of rugby.

"The Rugby World Cup is the third largest sports event in the world, after the Olympics and the football World Cup, which is huge for us. However, we must maintain our level."

Lapasset added that he believed emerging rugby nations had the potential to shake up the world hierarchy in years to come.

"I think fifteens is more open, professionalism has opened it up," he said.

"The Fijians, Samoans and Georgians are playing more and more in the northern hemisphere club competitions, especially in France.

"The Georgians have a very good XV, while the Romanians are now showing signs of revival. The Americans, too, I believe will come through, because they embrace all sports in the US.

"Russia, though, is more complicated. Unless a sport is in the Olympics, they don’t invest in it."

No 7&1/2 wrote:Wouldn't mind summer rugby myself. Makes perfect sense to have as near as possible a global season.

Do we really have much of a summer these days ? I mean come on, we are in the middle of July and it is wazzing it down outside.

LordDowlais wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Wouldn't mind summer rugby myself. Makes perfect sense to have as near as possible a global season.

Do we really have much of a summer these days ? I mean come on, we are in the middle of July and it is wazzing it down outside.

You are in Wales. The rainy season runs all year apart from a few weeks around June and a couple in October.

I would consider it a disaster if the 6N was moved from its current slot.

The Great Aukster wrote:I would consider it a disaster if the 6N was moved from its current slot.

Not a hope in hell of the 6Ns moving to another time slot - far too lucrative to mess around with (16 x 6Ns games = £50m for UK & Ireland broadcasting). At that time of year it has no competition from other sports (other than regular football leagues). After that, they start falling into end of season knock-outs, Champs League Final etc. etc. The NH has lots of competition for viewers in spring/early summer.

Anyone who wants summer rugby should have looked at the conditions in Italy for the JWC.

Or remember that not so long ago we had the hottest day on record for July.

Or try going for a run today. Maybe overcast and damp, but so hot and humid where I am that a shower is needed every 100m.

7's is for summer, 15 is for winter. You move 15's from NH winter you will get near enough identical players from 1 to 15. You need the wet & mud to let the fat boys have some fun

And not a mention of the residency rules...they need reformed aswell!

Too many in rugby want to have their cake and eat it.

Everyone likes the idea of a strong USA, Japan, Russia, Romania and the rest because the assumption is the game will have grown globally if they are competitive, and that ought to mean more money.

However, the whole shape of rugby will change if that happens, and some current leading rugby nations could slip down the pecking order. In countries where the fate of the national team is a big influence on the health of the game, that could spell trouble.

You already sees those concerns guiding behaviour today. There's every playing reason to match top sides more regularly against Samoa but the money isn't there and the sport suffers accordingly.

Are there other sports where there is a clamour for top teams to play low ranked teams to help them out? I'm not saying it's a bad thing philosophically. But there's probably a reason and that reason is money. If top teams were forced to play low ranked teams to 'spread the game' then World Rugby should foot the bill. It cost NZRU $5 million to play Samoa recently (probably more opportunity cost than real costs).

ebop wrote:Are there other sports where there is a clamour for top teams to play low ranked teams to help them out?

I'm arguing that Samoa should get more matches because they are no worse, and often better, than teams which are firm fixtures in the international calendar. That's not a paternalist stance.

Samoa ranks 9th, which is higher than Scotland or Italy. The 9th ranked football team in FIFA's list is England.

I agree, Samoa should get more matches, but how do we make it work? I'm sure NZ would be willing to host their home tests on their behalf but that's not the same as playing in Apia. But it would be more viable for everyone involved and they'd get more game time. How about, when NH teams come down to the SH, they play an extra game against Samoa, Tonga or Fiji but hosted in NZ and Australia? Gate goes to the PI teams (minus expenses).

Samoa is a peripheral satellite and nursery to the greatest rugby nation in the world, they are the very very poor cousins. Until there is a professional league paying competitive salaries in Samoa that situation will remain the same.

To hell with Summer rugby.  Summer is a time for Daz whites and strawberries and posh people preening their egos as cameras watch their every Ray-Ban move, as they guest appear (for an unspoken fee) at posh tosh events of the grunt, groan and banana nibbling variety.

Winter needs more reasons to turn on a TV than reality teen nudy shows and Simon Cowell cheering on a tone deaf delinquent named Boy Spliff'n'Such with the Baseball cap pinned to the back of his head and a rap he's dedicated to his long lost mother that he only found again when he was three days old.

Keep Rugby as a Winter sport for those that don't want to hibernate through 'entertainment' singing and dancing dross.

So come on then...I know we have debated it to death on multiple threads...

Residency Rules....simple questionnaire

How many Years should it be:
What age is young enough when moving to a new country to not worry about residency rules?
Do you keep Parents Country of birth rule:
Do you keep Grandparents country of birth:

GeordieFalcon wrote:So come on then...I know we have debated it to death on multiple threads...

Residency Rules....simple questionnaire

How many Years should it be:
What age is young enough when moving to a new country to not worry about residency rules?
Do you keep Parents Country of birth rule:
Do you keep Grandparents country of birth:

First off on the main topic, summer rugby is a non starter in the NH - apart from the other issues, we'd effectively have to run two levels of rugby because there would be a huge reduction in participation at youth/schools level if it became a summer game.

Residency:
Move to a new country under the age of 18 no problem, however if you have played representative international rugby at any level then you are "stuck" with that country, even at schoolboy level. This applies if you are a Samoan who moved to New Zealand at 16 or a Welshman who wants to be Scottish at 21.
Birth:
Country you were born in
Country your parents were born in
Country your grandparents were born in
Again once you play at any international level from schoolboy upwards, that's it. so you can't play for England schoolboys then when you realise you are not going to make it at the adult level decide to declare for Canada.
Citizenship:
You must hold citizenship (i.e. a passport) of the country you represent (and no other) and you must be resident there for tax purposes. You cannot hold dual citizenship.

You couldn't have the 4N between December - February: temperatures in AUS and SA would be unbearable. Durban for instance is regularly mid to upper 30s with very high humidity. and Jo'burg and Pretoria have massive electrical storms (in the afternoon) far too frequently in summer.

ebop wrote:Are there other sports where there is a clamour for top teams to play low ranked teams to help them out? I'm not saying it's a bad thing philosophically. But there's probably a reason and that reason is money. If top teams were forced to play low ranked teams to 'spread the game' then World Rugby should foot the bill. It cost NZRU $5 million to play Samoa recently (probably more opportunity cost than real costs).

Well, in Football you get continental qualification tournaments, so recently Germany had to play Gibraltar in a European Championship qualifying match. So although there isn't a call for England to play friendlies against Estonia, bigger teams will play smaller teams in qualification tournaments so the lower teams will get the exposure and, if they improve, have a fair chance at qualifying for a major tournament.

In Cricket, I'd say the situation is even worse than rugby. Test cricket is restricted to the top nations and smaller nations aren't even allowed to play the same game. Although there is an onus on test countries to play all other test countries (not just the larger ones), the big nations always end up playing shorter series against the smaller nations. For example, an English summer is always split into the minor series of 2 or 3 tests played in May and the major series played in July/August of 4 or 5 tests. However, there is more call for associate nations to play the bigger nations.

http://tier2rugby.blogspot.jp

This isn't a bad blog on issues regarding T2 rugby. He's been on Twitter recently bemoaning the fact that World Rugby compensated SANZAR for lost revenue opportunities during a World Cup, but won't extend financial support to tier 2 players, which exacerbates club v country dilemmas.

https://twitter.com/t2rugby

Fair call robbo about football during qualifiers. I guess rugby doesn't have the luxury of having qualifiers like that. It's just not global enough. Chicken and egg stuff.

Yes RugbyFan, the below statement is a fair one. I'm not sure how WR spends the loot but I'm sure they could do more. But would clubs start holding WR to ransom?

"WR could have offered clubs compensation, helping nations get players available. Instead gave extra £10m 'compensation' to SANZAR."

Well as Steve Tew publicly threatened the then IRB with NZ not attending the current WC unless they were compensated more, we already have the World body being held to ransom.

You can point the finger at NZ LondonTiger, but the threat made to the then IRB was for the benefit of rugby nations (like England) whom are restricted from working with sponsors over the tournament. The IRB only allow their 'own' sponsors to get the limelight so they can rake in all the loot themselves and 're-direct' it to all those poor countries that need money (eg Samoa). So it's good to see WR doing all that good work by subsidising Tier 1 v Teir 2 games that everyone wants so dearly to 'grow the game' or making sure players from poor countries can attend the RWC :o/

LondonTiger wrote:Well as Steve Tew publicly threatened the then IRB with NZ not attending the current WC unless they were compensated more, we already have the World body being held to ransom.

The B&I unions should demand a bigger cut of Lions tours. After all, they do suffer from it the next season.