In ten years time ..I'm predicting that we will finally have a global season, and the competitions in being at that time, will be far different from now.
The insatiable appetite of TV and the fact that year after year, the Southern Hemisphere shows its superiority will finally be too much for the Northern Hemisphere to bear, and they will have to capitulate. What form will it take? Who knows, but let's speculate about it, anyway.
I can see a conference style competition, similar to the new Super 15 format. Players will have to travel more, but facilities and funding will be there for them.
Look how the Cricket world has changed almost overnight with the 20-20 money that has flooded into the market. It's almost impossible to keep up with who is who and who is where! The players must have good managers, or good nannies, to keep up with where they are supposed to be tomorrow and what team they are meant go be playing for, that week.
By then (10 years down the track) USA Rugby will be much stronger and attracting the big TV networks (which they are just starting to do, now, since Rugby went Olympic)..don't laugh, boys and gorillas, the groundswell is there and it is beginning to happen. The sleeping giant of Rugby has just opened an eye and yawned...,..what will be the landscape after the first Olympic Rugby 7's has been and gone ? ...whatever it is, it will be a different one from the one that we now know.
Russia and Georgia are already out there and showing signs of expansion. The interesting thing is that Russian schools only fund sports that are on the Olympic curriculum.. so since Rugby made it onto the curriculum, we can assume a bit of growth.
China is making inroads (albeit slow) but they have some pretty big boys up in the north, and the Chinese Army has adopted Rugby ...watch this space!
I read an article the other day that espoused the growth of South American Rugby. If Argentina becomes stronger, then watch what happens with Uruguay, Paraguay and even Brazil - I'm not suggesting that there will be a Rugby revolution, but there will be strong growth.
Before Rugby made it onto the Olympic calendar there were approximately 235 Olympic Nations, and there were approximately 130 odd Rugby nations (correct me if I am wrong) but that tells me that there might be a lot more by the time that Rugby is played at the Olympics in 2016. For goodness sake, some of the kids who will be playing in that tournament are only 12 to 15 years old, at the moment and who knows what will happen for some of them in the next five years.
We almost have a global season now, if you think about it ... literally the same week that the 6 Nations gets underway, so does the Super 15 and we go on until July or August - this year we have a World Cup .... and the Rugby just goes on and on ... once you begin to factor in closed roof stadiums and artificial turf it's not too much of a stretch to see that the caravan will just roll around the world for most of the year....7's will replace 15's at certain times of the year, 10's will get a look in.. the Test season will expand as more countries lift their standards etc .....pretty damn exciting when you think about it ...I hope I live to see a full global season - a World cup every four years with an Olympics two years later!! Beautiful!!...
No need to worry about going to heaven - we'll already be there!....especially if my beloved Brumbies can keep flying the flag!!
20 January 2011
AN EARLY PREDICTION FOR THE SUPER 15
The Rebels will be a Force to be reckoned with, and won’t finish in the Red. The Brumbies will come home in a canter and the Waratahs will whither on the vine, as usual…..!
The Reds will play Vintage Rugby but not at full bottle,,, the Force will be with someone else and, again, the Brumbies will chase every hurdle!!
The Reds will play Vintage Rugby but not at full bottle,,, the Force will be with someone else and, again, the Brumbies will chase every hurdle!!
16 January 2011
THE REBELS GET OFF TO A GOOD START
As usual, Rod MacQueen is playing with his poker face on.
The score line was good, there were apparently flashes of brilliance, sounds like the combinations were not quite there, but who would know. I can't wait to see some analysis and surely someone must have taken a video:
The score line was good, there were apparently flashes of brilliance, sounds like the combinations were not quite there, but who would know. I can't wait to see some analysis and surely someone must have taken a video:
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