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The Lions - Saviours of Australian Rugby?
By Cameron Avery
That's right, you've read the headline correctly and no I am not trying to be facetious.
The Lions are coming and win or lose they could be the saviours of Australian rugby. Such is the current status of rugby in Australia, having languished in the trail of an always powerful AFL (Aussie Rules), a resurgent NRL (Rugby League) and now a rapidly improving A League (Football), the forthcoming Lions tour could not have arrived at more fitting time for Australian rugby.
Week in week out over summer we have seen growing, passionate crowds flock to the A League. It would have been reasonable to think then that we could expect much of the same in Sydney for the Waratahs' first home game of the season. Given the NRL was yet to kick off and the hype surrounding Israel Folau and the Waratahs was significant, I for one had anticipated a big crowd on that Saturday night.
Much to my surprise, I watched as a meager 16,491 people turned up to watch their team. So what does this have to do with the Lions you may ask. Well, the Waratahs are an example of the current interest that rugby in Australia is generating.
With Australian Rugby drifting further and further behind its other major competitors, the Wallabies playing dour rugby, results of recent seasons being average at best and with a lack of the star quality of yesteryear in the current side, the Lions and their travelling army of fans are about to give rugby in Australia the life-saving boost it most certainly needs.
The Lions will provide the excitement and point of difference that is needed to capture the public's imagination again. They will bring the hype that only a world cup or a Lions tour can. The fact they come only once every twelve years ensures a novelty factor which will in turn attract fans who wouldn't ordinarily watch rugby.
Add in the 30,000 or so travelling Lions fans and we have a recipe for what will be a great tour and a big shot in the arm for the ARU. It's going to be big and its going to be exciting.
Beers will be drunk, songs will be sung, stadiums will be overflowing and fans will embrace each other no matter the result.
A tour of enormous magnitude with worldwide viewing numbers at a scale the other major Australian sports can only dream of beckons.
Can the Wallabies do it? Well, I'm predicting a Lions series win 2-1. And before you Australian fans start abusing me for turning my back on the Wallabies, I'm a kiwi, yes that's right from those little islands where the Webb Ellis Cup resides. After 20 or so years of choking jibes and jokes, call that comment a get even.
I will finish by casting your minds back to 2001. A famous and epic 2-1 series win to the Wallabies. Names such as Eales, Kefu, Gregan, Larkham, Herbert, Roff, Burke, Latham graced the team sheet. A team full of Australian greats. How many of the current crop could claim such a status?
Yes, the Lions are coming to Australian shores and win or lose they will save the day.
Comments
JRHartley says...
I am an expat living in Melbourne, unable to get a ticket to see what I view as one of the most important games of rugby that can be played, namely a Lions test match, because the tickets sold out in 15 minutes for the game at the Etihad Stadium. Surely this suggests there is an audience for the sport in Australia. Less than 3km down the road is the MCG which holds over twice as many people. Why is the game not being played there?
They are currently running adverts on the TV in Australia showing mocked up footage of people around the world watching AFL games. I should emphasise to all Australian's reading these adverts are mocked up. Truly you don't know how little appeal this game has beyond Australian borders. (There's no AFL world cup for a reason).
So here's my suggestion. When a 1 in every 12 year event comes to your shores the ARU and Australian sport in general should grab it with both hands, welcome an international audience and the opportunity to show piece rugby on the world stage.
Posted 22:55 14th March 2013
startledwombat says...
I'd like to agree with the letter writer's sentiments but I cannot, alas.
In Australia the audience that rugby vies for is fickle by definition. Among the four codes of AFL, League, rugby and soccer there's two groups, the welded-on and the fickle.
The welded-on were seen in the typical Melbourne response to the Lions tour of 2001, when 20,000 rugby followers were on the streets and in the pubs while another 39,000 filled the Docklands stadium:
"Oh, is there something on? I haven't heard anything."
"Yes, it's the Lions tour. Apart from the World Cup, it's the pinnacle of world rugby. They could have filled the Melbourne Cricket Ground with this crowd."
"No, you couldn't have it at the MCG mate, that'd interrupt Carlton vs Collingwood."
You can't shift the loyalties of the welded-on. You can only shift the fickle.
The fickle were seen in the response to the 2003 World Cup final loss to England at Sydney:
"If the Wallabies were any good, they'd have won."
This is a country where its sportsmen weep bitter tears because they got silver, not gold, at the Olympics. Where the locals claim they are devout followers of cricket but the stadium is empty on Day 5 if Australia is about to lose (I've seen this).
Australians only follow winners. Coming second on the planet is just as good as coming 40th. It's quite bizarre logic but it's very real. The fickle don't follow losers, and to Australians coming 2nd is being a loser.
The Australian Rugby Union said the 2001 Lions Tour would be the making of rugby in Australia. Then they said the 2003 World Cup would be the making etc etc.
The Lions Tour 2013 will attract a few fickle folks, who will disappear after the first Wallabies loss.
For change here, rugby needs to be on free-to-air TV, played in public (the taxpayer-funded) schools, and reported on by journos and paymasters who aren't welded on to another code.
Posted 11:02 13th March 2013
lawynd says...
@J_Hdk - respect for the officials, going out for dinner and a beer with the opposition after the game, international recognition still being the pinnacle of a playing career...those are all 'relics' from the amateur era too. Are you so quick to dismiss those as well?
And if anything, the home nations GAIN a summer tour of development where they're forced to bring new talent through to cover the losses to the Lions! Talk about your glass being half empty...
Posted 10:14 13th March 2013
Wolf_Squirrel says...
The boost to the ARU coffers will be timely but brief. However, what will they do about the underlying problems? So far, the Rebels and Force do not seem to be generating home grown players or challenging opposition. That was the idea.
As for the series, it will be determined by the attritional effect of injuries. If the lions lose 3 front liners for every one Australian between now and June then the lions will still win. Sad but true.
Posted 05:08 13th March 2013
J_Hdk says...
The lions is a relic from the amateur era. The home nations lose a summer tour of development for something that is essentially a British and Irish Barbarians tour tarted up as something more
Posted 22:07 12th March 2013
Tails81 says...
It's true, it saddens me the rugby seems to be a dying sport here in OZ. Part of the issue is the pretentiousness of the administrators here. We need to expand the sport at the grass roots level and that means unrestricting the sport at school level. Currently the game is only (mostly) played in private schools and not reaching the majority of children in public schools. There are of course other reasons for the games decline but I think this will be a good place to start.
P.S. Sadly I agree the Lions will win 2-1 but my heart still has hope so I'll be at Suncorp Stadium cheering the Wallabies on!
Posted 21:52 12th March 2013
Irishzimbabwean says...
Agreed - will some of the small minders who so belittle the Lions have a read of this?
Posted 15:50 12th March 2013
connaughtabu says...
What an excellent letter!
Posted 14:03 12th March 2013