Rugby: A sport under threat?

Under Threat?
By Peter Ward
October 17 2006

Its a familiar story to all those of us who have watched/followed/played club rugby through the years, falling attendances, lower TV audiences and lower participation in the junior game. Could this be the end of the dividend of the 2003 World cup win?

Or is it just an the familiar ebb and flow of former years where crowds and interest
tended to fluctuate apart from the hardcore? I currently ply my trade at junior level up in Edinburgh and these are factors affecting the Scottish game but I have a feeling they are universal (even the Tri-Nations suffered from lower attendances this year as has the NPC in New Zealand where rugby is number one!!). In this article I will try to look answer some the questions posed and perhaps raise some new ones.

Theres been some excellent writing on this on scrum.com. From the British games point of view, the advent of the EDF Anglowelsh Trophy competition has basically meant the addition of 'five games too many' to the already crowded European season. These fixtures are televised by BBC so people would probably choose to stay at home and watch rather than making the trip to and from the valleys to watch what are often Academy teams with a smattering of older heads. The more fixtures played in a season will have a dilutionary effect on overall average attendances for the year (i,e if the EDF games get low numbers due to being televised/lack of interest).

There is a financial aspect to this as well. There is the potential to attend near 40 first class games a season, league, EDF, Heineken Cup etc. This of course costs money for the average supporter who may well be inclined (as is their wont as a consumer) to pick and choose their games. The cost of taking a family to rugby has increased massively in the professional era and markedly since 2003 (the Webb Ellis win being identified as a bit of a cash cow), so it is not surprising perhaps that the next generation of supporters of the game are getting less and less exposure to watching it at the top level. Internationals too have a negative impact on club attendances, particularly the Autumn internationals as the club game continues through them. Those players involved are missing from their club sides and once again we have the EDF situation of exciting young players playing without established 'names'. The pricing structure of Twickenham and other international grounds and also some of the opposition (Romania etc) mean that the average supporter saves their pennies for the big games or perhaps local derbies. To conclude a key part of the lower attendances is the amount of rugby there is. It would be better from the games point of view if the top level was producing more
games of a higher quality rather than more games. Is EDF rugby what we want on national terrestial TV as an advert for the club game in England and Wales?

Another limiting factor on attendance is the grounds themselves. A lot have capacity there is nearly filled by season ticket holders which makes the casual supporter popping in to a see a game of rugby a thing of the past. Althought this is good for the clubs financial health and balance sheet as they receive a load of revenue up front for the season, it does limit the possibility of conversion of on-sports/other sports fans to rugby on the basis of come and try a game. The criteria to be introduced for increased capacity stadia is a good idea particularly in places where the demand is there (Leicester, Gloucester, Barf) in traditional rugby heartlands and also where in the case of Wasps the support has a potential on occasion to exceed the capacity available. Larger grounds may encourage the spur of the moment supporter back. This support is as good a way as any to get repeat support, thats how I fell in to supporting Wasps after a game against Northampton some
years ago at Sudbury. Perhaps the administrators view is build it and they will come? Unfortunately its not as simple as that. Certain clubs will need to evangelise and engage the local community in order to fill these new and improved larger stadia. Also if the product is declining over time in terms of the dilution of quality by overcrowding of fixtures, who will come when Rugby is in a market place
that competes with football and other sports?

The sports market place is a crowded one dominated by the round ball game both in Scotland and England. SKY has wall to wall football seven nights a week, there appears to be no end to the apetite for it amongst their subscribers (apart from those who subscribe for the rugby of course!!). In this context perhaps rugbys administrators believe a similar sort of saturation is the way to gain market share. I don't agree, in the case of the differing physical demands of rugby and the growing danger of player burn out all we are doing is diluting the product. Autumn internationals as good as they are and can be tend to be a bit pointless. My reasoning is this, the southern hemisphere teams arrive here out of season, their season is done, Ranfurly Shield and Bledisloe in the bag, they are tired and on occasion don't or are unable to bring and maintain full strength sides for the tour. The much touted structured season where the clubs have the limelight till Christmas and in my humble opinion no autumn internationals or if there are two at the most, followed by a clubless six nations in the new year/spring would the way to reinvigorate the club game and get people to matches. Scotland have enough trouble getting people to internationals but by keenly pricing their offering and realising a full Murrayfield = More money they are turning the corner (more convincing
performances on the pitch are also helping, perhaps a by product of the Celtic League and less rugby?). So to summarise, lets compete on the quality of the product, the unique selling points of rugby (enjoy a beer whilst watching, no segregation, a game that you can take your kids too without fear of violence) rather than trying to force a better placing in the sports market place by saturation. In this case build it and they will come and watch a quality product.

Scotland is a slightly different case. The regions are poorly supported as rugby support is spread thinly throughout the clubs up here and football is even more dominant than in England. The choice between club and region is an easy one, club every time, even junior rugby up here gets decent support on a Saturday and club volunteers place their club above all else. There is also a demographic case for why the support is less, the population is a lot smaller and spread out than down south. The reality is the clubs go to the international matches and not to the celtic
league/european games as they often are on Fridays or clash with Saturday matches. In a way the regions are doing well to get the crowds they do in such a football mad country.

To summarise. Increased attenadances require the following in my humble opinion of course:

- Larger and accessible stadia
- Better product and less meaningless games
- Balance between season ticket holders and on spec attendess (season ticket holders of the
future)
- Use Rugbys USPs to get the bodies in.
- Club rugby on terrestial TV. Internationals on TV covered better.