Australian Rugby Championship
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| Australian Rugby Championship | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | 2006 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country |  Australia |
| Current champions | n/a |
The Australian Rugby Championship (ARC) is a domestic rugby union club competition in Australia. The first ARC season will commence in August of 2007. The competition, similar to New Zealand's Air New Zealand Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup, aims to bridge the gap between existing club rugby and international Super 14. The competition will initially involve eight teams: two from Queensland, three from New South Wales and one each from Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and Victoria.
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[edit] Teams
The competition will have eight teams for its inaugural season. When first announced, possible locations of the New South Wales sides included Sydney's north, central-west and south-east, the Central Coast and Illawarra. It is understood that the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) gave up a fourth team to Victoria, in order to make the competition more national.[1] Queensland Rugby announced on June 2, 2006 that one of the Queensland sides will be playing out of Ballymore Stadium in Brisbane.[2] With this announcement, the other team has been speculatively linked to both the Gold Coast and Townsville.[3]
An ARU board meeting did not finalise the locations of the new teams. However it emerged in the media that the QRU may in fact base both of their teams out of Ballymore. The decision to not award the Gold Coast a team was met with mixed feelings from Queenslanders.[4][5] Wallabies coach John Connolly has said that there must be a significant point of difference between the two Queensland sides.[5] It was assumed that (at least for the first season), that both Queensland teams would play out of Ballymore, however, in November the Gold Coast was confirmed as the location of one of the two teams.
| Team name | City/Area | Stadium | Club(s) affiliation | Super 14 affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballymore Tornadoes | Brisbane | Ballymore Stadium (24,000) | Sunshine Coast Stingrays, Norths-QUT, Brothers, Wests, GPS and University | Reds |
| Canberra Vikings | Canberra | Manuka Oval (15,000) | Eastern Suburbs, Gungahlin Eagles, Queanbeyan Whites, Canberra Royals, Tuggeranong Vikings, Uni-Norths Owls, West Lions | Brumbies |
| Central Coast Rays | Central Coast | Central Coast Stadium (20,000) | Central Coast, Gordon, Manly, Northern Suburbs and Warringah | Waratahs |
| East Coast Aces | Gold Coast | Carrara Stadium (18,000) | Easts, Souths, Sunnybank, the Gold Coast Breakers and the Country Heelers | Reds |
| Melbourne Rebels | Melbourne | Olympic Park Stadium (18,500) | Unknown | None[6] |
| Perth Spirit | Perth | Members Equity Stadium (17,000) | Unknown | Force |
| Sydney Fleet | Sydney | North Sydney Oval (20,000) | Eastern Suburbs, Illawarra, Randwick, Southern Districts and Sydney University | Waratahs |
| Western Sydney Rams | Western Sydney | Parramatta Stadium (20,000) | Eastwood, Parramatta, Penrith and West Harbour | Waratahs |
[edit] History
[edit] Establishment
The development of a national competition in Australia has been talked about for over a decade. When rugby union went professional, or "open" in 1996, talk of developing a national club competition arose. An investigation, known as the Crawford Report took place.[7] The competition did not eventuate in the early years of professionalism, with the franchise-run Super 12 becoming the main focus of competitive rugby below Test matches. However, the idea never faded away, and always had somewhat of a presence since the mid 1990s.
It became ever-more apparent that there was a growing gap between the local club rugby competitions and the Super Rugby competitions. Also, there was also a fear that on a national level, Australia would get left behind by the All Blacks and South Africa, due to perhaps their deeper domestic competition. After the massive financial success of the Australian-hosted 2003 Rugby World Cup, the proposal of starting a club national competition to bridge the gap between club rugby and Super Rugby came to the forefront once again.
The official announcement on the agreement of a national rugby competition in Australia was made in mid-2006, following a 70-person three day summit in Sydney that determined that such a national competition would be economically sustainable and commercially attractive.[8] However, the competition was not with out its share of controversy, with some of the clubs being against the forming of a new level of competition, claiming it could harm club and grass roots rugby. On Wednesday, September 6, an ARU board meeting gave the competition an official green light.[9]
[edit] Controversy
The competition was somewhat controversial after its announcement in mid-2006. Some of the Sydney-based clubs were concerned with the formation of the national competition. There were concerns that the new competition would impact on finances and grass roots rugby.[10] Both Randwick DRUFC and Sydney University Football Club - two of Australia's oldest football clubs were not happy with the proposal, and were considering pushing for stand alone entry in the competition. Shortly after the official announcement of the competition, a committee was formed to debate the decision.[10]
In July, it was reported that the ARU was being asked to put the competition on hold, and delay its introduction until there could be a guarantee that the rugby clubs could "survive".[11] However, the ARU later stated that it will be going ahead in 2007. There also appeared to be somewhat of an agreement that the competition is needed, as per a Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) poll, which showed that 88% of contracted players believed an extra level of rugby is needed between the Super 14 and club rugby.
Those players also gave club rugby a 4.7 out of 10 for playing attributes, and an 8.2 for Super 14, and 8.7 for the Wallabies.[12] In addition, senior Australian footballers have come out in support of the new competition, saying that club rugby no longer has the intensity to prepare players for Super Rugby, though they added that Sydney is reasonably strong, it is not like that all over Australia, and that the new competition would correct the lack of depth.[5]
[edit] Format
[edit] Competition
The competition will run for eight weeks, with finals being competed over an additional two weeks - each side will play at least eight games, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals where the winners will move into the final.[13] The competition will kick off in August, after club competitions finish (they will run from March to July). Some initally expressed concern that the competition will run near the same time that the World Cup in France will, though others argued that this is actually a positive, as a sport's profile is understandably significantly higher during a world cup. There will be in total, around 35 matches played in the competition.
The competition begins after both the Super and club rugby competitions and does not clash with Australian under-19 and under-21 duties and the Pacific Nations Cup (in which Australia A plays).[13] The draw for the inaugural season has yet to be finalised, though it is likely that each team will play each other once (seven rounds), as well as a local derby fixture, making the regular season eight rounds.[13] The competition will in total run for 10 weeks.
[edit] Players
This timeframe of the season ensures the availability of Super 14 players (excluding Wallabies). There are no immediate plans for a draft, with players free to choose their team, although there will likely be a salary cap in place.[10] Players will come from local competitions (which includes Super 14 players). Each Super 14 franchise is aligned with the respective teams, except for Melbourne, as Victoria has no Super 14 team (though they have in the past bid for one).
Two players from each Super 14 franchise will most likely play for the Melbourne team. It has also been speculated that a Sydney club will have an affiliation with the team.[14] The ARU has shown that although 35 footballers will be on international duty for the Wallabies, over 90 Super 14 players will go into the national competition, which leaves way for over 120 footballers to step up from first grade club competitions.[15]
The ARU reported that they had received numerous Expressions of Interest from uncontracted footballers (Premier-standard) who would like to be considered for selection.[16] It is understood that each team may have the provision for one "marquee" footballer who will not be subject to financial restrictions of the player contracting protocol.[17] The player can be either foreign or a non-contracted domestic footballer. If a team signs an Australian as their marquee footballer, they would still be able to sign up a foreign footballer, though they would have to fit within the contract restrictions.
[edit] Media coverage
The championship will be broadcast on free to air television during its inaugural season. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) secured the rights to exclusively televise the competition from 2007 through to 2009. The ABC has committed to broadcast 19 matches during the season on ABC1 and ABC2.[18] The previous time that the ABC covered elite level rugby was for the 1991 Rugby World Cup (which Australia also won). International interest in coverage of the ARC is also high, but details have yet to be announced.[18] Further details of the championship broadcast are yet to be unveiled.
[edit] References
- ^ New national rugby comp for 2007. news.com.au. Retrieved on 3 June 2006.
- ^ Queensland Rugby begins planning for new competition. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ North's rugby chance. News.com.au. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ Two Brisbane rugby teams crazy: Connolly. SMH. Retrieved on 24 August 2006.
- ^ a b c New competition vital for Wallabies. The Australian. Retrieved on 25 August 2006.
- ^ Two S14 players from each franchise will likely play for the Victorian team.
- ^ National comp called for 10 years ago. rugbyheaven.smh.com.au. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
- ^ Rugby Workshop agrees to a new eight-team National Rugby Competition. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
- ^ National comp given green light. rugbyheaven.smh.com.au. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
- ^ a b c Power clubs to oppose national competition. Rugbyheaven.com. Retrieved on 2 June 2006.
- ^ ARU asked to delay national competition. stuff.co.nz. Retrieved on 19 July 2006.
- ^ Sydney clubs consider alternative. rugbyheaven.com.au. Retrieved on 25 August 2006.
- ^ a b c Fixture. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
- ^ Opposition growing to new game plan. Rugbyheaven.com.au. Retrieved on 4 August 2006.
- ^ ARU Board approves National Competition. Rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 7 September 2006.
- ^ 180 players put hands up for National Competition Championship. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
- ^ Competition FAQs. qru.com.au. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
- ^ a b ABC to Broadcast Australian Rugby Championship.. Super14.com. Retrieved on 21 February 2007.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rugby.com.au
- Research supports move to National Competition
- Queensland Rugby Union
- NSW Rugby
- ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union
- RugbyWA
- Victorian Rugby Union
- QLD Rugby FAQs
