Swans, Lions in clash with Bledisloe Cup

[barry]

Originally posted by sharpie
brisbane is as much rugby's home as sydney is. the problem with any of brisbane's venues is that they are all about half the size of telstra stadium. this means the aru miss out on a ****-load of money, regardless of if it is sydney people, brisbane people, or martians going.

Money shouldnt rule a sport like that.
Often we see other sports take a hit for marque games in the name of fairness and promotion of the sport.
eg. Several AFL preliminary finals at small grounds like the Gabba, and SCG.
RL SOO in melbourne.

Does the ARU need the money that badly?
Surely if it does, then it is in a rather precarious position of having one game influence profitability, and therefore vunerable to a simple scheduling attack by other sports.

[cruiser]

Originally posted by barry
Does the ARU need the money that badly?
Surely if it does, then it is in a rather precarious position of having one game influence profitability, and therefore vunerable to a simple scheduling attack by other sports.

The ARU is loaded with cash after the success of the Rugby World Cup.

[barry]

Originally posted by cruiser
The ARU is loaded with cash after the success of the Rugby World Cup.

Great, so the reason for not moving to Brisbane shouldnt be "money".

The only reason I can therefore see of not moving the match to starved supporters in QLD is good old fashioned Sydney Corporate greed.

[sharpie]

Originally posted by barry
Money shouldnt rule a sport like that.
Often we see other sports take a hit for marque games in the name of fairness and promotion of the sport.
eg. Several AFL preliminary finals at small grounds like the Gabba, and SCG.
RL SOO in melbourne.

Does the ARU need the money that badly?
Surely if it does, then it is in a rather precarious position of having one game influence profitability, and therefore vunerable to a simple scheduling attack by other sports.

money shouldnt rule sport, but it does.

brisbane still get a test, which will be a sell-out in brisbane, but would not attract enough support to be a sell-out at telstra stadium (probably only 65-75,000 as opposed to potentially 82,000).

AFL finals away from the MCG is a totally different situation. It is about home ground advantage. Playing the test in either Brisbane or Sydney has nothing to do with this. Either way the wallabies have home-ground advantage.

Does microsoft need money that badly that they keep selling software that requires updating every 12 months because it is crap? Do the banks need that much profit that they keep shutting down branches? etc, etc. But that is the way in a corporate world. You aim to make as much money as possible, and try just as hard to make it difficult for your competitors, unless you are a charity. No one should expect the ARU to be a charity. Otherwise who would pay the Wallabies? Who would be left to win the world cup?

[sharpie]

By the way, I am going to try to not say anything else about the matter, because otherwise I end up getting caught up in a rugby vs AFL war that I seem to find myself in here every few months.

I've mdae my point, now I'll go find out what trade week has to offer.

[Dr Worm]

According to the Report the game can't be moved to Sunday because of some Geelong game that "Channel 10" are showing nationally?? When did 10 start showing Sunday games??

Why can't the Swans game be played Saturday Night and then they would be able to reconfigure for Rugby on the Sunday afternoon.
Simple solution but maybe too difficult for the ARU to work out.

[vagary]

if there is a problem with getting stadium australia for round 20, is it possible to swap the location to the gabba for round 20 and play the swans lions game at stadium australia in round 3?

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by Beaussie
Well I hope you're right. Let's hope that if that is the case, the AFL stick it to the ARU by not backing down. Let the ARU re-schedule. They certainly have never done the AFL any favours in the past.

I agree. The ARU maggots know that their product is pretty much the biggest sporting fixture of the year in Sydney. They are expecting everyone to go jump, like they have in the past.

However as seen last season, the AFL are now well aware as to the tactics used by the ARU. And as has been stated, appear to give the impression of playing hardball with them.

I hope to hell that the AFL have done everything correctly and that it is the snotty-nosed ARU who have been caught out.

I'd not be happy if the Bledisloe match was moved to Brisbane. As then not only would the ratings be even worse than normal in Sydney, but they were be severely damaged in Brisbane (and maybe even Melbourne as well). This game has great potential; I saw how keenly the Lions supporters were hurting when we beat them AGAIN this season! I want more of that!

The ARU maggots are stooping to the lowest form of brinksmanship to force US to change our fixture. Hopefully their relationship with the Stadium Australia Trust is good enough that they will honour our fixture, of course assuming that we HAVE booked the ground before the Wobblies have.

I know the types who would be working at the ARU. Snot-nosed private school boys given BMWs for their 18th birthday who have NEVER been told no ever in their lives. Their combatative aggressive marketing strategy may help them in the short term. As lets face it the Wallabies are probably Australia's most recognised sporting team, our cricket team aside. BUT in the long term they will only get other sports ganging up on them to lock them out of venues. Which the AFL does have power to do in relation to Telstra Dome in Melbourne in particular.

It is time to push their noses out of joint once and for all. Or at least not to give in to their bombast. So that they realise that a little sportsmanship can go a long way in the bigger scheme of things.

The NRL, whose accommodating stance with fixturing is not only ethnical but is much appreciated, knows that in a competitive market it is best to show a bit of manors at times. The ARU on the other hand do appear to require a bit of extra convincing that being a sport all around is the way to go.

Or are they paranoid that apart from the Wallabies tests and the odd Super 12 match, that nobody watches union at all. (Club rugby gets 3 men and a dog to matches!)

JF

[David Votoupal]

And in the middle of all this, is the discerning sports fan like myself, unsure of where to put his money in 2005.

[Dave]

@@@@ Rugby.

They are cashed up and wanting to do damage especially to AFL.

Problem is at club level the game is a joke. Matt Rogers confirmed this recently when he said it was a waste of time.

My boss is a typical private school conservative rugby loving wanker who thinks it is destined to take over the world.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by vagary
if there is a problem with getting stadium australia for round 20, is it possible to swap the location to the gabba for round 20 and play the swans lions game at stadium australia in round 3?

I know what you are saying. But I'd FAR prefer to have our blockbuster game later in the season when people are looking forward to the finals and are in full footy mode.

If we have done the right thing, then we have no reason to change anything. Especially if somebody is bullying us to make that change for their own personal good.

Just as playing a match in Sydney is more lucrative than playing in Brisbane, playing a match later in the season is more lucrative than earlier in the year.

It is in our interests from a financial perspective to stand firm as well.

JF

[peterh_oz]

This was discussed a week ago. It all comes down to whether the ARU had a "booking" or an "enquiry" for TS that night.

None of us know, so lets just wait & see. Neither side will back down, but one has made a mistake.

[timr]

The Swans should try a game at the Stadium on a Sunday, anyway. Why do these games HAVE to be on a Saturday night? And if the TV dates are already locked in so Geelong are on TV then fine, don't have the match live on TV. The ARU won't move because of the international schedule of which the Bledisloe Cup is one leg and TS won't put the Swans ahead of the BC ever. If the AFL sticks to its guns about the Saturday night it will lose the argument.

[timr]

And....
if we played at TS on a Sunday and it wasn't on TV then, heaven forbid, we could have a 2pm start.... and a decent kick-to-kick after the game.... and an after-match function lasting more than 45 minutes....

[barry]

Originally posted by peterh_oz
This was discussed a week ago. It all comes down to whether the ARU had a "booking" or an "enquiry" for TS that night.

None of us know, so lets just wait & see. Neither side will back down, but one has made a mistake.

Circumstantial evidence points to an "enquiry" as:

a) RU schedule not finalised yet.
b) AFL desire to "pay back" the ARU would mean they would dot the i's and cross the t's for this sort of manouver.
c) TS accepted the AFL's fixture which is a concrete booking.