"LIV Rugby"?

sparky

The absolute killer line is "R360 has given no indication how it intends to manage player welfare........."

Canes4life

Mike Tindall's really bad day just got even worse.

England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Italy and South Africa will ban from their national squad anyone involved in Rugby 360.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c0m43d30rjko

Tindall has a better chance of converting NRL and league players at this rate.

gt12

@Canes4life said in "LIV Rugby"?:

@sparky said in "LIV Rugby"?:

Mike Tindall's really bad day just got even worse.

England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Italy and South Africa will ban from their national squad anyone involved in Rugby 360.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c0m43d30rjko

Tindall has a better chance of converting NRL and league players at this rate.

Why not just make a hybrid of rugby league anyway? Easier game to understand for an international audience and those that sign up to watch / go are not likely to be hardcore rugbyheads anyway. Redefine the game for a different audience.

Canes4life

lol rumours online suggest Ardie was offered 12 million to join this league.

barbarian

The R360 statement is straight from the LIV Golf handbook. Player welfare! Grow the game! Players will definitely be free to play internationally! We're additive to the global ecosystem!

What they don't tell you is that a release to play internationally will cost you your salary, so players will obviously be incentivized not to go. Likewise missing a round for a training camp, or to rehab an injury acquired while playing internationally.

With LIV Golf you could make the case that it was actually helping golf by taking world class players beyond the USA and playing tournaments in Australia, Japan, Singapore etc. And there was definitely a view that the PGA Tour had eaten the global game and was ripe for disruption.

But rugby? Every market has a pretty decent competition. Players are well compensated. Fans are attached to teams and local players.

I just can't see where they intend to hold the R360 tournaments, who they expect to attend but more broadly how they can get people to care. LIV Golf has succeeded in creating a fun on-the-ground experience but failed woefully in creating any real care or meaning beyond the event gates.

I expect R360 to be the same, except maybe without the at-the-ground vibe. Because every market already has pretty good rugby people can attend on a weekly basis. So what is it actually delivering, other than big oil/blood money paychecks to players?

nzzp

@barbarian said in "LIV Rugby"?:

So what is it actually delivering, other than big oil/blood money paychecks to players?

if you're a player, do you care?

taniwharugby

@nzzp said in "LIV Rugby"?:

're a player, do you care?

cash in for 3 years, then care about the atrocities!

barbarian

@nzzp said in "LIV Rugby"?:

@barbarian said in "LIV Rugby"?:

So what is it actually delivering, other than big oil/blood money paychecks to players?

if you're a player, do you care?

No of course not. I'm not suggesting they should. I'm talking about what it delivers to rugby more broadly. The value proposition is clearly there for the players. Just everyone else who seems to come out of this worse off. Except maybe the thriving rugby community of King Abdullah Economic City.

mohikamo

@barbarian

I think R360 are looking at the Cricket model for Rugby foootball, rather than something like soccer football, with its mega domestic leagues.

In Rugby, the international game is more dominant commercially than the domestic game, and that is not going to change anytime soon.
And that is the Cricket model.

They see an opportunity at the domestic level of the Rugby game.
And they are probably right.
Most domestic rugby comps in the world are of little consequence right now, relatively.

I think they want to create the IPL cricket type scenario in rugby.
When the IPL goes into action, the rest of the cricket world stops.
And when the IPL finishes, the cricket world goes back to normal.

If this particular proposal doesn't get up, and the domestic Rugby game continues to go nowhere, there will be another proposal trying it on somewhere down the line.

Just depends whether some people think there is a gap in the Rugby market or not.

mohikamo

@taniwharugby said in "LIV Rugby"?:

then care about the atrocities!

Haha
If we are guna get political we'll have to go over to the politics forum.
Western countries have been raping, looting, and pillaging the planet for centuries . . .
Managed to stop myself there!

barbarian

@mohikamo said in "LIV Rugby"?:

I think they want to create the IPL cricket type scenario in rugby.
When the IPL goes into action, the rest of the cricket world stops.
And when the IPL finishes, the cricket world goes back to normal.

Sure. They said that about LIV Golf as well - look at the IPL! Let's have that!

The two things that R360 does NOT have, as I see it, are two pretty critical things that made the IPL work:

Teams based in the cities they represent, so they have a guaranteed local fanbase, and maybe more importantly:
A ready-made fanbase of a BILLION people, and a ready-made commercial backing of a GAZILLION dollars.

There's no sporting equivalent of what cricket is to India. There's nothing in rugby that comes within a million miles.

mohikamo

@barbarian

Agree, but people are guna want to try.

Trending like this in other sports.

I notice UEFA and FIFA are freaking out at the mo because some of the big European soccer leagues are starting to take regular season games overseas.
Spanish league to US. And I think I read that an Italian Serie A game is going to Perth WA!
And the NFL is taking regular season games off-shore. Including a regular game in Melbourne from 2026 on.
EPL wont be far behind.
Or even the IPL!

So you can see the how they think.

Bones

@sparky said in "LIV Rugby"?:

Mike Tindall's really bad day just got even worse.

England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Italy and South Africa will ban from their national squad anyone involved in Rugby 360.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/c0m43d30rjko

Countries without club comps not included in that. Interesting times for Argentina... and Wales.

@MiketheSnow

mohikamo

@Bones

Haha
Wales are such a shambles at the mo they cant make a decision about anything!

This is the UEFA/FIFA type reaction.
The establishment trying to retain contol, the international/nationist card is what gives them their leverage.
In Cricket the traditional establishment is long gone, the Indians are calling all the shots.

barbarian

Wales issued a statement as well saying they reserve the right to do the same as the other nations.

MiketheSnow

@mohikamo said in "LIV Rugby"?:

@Bones

Haha
Wales are such a shambles at the mo they cant make a decision about anything!

Will preserve that one for posterity if we get within 10 pts of your mob at the end of November

Bones

@barbarian said in "LIV Rugby"?:

Wales issued a statement as well saying they reserve the right to do the same as the other nations.

Fuck off with your facts.

mohikamo

There is an Italian league game in Perth!
And has it caused a brouhaha amongst the euros.
One of the Milan players complained (a Frenchman) and the league boss told him to "respect his employer."
It's the way of the world now.

African Monkey

@mohikamo said in "LIV Rugby"?:

There is an Italian league game in Perth!
And has it caused a brouhaha amongst the euros.
One of the Milan players complained (a Frenchman) and the league boss told him to "respect his employer."
It's the way of the world now.

And it's only the beginning no matter how defiant people want to be about it.

barbarian

Those are very different to a breakaway league though. Governments have paid money for one-off games for decades now.

The Silver Fern

"LIV Rugby"?