I know that the previous sale sharks owner was throwing 1.5 million of his own money in every year to keep them afloat. The crowds in general are poor enough outside a few clubs. You can be fooled by the odd big Christmas game. Then you’ve got that it’s so attritional that you need a big squad and medical backup. It’s unsustainable alright. Most clubs are kept going by outside backing, yet they go and fcuk the likes of Saracens for doing just that. A few clubs were run by idiots and chancers who either thought they were in at the start of the new EPL, or wanted to separate club from ground, and flog to property developers. The only half sustainable model is the Irish one, but the RFU appears to be largely run by arrogant fuckwits (Rob Andrew was pulling 400k a year for a decade whilst doing absolutely fcuk all), who only want to assert dominance over the clubs. The bigger clubs are patronised by lads who aren’t in the habit of being dictated to by anyone, and the players get flogged to death in the crossfire. The number of clubs means the backing they could get from a central control model is limited, and the players, unlike here, have to pay tax at the normal rate.
I expect Ireland to pull further ahead of the pack in Europe as time goes by.
The French I don’t think care at all about private patronage, and there seem to be enough huge money families to keep it going, but I don’t know much about it.
I can’t imagine that the RFU earns that much more than the IRFU, probably less per professional club. I think England will be the Millwall of rubby for years to come.
There were only a few hundred at the Glasgow game yesterday and it a European knock out match.
The Scots should be ok as they only have two clubs to find.
Saffers are playing in Europe for the sweet sweet lucre. They’re already self sufficient. They broke from sanzar as felt they were putting in more than the others revenue wise as their TV deal is substantial. However, earning euro boosts them considerably which is a motivation behind the move
It’s bizarre when you see how empty their stadiums are but saffers are far from the chopping block. Australia would be far closer to financial oblivion in SH and Wales far closer than France in NH.
TV money massive in France as well.
In smaller markets the Irish model is the only one really sustainable. I think the Welsh RU had similar income levels to IRFU last year
English clubs have just massively overspent on importing quality over 20 years and don’t have a solid base now.
Not so sure about this. They have massive stadiums so they look empty but still getting crowds most clubs in Europe would kill for. Tickets sold for v cheap
I was talking to a saffer the other day on the subject. He said in particular Ellis park, hallowed ground, few will risk traveling there for a match unless its a Bok match such is the level of serious crime surrounding it. Massively unsafe
Boks will sell out no problem. Franchises find it difficult.
This is from 2016. You can be sure Browne knew then the path the English were going down because Iv been saying it in here for even longer. It’s been massively obvious for 10 years plus they didn’t have house in order
Schools rugby also a massive draw there.
Was 60k at the sharks and stormers games last week between both games. That’s a good crowd
Yeah, and they’re pulling more and more for HC cup games. But Currie cup for example can have one man and his dog
Schools rugby money stays in schools system.
Was talking to a lad who was in Durban for a match recently. He couldn’t believe how unsafe it was. He’s travelled to SA a few times but said Durban was by far the worst place he’s been.
It’s does seem more and more.like.the wild west down there. Dirt cheap and supposedly beautiful features to see but don’t even have to scratch the surface to encounter danger.
Schools rugby also a massive draw in New Zealand and Australia.
To think Gerry Thornley used to spend hours moaning about it in the media 15 years ago. Making all sorts of claims that Ireland was unique with it. Turns out we just needed to lean into it more.
They’re a bunch of mugs. They served the Heineken Cup up because they had gotten jealous that Irish teams won so much between 2006 and 2012. At that stage it was all about them taking a bigger cut and taking money and “power” from Unions like the IRFU.
The truth was that they were fighting the wrong side- it always should have been the French. Instead it was the Paddies because they had made such a success of Europe. All the French ever really have a fuck about was moving the order of Europe to they could have a clear run at the Top 14 at the end of May. I read someone point out that the RFU gave them that so they could move the admin of the comp to Switzerland just so it wouldn’t be in Dublin anymore. 
Yeah they made some fuck of the comp. I think it’s a huge red herring when people say the french don’t want the European comp. If they didn’t want it, it just wouldn’t exist. It falls apart without them full stop.
Read there recently that there are only 12 contracted players across the 150 odd pros in this country who are not eligible for Ireland, the cheapest source of players is developing them yourself (or letting mom and dad pay to develop them in Michael’s or somewhere)
Have they removed the straight knockout in Leinster?
They have in Munster and quality of rugby is much better. They also allow a club select squad enter the round Robin pool stages. Essentially a Munster clubs Dev squad. They would be close to winning it out except they are not (yet) allowed to qualify for the knockout stages
Nope.
But they play a pretty full calendar of fixtures leading into it.
Sure the clubs are only allowed three non-irish qualified each, that’s in place a long time. They’re getting smarter at going after players like Burns, Haley and Frisch who don’t take up the NIQ places because of a granny or whatever.
That’s a very fluid rule that isn’t written down anywhere
Leinster have at least 4 at the moment
No competitive match in Thomond between April and September. Another white elephant.
Aka the rugby off season?