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NZ Rugby World column, July 2006
I'm writing this from the heart of European Soccer. I'm speaking to a bunch of leading Spanish retailers and manufacturers about partnerships, marketing, leadership, reinvention . . . you name it, we're talking about it. The world is changing so fast with consumers have gotten ahead of manufacturers and retailers, and industry is now playing catch up. Power has switched from manufacturers through to retailers and now sits firmly with the consumer. The Consumer is Boss. And we're holding the meeting at the home of Real Madrid. I just walked out onto the pitch and indulged in day dreams of days gone by. When I was growing up in the 60's I had two sets of heroes; the 1964 and 1967 All Blacks and the All Whites of Real Madrid who won the European Cup year after year in that era. I can still remember the great names; Dominguez Marquitos, Santamaria, Vidal, and one of the greatest forward lines ever known, Canario, Del Sol, Didi, Di Stefano, Puskas, and Gento. I was shown around the inner sanctum of the Bernabeu and saw the European Cups Real Madrid have won, great action shots from the 60's, and today's dressing rooms where full length colour photographs mark each player's locker, Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo and Raul. Inspirational. From Madrid I went on a rapid fire Tiki tour of Paris, London and Geneva. All these cities are in the grip of World Cup fever. There are 32 teams playing in the contest and most of them have a fair crack of beating any of the other teams on any given day. My dream is that one day world rugby will be like that with, of course, the All Blacks (like Brazil) being the exception. Great developing teams from Ghana and the Ivory Coast take on new Asian teams like Korea and Japan, with strong representation as ever from the more traditional European and Latin American nations. The organisation in Germany has been impressive with three games a day at 3:00pm, 6:00pm and 9:00pm. European and Latin American productivity levels must be at all time lows as almost every game is a must watch game. Attendances are high, television coverage is first class, spectators are passionate and it really is an incredible sporting festival. FIFA is probably the most powerful organisation in the world with 207 members, even more than the United Nations. And soccer truly does grip the world. I hope that Ricki Herbert can continue the terrific progress he's making with the All Whites so that we can play a role in these finals going forward. The recent performances in Europe were terrific and we've got a great crop of young players coming through that could get us to the finals in 2010 in South Africa. The other thing that has impressed me is the attacking spirit in which the tournament is being played. We're only in week one as I write but we're seeing goals galore. Everybody is pushing forward to win and the competition is so intense for qualification places that three points from every game is a must. So we're seeing the beautiful game being played with imagination, flair and courage. It certainly is setting a high standard for the Rugby World Cup 2007 in France. I'm sure we can replicate the television coverage, the passionate fans and the open rugby (England apart, of course). What we cannot replicate, of course, is the head to head competition. The Southern Hemisphere teams, France, Ireland and England are unlikely to come unstuck against any developing nation. Rugby needs the U.S., Japan, Argentina and the Pacific Islands to accelerate their development or soccer will continue to widen the gap and leave us behind. |
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The IRB has made a decent start by allocating $50 million dollars plus to Tier II unions and I hope they continue this investment up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Too many of the traditional big unions are hanging grimly on to the status quo and are taking a very self centered view of the game's development. We need to commit ourselves globally to accelerating the game's development in key markets, and I would start with the U.S. The greatest sporting nation on earth is ready to take off in rugby. With 63,000 registered players, it has a strong base. The Eagles are ranked 13 globally and the women are ranked five having won one World Cup and finished runners up in two. This year U.S. rugby will undergo a major change in governance, not dissimilar to that of New Zealand's a decade ago. The U.S. plans to move to a nine member board, one member elected by Congress, two player representatives and six independents. The independents will be passionate rugby people with commercial, marketing, financial and business skills. I believe the IRB should prioritise its assistance to the U.S. where the prize is the biggest. With the right governance in place, I'm sure the IRB will feel more comfortable with an investment programme. A couple of years ago, U.S. Soccer put its entire under 17 team for 12 months in a camp in Bollitieri camp in Florida and 1/2-dozen of these players are now world class professional soccer players and have taken the U.S. to the top ten ranking globally. If the U.S. can do something similar in rugby then watch out. The centralised contracting of players is key to the U.S. development; just imagine the athletic capability of all these college athletes who don't make the NFL and suddenly at 18 find themselves with no competitive sports route to follow. These guys are fit, fast, powerful and love physical contact. With the right coaching and structure around them they can be world beaters in Seven's and a top ten rugby nation within four years. And the marketing / commercial opportunities are unlimited. If today's current rugby sponsors had a U.S. market at their disposal we would see a jump shift in revenue for the sport globally. Investing behind the U.S. in terms of a new Tri-Nations series with Argentina and Canada, centralised player contracts, having Tier I countries play games between themselves in the U.S. to raise the profile of the game, perhaps locating a Super 14 franchise on the West Coast (Los Angeles and San Francisco probably have as much appeal to players and coaches as Perth!) would all help accelerate the raising of the game's profile in the U.S. And maybe 2015 isn't too soon for the Rugby World Cup to come to the U.S. Soccer has become global and has set the bar high. We have over 100 nations playing rugby now but strategically we have to get a breakthrough in the U.S. I'd love to see New Zealand Rugby take some kind of advisory position with the U.S. as a preferred partner and have this on the menu for coaches, players, development purposes, etc. Some of these great U.S. athletes might even have New Zealand heritage!
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