If there was one disappointment from the surprising development last month that Qatar’s reported £800m Nations Championship hosting deal had been scuttled, it’s that SANZAAR missed an immediate opportunity to learn how to market a major tournament from its Six Nations colleagues.
With the southern hemisphere nations open minded about the offer – mainly due to their financial state, no matter what kind of moral concerns they may have held – and even with some of their northern partners said to be considering it seriously, the deal was ultimately quashed after Six Nations Inc voted against it.
The rumoured offer from Qatar – split into £200m slices for the first four iterations of the new tournament’s finals to be played in Doha from 2026 – reportedly had England, Wales and Scotland’s support, despite having “no doubt about the potential for a fierce backlash and accusations of hypocrisy, given rugby’s long-standing habit of trumpeting its so-called ‘core values’,” Chris Foy wrote in the Daily Mail in late July.
France and Ireland, it has since been reported, were the main objectors, and with the Six Nations constitution requiring a bloc approach to voting on such matters, the offer was rejected within the exclusive negotiation period. Subsequent reporting suggests The Rugby Championship partners “could now demand millions of pounds in compensation from the Six Nations sides” for the lost windfall.
But where the Six Nations competition itself has firmly cemented its place as the biggest international rugby tournament outside Rugby World Cups, the 2024 Rugby Championship emerged into being this month, with some squads named only last week before their games were played on Saturday, and a general feeling of ‘oh yeah, it’s on again’.
Sadly, it speaks to the significantly different scale of operations of the respective tournaments. Since investment from CVC Capital Partners in 2021, the Six Nations has become far bigger than just an annual international rugby tournament.
Strangely, this has been lobbed as a criticism of Australian rugby, as if there is some kind of law being broken that says people living and working in Australia can’t buy tickets with Australian dollars.
SANZAAR, the joint venture partnership of the South African, New Zealand, and Australian national unions created when the game went professional in the mid-1990s, and expanded to include Argentina in 2016, remains a small logistics and tournament management organisation run out of an office in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Where the Six Nations roars into life with its all-consuming presence every February and March and with global broadcasting, marketing and sponsorship campaigns behind it, The Rugby Championship just kind of… happens.
The respective competition websites illustrate this difference starkly. In the week leading into the first round of matches on the first weekend of February this year, the Six Nations website lists no fewer than 20 articles to build up to the first round. Come the final round in mid-March, a similar number were published in the last three days alone.
Last week, The Rugby Championship website featured one article on each of the four teams being named for their opening round match, and one more on the law variations in play for the tournament. That was the extent of the first round preview.
At the time of writing, and including touring squad announcements and subsequent match reports from the Brisbane and Wellington games, just 11 articles have been published on The Rugby Championship’s own website since July 24.
It’s hard to imagine the social media channels would be significantly better.
Yet despite all this, and driven almost completely by the unions themselves and the general rugby media in the four countries, round one served up two matches worthy of a significant international tournament.
South Africa’s record 33-7 win over Australia was their first at Suncorp Stadium since 2013 and proved yet again there will be no World Cup hangover, while Argentina’s incredible 38-30 triumph in New Zealand was Los Pumas’ first win over the All Blacks at Sky Stadium, and just their second in New Zealand in The Rugby Championship.
After Suncorp Stadium’s first sell-out rugby crowd since the 2013 British and Irish Lions Tour, much of the build-up for the second match in Perth will be focus on how the similarly large South African population in the west translates into thick swathes of Springbok green in the Optus Stadium stands.
Strangely, this has been lobbed as a criticism of Australian rugby, as if there is some kind of law being broken that says people living and working in Australia can’t buy tickets with Australian dollars, and then go along and support their original home country. The same criticism doesn’t seem to apply in Europe, where rugby fans literally cross borders to attend games.
Across the Tasman, as much scrutiny as there will be on new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson and all the areas he’s already said his team needs to “get better” in, there will also be a narrative about the crowd in Wellington and why it didn’t reach usual expectations.
And there we find a similar tale. How well was the game marketed?
After Kiwi social media commentator Ella Ferguson highlighted the absolute lack of action on The Rugby Championship Instagram feed just two days out from the first game, fellow socials commentator and NZ Herald columnist Alice Soper took it further after the Wellington crowd discussion took hold.
Seeing a lot of discourse on Wellington’s lack of attendance at the rugby.
Yes, our city has experienced a lot of job loss so there is less disposable income.
Yes, it’s revealing of how rugby’s dominance is slipping.
But given these two points, it makes @EllaFerguson28..
— Alice Soper (@alicesoapbox) August 11, 2024
“We don’t know how to market our national game cause for years we haven’t had to. Now those years are catching up,” she wrote in a thread of posts on X.
“Tell stories, seed rivalries. Make on-ramps for new fans. Don’t just assume everyone knows and cares.
“There’s a whole heap of sports on at the moment with the Olympics, easy to get lost. So make your match unmissable.”
And it’s a great point. Rivalries are there in The Rugby Championship, but they’re there because they always have been. The four nations all have their history and love nothing better than beating each other.
But The Rugby Championship can’t just let the four nations tell their own versions of their rivalries, it has to be deeper than that.
Tell fans in Australia and Argentina why the South Africa-New Zealand thing is so strong. Outline the history and the meaning of the Bledisloe Cup. Explain why (until Saturday, at least) South Africa had a hard time winning in Australia. Argentina have now won twice in their last three starts in New Zealand, so build that up!
The stories are certainly there, though. For this weekend alone, we now have both teams in Perth with their injury concerns, and we have two back-rows heading to Eden Park in Auckland, but the one dominating is not the one that’s never lost there.
And so yet again, it feels like the greatest speedbump in The Rugby Championship is how the tournament is marketed across the board.
So why can’t SANZAAR do more? Well, because they’re a committee funded by the four nations themselves. And the four nations aren’t going to cough up more money that might be spent in another country, because they’ve got their own marketing concerns in their own back yards.
Self-interest has always been a major player in southern hemisphere rugby, and so SANZAAR will only ever operate as well as they can with the level of funding the four member nations are comfortable providing.
Hence, the tournament plods along despite, or even sometimes in spite of itself. With the four nations spread so far apart, there’s little room for storytelling outside what suits the home market of those telling the story, and leaving the situation where the average Australian rugby fan doesn’t know much about the new generation of Springboks players coming through who have only played in the URC.
And that’s a great shame, because it’s clear from the weekend this South African team is a very special one, quite likely among the best to ever land on Australian shores. We’ve only got a few days left to take note of how good they really are, because we’re just not going to see much said about them in Australia until they return in two years’ time.
When the Rugby Championship schedule comes out, the first two games I look for are the ones between NZ and RSA. This goes back to the time when Fox Sports gave a rats about rugby, they needed an hour to fill, so they showed a program called 'Great Sporting Duels', a one hour program about the great rivalry between the Boks and the ABs. It's nearly 2 decades since I watched that program but it's had me looking forward to matches between the two sides ever since. It wouldn't hurt Stan Sport to show a couple of the many docos about the All Blacks Springboks rivalry in the lead in to the two sides facing off in the TRC in a few weeks. It doesn't matter if my country isn't involved, a great rugby rivalry is something I'm keen to tune in for.
Also, the rugby rivalry between the Wallabies and the Springboks is genuine, yet neither country really wants to acknowledge it and its significance. This is probably because both sides put playing and beating New Zealand on such a pedestal that playing each other feels like dancing with one's sister. Not that I'd know what that's like as an only child. In a country like Australia, where rugby struggles for attention unless the All Blacks are in town, highlighting the largely competitive rivalry between the Wallabies and the Boks is important to show that test rugby's significance is more than just the All Blacks rocking up for a test.
Great post Mitch..
Yes same here for the Origin. Never had a to choose a team (I mean have one become an automatic pick because of a wife or residing their etc) but always still rooted for the under dogs (maroons in case that wasn't obvious).
But this points back to what I said in a reply to Nick below, they just don't see the point in putting money into it these days. That old sh!it probably would have been a love project of someone enthusiastic TV putting his passion into some doco's to advance his skills (advertising!). Now it would require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of red tape crap to get even the idea over the line.
Or, you could just watch Squidge's YT videos that show you amazing things like Agustin Creevy's debut being against Wallace Sititi's dad. Both came on the field at the same time, two decades apart, to make it a multiple generational confrontation. What an amazing story that would have been if this game had a researcher assigned to it by Sky TV NZ?
No money in that!
Money talks. Who knew.
Re Cake Tin, the observations I had the overriding reason was Argentina (premised with why would we choose to go to them over Australia 4 weeks later).
Wellingtonians.
Have to say RA has long had an issue with its marketing & social media engagement. Although am guessing compared to other sports they didn't have the staff. (Will say things have picked up a lot over the last year) As you say SANZAAR don't have the staff or infrastructure which makes it hard.
I think you make a very good point about NZ/SH never having to work for it in some regard Brett. Aus was the lucky country and we thought we'd just keep winning with the wallabies in the 90s until we didn't. I feel NZ, sanzaar, super rugby are on a similar path just a bit behind. If they're smart they'll heed the lessons and be proactive. Its like the skinny kid with the fast metabolism that could eat whatever they wanted waking up to a middle age spread and realising the fat friend at school is now fitter than them. Sa struck gold with their location and timezone and have jumped ship at the right time from south to north. A comp with arg, Aus, NZ, Japan, Fiji sounds incredibly fast paced and entertaining to me.
Yeah, there's definitely truth in that notion NH. It's interesting to observe the NZ media and fan reactions externally, and even if you loosely conclude that the ABs are 'having a rough time' currently, it's certainly been a good while since it happened.
(And thanks for speaking for me JW [above], I've been around the game plenty, thanks...)
Nah, I think he's just new at the game. I think it far more likely NZR have spent their resources on promotion already and just realised it doesn't work (it will have a population reach pay off metric) in the NZ climate. I can remember multiple up and down periods (the current NPC down turn being the most drastic) and the only common denominator I would value over the last 30 years would competition and ego. Which would be the same everywhere, it just means I'm eliminating other ideas, like this articles, from having the value you might expect if for instance it was in Australia instead.
Tied with the other encompassing reasons that Super Rugby is a money pit, theyve just made a conscious decision to live off test rugby and save. They chose to be savvy rather than a copy pasta investment plan, and they simply werent savvy with this years fixtures.
I think even for this example they saved money by not 'advertising' and getting a full stadium. The problems with these sort of admin mistakes are more important to the unconscious bias hit on peoples idea of the 'brand' they sell now.
SA are not going anyway. It is just a ridiculous idea to think that will be allowed to happen. It will be interesting when the Nations Championship extras are brought into the mix. Hopefully the teir qualifying setup is on fire and theres a mix of all those teams playing TRC teams more in the alternate season to get them ready for their NH games.
The Rugby Championship has a website?😮
The Six Nations have a website?😦
😁
Who knew, I didn’t.
A most interesting article, Brett Thanks for writing, and thanks too for the last one,which I missed until a couple of days ago. So many articles pile in on this site, I can miss some at times.
Tyranny of distance is a huge element in RC picture versus 6N. How easy to get on the train in London for the Stade de France game, or take the train/motorway up to Edinburgh, the same to Cardiff. And Dublin a short flight away, or take the car on one of the ferries over to Ireland and spend a week in the Emerald Isle, meet a few interesting characters. Very different to getting from Brisbane(in my case, with short drive from Toowoomba, but what if I lived in Goondiwindi), and flying to Johannesburg, or Buenos Aires.
But ofc the marketing of RC is a significant factor for sure. The Wellington game on the weekend shows that. Suncorp was sold out for sure due to the South African origin Australians. I was amazed at the sheer volume of Bok shirts as we got to the ground. And indeed of our group of four, 2 were Rhodesian born, and I had lived in Southern Africa, have an African born wife and son.
It's a really good point, Mzil.
London to Paris is shorter than Gladstone to Brisbane, and they're within the same state!
6N and TRC are two different animals ....
6N has a history dating back to 1883 (Home Nations) and the format hasn't changed much since the beginning .... in the beginning it used to be a social event (like The Boat Race), which also adds to the tradition - TRC is in place since 1996 and hasn't been very consistent in it's format ....
from a purely sports perspective TRC should be ranked higher (as 90% of the RWC-winners are participating in it), but the problem is, the utter dominance of the ABs (20 out of 28 wins) is not necessarily a positive for marketing the competition outside of New Zealand - in 6N there is no such dominance, if one side wins the competition 3 times in a row, it's considered a huge achievement
as some have mentioned already, the time-zones are quite an obstacle as well for TRC - the 6N countries play in two timezones (with one hour difference, not 6 or 8)
Fully agree
Basically the marketers need the All Blacks not to win so everyone else should be paying us money for last Saturday.
Believe it or not, no team has ever won the Six, Five or Home Nations three times in a row.
I would also say given that South Africa's population far exceeds that of Australia and New Zealand, it often depends on the major rugby fanbase of SA to keep the tournament afloat. As it did in the Super Rugby. That's why it has been hard hitting for the Springboks but we have such a traditional mentality. Couldn't bear to properly leave the RC. Although we will need to decide what to do.
What do you mean by been hard hitting?
The sooner we leave the RC and shoulder our way into the 6N the better for South Africa and the 6N. (Cue a stream of anti Saffa comments below “you’re not wanted up here blah blah blah”). It’s not a question of if but when..
The timezone disparity has always been an issue, playing to GMT is far more appealing than watching rugby over breakfast. One of the main reasons I prefer the URC and the end of year tours.
What's Argentina games like? And what if there was a hypothetical 3rd local regional team?
Playing to GMT only works for those countries a few hours either side of GMT though, DP.
GMT in Australia/NZ/Japan is the other end of the day..
Agreed.
Hi Brett, couldnt agree more and thats why the game is flagging in the South in terms of attendance and also in terms of brands and I couldnt help but think back to an earlier piece you wrote about Super Rugby marketing this year and its myriad of problems with it. The marketing for the RC can learn a bit from how the Springbok team is marketed within SA and Abroad. The Springboks have really built their brand in the last 6 years with the two world cup wins. Chasing the Sun 1 and 2 were great promotion pieces for the Springboks but it did more than that, it introduced the people to the inner workings of the camp, the big stories behind players were laid bare, narratives about the team and the nation and how the Springboks play for and unite the nation were created and the Springboks brand has boomed. Just look at the recent Ireland series and how it was marketed. Rassie and the Springboks fired shots at Ireland long before the series started, promotional vids were released about the series all over the socials and some of these were playful while others told the story of two teams meeting in a battle to claim the title of being the worlds best, large amounts of articles were printed and the hype extended all the way to the URC when Leinster or Munster travelled here in the weeks and months before. The whole series was made personal and the Irish and their media played it up too. Its a lesson in marketing for Sanzaar and we have seen how the Springbok brand has grown with the big crowd in Australia this last weekend. The Boks do alot to market their game but SA rugby are not perfect and franchise rugby and provincial rugby marketing could improve. Sanzaar needs to do more to prop up the RC thats for sure. 25000 attendance for an opener in NZ is not a good omen. More needs to be done for sure. One cant help feel that with the introduction of Tours between SA and NZ again that Sanzaar is now an afterthought and the RC with truncated versions in world cup years and now a year where it will not happen due to SA-NZ tours is no longer the pinnacle of competition it once was.
Yeah, nice post SK.
I obviously have a vested interest in saying this (search for 'the 8-9 Combo' on YouTube or wherever you pod 😆), but I feel like the real growth in the game has been the independant content makers away from mainstream media.
I'm not sure where you are, but currently in Australia there's never been more rugby content than we currently have. Stan Sport produce show four days a week, and there is currently anywhere between a dozen and 15 different podcasts.
Chasing the Sun is a great example, and we're seeing more along those lines with the Six Nations Netflix series, the NZR content, etc. There's a lot of ways for fans to consume their rugby all of a sudden.
But, mostly, a lot of it is out of necessity, because as we all know, the game doesn't always do a great job of marketing itself...
Maybe a team from the South should be created that tours the northern hemisphere same as B&I Lions tours. It would put more focus on the teams and players from the South
Correction, the marketing of the Rugby Championship "OUTSIDE" of South Africa is an absolute dog's breakfast.
SA has always and still is a global leader in marketing the sport of rugby.
Martin Anayi, CEO of the URC, has raved about how much he has learned from South Africa, the local broadcaster and sponsors on marketing the sport.
You just have to look at the massive success of URC in this regard.
Easy solution is to appoint another South African to head up SANZAAR because it is very obvious all the others since Rian Oberholzer were and still are absolutely clueless.
No, I'm not talking about the in-country marketing by the home unions and broadcasters, Wayneo. I mentioned that within the column.
I'm referring to the competition-wide marketing, both in-country and internationally by The Rugby Championship as a brand, a la what we've all seen for the Six Nations..
This is not a politics forum but taking money from, and playing in Qatar is dangerous step.
The right decision was made not to tarnish rugby's reputation by becoming a reprehensible FIFA type organisation.
America have lots of money too. That would be a much better choice plus it would help grow rugby as a brand in that sport crazy country. They pay their athletes millions per season that is much shorter than rugby seasons in other sports. Someone send them to the USA
Yes, all very reasonable points, Nickers.
But... it would still be nice if SANZAAR could learn something from 6Ns Inc...
It’s true that in general rugby does not market itself as well as it should.
The 6N is just on another level.
The challenge is and remains, how much would it cost to make even just a 50% improvement?