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New Indo Pacific Rugby Championship?

LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)

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interesting read and Video.
http://www.rugby.com.au/news/2017/10/27/forrest-iprc-update

Comp Idea
  • 6 clubs 6 markets (Perth, Mumbai, kula Lumpur, hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Samoa, Fiji, tonga, Tokyo, Seoul, Colombo for example)
  • Targeting 60% of the world pop.
  • Same Time Zone being key
  • Focus more on the America fan fare of sports a big entertainment factor targeting woman and families.
  • Wants to try and bring the foreign Wallabies back to Pacific region and will allow them to be able to play in super rugby if they want meaning that a super rugby team would only have to pay them 4 months "win-win" for super rugby
  • Alot of focus on Player welfare as a way of luring players aswell.
  • Players and fans comes first
  • Marquee Players - Had convos with aus players already.
  • Elite Player pool to supplement Squads
  • Worlds best coaches
  • Mens and Womens XV's and 7's
  • Growth of local talent
  • Has government support.
  • Forrest has big connections with pacific business and has backing from them.
  • Would like to be used for World rugby new laws and experiments to try and create a faster game.
  • Alot of focus on Family (esp mums and daughters) and community
  • Wants to create a IPR Rugrats Rugby rugby program thats very similar to AFL Auskick which has been a big thing for AFL and this will be done in every country in IPR.
In collab with World Rugby
  • IPR committed to adopt world rugby initiatives
  • Growing the participation in Womens rugby
  • Unlock new revenue streams

Entertainment
  • Very important to the comp is a 5 star stadium entertainment and catering
  • Strong non game stadium entertainment.
  • esports integration
  • Leading artists to perform in each country
  • Festival atmosphere
  • LED light displays, Fireworks and Holograms
Talks alot about esports
  • Worth 1.5 billion USD
  • highest viewership of sports events
  • Has an audience awareness of 1.9 billion by 2019
  • Allows brands to connect to millennials.
  • Massive in the pacific nations.
Commercial Structure
  • Private ownership model to fund high financial risk
  • Centralisation of key commercial properties
  • Revenue share and equalisation strat
  • Twiggy prepared to underwrite the entire thing himself if needs be wants investors to bring something other than money.

Aims to have by Nov 4th the first 6 names of the countries to World rugby, Nov 2nd will be the deadline for ARU to have the competition window dates.


TLDR
Aus Billionaire wants to create new comp focusing on the pacific and wants to target the family and digital market. Non traditional rugby comp.



Interesting biggest thing for me is the esports stuff could be a game changer if it works for me streaming is the way forward for Rugby to grow and there is alot of chances if marketed properly for it to be massive and give Rugby a big boost in non traditional countries.

Honestly if this works this could be the biggest thing to happen to rugby in an age.


I think i covered everything.
 
i'd imagine there will be resistance from old heads out there... rugby needs a little bit of pressure to improve its product and i'm not talking about law changes

just the structure of the club game isn't very appealing
 
The presentation sounds almost too good to be true. Big money backer bringing rugby to new markets. New way of presenting the game to bring it to a new generation. Investment in grassroots. Bringing top players back. World Rugby, Australian government and tentative ARU support.

A note of caution would be that Andrew Forrest said he wouldn't have proceeded without the Western Force involvement. Somebody with more knowledge of Australian rugby can correct me on this but it seems to me as though the Force weren't well supported playing in the top club competition in world rugby (a crowd of 7,000 people is the only attendance figure I could see from the 2017 season). Why would fans flock to see a mismatch between the Western Force (who'll clearly be the best team in the comp) and Mumbai Marauders when they didn't turn up to see a higher standard against Super Rugby opposition?

If it is successful, I'll be interested to see where they get players from. Returning Aussies from Europe can only account for so many players. Will it essentially see NRC players dispersed around Asia? Will this be the new destination of choice for South Sea Islanders? Will the NRL become a target for filling out squads?
 
Sounds interesting, but will it actually work out that way? Good to see they're trying, in any case.
 
This year is a trial run. First match was Force hosting Fiji Warriors. Much debate around the trial rules that were used (scrum time limit of a minute, fast lineouts, 9 point try if move is started inside your 22).

Crowd of 19,000 was larger than in any Super Rugby match in Australia this season. Extremely early days, but some credit is due for managing to attract some interest.

 
Don't really understand how you can tag on an esports angle?

Unless they just mean streaming it on twitch?

Then again I've never understood why people watch other people play video games, and I've been playing them myself for about 25 years....
 
Don't really understand how you can tag on an esports angle?

Unless they just mean streaming it on twitch?

Maybe sponsor some stuff.
It's a big market in Asia so if they could find a way to get into it even if it's only something small, it's an interesting prospect.

(Interesting a few rugby players now stream on it I think, TJ Perenara and Jamal Ford-Robinson do going off their Twitter posts)

Wish some prem teams would stream their A league games, I'm sure they could find a sponsor to help provide streaming stuff etc. Maybe even use some Film/Media students at a local uni to help film it as part of their studies and job experience.
 
An update on the proposed new competition below. Full article at the link provided.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-...proval-from-world-rugby-council-ng-b88975383z

World Series Rugby gets tick of approval from World Rugby bosses

World Series Rugby has been given the tick of approval by the sport's governing body and the Western Force will battle seven teams for a $1 million purse in the revolutionary tournament next year.

It will kick-off in March and is expected to feature two sides from Japan, and one each from New Zealand - possibly an "all stars" team drawn from the Mitre 10 Cup - Fiji, Hong Kong, Singapore and Western Sydney.

At least two more teams may be added within five years and negotiations have begun with broadcasters throughout the regions where games will be played.

Forrest's plans were considered by World Rugby's executive committee on Wednesday who recommended approval to the World Rugby Council, subject to regulatory and governance criteria.

Earlier this week (World Rugby CEO Brett) Gosper said: "Generally World Rugby's position is, if someone wants to put money in the sport .... we would encourage that.

"If someone comes along with a cheque book and wants to develop the game in areas, in particular where we need that development, and I'm thinking across parts of Asia which Mr Forrest has in mind, then that's of interest to us."

One of the sides expected to join the new competition is the Robbie Deans-coached Panasonic Wild Knights, who played the Force in one of seven invitation matches earlier this year.

The Western Sydney-based team would have a strong Samoa and Tonga influence but would also tap into the area's talent-laden resources.

Shute Shield premiership-winning Warringah Rats coach Darren Coleman has been sounded out as coach of the new side.
 
Good news. Hopefully this can help grow the game and develop players in Asia and in the PIs.
 
The competition will be played between March and June next year

So it is competing with Super Rugby now.

Next step: set up promotion/relegation between SR and WSR for Asia/Pacific teams :D
 
Apparently Australian players will be picked for Australia should they play in this league. That's also good news as if they would not be picked then that would create big problems even before the league starts. Looking forward to this though!

Asia is a big market which has plenty of potential so hopefully this can go a long way as to developing Japanese players for depth, strengthening smaller sides such as Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia, and also reigniting interest in rugby in Australia
 

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