The Scottish playbook

[Which Tyler]

Assistant Banahan leaves Scotland two months before World Cup

Assistant Banahan leaves Scotland two months before World Cup

www.bbc.co.uk

Matt Banahan leaves role, effective immediately, concerningly close to the RWC. An offer "closer to home was too good to turn down"

Shame he couldn't request joining after the cup

 

[dirty harry]

Assistant Banahan leaves Scotland two months before World Cup

Assistant Banahan leaves Scotland two months before World Cup

www.bbc.co.uk

Matt Banahan leaves role, effective immediately, concerningly close to the RWC. An offer "closer to home was too good to turn down"

Shame he couldn't request joining after the cup

I can speak to this as being in this near exact position...

There is no money (or I should more accurately say was) in womens rugby below head coach. They would have covered his costs with a stipend. When an actual job pops up you can't afford not to take it.

Womens rugby is in a strange state, that it offers a platform and some notoriety to young coaches in the media, helping their public profile, but doesn't have the money for long term careers.

 

[Which Tyler]

RWC warmup against Italy tonight, 6.30.
BBC Alba or iPlayer

 

[Jimbo]

I can speak to this as being in this near exact position...

There is no money (or I should more accurately say was) in womens rugby below head coach. They would have covered his costs with a stipend. When an actual job pops up you can't afford not to take it.

Womens rugby is in a strange state, that it offers a platform and some notoriety to young coaches in the media, helping their public profile, but doesn't have the money for long term careers.

This is not a surprise at all, I live in the south East, Brighton is but a mere 40 minutes for me usually London is the nearest area for me to watch any pro rugby, one of my mates who's a Brighton season ticket holder obtained me a seat for either £10 or £20 for Eng vs Aus can't fully remember now, at that price on the biggest stage you can see how sparse money must be that they are willing to sell at such a price, especially when you consider a poor ticket for prem games generally seem to come in between £50 - £70 from what I can remember although Baths the only ones I've been to in recent times, outside of the promotional ones like Bris VS Bath in Cardiff and Sarries vs Quins at Spurs ground.

 

[Which Tyler]

Just as an example, salary cap in the premiership £6.4M
Salary cap in PWR (IIRC) £0.25M

At the moment, it's investment to build buzz and stimulate growth.

ETA: been corrected on the red roses thread, cap is £220k, not £250k.

Of course, individuals then get topped up by their nation, up to £32k top-up for a senior England player (compared to a bit more than double that for a kiwi, but who gets a much lesser club salary)

 

[Jimbo]

Just as an example, salary cap in the premiership £6.4M
Salary cap in PWR (IIRC) £0.25M

At the moment, it's investment to build buzz and stimulate growth

Got to start somewhere I think there will generally always been a huge divide rightly or wrongly, as a male I enjoy sport but think I'll always be more heavily invested in the men's game for varying reasons whilst being interested in both, with money being finite for most and having to pick and choose I'm more likely to go to spend it on men's when forced with choices, not to stereo type to much but my wife has more hobby's and creative ways to spend money so will prioritise other thing whilst I'd do it more on the males version of the game, I think this could be true for a good chunk of the population which would maintain the divide.

 

[Which Tyler]

Yup.
Though I will add that I personally, am delighted that women's rugby is going down the route of "40k tickets at £10 is better than 10k tickets at £40"
Even though the overheads make that a false economy.

There's really not many sports where the women's game is as good to watch as the men's, or can actually compete for interest - even tennis, with equal pay, doesn't have equal interest

 

[Jimbo]

Yup.
Though I will add that I personally, am delighted that women's rugby is going down the route of "40k tickets at £10 is better than 10k tickets at £40"
Even though the overheads make that a false economy.

There's really not many sports where the women's game is as good to watch as the men's, or can actually compete for interest - even tennis, with equal pay, doesn't have equal interest

I think they have perhaps been a little too aggressive with the low prices, starting at £20 is still a relatively low barrier to entry for a game and as the game I'm going to is one of the few with legitimate interest (easily accessible) to me I'd have happily paid more, I'm sure their marketing and economic leaders have done their calculations and found a better balance overall than I am making out though, tbf it could be a bit of a masterclass the south East is pretty untapped in terms of clubs etc so their could be an appetite for it here and almost giving away tickets could discover that in a way that heavy ticket prices simply wouldn't.

 

[dirty harry]

Yup.
Though I will add that I personally, am delighted that women's rugby is going down the route of "40k tickets at £10 is better than 10k tickets at £40"
Even though the overheads make that a false economy.

There's really not many sports where the women's game is as good to watch as the men's, or can actually compete for interest - even tennis, with equal pay, doesn't have equal interest

Its easy to disparage those who have no interest in most womens sports, but the reality is the interest in women's rugby is probably aligned with men's U20, and trust me, having coached both at the top level the women get nowhere near the U20s in speed, skill, power etc (disclaimer, Ive never made them go contact, just a full pitch 2 handed touch, full teams, full tactics, non contested scrums, fully contested lineouts 2 defenders and 1 attacker hit the deck at every 'ruck').

I'd liken it to the interest of European basketball to the NBA, its just an inferior product, but is interesting in the absence of the real thing.

Taken today, I'll watch Scotland v Wales happily, and be invested in it, butnif it runs over the KO orlf SA vs Aus I'll turn it off to watch the better product.

Im a big advocate of women's sport, and pushed hard for women's rugby, but the nature of sport is competitiveness. I'd not be against eradicating all boundaries in sport, and have 100% of the player pool in each sport compete against each other and let the best get the spoils.

 

[retired9]

I like the women's game, especially now the standard is rising quickly in players skillset and ability. I just view it as a different product and don't really look to draw comparisons to the men's pro game.

The best of the womens rugby is great to watch, good skills and a bit more open with good running - more athletic than out and out power generally.

It's good for the sport overall to have a decent womens game as can be seen in the stands, there is a whole audience being brought to rugby that may not have access or interest otherwise.

 

[Jimbo]

Yup.
Though I will add that I personally, am delighted that women's rugby is going down the route of "40k tickets at £10 is better than 10k tickets at £40"
Even though the overheads make that a false economy.

There's really not many sports where the women's game is as good to watch as the men's, or can actually compete for interest - even tennis, with equal pay, doesn't have equal interest

Oh at that price it's a steal and I am genuinely delighted and I agree £40 is a bit steep for many who wouldn't have a heavy investment, I just think £15 - £20 wouldn't change the price point to much but do a fair bit for revenue across the board.