Any of you heard about this ? They want 300 of the top players in both the men’s and women’s games to join. It’s like LIV golf or the IPL and the powers that be are not happy about the possibility.
Mike Tindall is the face of it…….
Oh my god, how on earth are you going to promote something when you literally use Mike Tindell face.
He’s the brains behind it, with Stuart Hooper.
Forget about Tindall as a example - his marriage to Princess Anne's daughter makes him part of the Royal family and that adds to his influence in this case. Not that it will be influenced by the oher Royals - but Prince William is patron of Welsh rugby and Catherine is the same iro English Rugby, Princess Anne for years was patron of Scottish Rugby - but she is reducing her work load a bit and was not at any recent Scottish tests so that role may end up in the case of the new Duke of Edinburgh or his wife - who is actually from Welsh descent.
Anyway - the story is who are the real backers financially of the proposed venture, My guess is it is one or more of the Arab rulers in the ME and they have plenty of money for such purposes.
ccl
Sounds like elitist stupidity.
I like the club WC thing, but I think they way that teams are selected for it should be heavily scrutinised.
Here is what CPT says the current selection criteria is;
8 teams from the Investec Champions Cup (Europe and South Africa).
6 teams from Super Rugby Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, and others).
2 teams from Japan Rugby League One.
Starting:
June 2028
I think it'll be a good foil for the WC. In the downcycle and will give good players a real opportunity to shine on the international stage and stake their claim to selection for national sides.
In terms of adoption, Cricket is always up against it. It's not a contact sport and the West loves contact sports. Rugby is far more transferable to American and European markets than cricket is.
Don't know enough about the breakaway league to really judge whether it'll be net positive or not. But I do like the idea of continuing to push Rugby's popularity.
Not Saffa bragging here, but this last WC did more for the popularity of rugby than any I can remember before that. Probably due to a whole host of facts, but among them surely has to be the three 1 point wins and also the defensive sets the Boks pulled off to take the title.
I keep seeing more and more rugby videos coming from demographics not traditionally associated with rugby. Bok popularity is through the roof and its a bit like the timing is perfect for the present zeitgeist. It's a silly comparison but I see the Boks a bit like the Andrew Tate's of Rugby. Today, there's a bigger market for brutes than one would think and they're kinda surfing that wave.
And I'm all for it if it makes rugby more popular.
Pakie
Unfortunately money controls professional sport worldwide and I heard smewhere that the key under of the project is the King or Crown Prince of Saudi-Arabia who is invovled. So it i elitist - bu nothing new in professional sport,
Pakie
Unfortunately money controls professional sport worldwide and I heard smewhere that the key under of the project is the King or Crown Prince of Saudi-Arabia who is invovled. So it i elitist - bu nothing new in professional sport,
Red Bull have expressed interest in owning a franchise.
Maybe if clearer details emerge with time more accurate judgement can be made.
I think it’s a terrible idea. It would be the death of the Premiership in England and, as a consequence of that, the national side. It’s causing a bit of a worry over here.