Internationals Possible 7's circuit.

[Northern_Union]

New Zealand
Australia
England
Wales
Scotland
Ireland
Fiji
Tonga
Samoa
P.N.G
France
U.S.A
Russia
Serbia
Cook Islands
Malta
Nuie
South Africa

A five game circuit comprising -

Australia
England
France
New Zealand
Fiji

So what do you guys think?

For far to long we've all sat back and watched the union boys take the 7's credit, but from what i can see there is no reason why we can't get a credable circuit up and running.

 

[Ronnie_7_old]

I think that it would be good but not too sure on the Fiji stop-over not that I can think of any other place. Oh wait maybe the U.S. expand the game there.

 

[Northern_Union]

the fifth event could be a revolving one in which the emerging nations get to host an event while the four others are set in stone as the money makers.

 

[playdaball_old]

I think that $ would prevent it from happenin g as well as clubs not releasing players. I would still love to see the old RL 7s tournament in Sydney.

 

[Northern_Union]

We need something for our game!!!

Union is killing us with there international tournements, outside of the big three and france no one else gets any decent international coverage.

If the sevens got off the ground they could also look to the commonwealth games. Teams would/could be -

New Zealand
Australia
England
Scotland
Wales
Ireland
Cook Islands
Nuie
Samoa
Tonga
P.N.G
Fiji

Now from what i know of the commonwealth games, to be eligible you have to have a minimum of 7 independant sovern nations playing your sport. Above i have named 12 nations with genuine demestic competions so a genuine push for sevens league to be included in the commonwealth games would be a real chance.

 

[JonB_old]

Its not good copying uninion with everything it does.
FRom a business point of veiw you are not offering anything different froam an already established rugby event i don't think it would work.

 

[Northern_Union]

unions been copying league for 100 years.

As for not offering anything new....this is brand new and aimed at a LEAGUE people and growing the game.

If you look at whats happened with the super 14 then you can't help but say that a copy cat event by league would work because the super 14 is modeled on the NRL.

Also, on top of the league people that will attend you'll also get the curious union followers coming for a look not to mention people that know very little about either game wanting to find out more.

 

[Ronnie_7_old]

Yeah. Bottom line is, wether we 'copy' Union or not, that our game needs something else. Wether it be a 7's tournament or a 9's tournament or something else.

 

[Northern_Union]

Yeah. Bottom line is, wether we 'copy' Union or not, that our game needs something else. Wether it be a 7's tournament or a 9's tournament or something else.

Agreed but the bottom line is that over the last 30 to 35 years while league has gone completely insular union has been on an expansive drive of there game and at the moment we can all see the results of what they have done.
We need something besides the tri-series to get us in the papers and on tv and more importantly the emerging nations need something to work towards.

 

[JonB_old]

unions been copying league for 100 years.

As for not offering anything new....this is brand new and aimed at a LEAGUE people and growing the game.

If you look at whats happened with the super 14 then you can't help but say that a copy cat event by league would work because the super 14 is modeled on the NRL.

Also, on top of the league people that will attend you'll also get the curious union followers coming for a look not to mention people that know very little about either game wanting to find out more.

But the problem i have with it is the marketing of it.
Im not sure how you think the super 14 is modelled off the NRL.
League as a game I don't think would suit a 7s style as much as rugby, however it is probaly worth a try.....

 

[Northern_Union]

now before we get into anything here JonB i wasn't having a crack at union when i said the super 14 is modeled on the NRL....after all league comes directly from union.

What i was meaning was the structure of the competion.

Touch and tag are directly copied from league and they are seriously quick so i think a properly policed game from the refs should see a quick game, and for what it's worth quicker than the union 7s game.

 

[JonB_old]

I think they call it a round robin mate, nearly every proffessional or ameture team sport in the world uses some sort of round robin, it looks like you are desperatly clutching at straws champ.
I mean what are they supposed to do get the crusaders to play the Blues 10 times in a row or somthing?
Speed doesn't mean quality either. One of the most penalied games of rugby i have seen produced the best football i have seen.
League 7's in my opinion wouldn't be as free flowing as rugby sevens because of the play of the ball. I could be wrong. I am looking at this analyticaly, despite what RS_Dragon says i am not anit league by any means.

 

[Northern_Union]

hey champ why didn't union stay amature and stay with the NPC ???

have a think about that one and tell me they didn't set up the super 12/14 to combat the NRL.

 

[Esoj_old]

lol you know nothing about history dude. the npc is actually still being played as new zealand's domestic comp except it is now the new zealand cup. some of the players do get paid for sure but lots don't and still hold down a fulltime job as well as play rugby.

The game of rugby went professional in 1995 due to a rival company called World Rugby Corperation threating to ruin the game by getting the players to play in random teams all around the world. the end result was the start of the tri nations and super 12 and rugby players getting paid to play.

before the super 12 there was another competition called the super 10 which was very similar to the super 12. the super 14 as it is now is really just an enhanced version of the super 10 tournament.

League 7s would not work imo. the club game is far to domiant and is even abouve international league at the moment. for league 7's to work some of the better players would have to be available for every tournament on the circuit.

Can you really see the likes of the tigers releasing benji marshall every couple of weeks to play in a seven's comp or the cowboys releasing matty bowen to play. some clubs don't even release players for international games at the moment at the end of the nrl season so why would they during the season.

and why look onto something new when the current international game is not up to scratch either. get international league up to standard first before dreaming up pie in the sky tournaments.

and when would this circuit be played the clubs are already complaining the season is too long and many are reluctant to release players for the tri nations let alone a 7's comp that would have to be played either during the nrl season or in january feburary right when clubs are in pre-season training. there is no way a union type 7's circuit would work due the window the comp would have to be played in. it could be done in january i guess but you could only have 3 events one in england one in aus and one in nz. beyond those 3 you have to factor into additonal travel time and get the clubs to agree as it would start eating into feburary with more than 3 events. als the crowds and interest are likely to be the biggest in these countries plus the super 14 hasn't started yet so the 7's would be without competition.

I would love to see a league version of the union 7's as it is great to see different skills and future stars of the game coming through. the other advantage to having it in january is that some clubs would release some players to play proabbly which would be good to get people interesteed otherwise they won't turn up to watch nobodies in the first few years. later on after maybe a few years the 7's players will be knowen from playing seven's and also from playing in comps like jersey flegg reducing the need to have guys like andrew johns playing in the comp and risking injury before the real competition starts. this concept I think needs a bit more thought into it.

 

[Ronnie_7_old]

Well since we're going on about not enough time in the season and stuff i know that there use to be a little league 7's comp like a one off maybe it would be good to go that way. A weekend club one. Not just the NRL but also the ESL and any other small nations that would like to stick in a team. It could be run about mid or late January just when then teams are starting training again or just after they have started. It could start on a Friday and end on a Saturday like the Welly 7's. It could be moved each year from place to place. Clubs wouldnt have to necessaily release their top players, it could be used as a sort of trial for trial matches. wouldn't it be great to see a Warriors side play a Bradford Bulls side or a Cook Islands National side.
Marketing oint of view could simply be coming from an angel where you finall get to see ESL and NRL go head-to-head along with national teams as well.
I'd pay to see it especially when your dying for some league when it hits January.

 

[Northern_Union]

One thing i think that union has got right is that the top players are registered to the unions and not the clubs which means the IRB can always get the best players to it's events.

It's long over due that control of the game of league is taken away from the NRL and ESL clubs!

The sooner this is done the soon the game of league will grow.

Esoj, didn't the WRC grow out of what was happening with the league world at the time, i seem to remember one of the IRB big wigs saying that he feared union would become a feeder comp for league....maybe i have my facts mixed up there.

 

[Esoj_old]

yes that is what i suggested could work. running it in january and possibly even 3 weeks. I like the idea of getting the esl clubs involved as well. clubs would proabbly be more willing to let some of their better players play if it was just one weekend which would help marketing wise as well. who wouldn't want to see some their team's stars in january before the season started properly.

 

[Esoj_old]

well they both happened around the same time. I think it was more a fear especially from the nzrfu that their top prodcut the all blacks would proabbly be no more.

 

[Ronnie_7_old]

don't forget about what I said about the lesser nations getting involved to that way it would benefit the game as a whole not just make the ESL and NRL stronger (not that one weekend would do it) would also help to get the game more up to speed globally

 

[Esoj_old]

yeah for sure. a weekend event is a lot more doable as well compared to a circuit