Aironi

curates_egg says...

All those of you who think moving the Italian franchise to Rome is a silver bullet are sadly deluded - and probably have never been to a match in Viadana.

Aironi at Viadana gets a few thousand fans out for every game. It is hard to think of any other club at any other venue in Italy that would match their impressive turnouts.

Furthermore, the home performances of Aironi this year have been decent. They were robbed a couple of times in the past month (one time they definitely lost because of a refereeing mistake).

The actual core financial problems at Aironi are as follows:

- Parma (one of the clubs that made up the franchise) never delivered a penny of its promised 25% of the funding.

- The club sponsor - Banca Montepaschi - withdrew sponsorship as they are in financial difficulty.

The Italian Federation has said it won't support Aironi financially, as this would be unfair to Treviso. That is an ok argument in theory (although Edinburgh, who are now in the ERC semis, previously received support from the Scottish RFU) but many in Italy wonder if that is the real reason. Apparently, the federation want(ed) to impose some of the Italian coaching staff on Aironi at the end of the season as part of any deal (when Brunel plans a big clear out). There has also been a previous lobby to create a club in Rome....where there is no support base for rugby (if you want empty stadiums, then you will get them).

Lets be realistic: you are not going to get many travelling supporters to a Pro12 match - no matter where it is. You need a solid home support. There is no home support for rugby in Rome. There is arguably no other venue in Italy where you would get a better home support for rugby.

The solution is to reshape the franchise on a more financially sound footing and to properly market the game in the wider Lombardy hinterland.

Of course, that is not likely to happen.

Posted 15:12 12th April 2012

carpelone says...

@Jontheref

;-)

Posted 08:29 10th April 2012

melkdave says...

@Jontheref

Appology accepted, and yes i do think it will be hard for the unions to accept the fact the Pro12 needs a major overhaul.The SRU will surely object as the scottish clubs dont have the resources to campaign on two fronts .The IRFU will object as it would mean their best players actually playing more games(although im sure the fans would love to see more of BOD-POC ect) ,and lets face it the present system works for them .My comment on the welsh clubs that they seem a mix of the scottish and irish .Was that while the Dragons and Ospreys seem to have concentrated on the league this season.The Blues and Scarlets concentrated on the Hieneken cup.As to my agreeing with you comment i seem to remember, that was in regard to how difficult it will be to get rughby into the mainstream of american sports .When you do actually comment on rugby instead of just attacking me I will look at your opinions and if i agree say so .As ive said before i give credit where credit is due .I now hope we can now be cilvalised and openly discuss rugby a sport we both love .Without malice even if we disagree

Posted 15:59 09th April 2012

jontheref says...

melkdave

If you truly have been medically diagnosed with dyslexia, I apologise.

You can always edit your contributions in word, and then copy and paste after spell check.

Going back to your comments.

Yes, many of us have also commented about the HC qualification process from the variousleagues over the years, I did back in the days when Scotland had 2 from 3, when the Borders were still in existance.

At the time, (on 606 before it's demise) I suggested as a start all the places in the Celtic league should be on a first past the post basis, so if there were 3 scottish teams, 4 Irish, and only one Welsh, so be it.

But can you see any of the Unions agreeing to it?

Rather an middle road would have been to guarantee 2 Irish, 2 Welsh and 2 scotiish, and let the others fight it out.

It won't happen though.

The Pro 12 certainly seems to be where the quality is, you only have to look at the last 8 in the HC, and then the last 4 to see that.

As to me being the font of knowledge, I am sorry you seem to hold that position!

As to ignoring me,

"melkdave says...

@Jontheref

Got to agree with you there"

:-)

Only troll around here is you.

Posted 17:24 08th April 2012

melkdave says...

@Jontheref

I was going to ignore you as usual,but as others seem to have seen all you can do is give meaningless comments about my spelling, And seem as deviod of anything construtive on any rugby subject (as usual).. Are you just a TROLL..Im responsding to your oh such enlighting post .So font of all rugby just what is your idea for boosting attendances for league matches for welsh and scottish clubs??Im sure we are all waiting with baited breath for your wisdom??I also wonder if you will be so cocky if the Dragons or Blues are forced to close in the next few years which atm is a disticnt possabilty or if all the current welsh stars are forced to go elsewhere to make a decent living.

As for everyone else i advise just ignoring him as i usually do and yes @Lawynd you are correct i do have a mild form of dyslecia as well as being a very very bad typist.I do hope that i continue to make my opinions readable to most of the community.As for spell check for some unknown reason it just dosent funtion on this site for me

Posted 22:56 07th April 2012

Billybob says...

The pro 12 is not the problem, the problem is how poorly marketed most of the teams are. Munster and Leinster have a good fan base, but thats because of good marketing and central contracting by the IRFU. They just have better marketing strategy to encourage people to go to the games, make them an event out and have a laugh with a few friends rather then just going to see a rugby match. The Scottish and Welsh and Italian teams can fill out all there stadiums for the six nations and for autumn internationals so they clearly have the fans out there its just getting the interest levels of the people that don't follow rugby week in week out. Cardiff were missing 3 players today and they were woeful, I just think it shows how poorly managed and financed the other nations are. Aironi are a new team and it will take years to get them up to a competitive standard, it was only 10 years ago now that there were maybe 3/4/5 thousand people at a Munster Leinster match which had 26,000 only too weeks ago....

Posted 20:37 07th April 2012

lawynd says...

Did any of you stop to think that possibly he's dyslexic or similar? No, didn't think so. Berks.

As it is, I understood the point he's trying to make; snide and supercilious replies are clearly more important than trying to understand a post though. He actually has a valid point; particularly for the Italian teams, and the lowest placed teams in Pro12, there's nothing riding on league games, making them unappealing for fans to attend. Dead rubbers are, generally, not that fun to watch. Whilst the current method of distributing HEC places is fair based on nationality, it does render the domestic competition somewhat moot, and that is definitely having an effect on audiences in Wales, Scotland and Italy, in my opinion too. Feel free to pick apart any lexical gaffes I've made first though, chaps.

Posted 19:51 07th April 2012

jontheref says...

hermes

Yes, I do read what I write.

Dave the whelk does not, and it is mind numbing to see the depths he takes the average intelligence level down to.

Or haven't YOU noticed?

You are just agreeing with what I said, and rather unsuccessfully trying to turn it on it's head!

I asked what he is trying to say regarding the Welsh teams, as he does not make sense.

I doubt he can explain it though, being a Pro 12 hater, which may be what he was trying.

I can make mistakes with the best of them, the whelk takes it to a whole new level.

I wonder if he has the wit to reply him self?

Posted 18:09 07th April 2012

jontheref says...

milk slave

dave the whelk

still can't spell can you?

soon as you can do joined up writing, you might graduate to joined up thinking........

seriously, take a look at what you have written.

It is "enevatable " people will not take yu (sic) seriously if you cannot even use a spell check!

What a profound statement, "While welsh clubs seem to be a mix of the irish and scots ."

Duh. Which mix is that?

They all have numbers on their backs?

Posted 16:20 07th April 2012

papachinzo says...

Sad day... the second Italian place in the pro12, should go to the winner of the super 10 each year.

Posted 13:58 07th April 2012