Magners League is simply the best
As it is, the Magners League is not a well known tournament throughout the world, but with firm foundations in place Marcus Leach believes it has the potential to become the world's best.
As it is, the Magners League is not a well known tournament throughout the world, but with firm foundations in place Marcus Leach believes it has the potential to become the world's best.
Unless you live in the United Kingdom you would be forgiven for thinking that the Magners League is a cider drinking competition held in Ireland every year. It is in fact the world's most competitive professional rugby league.
The trouble is that is it's own worst enemy at times, at least until now. The arguments against the Magners League are plentiful, but it seems those charged with running the show have finally taken heed and moved to counter them.
First and foremost the league has been ridiculed for having a lack of competition – no play-offs and no danger of relegation ensured that reputation stuck. But with the introduction of play-offs, as of next season, the competitive edge will be greater.
Teams languishing in fifth and sixth will no longer field half-hearted sides once they resign themselves to being out of the championship battle. It will no longer be about the top three or four sides, it will be a league that inspires every team.
“It will maintain interest in the league through to the end of the year. Without relegation there is not a lot of jeopardy, but I believe the play-offs will fix that,” Magners League Director David Jordan said.
Even those not in the play-off mix know their European qualification is based on the final standings, and I don't need to tell you just how lucrative a Heineken Cup place is in comparison to a season in the European Challenge Cup.
But it goes beyond that. If you take the top four regular season tournaments in the world, the Super 14, Top 14, Guinness Premiership and Magners League there is only one winner – the Magners League. And this is not a one-eyed opinion to support my argument, it is based on hard facts.
An in-depth report from Stuart Farmer Media Services revealed some startling findings, all of which highlight just how competitive the Magners League is becoming.
For starters the Magners League boasted the highest proportion of Test players in any of the top four leagues worldwide. In every match-day squad of twenty-two there was an average of 10.8 fully-capped Test players, in comparison to 9.5 in the Guinness Premiership, 8.5 in the Top 14 and 8.3 in the Super 14.
When you look at the calibre of players recruited this season it is far to say that number is set to rise again. With the likes of CJ van der Linde, Rocky Elsom, David Lyons, Isa Nacewa, BJ Botha, Tom Willis and James Arlidge now plying their trade in the Magners League you get a taste of where the league is heading.
These are not mercenaries, or washed-up internationals looking for one final pay cheque, they are recognised internationals at the top of their game. Further to that most have turned down the chance of winning more Test caps in favour of heading north. If that doesn't say something about the standard of this league I don't know what does.
Crowds are on the up. last season's average attendance was 6,791 Рit doesn't sound that great, but it was the fourth consecutive season in which this figure has grown. League champions Leinster's average gate of 14,361 in 2007-08 was only bettered in European rugby by three teams РStade Fran̤ais, Toulouse and Leicester Tigers.
Taking a closer look at the past winners of the four tournaments it was interesting to see that only the Magners League has produced the highest number of winners in the shortest time. In the tournament's opening six years we saw five different winners – Leinster, Munster, the Scarlets, the Ospreys and Ulster.
Compare that to France and the Top 14, where it took seventeen years (in its various forms), England where it took thirteen years, and the Super 14 which has only seen four different winners in it's thirteen-year existence.
One must only look at the squads being assembled to realise this league is the world's best, and will continue to grow each year. Players are seeing the potential already, why else would we see top British internationals sign four-year contracts on a regular basis?
These players are good enough to go elsewhere, to other leagues, but instead they are happy where they are, safe in the knowledge that it doesn't get much better. Yes the Super 14 may produce more tries, but with an average winning margin of just 11.13 points the Magners League is the most competitive.
And as a player you want to be playing in an environment that will challenge you on a regular basis, after all, this is a stepping stone for Test selection. What better way then than to be playing against fellow internationals on a weekly basis, which is exactly what will happen this season.
With the season format also set to change next year we will see Magners League games played at times that allow every side to have their full complement of Test players. Gone will be the days of teams deprived of their big-name players, as well as gates and standards down as a consequence.
Finally the organisers are seeing what can be achieved here, albeit a little later than the rest of the world's leading tournaments, and with a little fine-tuning they will have the perfect product to market.
But with the foundations firmly in place you can rest assured that it is only a matter of time before the Magners League is recognised on a global scale as being the world's premier regular season tournament.
By Marcus Leach