Loose Pass: The sound voice amid ‘astonishing’ R360 ‘drivel’ as sporting drama delivers its ‘absolute best’
Gloucester boss George Skivington spoke well recently.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the re-invention of wheels and extraordinary finales…
Where does it all lead?
If ever you needed an idea of the confused state of rugby union at the current juncture, you should do little more than summarise some of the soundbites of administrators – not to mention would-be administrators – of the past few days.
On the same day the last Loose Pass went to its e-press last week, the soulless ghoul of R360 that currently haunts the game once again let loose a hollow wail proclaiming its readiness to take possession of the game’s flesh and blood and lead it to new and unexplored corners of greatness, both on and off the pitch.
This despite a large number of experienced media experts and administrators dismissing the projections of all sorts of aspects, not least revenue, in their investment sales pitch deck as ‘challenging’ at best – ‘crazy’ was another word used – and despite their decision to defer application for sanctioning from World Rugby until next June because of an inability to answer a number of questions from the governing body.
But regardless. ‘Change!’ screamed the marketeers. ‘Tear it up!’ ‘Make it new!’ ‘Down with tradition!’ ‘Here’s to the glamour!’ Et cetera.
Four days later, the boot was somewhat on the other foot. The Rugby Championship in the crosshairs this time, but not to be replaced with something fabricated or shiny or new, rather to be replaced by the return of one of the game’s most-forgotten but traditional features: the inbound tour.
And now the English Premiership. That one that used to be the Courage League, but became the Premiership (but had a separate play-off to determine the Championship too because nobody could decide if a play-off was a viable decider of greatness or not), that then became just the Premiership, then the Aviva Premiership, then the Gallagher Premiership and then, as was revealed this week with much trumpeting and snazzy colours (a rather vomitous shade of orange is particularly prominent), simply the Gallagher Prem. Why the loss of the ‘-ership’? Well – and get this from Premiersh-, sorry, Prem Rugby’s Head of Growth – “The vernacular is important. People already call it the Gallagher Prem and we wanted to reflect that. It needed to be punchier. There was a sense we needed to modernise and be less formal and less establishment.”
Ahh good. That’s why enthusiasm has waned over the years, because the vernacular was not punchy enough. And now the level below has been renamed the Champ (it really has), that’ll sort out all the travails the clubs there are going through after multiple funding cuts and the ongoing threat of the ring-fencing of the top tier. Champing at the bit has just been imbued with new meaning, especially when you consider that this is that same spokesperson’s take on promotion and relegation: “There’s a Victorian interest in promotion and relegation… I think it’s old school. If you want the sport to grow you need to grow the conditions for ambition and investment,” he said, magnificently failing to acknowledge that the removal of promotion from the equation somewhat dumbs down that aspect of ambition. What bits, exactly, will some of those teams be Champing at?
But there you have it. One lot trying to re-invent the game completely, another lot trying to return it to past glories in a contemporary setting, another lot trying to dress the same thing up in a brightly-coloured package, rather like one of those energy drink cans that blind you from shelves in supermarkets. Maybe a response to the entry of Red Bull into the game? Who knows?
There was also this from Gloucester’s director of rugby George Skivington a couple of weeks ago, which, put up against some of the astonishing drivel spouted by those who would re-invent the game (we’re not overstating this, R360 really did commission a propaganda report for their mission entitled Reinventing Rugby) sounds increasingly like an isolated voice of common sense among all the crazed bluster: “I’ve got a little bit of a view that we’ve got a great game, great people in the game and the product is good, we should always be ambitious to grow the game but I think people want us to be something we’re not sometimes.”
“We could talk a little bit more about how good the game is, what it is and maybe this is what it is. Rugby is rugby and we should celebrate it rather than, ‘it’s not good enough, we should be doing this’. Some people forget it’s good in my opinion. We could celebrate a little bit more. If our level of crowd is 15,000 supporters through the season, OK, let’s have 15,000 really good supporters who love the game and that is what it is.”
The bonds and love of those 15,000 are built up over time, sometimes over generations. They rely on history, geographical connections, shared memories and personal interactions. They do not rely on bright colours, punchy vernacular, international glamour shows, nor do those three things guarantee a good game on the pitch.
It’s ironic that all this candyfloss is currently twirled around the stick of a game which, on the pitch, is in a good moment. This year’s Rugby Championship is one of the best for a long time, the Premiership has reached an on-pitch level of quality perhaps never seen before (some defence coaches might disagree, mind). The last World Cup was a belter. Skivington has a really good point and makes it well.
Any room for any more weirdness? Ok, one more: you’ll remember that we’re in an era when the laws of the game continue to be tweaked and scripted so as to ensure more tries, more skills, more exhilarating running, more flow and less dangerous contact, particularly to the head? You’ll also remember that rumbling around in the background the entire game is facing an era-defining class action lawsuit about concussion? Here’s that Premiershi-, sorry, Prem Rugby guy again: “We are going to focus on physicality and intensity. On something more raw and the real athleticism that makes rugby unique. It’s a physical game and we’re very unapologetic about that. We’re putting the building blocks in place to really tell that story.”
Does anybody know what rugby is any more?
The grandest finale ever?
You see, if you wait long enough, normally the game gives you what you want without even asking. The Griquas took the Currie Cup on Saturday, winning the game with the last kick against the Lions, who had taken the lead just two minutes prior.
That’s nowhere near the full story. Sometimes you can only watch and feel and let your eyes go wide. Sporting drama at its absolute best and not a single marketeer in sight – although the TMO did its bit.
If you give sport time and love, it will always deliver.
The drama starts in earnest at around 5.31