I would dearly love to see this become a reality for Singapore - nothing would make me happier than to be able to watch my much loved Crusaders at the National Stadium kicking butt and taking names. Sadly though, I think that Japan is a better option - in terms of excitement for the sport, spectator support and general interest. I am not sure yet if Singapore is ready for such a franchise - and fear that it would fall into boring tedium for lack of spectator and citizen involvement. According to the MOE website - there are all of 18 schools in Singapore that offer Rugby as a CCA, most of them Primary Schools (there are over 400 schools in Singapore). The recent World Club Rugby 10s Championship drew a combined two day crowd that was just touching 20,000. Having lived in Singapore for the last 14 years, I simply dont see the excitement for Rugby that would make this a viable option here - dont get me wrong - the facilities, organisation and infrastructure that Singapore can offer are fantastic. What I mean to say is that the grass-roots level of rugby simply isnt present. I remember back to the start of the Super Rugby (yes Im that old) and the excitement in Christchurch that surrounded National Provincial Championship matches - the shield, taking the shield on the road and the overall support. I remember playing rugby at school - in 2012 I went home for a holiday (in June) - driving out at the weekend we went past fields of kids playing Saturday Rugby. Canterbury alone has over 40 Rugby Clubs - SIngapore? Around a dozen - and they dont even have a comprehensive age grade competition. How can a Super Rugby franchise thrive in such an environment? Ive always been of the thought - Build It And they Will Come - using top level excitement to build grass roots involvement I think is a valid strategy - just witness the explosion of interest following the Table Tennis Gold Medal - or what happened to soccer in New Zealand 4 years ago when we were in the World Cup. However in this case I dont feel there is enough mass or interest to even get the ball rolling when it comes to rugby - I think there is a lot of grass-roots level to build first. If I had the opportunity, nothing would make me happier than working to bring the excitement of rugby to more people in Singapore. When I look around at other sports franchises in Singapore - ostensibly for sports that have more of a popular following than Rugby, such as Basketball (SIngapore Slingers) and Soccer (Lions XII) - and I dont see the passion. I went to a Slingers Game last year - and the arena was basically empty - and a great proportion of those that were present seemed to be non local (i.e expats). Soccer enjoys better support - but when I compare what I see from the Lions XII to what I saw with Crusaders (pre Super Championship) there is simply no comparison in terms of passion - and this is basically a national team playing the national sport.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 02:21:47 +0000
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