The morning after the night before – and the future

As the Rust‘s delegation returns from the Rugby World Cup – one of those expeditions that shall remain long in the memory – the world of rugby union is just beginning to wrestle with the aftermath of a brilliantly-staged tournament and the attendant issues that face the sport, beginning (inevitably) – and probably also ending – with “Where do we go from here?” but including such items as:

Player welfare generally – elite players already play far more games per season than is good for them, this in a context where some rugby-missionaries view “yet more games” as the answer to every issue, both negative and positive, in developing the sport worldwide;

The widely varying spectrum of business models that domestic clubs, franchises and provincial teams have adopted – few of them sustainable given the complications of soaring player wages and the competing priorities of national teams and ‘local’ professional rugby operations;

The different audience appeals of the 15-a-side and 7-a-side versions of the game;

The vast differences in views about the best way forward held by the Southern Hemisphere and its Northern counterpart – chief among these on the concept of a “world rugby” season;

The different priorities of the “Old World order” [turkeys don’t vote for Christmas, do they?] and those in World Rugby who want to drive the global reach and popularity of the game by establishing a level playing field and dealing with the huge inequalities between the ‘haves’ and “have nots”, e.g. by increasing the opportunities for Tier 2 nations to play against their Tier 1 counterparts.

There is plenty of work to do.

Meanwhile, here are links to two pieces in the media from those who have already been considering the future:

Robert Kitson in reflective mode as he departs to return to Blighty, writing on the website of – THE GUARDIAN

Martin Samuel seems to have come up with a scoop, as appears upon the website of the – DAILY MAIL