Will rugby modernisation plans go through or will they get the red card? | Andy Bull
New Zealand chief executive Mark Robinson wants rugby union to reinvent itself with the game’s future up for grabs
Modern rugby union turned 30 last month. It was in the autumn of 1994 that Louis Luyt, president of the South African Rugby Union, announced that the game would turn professional after his country had hosted the World Cup the following year. Luyt was the first significant figure in the sport to say out loud what everyone else was only talking about in whispers. He was right. It took another 12 months, the actual anniversary of the International Rugby Board meeting at which the decision to go pro was made falls next August, but once Luyt had opened the box there was no closing it again.
Thirty years is no time. Rugby is at once so old that no one’s even quite sure exactly when it was first played, and so young that it’s still figuring out what it wants to be when it grows up. “We’re still very new relative to a lot of other professional sports,” says Mark Robinson, the chief executive of New Zealand Rugby. Robinson, who played nine Tests for the All Blacks in the early 2000s, has been their CEO since 2020. He has been doing the rounds this week, shuttling between interviews and meetings in advance of the World Rugby Council meeting in Dublin on 14 November, when he, and the other powers that be, will debate the game’s best next steps.
Continue reading...-
Weah 'moved on' from red card in Copa elimination
Sports - ESPN - 3 days ago -
Where do Welsh rugby and Gatland go from here?
Top stories - BBC News - 3 days ago -
England need to reset after Pakistan’s dynamic spin duo offer reality check | Andy Bull
World - The Guardian - October 26 -
Smith substitution leaves England wondering what might have been | Andy Bull
World - The Guardian - November 3 -
England’s excess of errors are costing them dear – and South Africa are up next | Andy Bull
World - The Guardian - November 10 -
Bulls are showing positive signs, but what exactly is their plan?
Sports - Yahoo Sports - November 4 -
Why it’s not too late to join the gold and bitcoin rush
Business - MarketWatch - 5 days ago -
One of the Best Marketers on the Planet Could Be Ryan Reynolds. Or Maybe Red Bull?
Business - Inc. - October 25
More from The Guardian
-
US and Israel reject ICC warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest – Middle East live
World - The Guardian - 15 minutes ago -
Matt Gaetz withdraws his nomination to be Trump’s attorney general – live
World - The Guardian - 14 minutes ago -
Ukraine claims Russia fired intercontinental ballistic missile at Dnipro
World - The Guardian - 5 hours ago -
First close-up image of a star outside Milky Way shows supergiant in ‘cocoon’
World - The Guardian - 3 hours ago -
British lawyer is fifth person to die in suspected methanol poisoning in Laos
World - The Guardian - 1 hour ago