Stuff/Sydney Morning Herald:
"The commercial deal between RA and NZ Rugby hasn’t yet been agreed but is likely the game will mostly, if not always, be staged in Australia as one of its home Bledisloe Tests.
The massive windfall made by hosting the match in Australia will be equally split.
NZ Rugby now also have the ability to take some All Blacks tests offshore but given the special nature of the Anzac Day test, it is not likely this one would be played the US, Asia or Europe."
So we take one game from the 2nd half of the year and add it to the first half of the year?
Rad
My personal opinion is this is just crass commercialisation and I'm disappointed NZR have agreed to this suggestion pushed by RA.
In fact if you're going to do this for cash, why not take it offshore for the most coin you can get?
@antipodean said in Super Rugby - The Future:
In fact if you're going to do this for cash, why not take it offshore for the most coin you can get?
Optics
It's driven by the Aussies.
Australian state governments will pay for the game.
Meaning that the game will probably always be in Aus.
The clincher seems to have been that the revenue will probably be a 50/50 split.
Some of that Aus state govt money going to NZR, tick that.
NZR has always been keen on getting more OS cash for OS games (looking at England there).
The AFL and NRL are already into Anzac Day bigtime.
Hitching their commercial interests to a solemn national event.
Makes my skin crawl a bit.
Especially the NRL!
When WW1 started, Aus rugby union closed down all its competitions, and all the senior players enrolled in the forces.
Rugby league didn't do that, and played on.
By the end of the war, rugby union was essentially non-existent in Australia.
Nice job by rugby league.
And that's why league is the dominant rugby code in Aus.
At least an Aus v NZ rugby game will also be a national occasion, unlike an AFL/NRL "club" game.
@mohikamo my clubs ANZAC service each year remindes us there were 90 senior men enrolled when WWII started, one of our most famous member stan bisset MC OAM was away with the wallabies tour to the UK, 88 of the 90 enrolled (other two too old or young) and 28 never returned.
Stan boarded the boat expecting to go on a rugny tour and walked off to the tour having been abandonded and signed up then and there, for us and im sure many other clubs there wasnt anyone to even play
[mod edit - moved from another thread]
Not sure if this is the right spot .... SMH headline reporting its all systems go for the ANZAC Day 2027 Bledisloe M\match. Behind a paywall and i dont have a subscription. Anzac Bledisloe finally set for green light after crucial Rennie support https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/anzac-bledisloe-finally-set-for-green-light-after-crucial-rennie-support-20260506-p5zu5b.html
And just now saw it on Stuff https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360975064/anzac-bledisloe-cup-test-gets-green-light-after-support-all-blacks-coach-dave-rennie
I make no bones I strongly dislike the idea. But that me, Anzac day to me is or should be the most important day in our country, and selling it off just doesn't sit right. It's not an Anzac test either unless it played between Australia and NZ army corps, you know what Anzac actually means. Other thing is super finally starting to turn corner and we have a break for a test against wallabies ? Give me strength!
I will say , I saw on 'between the posts' or some such show last year when Kirk got the chairman's job at NZR, Phil Waugh was asked with Kirk being an Aussie cttizen did he think the chances of this happening was up.
So it's totally believable that the test coaches will be totally fine with playing the first test of the year on 5 days of prep and they totally aren't taking test players out of the round before as well. Right?
@mariner4life this is just the left field thinking that Super Rugby needs to capture and maintain an audience.
Can we just stop playing games in the USA? It's an absolute basket case of a country and it's not a market we are ever going to crack in any meaningful way. All it does is screw over the actual fans that fill the coffers every year.
@No-Quarter said in An ANZAC Bledisloe?:
Can we just stop playing games in the USA? It's an absolute basket case of a country and it's not a market we are ever going to crack in any meaningful way. All it does is screw over the actual fans that fill the coffers every year.
At least in Japan it's a market that is full of NZ players now, and we should foster great economic rugby ties with them rather than the US
@mariner4life said in An ANZAC Bledisloe?:
So it's totally believable that the test coaches will be totally fine with playing the first test of the year on 5 days of prep and they totally aren't taking test players out of the round before as well. Right?
That's a blast from the past.
That is how it was in the amateur days.
@Kiwiwomble
Local sports clubs recognising the legacy of wartime service is not the issue.
It's contemporary professional sports entities using the public emotions surrounding that legacy to accumulate some extra revenue that is the issue.
Australian rugby (union) has more right to do that than any other sports code.
Except for in Sydney, WW1 ended rugby union in Australia.
A lot of local rugby clubs couldn't commemorate the wartime service of their members because they had ceased to exist.
Rugby union only began to revive in the rest of Australia in the late 1920's.
And in country NSW and Qld, where it had been strong, it only revived in the period after WW2.
Australia didn't play an official test match from 1914 to 1929.
Local sports clubs recognising the legacy of wartime service is not the issue.
It's contemporary professional sports entities using the public emotions surrounding that legacy to accumulate some extra revenue that is the issue.
That is what I am very uncomfortable with. I just think Anzac day and what it means is our most sacred day, and not keen on it being sold.
I know it maybe old fashioned etc, but just money isn't or shouldn't be end all. well in my opinion anyway.
@Dan54 said in An ANZAC Bledisloe?:
That is what I am very uncomfortable with. I just think Anzac day and what it means is our most sacred day, and not keen on it being sold.
I know it maybe old fashioned etc, but just money isn't or shouldn't be end all. well in my opinion anyway.
I agree.
But when you see what has happened in Australia, I can understand why the ARU feels obligated to get involved.
Especially when rugby union has a closer affiliation with the military than the other codes.
The AIF had an excellent team in 1919 (they had a win over an equally excellent NZ team).
The team was kept together and had an unbeaten tour of Aus when they got home.
And that is considered one of the reasons that rugby (union) wasn't completely extinguished in Aus.
Not just Anzac day either, pro sports are real quick to jump at any opportunity to get on a national event bandwagon
@mohikamo i wasn't suggesting we do it so pro sports should, was building on your point about how local clubs were decimated by war
the only thing i think we should consider, the only thing worse than commercialising ANZAC day would be for it to purely be a dawn service and then forgotten about, i think there is some beauty in celebrating the freedoms those people fought for after you have shown your respects, and i have softened after talking to old mates who told me that fi there wasnt a series of things going on during the day they would just be going home, often alone
I find it odd that now that there's a test match we're getting complaints about it happening on Anzac when we just went through a Super Round that had a focus on Anzac, and league basically spends the entire weekend going deep in Anzac.
Realistically, the sports are pretty respectful about Anzac, and for some, the pre-game will be their main acknowledgement as they wouldn't have got up for the dawn services.
@Nepia said in An ANZAC Bledisloe?:
I find it odd that now that there's a test match we're getting complaints about it happening on Anzac when we just went through a Super Round that had a focus on Anzac, and league basically spends the entire weekend going deep in Anzac.
Realistically, the sports are pretty respectful about Anzac, and for some, the pre-game will be their main acknowledgement as they wouldn't have got up for the dawn services.
Yep we have always played on Anzac, but I don't like it being used as the marketing tool, and only reason for game. I know Aussie have used it as money spinner for a few years, and they pretend they are doing it to pay respects. Wheel out a few old fellas play the Last Post etc, then shoving them back where they come from. Have a bit of a game. They really want to be respectful of Anzac, play army teams , as that what Anzac actually is.
If holding a Bledisloe Test in late April next year genuinely helps Dave Rennie and his coaches with their World Cup preparations, then I'm all for it.
If it doesn't; then this is nothing but a marketing gimmick and we've had far too many of those in recent years.
@No-Quarter said in An ANZAC Bledisloe?:
actual fans
So AB fans that live in the states aren't actual fans? That's a bit rough. I've got a couple of mates who fly to the other side of the country for AB games (or even make ill-fated trips to London just to watch the ABs play South Africa at twickers).
Not condoning the idea, but that's a bad call.
This would have been an awesome idea 20 years ago - before ANZAC Day had been too commercialised and the competition between the two countries was closer. The fact it is a genuine Aus vs NZ matchup too would have added to the occasion.
But now, it looks like a belated cash grab.
I think commercial cash grab first and foremost given both RU's need the $$'s and secondly it's also an attempt to to raise the profile of union when so many people in Oz, especially younger generations, are only aware of league, afl and/or soccer. Not sure an annual test game will sway the latter away from their preferred sports but if a good % of the revenue from the game are put towards grass roots and development purposes in both countries then it's a good thing.
My main resistance at the moment is I just don't want us to lose the Bledisloe ever.
Regardless, this is a great pic! 
ABC online.
@allblacksfan2 said in An ANZAC Bledisloe?:
My main resistance at the moment is I just don't want us to lose the Bledisloe ever.
haha
you started off with very big thoughts; and finished with a very small and personal one!
it wont just be a money raiser in Aus, it'll be profile raiser for the whole sport
anzac day sport is huge in aus now
a competitive test match, Aus v NZ in rugby union, will be up against :
Eastern Suburbs v St George in the NRL
and
Essendon v Collingwood in the AFL
What really sells it is that the AFL and NRL might actually notice it, and not like it!
