The All Blacks perform the haka during the World Cup in a game against Tonga. Photo / Photosport
The All Blacks perform the haka during the World Cup in a game against Tonga. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT
When World Rugby were caught secretly trying to create a competition exclusively for the commercially elite, most of the indignation that ensued related to the exclusion of the Pacific Islands.
When World Rugby scrambled a different version that had Fiji as part of the 12-team mix and promises of a meaningful second tier competition being built with a promotion and relegation feature to give Samoa and Tonga a credible future, there was mild optimism that for once the Island nations may not be royally shafted.
But here we are now and the future for the Island nations looks almost bleaker than it ever has.
Confirmation has come that there will be no Fijian team in the new version of Super Rugby when it starts in 2021.
New Zealand Rugby pushed hard for a Pacific team to enter but the economics could never be made to stack up.
It costs around NZ$12 million to run a Super Rugby team and New Zealand's teams, through a combination of sponsors and gate revenue cover about half their costs, with broadcast revenue paying for the rest.
A Fijian team was deemed highly unlikely to raise even $1 million in sponsorship and the lift in broadcast revenue should they be included in Super Rugby, would be negligible.
Hence the decision was made to say no and while rugby fans around the world will lament that rejection, Sanzaar would have been fiscally irresponsible in the extreme had it agreed to a Fijian team entering the competition.
The romantics would have loved it but the bean counters, who we all know rule the world these days, would have been warning of a potential collapse of the entire competition had the licence been granted.
Fijian players celebrate beating France at the Stade de France in 2018. Photo / Photosport
With the Super Rugby door slammed in their face, Fiji still had the hope of the League of Nations being their saviour.
But the chances of this 12-team league ever getting the go-ahead have dropped from slim to less than slim unless everyone can agree that there won't be promotion and relegation.
That, however, will end up being a Sophie's Choice of sorts for the Pacific Islands where, if the teams are locked in for the proposed 12 years, it will secure the long-term future of Fiji as a Tier One test nation, able to enjoy the massive cash windfalls that will come with inclusion, while condemning Samoa and Tonga to a life of second tier poverty and uncertainty.
Perhaps it would be a victory of some kind to have Fiji sat at the top table but the prospect of that happening is still highly unlikely as the League of Nations just doesn't appeal as a genuine option if there is no attached promotion/relegation.
Some will continue to berate the Six Nations for their refusal to bend on this issue and accuse them of paranoid self-interest and effectively killing the Pacific dream.
But this is a competition whose origins go back to the 19th century and its careful and respectful observation of tradition has been a huge part in making it what it has become.
Five of the six teams have invested millions in their respective stadia and so much of the value of the Six Nations is tied to its depth of history and the certainty of the routine.
The real villain in regards to killing Pacific Island aspirations continues to be Sanzaar.
It is 23 years since Super Rugby and the Tri Nations launched and in that whole period Sanzaar has been happy to expand and contract their competitions as the mood takes them without ever once inviting any team from the Pacific Islands.
And now with the respective coffers of the four member unions worryingly empty they are looking to the North to compromise a tournament they have nurtured for almost 140 years on the somewhat flimsy argument it is all for the greater good of the world game.
Julian Savea and Ardie Savea of New Zealand share a laugh with Faifili Levave of Samoa after the Pasifika Challenge test in 2017. Photo / Photosport
Sanzaar has not actively pushed the line that it is the Six Nations' responsibility to provide a home for the Pacific Islands, but they won't be unhappy that the blame for excluding Fiji, Samoa and Tonga from a meaningful test football sits, in the eyes of the world's media, with the North as it seemingly does.
If Sanzaar had something as precious as the Six Nations, they would not be voting for League of Nations relegation either and what should be dawning on the Southern Hemisphere is that their aspiration should be to build something that becomes as valuable as the Six Nations.
As part of that realisation they have to accept that in the longer term, they stand a better chance of building something compelling by including rather than excluding the Pacific Islands.
Fans want to see more of the Pacific Island nations not less – which is why there was such outrage when the initial League of Nations excluded all three of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Fans want these three sides have access to their best players and some kind of parity in resource to train and condition to the same level as everyone else.
And ultimately broadcasters, who are the single biggest source of revenue in rugby, need to give consumers what they want and the value of any TV deal is tied to the demand of the product.
Most importantly, what the Sanzaar nations have to realise is that if and most likely when the League of Nations collapses, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are going to be back to where they have always been – excluded and without hope of a better future.
It will be Sanzaar's responsibility alone to find a way to give the Pacific Island nations the futures they deserve.
