Rugby Rebels a winner

By Ben Hope
THE latest addition to Super 15 Rugby, the Melbourne Rebels will have a positive impact on the game in Victoria, according to Endeavour Hills Rugby Union Club president Ashley White.
“The introduction of the Melbourne Rebels team will do what the success of the Melbourne Storm did for rugby league and what the Melbourne Victory has done for soccer in Victoria,” White said.“It can only have a positive impact by giving kids more options and attracting more players to the sport.”
White said the introduction of a Melbourne-based Super 15 team would also provide an incentive for Victoria’s interstate players to return and play for their home state.
“Most of our younger players from the Australian Schoolboys side moved interstate to join development teams but only signed a one year contract,” White said. “It is these players that I would expect would be looking at returning to Victoria now that we have our own Super 15 team. For our younger players, the team will give them something to work towards, seeing local guys making it into the state team.”
White said spectators would also reap the benefits of the home side.
“Die-hard rugby supporters would go out of their way to watch games one way or another, but now we have the opportunity to watch the games in a local venue,” White said.
“It also gives the kids something to emulate, there is nothing like having your own, local Super 15 team.”
The new club was formed after Australian Rugby Union (ARU) handed control of the new Melbourne Super Rugby team to the Melbourne Rebels consortium, headed by majority owner and media and communications millionaire Harold Mitchell.
The home for the Rebels will be the 31,000 capacity Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, expected to be officially opened 7 May this year with the Anzac day Rugby League test match between Australia and New Zealand.
The franchise’s hunt for talent has already begun and last Wednesday Mitchell announced the Rebels had signed former Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen as the team’s inaugural coach with former Sydney University coach Damien Hill as his assistant.
The Rebels have also already approached several NRL’s players including North Queensland Cowboys star Jonathan Thurstan and former Melbourne Storm and current Brisbane Bronco’s star Israel Folau to be part of their inaugural 30-man playing roster.
ARU managing director and CEO John O’Neill said the Victorian rugby community had been crying out for consistent high level rugby and there was a market for rugby in Melbourne. “There have been 13 Tests in Melbourne since 1997 with an average crowd of 49,966,” O’Neill said. “Those statistics alone help highlight the potential for a Super Rugby team to succeed and prosper on and off the field in Melbourne.”
The Melbourne Rebels will be the fifth Australian team in the Super 15 competition, joining NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds, Western Force and the Brumbies for the 2011 season. The competition also includes five New Zealand and five South African teams.