NewcastleFalcons vs Bath Rugby - Programme - 05/11/2022

FROM THE PRESS BOX
By Mark Smith
Newcastle Falcons media manager
Rugby needs to start thinking differently to attract and retain new
supporters, but my recent suggestion regarding shirt numbers took a right
old battering when I aired it on twitter.
The catalyst was the fact international rugby is finally catching up to the
club game by having names on the back of the players’ shirts during the
autumn internationals – hardly revolutionary, but welcome nonetheless.
My idea was that Premiership clubs move to squad numbers rather than the
traditional 1 to 15, so each player at the start of each season gets their own
squad number, unique to them, with their name and number on display for
each game
Currently the clubs have players numbered 1 to 15 with names, which to
seasoned rugby watchers seems to be the ideal scenario.
On a practical level this means clubs have to name and number hundreds of
additional shirts each season to fit every conceivable selection possibility,
incurring a financial hit at a time when the sport hardly needs it. For a
Ben Stevenson or a Sean Robinson this can mean playing in three or four
different numbers, home and away, so you’re up to six or eight shirts for one
player before you even start accounting for spares.
The finance is a side issue for me, because the real benefit comes from
the marketing and branding opportunities offered up by each player having
their own unique number.
If I see a Newcastle Falcons No.15 shirt am I thinking of Elliott Obatoyinbo,
Tom Penny, Alex Tait, Iwan Stephens, Louie Johnson, Josh Thomas or Nathan
Earle?
It’s currently a lottery, and there’s no immediate association between the
shirt number and the player wearing it.
“Ah, actually last week’s 15 is wearing 10 today, and last week’s 10 is wearing
12 today, and last week’s 12 is in 13, and 11 and 14 have swapped shirts too.”
At a time when we need to be attracting new supporters it just feels like an
unnecessary barrier.
The main argument on twitter was that people want to know what position
someone is playing in, but in this ultra-professional era the issue of set roles
is somewhat of a misnomer, other than at the set-piece. Even then, you’ll
get No.8s packing down at blindside flanker and fly-halves defending on
the wing at a scrum, while the line-out often sees wingers at the front and
flankers at half-back.
In general play you get props jackalling, wingers in at scrum-half, fly-halves
standing at full-back and hookers putting in a cheeky grubber, and are we
really asking rugby newbies to learn all 15 positional roles by heart before
they can feel part of it?
It’s time to let go of this out-dated notion that the number on your back
dictates the limitations of your role, and if existing rugby supporters are the
only people upset by the change, then that’s fine.
It’s the new guys that we need to draw in, and if that means simplifying
things by allowing Ben Stevenson to wear a No.45 shirt for the entire
season, then so be it.
Let’s have a ‘Stevo45’ range in the club shop, change his Instagram handle
to @stevo45 and get it on his boots.
On its own I’m not pretending it’s the answer to rugby’s problems, but at a
point when we need new eyeballs on the sport we need to be more open in
our thinking.
“Oh I really liked that Falcons No.15 last week.”
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