 Let's be clear that rugby is played in winter because cricket is played in summer. The southern hemisphere borrowed this summer/winter tradition, simply reversing the months owing to the fact they are upside down.
It is an annoying little quirk left over from British public school traditions in the 19th century. Allowing schoolboys to play both games obviously removes the trouble of choosing favourites. It also explains why in Britain's ancient universities, still in the 21st century, winning both rugby and cricket blues signifies the all rounder: the sort of chap who mucks in whatever the weather.
But rugby internationals are now more common. Players travel much more. The travel is not only inter-county, either, but between continents. This is great, I'm definitely not complaining. But the summer/winter splint still means it is impossible (I'm talking outside of World Cup years) to match the cycles of northern and southern hemisphere seasons. One team is always fresher and one winding down.
My table shows one factor that will influence a global season: rainfall and specifically rlative rainfall. The advantage of not looking at the absolute mm of water is more objective views of rainfall within each country relative to the other rugby-playing nations.
It includes the capital cities of nine countries: Britain, France and Italy representing the Six Nations; the southern hemisphere tri-nations of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand; plus three countries likely to become top flight rugby nations soon: Argentina, Japan and America.
Take January as an example. The UK gets 49 mm of rain in January. Wet? Actually, not that wet. It is less than half the rain in South Africa: Jo'burg gets 123 mm of rain in January. Average rainfall over 9 countries during January is 77mm. In other words, relative rainfall tells us the UK actually gets 63% of typical rugby-playing nation rainfall (49mm/77mm). South Africa gets 160% (123mm/77mm).
Northern hemisphere nations are less wet than the south. Total rainfall is only two-thirds (63%) versus 9 rugby-playing nations overall. However, the rain is unyielding. It drizzles consistently through the year. For the poor souls living in the northern hemisphere this is bad news. The good news is the northern hemisphere can be more flexible when they play rugby: it's going to rain whenever.
Australia sees more relative rain in early months of the year: January to March. So that's a good time to tour. Or, it's a good time to host touring nations from rainier countries.
South African rainfall is volatile. Outside of the coastal cities it almost disappears in July and August. Bone-dry pitches appear. (At the same time, by contrast, New Zealand is bucketing, which could help to explain why the All Blacks tend to under-perform in South Africa during the Tri-Nations which is played in July/August.) In short, July and August are not good times for touring involving South Africa.
Japan is the nation with the heaviest rainfall. Most tends to be later in the year, however.
Conclusions
This is not easy. But based on rainfall above there is one obvious and fair conclusion for the IRB to give due consideration. Follow simplicity and start the global rugby season on January 1, New Years Day. It should end domestically about 30 weeks later and internationally about 40 weeks later. With this start-in-January season Australia will have to handle somewhat more rain during the Jan-Feb-Mar window. Japan and New Zealand have to handle more rain in the Apr-May-Jun period. Generally the northern hemisphere will have to handle more rain earlier in the season too. So there are swings & roundabouts.
This re-arrangement means internationals can be played in two consistent times per year (the same frequency as present). The first round will occur close to the beginning of the global season, February or March. There will have been a few first-class games but not so many to tire players.
The next round of internationals will follow the closing of the 3N and 6N. Both of these tournaments will be played at the same time of the year, around August/ September. Both will be the culmination of their respective domestic seasons. And both will be followed by the second and final bundle of internationals. This second round of internationals, like the first round which saw all the players at the beginning of the season, will see players at identical times of their season - the end and (theoretically) their strongest.
Two or three months rest will follow the end of the global season in October/November. This will be less for international-standard players. It will, however, occur at identical times in both northern and southern hemispheres. to summarise:
January: Domestic season starts
February: Domestic season + first round of internationals
March: Domestic season + first round of internationals (contd.)
April: Domestic season
May: Domestic season
June: Domestic season
July: Domestic season ending + start 6N/3N
August: End of 6N/3N
September: Start second round of internationals
October: End second round of internationals
November: (rest)
December: (rest) |
