Perth uses interest created by tournament as springboard to greater union role

The Western Australian Rugby Union has never been the fastest-moving administrative body in world sport - more didgeridoo than kangaroo, more Cyril Smith than George Smith. Formed in 1893, it waited the small matter of 105 years to stage its first Test match, and to this day, it has hosted only four. But the folk who live beside the jaw-droppingly majestic Swan River are no longer prepared to let mere facts stand in the way of vaulting ambition. They believe Perth is finally ready for regular big-time union, and are not in the mood to be trumped by a miserable gang of Victorians.

Victorians as in the residents of Melbourne, who also crave a slice of whatever action might be on offer over the next decade. Neither city is rich in union tradition - Australian Rules Football is meat and drink to the polyglot Melburnians, who boast a professional team in virtually every suburb, while two successful sides, the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, play their games in sleepy old Perth. But if Melbourne, granted five pool games and two quarter-finals in this World Cup, is in last-chance territory, the not-so-wild westerners are on a roll.

They too have been awarded five pool games, all of them at the Subiaco Oval, and they plan to make them count in their campaign for greater recognition from the Australian Rugby Union, an organisation with its brain in Sydney and its heart in Queensland. "This is a great chance for us to ride on the back of an increased profile," said Rick Smith, the chief executive of Rugby WA. "We won't have another opportunity like this for 20 years, maybe 30 years. If we get this right, we can really kick the game along in this state."

Smith knows that the key to sustainability lies with a Super 12 franchise - or, to be more mathematically accurate, a Super 14 franchise. The Australians, who have only three places in the southern hemisphere's leading provincial tournament compared to New Zealand's five and South Africa's four, crave expansion. New Zealand, in particular, are suspicious but if the reigning world champions get their way, as they generally do, the political battle between Perth and Melbourne will be fierce indeed.

"I think it is pretty accurate to say that Melbourne and ourselves would be the front-runners for a fourth franchise," Smith agreed. "The Australian Rugby Union has a strategic objective of spreading the game in this country, of reaching outwards from the traditional centres of Sydney and Brisbane. There is more to growth than a Super 12 deal - in recent years, Perth has seen participation rates go up by 10 per cent annually, and that is for a number of reasons - but a franchise would be the icing on the cake for us because it would provide local players with a pathway through to professional rugby. We have the climate, we have state government support, and most importantly, we already have 7,000 registered players. We have the numbers to produce a home-grown Super 12 team, given time and backing."

Perth wants to see more of the Wallabies. The problem may be that the Wallabies would rather see less of Perth. In the international matches played here thus far, the Australians have both lost to, and drawn with, the Springboks, and have struggled to prevail over the Irish (a six-point victory in 1999). Even though they had a far more comfortable ride against Ireland last June, some senior Wallabies consider Perth to be an "away" venue, its unfamiliarity a serious disincentive. Melbourne may be more union-ignorant, but its Docklands Stadium, now known as the Telstra Dome, is at least a fixture on the Test circuit.

So the fight is on - a battle for acceptance, for central funding, for the kind of international sporting profile that would bring millions of dollars of revenue into this increasingly enthusiastic outpost of the union empire. The local officials know that the first step is to put bums on seats for all five fixtures at the 43,000-capacity Subiaco Oval, and even though ticket sales stand at only 57 per cent against a tournament-wide take-up of 83 per cent, Perth is likely to emerge from this World Cup ahead of the game.

"The England-South Africa match is a sell-out, and we'll get crowds of 20,000-plus for the others," said Shane Harmon, the ARU's ticketing manager. "We're talking about an Australian Rules stronghold, and the Subiaco is a big stadium. But our experience with Test matches in Perth is that people buy their tickets late. They are surpassing expectations at the moment, and if things go as well as predicted, the city will come out of the tournament in a very positive situation."