How Red Bull have changed the sporting landscape
By Monkey1
December 9 2022
Jacques Burger and Schalk Burger each left indelible marks on PREM Rugby, but when all is said and done, it may be a near namesake who never played a minute of professional rugby who has the greatest long-term impact on the competition. Gerhard Berger, the Austrian Formula 1 driver, was the first sportsperson to be sponsored by Red Bull, all the way back in 1989. At the time, few could have predicted the way the energy drink would transform sports sponsorship, but in almost every sphere, their presence is felt.
What had previously been a relatively small association with rugby – perhaps most notable with their sponsorship of Jack Nowell and his iconic scrum cap – will take on a completely different look following the takeover of Newcastle Falcons.
The club from the north-east, winners of the very first Premiership Rugby title in 1997/98, look set to fulfil some of the area’s obvious potential with this new ownership, who have shown for nearly four decades how much sport means to them.
For many, Red Bull’s involvement in sport brings to mind two things – speed and adventure.
Their ties to F1 date back to Berger, but it was in the mid-2000s that they truly emerged. Red Bull Racing was born in 2005 with the purchase of the Jaguar team, with a second team – Toro Rosso, now known as Racing Bulls – bought a year later.
That in itself was a ground-breaking move and hints at Red Bull’s disruptive approach to sports investment. It is hard to know how that could work in a rugby context, but be prepared for innovation at every opportunity.
Two key hires made all the difference for Red Bull early on, as they appointed Christian Horner, the youngest team principal in F1 history and then Adrian Newey, the highly-accomplished McLaren technical director.
While the pair have both left Red Bull over the past 18 months, they oversaw a period of remarkable success, with eight drivers’ championships and six constructors’ titles in less than two decades.
Both Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have claimed four consecutive drivers’ titles with Red Bull during two spells of complete domination.
Rugby is of course, a very different challenge, where a genius designer like Newey and the best car in the paddock cannot guarantee success.
Similarly, Red Bull’s foray into extreme sports, whether it is base jumping, cliff diving or even the Red Bull Soap Box Race, is not perhaps quite as instructive as to how things will translate in rugby.
For that, the most obvious parallels come in a sport that is beloved in Newcastle.
Around the same time that Red Bull launched their own F1 team, they also took over SV Austria Salzburg, renaming them FC Red Bull Salzburg.
MLS investment in the States quickly followed with the New York Red Bulls while RB Leipzig were born in 2009 after the takeover of a fifth division German club.
There have been more teams added to the Red Bull stable over the years, and one common theme across them is the unmistakable branding. We do not yet know exactly what Newcastle Red Bulls will look like, but expect some red and yellow to be very prominent.
In the UK, Ralf Rangnick is best known as one of the many people who tried to solve what ailed Manchester United without finding a solution.
His interim spell at Old Trafford was based in part on his innovation – he is regarded as the brainchild behind gegenpressing and modern German football that has given us the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel.
Rangnick served as director of football of both Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, with the teams enjoying remarkable success in the following years.
The Austrian side won 10 successive league titles between 2014 and 2023, while in Germany, RB Leipzig quickly worked their way up the divisions to reach the Bundesliga in 2016/17, finishing second in their very first season at that level.
By qualifying for the Champions League, RB Leipzig arguably hit a point even they had not expected so soon, but what they were doing clearly worked.
What has been interesting from all of the Red Bull teams are some of the common themes. While Red Bull bring huge financial power to the rugby universe, their approach in football has not necessarily relied on high-profile signings.
Instead, there has been a focus on building the academy and working the margins with savvy signings and big returns. New Manchester United signing Benjamin Sesko is the latest in a very long list of RB Leipzig sold to a Premier League side for more than double what they were bought for.
Rugby’s recruitment system does not allow for quite the same approach, but there is still scope for teams to build on the margins while prioritising their academy.
If Newcastle can keep hold of the future Guy Peppers or Ben Redshaws and combine them with smart signings – Freddie Clarke and Amanaki Mafi could prove to be instant contributors – then there will be some crossover with the approach of the football teams.
What is clear across the board, however, is that when Red Bull invest in sport, success almost inevitably follows.
After a tough few years for fans of the oval ball in the north-east, Red Bull might be about to give them wings.
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Your views on central contracts a la county cricket (where counties with a number of England players rarely see them)?
In terms of bringing more people in to see club games, it's simple. A combination of being successful (as you outline from the RWC era Falcons side) and/or being entertaining. This is not a dig at any particular club but my non-rugby mates (reluctant KP attendees) make the following observations:
Ball in play - not nearly enough of the game e.g. set pieces that take a glacial era to set, wasted time watching kickers stare intently at the posts etc etc (If a game has, say, four tries scored and four kickable penalty attempts, that's over 10 minutes of 'entertainment' watching someone stare at a ball.)
Not understanding why penalties etc are awarded - i.e. the game is too complex and decisions appear arbitrary.
What they find entertaining (i.e. will come back and see again and pay for) is:
Exciting runners who can find and exploit space (we are currently blessed in this department)
Quick movement of the ball - through the hands
High levels of skill (which could be clever line out moves, dominant tackling etc)
Occasionally I watch games of yesteryear online. The game has changed for the better in many ways but there's a lot that could be done to make it a better spectator sport without turning it into a completely different sport (e.g. RL). For me it comes down to creating more space for runners to work with. This can be as a result of a number of things but I'd start with massively reducing the number of substitutes. This would result in players being more tired and having to alter their training and preparation to have greater stamina (and probably less bulk). Other thought include much reduced kick time for place kicks and stopping the clock at a scrum infringement to restart it once the ball is out of the scrum (i.e. scrummaging time does not count as the ball being in play).
Not everyone will agree.
Lots of fake 'pats on back' and no one having the courage to actually speak their minds. If Owen Farrell and his dull, non-motivational speeches are what's considered motivational, then no wonder the team has looked lost and deflated. It's tough and quite a sustained argument, so I'll keep it short but I think there is a lack of pride on the international scene.
On the club side, I think it still exists. But those players often don't get much of a crack with England and the differences found from club to club, have been pushed aside by Eddie for his weird, One-England approach. The Quins mavericks for example, are not so maverick for England and are heavily restrained. I could go on, but I think the main points would get lost.
I also hadn't thought of the time wasted from goal kicking like Osric pointed out. Even the fun parts like point scoring are too long winded! Shame, as I think the on-field Premiership product has shown flashes of excellence in the past few seasons. I guess we just need more of it.
Much of this is the "interference" by world rugby changing the laws of the game, an example being the scrum! Whilst I'm sure it was to try to mitigate against injury, it has become a bore fest. The kickers have a set time to take the kick from the moment the try or penalty is awarded, it is referees who are not controlling and penalising the kicker as he should.
That team of 2003 did not play around with reset scrums and the clubs were the same.
It is up to the RFU to make England more watchable.
Two entirely separate issues.
Quote:Monkey1
It is up to the IRB to make the game more watchable.
It is up to the RFU to make England more watchable.
Two entirely separate issues.
Neither of which "august" bodies are doing it!