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“Would you rather get a bullet to the head, or five to the chest and bleed to death?” When the Brad Pitt-portrayed Billy Beane uttered those words in Moneyball, the point he made was clear: as unappetising a pair of options as those are, there’s little doubt which one most of us would take.
If we have to receive bad news, make it quick. Make it relatively painless. Make it professional.
As it is, the ARU has decided to inflict Australia’s rugby teams and fans with the far less desirable of the two.
Following SANZAAR’s confirmation that Super Rugby would be shifting from an 18-team to 15-team format, the ARU called a press conference for this morning. It was the perfect opportunity to finally end all the speculation about who will, and won’t, be playing in the competition next year – an opportunity every rugby fan in the country surely hoped they would take.
They didn’t.
“Consultation is required with both the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels to further understand their financial position,” ARU chairman Cameron Clyne said.
“We don’t anticipate this final consultation period being a drawn-out process and expect to be able to deliver an outcome in the very near future.”
After revealing the unsurprising news that the race to escape the gallows is now being run by the Force and Rebels, Clyne went on to say he hopes a final decision will be announced within 48-72 hours. Regardless of that (relatively) short time, it’s a bit rich for the ARU to be talking about how any part of this process won’t be drawn out.
Today’s announcement has ultimately left everyone in suspense, much like any bog-standard reality TV show.
Unlike reality TV, however, this is a real issue, one where the future of many a rugby employee, be they a player, support staff member or anyone else, could be on the line. Look no further than Matt Hodgson’s teary press conference yesterday for evidence of how serious this is.
Unlike reality TV, there’s no benefit to delaying the announcement, no advertisement views to be milked from the suspense.
It begs the question of who the ARU is actually governing for. It is surely not the fans, who will soon have one fewer team to support. It is not the players, 20 per cent of whom will be out of a job next season. It’s hardly themselves, either, given the hammering their image and reputation have taken over the past months.
The greatest tragedy from all this is the Super Rugby product on the field is nothing short of tremendous. This morning alone, both Spiro Zavos and Geoff Parkes have spoken of how the players deserve far better than their administrators.
However, the decision to cut back to four teams, sad as it is, is understandable.
It will be devastating for that team – its players, staff, fans and all other stakeholders. But from a bone-dry and emotionless financial standpoint, it’s understandable. When you don’t have the mega-bucks of the AFL or NRL broadcast deals, sport is an expensive business.
The ARU certainly doesn’t have those mega-bucks.
But the fact we still can’t definitively name the teams that won’t be around next year is just wrong for everyone who has even a passing interest in rugby.
When asked whether he’d prefer the aforementioned single bullet to the head or five to the chest, Peter Brand astutely asks if those are his only two options.
The ARU decided they are for Australian rugby fans by making the call to cut one team. The least they could have done, and undoubtedly should have done, was give us all a single bullet, because we’ve found out that five in the chest is awfully painful.