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The news in The Australian that the club rugby championship between 2009 premiers Sydney Uni and Brothers is off is a frightening sign of the problems facing rugby not just in Queensland, but NSW and Australia.
Apparently, Brothers weren’t able to find the $7,000 to fund the travel expenses for Sydney Uni, which they are responsible for, and all this for the curtain raiser for the Reds Vs Tahs Super 14 game.
While it might be understandable that an amateur/semi-professional club not be able to find this type of cash for a symbolic game, neither the QRU or ARU were able to help out, with both of them apparently facing financial tightness.
In fact, apparently the QRU are yet to pass on the $80,000 per club allocation from the ARU, and when they do, it will be reduced to $50,000 to help out the QRU’s current woes.
Clubs expecting that cash would appear to have been caught short, woes that perhaps throw into perspective why certain people at the QRU were allegedly playing games with certain government development allocations to cover operating expenses.
While there has been plenty of good news coming out of Queensland recently, with decent junior and schools numbers, Ewen McKenzie being made coach, and a rejig of the administration (including Rod “Slaughter” McCall as head honcho), this shows that the problems at the QRU are serious and potentially as bad as those that made the NSWRU insolvent some years ago.
Does the ARU have the funds to bail them out like they did the NSWRU?
Clearly they do with $15m in the bank from the 2003 World Cup, even after the losses incurred for no real benefit on the ARC. However, given the apparent financial problems facing even the ARU, they will probably do so only as a last resort
I can’t help feeling that the problems in Queensland perhaps aren’t isolated, and perhaps we should be looking more closely at NSW rugby to make sure we don’t have a similar rude surprise (again).
Further, when we all ask why more money isn’t being put into grassroots and development rugby, the answer is simple – those in charge don’t have it. The complete absence from rugby in the football codes’ battle for western Sydney in the media is stark.
Again and again the fans decry those in charge of the game, and it seems like the chickens (of doom) are coming home to roost. Forget rugby league having an independent commission, perhaps rugby needs it more!
On reading The Australian article about this, I have had a sick feeling which all the bad news and bad rugby of the last year or two never came close to.
This is a sign of something much more serious boys and girls, make no mistake. Something is rotten in the state of rugby, and needs fixing.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.