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The ARU should leave SANZAR and Super Rugby

17th January, 2015
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Roar Guru
17th January, 2015
129
2548 Reads

I would like to start out by saying that I am a huge Super Rugby supporter and ideally it should be the primary competition for Australian rugby fans to view and enjoy.

It’s the best rugby in the world, but it’s being driven in the wrong direction.

Self-interests are always muddy waters to navigate. Each respective union has needs and pressures pushing and pulling them in all directions. Unfortunately, in Super Rugby’s case it is pushing it to the brink of irrelevance.

In a country where rugby is already on the back foot the game cannot afford to rely solely on the one-team model of the Wallabies and a quasi-domestic structure that it doesn’t have full control over. Which is why I am proposing that the ARU looks to end its business relationships with SANZAR and look to take its property to the domestic market.

First of all, I am acutely aware of the financial implications. There’s a lot of risk involved. But it may be a risk the ARU cannot avoid.

The basic structures are already in place, particularly with the establishment of the National Rugby Championships last year. It essentially provides a structure to retreat away from Super Rugby, and it would be fairly simple.

The current five franchises would move down to the NRC. Alongside the five Super Rugby franchises you can include Queensland and NSW Country (both based out of major regional centres such as Wollongong or Rockhampton) and a Western Sydney team. This would provide a solid 14-week season plus two weeks of finals for 16 weeks total. More importantly it would provide 59 games in ideal timeslots for broadcasters to be able to sell on to advertisers.

While this may appear to be less rugby, It’s more rugby than we currently see on our shores.

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Second, as part of this movement it would be advisable for the ARU to establish a separate business specifically with the goal of running this competition. Its job would be to drive sponsorship revenue, investigate ownership models and broadcasting opportunities and administer the NRC.

Essentially it would be a split in how the ARU operates. The ARU would be responsible for running the Wallabies and the game’s overall development. It would run separately from its business wing and only receive a licence fee or dividend from the new entity.

The key to this model’s success is autonomy of the new business wing to not only control the NRC but also establish further intellectual properties in the future. One such property would be a summer rugby sevens circuit. This would call for a separate board with no overlap (no one individual would be permitted to serve on both boars) and extensive business experience.

Thirdly, and finally, the ARU must look to establish a subsidiary wing for the sole purpose of streamlining the grassroots game and its development. One of the major issues within Australian rugby is the sheer number of groups with just one oar in the water.

One of the major issues with this apart from ego, is the part-time nature of these organisations. A single, professional group that sets clear objectives and directs the development of the game at club level.

To summarise, our involvement in Super Rugby should end and the game taken to our domestic market. The ARU should split into three group – the ARU itself, who would administer the Wallabies and only the Wallabies, separate business wing to run and grow all commercial properties (Rugby Australia), and a grassroots and development subsidiary (Grassroots Rugby Australia) that collects registrations, grants and sponsorship itself and then uses it to administer the club game and develop the game in new regions.

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