Folks, we are losing at the border. We have signed possibly the worst Super Rugby deal ever with South Africa and New Zealand. We need to make rugby great again!
If Donald Trump was an Australian Rugby fan, he would probably be pretty angry. He’d rightfully point out that we don’t win anymore, that we send weak negotiators, but most importantly, he’d point out that New Zealand and South Africa are ‘nasty guys’, and we should not be nice to them.
Take Steve Tew. Nasty guy! The CEO of the NZRU has been relentless in the pursuit of New Zealand’s rugby interests, and is not afraid to stomp on toes in the process. Last year, when New Zealand discovered a bugged chair in their hotel room during the week, the NZRU waited several days to report it.
In fact, they waited until the day of the game, for maximum destabilisation of the Australian camp. What a foul and nasty thing to do to a supposed business partner. Later, it confusingly emerged that it was an All Blacks security consultant who planted the bug.
In all likelihood, the bug was probably a ‘false flag’, and could be the workings of a rogue security guard, or could be the workings of a Watergate level political operation designed purely to disrupt our Wallabies, that could possibly have come from the top of the NZRU itself.
Whatever the case, the failure to report the bug until game day was indicative of a foul organisation seeking to ram home whatever advantage it had. The response from Bill Pulver was weak. “We are very disappointed in the decision to release this information on game day,” he said.
He might as well have been Neville Chamberlain telling Adolf Hitler not to annex Czechoslovakia. Bill Pulver should have called a press conference and demanded an apology on live national television from Steve Tew for their disgusting behaviour, or for him to resign.
But such is the dovish nature of the ARU, they have set the precedent that they will allow their neighbours to invade and pillage the sacred ground of rugby in Australia. It is time we get tougher at negotiating.
One such method, employed by notorious former US president Richard Nixon, is called Madman theory. If you give the appearance that you are crazy and irrational at the negotiating table, you can often get a better deal. Players, convinced you might actually do something nuts, will often agree to negotiated terms not in their interest.
Nixon employed this tactic when negotiating for peace in the Vietnam war, saying, “I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We’ll just slip the word to them that, for God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We can’t restrain him when he’s angry — and he has his hand on the nuclear button!”
Nixon, and chief diplomat Henry Kissinger, used this tactic to get a more favourable peace treaty in the Vietnam war. Likewise, it is time for the ARU to go nuclear and use this negotiating tactic in our quest for peace in Super Rugby.
The ARU should give the indication that such is the rotten, off state of Super Rugby, that it has become convinced that unless the competition is reformed in a state which appeases the ARU’s interest, the ARU is not afraid to go it alone and ditch SANZAAR in its entirety.
Of course, the threat needs to be credible, which is why the ARU is sending hawkish vice chairman Brett Papworth to do the dirty work. Whatever the case, the ARU must cease to be the nice guy of Super Rugby negotiations.
We should remember the NZRU’s total lack of hesitation to throw the ARU under the bus on Bledisloe Cup game day, we should remember the SARU’s outrageous demands for previous negotiations (as well as sinister game day tactics like turning the lights out in the warm-up rooms).
And we should get tougher. We should stare Steve Tew in the face and demand a better deal for Australian Rugby. It’s time for the ARU to go nuclear. Turn up to Super Rugby negotiations with your finger on the red button!
Rhys Bosley
Guest
I wouldn't care if the only alternative was watching a bunch of kids play real Rugby in a park, but you would never get me to part with a cent to watched that dumbed down rubbish that the NRL serves up to the Great Unwashed in this country. Rugby isn't going anywhere in Australia but if some "fans" want to throw a hissy fit and shop elsewhere, then as far as I am concerned they shouldn't let the door hit them on the ar$e on the way out.
Irony free on the northern b
Guest
Do you mean the northern beaches with a total population of 200k? A place where rugby is a tier 2 sport well behind NRL and Soccer in participation rates? What are the abbot voting, beamer drivers meant to be doing that can fix the state of australian rugby?
Down with the Titanic
Guest
Bit sad that Super Rugby in Australia is in freefall. So, they cut Melbourne or Perth. Back to four sides. How does this make it better? It still means you got to travel a long way for a lot of matches that are beamed back into Oz, on subscription tv in the dead of the night. This is great news for AFL and the NRL. Anyone else think of the irony that the rah rahs get about how much better they are to the rest of society, living up there in the northern beaches of Sydney, voting for Abbott and his cronies, driving their beemers and what not. But when it comes to putting their hand into their own pocket and keeping their game going like the AFL and NRL types do, they are never found, constantly looking for someone else to put in. If they were half as smart as they like to think they are you wouldn't need SANZAAR and Super rugger to prop you up. You would have a competition filling stadiums and being watched by millions week in week out. Too bad, so sad, BYE, BYE.
RobC
Roar Guru
Whos asking yours?
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
Yeah Aust rugby needs to continue along unchecked and no matter what NZ need to be joined with it ... delusional thinking
John
Roar Rookie
The ARU can complain about the revised Super Rugby format and probably get agreement from NZ however the ARU are kidding themselves if they think they have a strong bargaining position given the lack of strong performances from the Australian Super Rugby franchises over the past few years. The ARU lack competence and the financial strength to be strong negotiators at the SANZAAR table and both South Africa and NZ know it.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Not bad rubbish mate!
Rhys Bosley
Guest
Puff, the plight that the Australian conference and the Australian national team finds itself in what is to my knowledge a unique situation, in that the majority of our overseas games are played against teams from a country that has achieved a quite extraordinary improvement in the professionalisation of rugby in the last decade. Cutting teams is not going to change that situation, only improving the Australian game will do that and the only way to achieve that is through the sort of unrelenting unity and professionalism that we have seen get New Zealand to where it is. I agree that if your theoretical ARU administrator has alarm bells ringing then they should alert him or her to improve his or her own performance, but that needs to be achieved with the best interests of all the Super Rugby teams in mind.
puff
Guest
RB, although this very superficial article was trying, to instill a little daylight onto the plight that the OZ conference, now finds itself. I’m continually troubled with the lack of passion the once regular follower of the sport now displays. What a difference 15 years makes. Plus, the meat of the issue is how frivolously the then ARU handled the proceeding 15 years ago. At best it was leisurely but ultimately they were wasteful and slow to the pumps. A few years ago, my family attended an international in Melb, between the Wallabies and the French. Apart from the match being a pitifully poor spectacle, the crowd in attendance was no more than about 12k. If I was a senior within the ARU, alarm bells would have been ringing but to my knowledge the dance continued. We appear to have a runaway horse that is unharnessed. English soccer is a great example, the premier league is the most watched league in the world but their international team is the pits. Coaching staff come and going on a regular basis. Why, because the paying public desire to watch a winner. Certain staff on the ARU are paid to achieve a resurgent’s in the win/loss column, bums will return once that happens.
Rhys Bosley
Guest
"– maybe a new competition concept with SA –" LOL, yeah right, good luck at keeping your players away from Northern Hemisphere rugby if they have to spend half the season in South Africa. And Fox are going to be so happy about half their fixtures being played in the wee hours in Australia and New Zealand, where all the Kiwis would(n't) be watching from. Why do you think that Australian and New Zealand teams are grouped together now, with 75% of matches played against each other? Ain't gonna happen. And on the ARU you still don't get it so I will repeat it for you .... the NZRU cannot afford for them to fold ... it would cost them far, far more than accommodating a couple of extra Australian franchises. We can have a seat at the table here in our premium timezone and "nope, nope, nope" to any idea which is dreamed up to shaft one of our teams and there is nothing that anybody can do about it.
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
I'm not missing anything ... I'm sure they'll have a survival plan - which would be a last resort - maybe a new competition concept with SA - who knows but I'm pretty sure they not doing nothing with their fingers crossed ... but you're ignoring the fact everyone in the room knows the ARU can't afford not to do a deal - they're the ones that are close to going into the red - leaving isn't an option
Rhys Bosley
Guest
"… The ARU can’t afford not to be at the table – even a sniff of leaving and its lights out At HQ …" And here is where you miss the entire point Amigo. NZ rugby cannot afford for that to happen.
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
While some that may have factual basis ... you seem to overlook one vital aspect ... The ARU can't afford not to be at the table - even a sniff of leaving and its lights out At HQ ... not the best bargaining position to be lobbing idle threats and probably why we've not really heard any sort of open discussion or strong rhetoric out of the ARU about keeping 5 teams ... and why we are getting various talking heads from the 3 supposedly threatened franchises - clearly none of these have had any reassuring words either
Rhys Bosley
Guest
I know that the article is meant as a p1sstake on the ARU's supposed lack of bargaining power, but the reality is that Australia's negotiating position is actually stronger than many here give it credit for. Without Australia's participation there is no Super Rugby, timezone issues would mean Fox giving up far too much broadcast revenue and a couple of their larger audiences in NSW and Queensland. The last couple of very poor years aside, match attendances in Queensland in particular leave most other franchises for dead and it is one of the big growth regions in rugby across SANZAAR. Furthermore if Australian rugby dies on the vine, one of the NZRU's premier annual moneymaker's in the Bledisloe Cup dies with it, because as much as Kiwis love beating Australia they would eventually get bored of complete floggings and so would Australians. It is the same reason as why the Australian and New Zealand cricket teams don't play very often, it isn't considered enough of a contest to be worthwhile. I suppose that the All Blacks could become the Rugby Equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters, a traveling circus that plays inferior teams in places like the US and Japan for cash, but I can't see New Zealand players and fans being too thrilled about the NZRU putting aside 86 years of traditional rivalry for that. Steve Hanson has said it often enough, strong rugby in Australia is good for world rugby, and despite the smug snipings of Kiwis on this website I suspect that this represents the view of the NZRU establishment. So while the ARU probably isn't in the position to demand a lot, they are in a position to refuse to cooperate if the SANZAAR refuse to find solutions to the current 18 team schemozzle, which is not of Australia's making, that do not sacrifice Australian interests. It is just a matter of Australians to put aside interstate tribalism and refuse to throw any Australian franchise under the bus, if we don't blink the Kiwis and South Africans eventually have to.
Jock Cornet
Guest
The ARU just bend over or are on their knees . They earn too much to cre about the spectator. They would be having Chivas rehals in the corporate box at twickemham
kunming tiger
Guest
When did the US Army make the statement? On his way to the chopper to take him to the carrier as the place was being overun? Or aftwerwards?
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Any idea about when we hear the results of yesterday's meeting?
puff
Guest
Gee; a caustic little article that made me smile but is probably far from reality. To sit at any negotiation table from the position of strength, is always a bonus. Unfortunately the ARU can only dream of such delights. We are beholden to Fox for the additional flow of income, so the ARU can pay outrageous sums of money to senior players when they have a sabbatical. We are grateful for all the NZer’s who play for OZ franchisers. Including the fact they arrive suited and booted with abilities we only discuss but don’t implement. We are indebted to European clubs who under protest release ex- Wallabies so we can prevent young talented upstarts from having game time. We can thank our Wallaby coach for reiterating, playing rugby the Australian way is the only true direction for our sport, don’t worry about the public perception or bums on seats. Although the biggest big bang theory, the ARU are touting, we are considering reducing supper rugby teams so we can expand the sport. Yes, we will be a show stopper when SANZAAR’s meet in London.
Mielie
Guest
ARU you are shooting at the shadow of the enemy and not at the enemy himself. And that is simply because you are totally unable to even see the enemy himself. And as a further result of this, you are in the totally unnecessary situation where relegating one of your franchises to pasture has become an option. You need to introduce Rugby Union to Australia. If I am stuck out in WoepWoep and I want to watch just one of the Super Rugby matches being played in Australia, I am unable to do so. For the results I have to listen to the news the following day, and I might be lucky to have the results broadcast, even on the news. Go to a Sports Bar. The cricket is on. AFL is on, League is on. Woman's Netball is on. Go home and mow the lawn Put Rugby Union on free to air, and watch what happens to Rugby Union in Australia, and watch what happens to Australian Rugby internationally.
AndyS
Guest
Funny piece. Can just imagine what Papworth would negotiate, replacing all the Australian teams with select Shute Shield sides. And love the idea of "Mad Dog" Billy Pulver - picturing the negotiations like the three stooges scene from Lethal Weapon...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmHVnwCbJfk