It's time to centralise Australian rugby

Sounds like Dumb and Dumber. We have already narrowed the pathways so much that kids and their families have bailed out before senior school. and you propose to narrow it more. Which bright spark will control this. Our players are unfit.

People are misusing the concept of centralization. The reality is that Rugby is a DECENTRALIZED business - with the assets and customers distributed far and wide To adequately service - you actually need a DECENTRALIZED model - that pushes resources out - on a coordinated basis with appropriate accountability back to the Head Office The important aspect is that there needs to be a COLLECTIVE view shared by all - as to what has to happen - and that everyone works to that plan. This is the role of the ARU Leadership - to develop and communicate the plan - then facilitate resources out to achive the plan Mot have everything Centralized in a monoilithic head office

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"unlike say EPL soccer or European club rugby where the clubs value club glory and it’s not all about the national team(Ireland the exception as it’s centralized and owns all sides, so club glory don’t mean much either unlike England/France)." The lowest attendances in the European Cup semi finals was three years ago when there were no Irish sides competing. English and French clubs don't attract the same numbers of supporters, certainly in the latter stages of the competition, even though these countries have both bigger player pools and far bigger populations in general than Ireland. In cultural identity, apart from rugby, the provinces mean a huge deal and the European Cup means a huge deal to the players and supporters. In France I think that the top 14 still means more to fans.

Centralise with who? Our national leaders are totally incompetent and juniors cant get a break now.

ahaha... yes new zealand will just all migrate from Rugby to AFL supporters. Didn't the AFL play some games in Wellington and no one was interested.

"who incidentally are now my second favourite team as they have Queensland legends Quade Cooper, Will Genia and super boot Reece Hodge. I just wanted to out that out there.".... haven't finished reading your article but couldn't wait to offer myself as conductor of the train taking ex-reds fans to rebel HQ Melbourne. I just wanted to GET that out there LOL

RARA? They have presided over the decline of the national sport consistently over the course of almost 20 years The less they do the better. But they still play a critical function Unfortunately they don't know what it is, exemplified by their inarticulation, and the vacuum now being filled by peep like Twigs. Not to mention the balance sheet and an unclear turnaround plan. Just like the Reds coaching strategy. Its run by a bunch of rookies.

Hulk, as you probably noticed there's a big cultural difference between Aussies and Kiwis Compared to us, they tend to align, conform and maintain a level of order and decorum We Aussies love to argue, be a larrikin and shout. The Poms are the same. Hence their Rugby culture is more similar to us. The central power is somewhat subservient to the edges. As an example, the act of centralisation once we started becoming better is basically what deflated professional Aus and the silly ideas that they brought on. I think it will be a while before we get our act together. The future lies in aligning our Rugby administration with our provincial culture whilst enabling RARA to leverage on it.

A few things to come from the comments: -Centralize might not work in a big nation like Australia(Ireland and NZ much smaller etc) -Central might work as won't have a big rugby playing population -In my view the western force are RA's playing thing as are all super rugby franchises, and they can burn and churn them whenever they like as it's all about the wallabies, and the western force are not there for WA they are there for the wallabies, they are a manufactured side as are all super rugby sides(it's all about the wallabies) just like sheffield shield cricket sides are just there for the national team now not state pride anymore... WA fans need to get over that, that the force was plastic only there for wallaby interests not for WA pride etc, Wallabies come first not Force or any other super rugby side in our rugby business model... -Twiggy is launching rapid rugby as he wants a WA side in it and can see super rugby crumbling at end of tv deal and us dumping Africa-South America and focusing on our own Asia-pacific region exclusively..

Does the game need to completely overhaul its structures doing away with the cumbersome, inefficient and more often than not conflicting Union based system into a single-entity that would allow for significant reduction in duplication, lack of communication and cooperation across the board resulting in sizeable savings in both time and money. Yes, absolutely. Will it ever happen? Not a chance under the current leadership and the handshake old school tie culture that thrives under its current dysfunction.

Ireland is a good example, Gaelic football, hurling and soccer, not too dissimilar to the competition rugby faces in Australia.

Good point, Commonwealth Govt pumped tens of millions in the transition from Soccer Australia to the FFA, gave Frank Lowy complete freedom in rebuilding (was a good thing at the start, but ultimately led to the recent revolt). Rugby is an important sport, Olympics and Commonwealth games, world cup remains a huge event, if soccer can attract Government assistant in restructuring, then Rugby can as well.

Not a bad idea, Canberra is already a strong rugby region, schoolboy rugby quite strong, good local comp, would probably get some sort of support from the ACT Govt, would be a feather in their cap to attract a large sports body to Canberra - might even be able to wrangle something in conjunction with the new stadium closer to Civic - timing could not be better. And close proximity to the house on the hill can't hurt either.

@ P2R2 - where's the evidence that a centralised system increases costs over the short to long term. There is none and it's not been the experience in NZ. In fact, the long term outcome has been huge increases in performance, revenue and community involvement.

Good in theory but RA is broke...after the $5m contract for Hooper and whoever else....central contracting is pie in the sky at this time....which is a shame really.

Ther national headquarters should be in the national capital, removed from the NSW/Qld over influence.

After what the ARU did to the rugbyWA when they had a modicum of control... I think centralisation is at least a decade away before it's even considered by the state unions