Ultimately now, what’s done is done. Rugby Australia is in a messy state of flux once again, and once again the blood is on the hands of Australian rugby.
How this point has been reached is now almost moot. It’s been underhanded, it’s been unnecessarily aggressive and at times abusive, and it’s certainly been driven by agendas. So many agendas.
But none of that really matters any more.
How this point has been reached is no longer the important bit. The important bit is what the game does next to right this very rocky ship.
Chairman Paul McLean told more than 50 Australian rugby and sports media participants in a Zoom session last Friday that he would take on an Executive Chair role in the short term, so at least these crucial next already have an identified leader with intimate knowledge of both the game and the governing body.
But just finding a new CEO – interim or permanent – won’t be the last of it, as McLean still intends to vacate his role before July 31. It’s a stance he’s maintained for some time. And it was a point he reiterated last week in the face of calls for yet more boardroom bloodletting.
Once McLean moves on, the turnover will already be 50 percent with the three new board members that were voted in just a month ago. And if two other board members – Hayden Rorke and John Wilson – both stand down in the coming months as has been widely mentioned, and which McLean echoed on Friday, then three-quarters of the board will have changed inside maybe only six months.
How much more change at board level could possibly be required?
So leadership stability at the top has to be one of the highest priorities, pure and simple.
But trailing that major step is a couple of other priorities, just as high and just as time critical.
Certainly, the states including Western Australia need to brought to the table and included in any discussions around the development of the game at all levels, and particularly what the professional game will look like not just for the rest of this year, but next year and the next few years after that.
The Force were controversially axed from Super Rugby in 2017. Could they be back? (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
This will be handed by one of three committees McLean outlined on Friday; one tackling finance, another for broadcast and stakeholder engagement, and a third to tackle the actual rugby side of things. Each of these three groups has their work cut out for them, yet all three are equally intertwined and interdependent.
The four states have been much more collaborative and collegiate with the national body in the last 18 months or so – the professional high performance alignment being an obvious win – but it’s now vitally important that they remain informed and included.
Now more than ever, the state unions are going to play a huge role in any restructure and repurposing of the professional game.
This will have to include Western Australia, not just for convenience, but because it’s very clear that the game remains strong, well-supported, and in demand over in the west. They deserve a seat at the table and a place in future discussions not out of charity, but out of necessity for the good of the game nationally.
Clearly, a resumption of discussions with all potential broadcast partners must also be high on the list.
It was abundantly clear Fox Sports specifically and News Limited more broadly didn’t have a lot of time for Raelene Castle, but it’s just as clear they don’t want to pay any more for the broadcast rights than they have to.
(AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)
Equally, the new leadership – and it’s widely expected that new board member and Supercars chair Peter Wiggs will be influential here – need to get every last dollar out of whoever the broadcaster ends up being.
But perhaps first and foremost, Rugby Australia need to pick up the phone for some good old-fashioned schmoozing with any and all potential broadcast partners.
The current environment gives the broadcasters a rare chance to outline all kinds of competition formats for this year and probably next year as well. What model will have the most appeal for Fox? What might Optus and Channel Ten be interested in?
Can a clean slate and the chance to rebuild the game in Australia professionally be enough to get Optus and Ten back to the table?
And if the latest talk of a twelve-month deferment is genuine, could an interim broadcast arrangement actually work to RA’s advantage?
The group of former Wallabies captains want a review board of sorts in place, but the current environment and the amount of turnover on the board already would almost certainly have brought some sort of review anyway. The players association want a say in any review, and that’s a reasonable request.
Clearly, it’s the time for reviews. As I sat down to write this column yesterday, New Zealand Rugby announced their own review of Super Rugby, Aratipu , looking at “the future of Super Rugby in New Zealand with the goal of offering a competition that engages fans, is financially sustainable whilst continuing to develop outstanding players ready for national representative rugby.”
The synergies between the introspection on either side of the ditch are obvious and will undoubtedly be shared and discussed. Quite possibly even developed, it would seem. Especially with travel to South Africa and Argentina unlikely any time even in the near future.
Equally, Rugby Australia could do a lot worse than having a chat with their round ball counterparts at Football Federation Australia, who also yesterday announced an eleven-person panel, the ‘Starting XI’, who will serve two years voluntarily working in an advisory capacity alongside the pre-existing FFA’s Football Development Committee.
“The Starting XI will provide a great platform for eleven of our best football brains to share their insights and ideas with FFA on key matters from grassroots to international football, national teams, player pathways, and the overall well-being of the game,” FFA CEO James Johnson said of the initiative.
(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
And that’s the level of clean-slateness this global pandemic has brought about. Blue-sky thinking opportunities for our sports of choice that we only dreamed about are right here, right now.
There is so much wrong with how Rugby Australia got to this point, even how Rugby Australia was pressured to this point, but now that we’re here, the game really must prove once and for all that you shouldn’t waste a good crisis.
So let’s just get on with it, shall we?
Ex force fan
Guest
This will have to include Western Australia, not just for convenience, but because it’s very clear that the game remains strong, well-supported, and in demand over in the west. They deserve a seat at the table and a place in future discussions not out of charity, but out of necessity for the good of the game nationally. Spot on Brett, it is about time that Western Australia is seen as part of the Australian rugby landscape - the 2017 fiasco has not blown over and will not until the injustice to the WA rugby community has been rectified. Soon everyone that was on the Board and Executive team that made that terrible decision to axe WA Rugby from Australian rugby will be out of the way an RA can apologise to the WA rugby community for the way the axing of the Western Force played out so that we can move on in a pathway that include WA as part of the Australian rugby landscape. It was a short sighted dumb decision that was made in the most cruel way possible. It is really sorry that first WA rugby and then Rugby Australia had to be pushed to the edge of bankruptcy before much needed change could happen.
woodart
Guest
thought this column was about aus rugby healing its own self inflicted wounds. not, yet another aussie telling us what NZ rugby "has to do". you might be happy concentrating all the good players into very few teams sheek, but over here, we believe in sharing good things round. as it stands, with little prospect of any super rugby being played, NZ rugby is looking at playing an extended ITM cup, nth sth games ,and possibly an internal All Black tour. all of these would sell well to overseas veiwers, with limited travel costs,compared to interenational costs.
piru
Roar Rookie
Either that or they appoint someone with no idea because they've been involved in Aussie rugby a long time.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
So we did it so we could join the AFC? Sounds like our benefit...
Micko
Roar Rookie
Actually NZ were part of blackmailing Australia to let NZ have a professional soccer franchise in our A League. That wasn't FFA's decision except for the fact that the OFC was making that conditional on us joining the AFC.
Micko
Roar Rookie
What I'm saying is Jacko is you guys benefit from participating in Australia's large sports economy in terms of individuals and franchises. We don't shut you guys out, and you guys do very well and benefit. NZ should be giving foreigners a crack, the same way aussies give kiwis a fair crack. The major flaw with super rugby is that it's a pseudo-provincial comp with the three original nations shutting up shop in terms of letting foreigners play. It was doomed to fail. It should've been franchise teams who recruited players and let foreigners play. This includes NZ giving Samoans, Tongans & Argentinians a run. Australia should be giving Fijians, Argentinians etc, a run as well. When they expanded here and setup the Western Force, then the Rebels, it was doomed to fail as nobody really cares about either code of rugby in these parts of Australia, and therefore they'll just drain NSW & Qld of talent since they still refuse to let foreigners in. It would've been far better having our teams recruit Argentinians as opposed to the exorbitant costs of having a team based in Argentina. This would've helped make teams like the Force & Rebels at least semi-competitive as well.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Sad that that attitude is so widespread. Parochialism has always held the game back, long before professionalism. The view of many would be that WA rugby was not killed by east coast rugby people. Most in fact objected because on many measures WA Rugby was kicking more rugby goals than anyone else. In particular WA Rugby was a victim of the control of the game vested in outsiders, supposedly successful business people who think they can run the game "properly" on business principles. I am concerned that RA in its current form will survive COVID and the incompetence that has made it insolvent. In particular, because states will act in their own interests so that nobody will challenge the status quo. You must surely understand that if every state looks inward then all will steadily fall behind the rest of the world. The biggest losers will be the players.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
We will work with R(EC)A but they’ll never again get control to the extent that allowed them to almost destroy WA Rugby.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Yep I lived in Chegutu. 1988.
mzilikazi
Roar Pro
Really, Tln. Been through there often en route to my brother in laws farm....beautiful place on the Umfuli River near Hartley...now Chegutu. Off they are not there any longer.
Brett McKay
Expert
Yes, Barry, because RA is the only one to have shot itself in the foot and created a mess like they have! I'll leave it that. It's also obvious I can't make this any clearer.
Barry Crocker
Guest
Agreed. Which makes we wonder why bother writing your article, as it only talks about RA trying to schmooze local broadcasters as if that's the only game in town... "The current environment gives the broadcasters a rare chance to outline all kinds of competition formats for this year and probably next year as well. What model will have the most appeal for Fox? What might Optus and Channel Ten be interested in? Can a clean slate and the chance to rebuild the game in Australia professionally be enough to get Optus and Ten back to the table? "
Brett McKay
Expert
Barry, you only have to spend a few seconds searching online to find these same kind of articles written about what is happening and will have to happen in NZ and RSA to know it's more than just Australia looking at this. Even Agustin Pichot has acknowledged the Jaguares could be left out in the cold in the short term. Join those dots, and yes, it is very obvious the SANZAAR environment is set for upheaval. The chances of the future contracts being fulfilled as written are slim at the best, and everyone knows that. SANZAAR the body, and certainly the four partner nations. I don't know what more needs to be said, really.
Barry Crocker
Guest
So SKY NZ are happy to pay $400M (5 yrs) & just leave it open about what sort of domestic or provincial comp falls out of the SANZAAR office at the behest of RA & its specific needs/shortcomings... If so, am pleased to hear that you've 'obviously' read those contracts & are confident to assume that the RA 'tail' is 'wagging the SANZAAR dog' as it were. My point has been that commenters & commentators haven't looked at the issue from a SANZAAR perspective outward, only a RA perspective, hence it's a much more complex narrative than you have articulated in any of your pieces.
Brett McKay
Expert
I'll be honest Barry, I've been working from the point of assumption over the last couple of weeks that everyone is well aware of the significant unlikelihood of Super Rugby continuing in it's current guise, and the natural flow-ons for SANZAAR as a body. I just didn't think that needed explaining any more..
Barry Crocker
Guest
Brett, just for clarity, as the thrust of your article was that RA & local broadcasters had the opportunity for "a clean slate and the chance to rebuild the game in Australia", I'm not so sure it's a clean slate given the inter-relationship with SANZAAR. I.e. if we want to maintain a funded & genuinely professional platform, we'll have to play nice with NZ/SA along the way which will necessarily impact a number of 'blue sky' options being considered. Hence it wasn't "obvious" to me from your article that this important nuance had been incorporated... Good luck if you can find out details on the SANZAAR front!
Barry Crocker
Guest
Yep, if the reports that Optus can't cut a deal for 12 mths is true, any commercial tension just sailed out the window. The hand washing metaphor is very apt & whoknows, but the Optus scenario change may have been the catalyst for the Board to take action after all?? Could be a 'House of Cards' to follow if NZ Sky Sports decide they want to back pedal as well, let alone SA broadcast deal. I imagine Sky NZ are hurting ATM, though not having to pay for SR/RC will soften the blow. I read one of the Kiwi posters say it was over $75/mth to watch their Rugby? Is that correct? Read that RA also bought the Shute Shield rights for $3.7M all up...with ratings of <20K & Club Rugby TV reportedly in financial strife, not sure why they paid them anything other than a goodwill amount... Strange times!
Jacko
Guest
Keep drafting that letter paulo and you WILL get your meeting in the end
Bobby
Roar Rookie
Mug. Absolutely. Their PR section is very poor. All good dictatorships have a strong propaganda program.haha
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Agreed Bobby, but nothing is disclosed about anything