Australian rugby. Another week, another board meeting, another member of the executive departs. This one before he’d even signed on the dotted line.
Emails are leaked. Journalists swarm and the rugby community shakes their collective head once more.
I’m not sure I can add any further insight into what’s going on right now in rugby headquarters. Only those in the tent can tell that tale, and even then the reports coming out of this depressing corporate melodrama suggest even the directors, administration and ex-players couldn’t tell you the way forward.
As a fan, which is all I am and all that I can offer, I want to make something fundamentally clear: I’m not going anywhere. They could put Rugby Australia into administration, tear down the Moore Park office and turn it into a car park and we could lose half of our talent to the deep pockets of European and Japanese rugby dons, but I’m still not going anywhere.
The one positive I keep coming back to is that I’m not alone. Websites, blogs and social media are proof that we’re still here, battered and dismayed but not gone. Some 40,000 of us made the trek to Japan last year to see the Wallabies take part in a grand spectacle despite knowing in our hearts we’d be lucky to come out of the pool stage on top.
As of 2018 figures, 271,922 players are registered to play rugby in this country, or 477,031 if you include the participation numbers. The amateur game will not die. No-one can take that away from us.
(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
There is another sporting team in history that no-one can take away either. More specifically in a geographical sense. The Green Bay Packers are one of the most successful franchises in the National Football League. The Packers were founded in 1919 but experienced financial trouble very early in their existence. Rather than lose their place in the national professional league and dismantle the club, a group of businessmen banded together and kept the Packers solvent by incorporating the team, selling shares to the public and creating a board of directors elected by the shareholders.
As of 2020 the Green Bay Packers are owned by 360,760 stockholders.
If you’re a rugby fan in this country, you’re already investing in the game, whether it be registration fees, new kit, the cost of travelling to training and games or even the larger expenses of supporter membership fees, ticket prices, merchandise and broadcast subscriptions. Add to that the expense of travelling interstate or overseas to watch the Wallabies play and you are forking out well into the thousands of dollars every year.
So what if you could pay to own the Wallabies?
When the Packers made shares available in 1923 they were $5 – around $75 in today’s value. Their last stock offer in 2011 went for $250 a share. What would you pay to part-own the Wallabies?
Rugby has seen something like this before. In 2017 the Western Force launched their ‘Own the Force’ campaign to give the club a much-needed capital boost and display to Rugby Australia how committed its membership base was, all in a bid to prevent the club from being removed from the Super Rugby competition. It didn’t work, but the club still remains alive thanks to the efforts and chequebook of Andrew Forrest.
But it remains an interesting concept, especially in view of Australian rugby’s dire financial status. Just how much it is in the red remains to be seen. The records are reported to still be with auditors. Yet what is clear is the poor governance, muddy oversight and general lack of communication on how the professional game is run has become farcical. There seems to be a lot of outcry at the board and “morons” at Rugby Australia, yet we as fans hardly do anything beyond hand-wringing and screaming at our keyboards.
So how about something tangible? Shall we try and take back the Wallabies? Give ourselves the power to vote in an executive group that we truly believe can bring about the change our code sorely needs? Can we become a collective voice that doesn’t just point fingers at faceless board directors but elects them at an annual general meeting?
If 40,000 Australians travelled to Japan last year to watch the Wallabies, what if 40,000 Australians all paid $1000 just like the Western Force tried to achieve in 2017? Our ‘Own the Wallabies’ campaign would create $40 million, a figure not far off what the Rugby Australia netted after hosting the successful 2003 Rugby World Cup. All of a sudden we’re not solely dependant on that cash boost from a Lions tour in 2025 or the hotly anticipated World Cup bid in 2027. Let’s face it: in today’s uncertain times are either of those events a guarantee?
Own the Wallabies. Think about it. Discuss it. Let’s see if it has legs. If not, we go back to the drawing board and continue to put our hopes in the hands of a small number of bankers, ex-players and media executives.
But ask yourself: are you ready to put your money where your mouths and hearts are? I am.
Amcd
Roar Rookie
"The Wallabies Inc" seems like a problematic idea to me. I know this is obvious; however; The Wallabies are a national team with the best players drawn from the Australian Super Rugby franchises. Likewise, in the UK NZ and RSA, the national teams are drawn from local franchisees. Sorry, I cannot see how a Green Bay Packers model is relevant to a national representative team like the Wallabies. The Green Bay Packers are just one franchise of the 32 that make up the USA's National Football League. The pinnacle NFL event each year is the Super Bowl. Our major problem in Australia remains that is the blinkered, expedient management for the last decade by the RFU Board. The Board's strategic plan is their prime responsibility, and they should act fast and with authority if a CEO or Coach gets off the rails. The Board must achieve a balance between hard-nosed business and strategic investment in the game. It is not all about Super Rugby players and the Wallabies. Super Rugby needs significant visionary change. The roles of an influential, respected Chairman and CEO are critical. The RFU Board needs a small, closely-knit team that plays to the strengths of each professional. There is room for business people, independents and respected players. A smart team approach is my recommended model for a new Board. It's time to revamp Super Rugby. The NZ and AUS Boards should lead an urgent review. Time to concentrate on our time zone with a revamped NZ/AUS/JAP focus! Bring back the Western Force as the fifth Australian franchise. Include the Sunwolves plus 5 Australian and 5 NZ franchises. Perhaps introduce three new franchises across NZ, AUS and Japan. So: "Pacific Premier Rugby- PPL" is born in 2021 with 14 teams in our Pacific time zone. Don't stop there. Maybe set up a regional feeder structure in AUS (à la NRC), NZ (à la Mitre 10) and Japan with international playoffs and promotion/relegation to/from the PPL. Sound like a streamlined, talent-rich, forward-looking competition to me. Goodbye SANZAAR.
piru
Roar Rookie
Go Pack Go I'd like to clarify that the Own The Force campaign was a success, it wasn't that it 'didn't work' it was that it 'didn't matter' to the powers that be.
John Flint
Guest
I really like this idea. It puts the Wallabies under professional management, not run by old rugger buggers. I also have a share in it and a small voice. What is RA? A company? Sporting body? Who owns it?
Tooly
Roar Rookie
Capital raising is in vogue , almost every mail brings another offer from a company to help dilute the value of their stock. Are you talking Go fund Rugby or a float ? How much would be enough for this crowd to squander ? Would you trust them with your lunch money ? I wouldn’t give this crew a cent on past performance. Too many parasites.
Tooly
Roar Rookie
It won’t get you a seat on the Board. You need to be broke and unemployable.
Deryck Charters
Guest
I'm a kiwi and will always support the All Blacks but love rugby and the Wallabies and its proud history enough to pay $1000 to become a shareholder for the greater good of the game.
Tuc Du Nard
Roar Rookie
Thanks for this. I enjoyed the read. Even though I think owning the Wallabies just won't happen, private ownership of Super franchises or whatever comes next has gotta be a nobrainer. They all seem to struggle financially being funded by RA so why not, as a way to keep our best players in Aus, bring in private money? This way RA doesn't have to "top up" and can spend more money on coaching, pathways, elite development, broadcast deals, sponsorship and Wallabies revenue and not have to fork out/bailout to each franchise.
Paul O’CONNELL
Guest
Count me in . If I owned the Wallabies I could then make myself Captain & kicker which is what my great talent deserves .
sheek
Roar Guru
MDiddy, I don't know of any national team that is owned by its fans in a realistic manner, that is, you own a share. The national team belongs to all its fans, both passionate & passive. Own the Waratahs, sure. Own the Reds, sure. Own the Brumbies, sure. But own the Wallabies - no, no, no! It irritates the life out of me that Qantas can be our biggest sponsor, & & claim the Wallabies as its own. Stuff 'em! I'm opposed to any sponsorship on the national uniform, any national uniform. But yeah, that horse has bolted. But we don't need to call them the 'Qantas' Wallabies. That's sickening. They are the 'Australian' Wallabies. Qantas only gets away with this because we, the fans, can't be bothered kicking up a stink about it. So we get what we deserve. But private ownership of the provinces, that has legs. Then again, the whole damn joint is stone broke. Funny how some things take a long time to come to the boil. In the commemorative program magazine for the Wallabies vs All Blacks test in 2000 (the test of the century), rugby coach, poet & writer Peter Fenton (on the inside back page) hopes the day never comes when key Wallabies are reliant on the benevolence of their English or French club paymasters to release them for international duty. This article was written in 2000, & with southern hemisphere rugby riding so high internationally & also with super rugby, perhaps hardly anyone would have given any credence to the point of the article ever being realised. How wrong we were then, & how wrong we are today...
Bobt
Guest
Great idea and I would like to see it happen.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
I don't think you can have the amateur side standing alone with its own peak structures. Firstly the international liaison is key and that happens at international/professional levels elsewhere. We need to get rid of some governance layers and I see no functional need for NSW and Qld unions. The reason I came from the ground up is that the delivery of amateur club rugby fundamentally works, so leave it intact. You remember my response the other day on how individuals progress through the ranks? This is a significant problem for rugby. There is a huge (and I would say bull) dismissal in the minor states of "Shute Shield". The reality is that it is a minority of influential individuals exploiting the mandate of the club, city and state making a lot of noise. Most SS club supporters either have a primary interest in attending Saturday afternoon rugby and watching it on TV or are interested in the overall health of Australian rugby. The picture of a huge number of avaricious SS supporters trying to exploit Australian rugby for the benefit of their clubs is a complete joke. Sidelining Sydney obviously gives some a hard on, but rugby in Australia without Sydney, or choosing to pull in a direction to weaken Sydney, is choosing to be a 2nd tier international country. Fixing the legacy governance structure is essential. Having an effective professional NRC that feeds the 2nd tier SR teams and is a viable commercial proposition is essential. NRC MUST develop and enhance club rugby but does not need a whole extra layer of governance to do so.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
LOL, learned that lesson.
AndyS
Guest
Had that when they were mucking around with servers at work. Good workaround was writing it up in an email or word, then copying it in.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Might try and reply tomorrow. Am over typing detailed replies and having them disappear
Muglair
Roar Rookie
I am not in favour of any semi-professionalism at club level. You can't stop it, just as you could not pre 1995. However, widespread payment of players will only lead to bankrupt clubs. If that is due to NRC payments, that is a different argument. I think the natural line maybe that RA is responsible for paying players down to NRC level, below that it is self policing fiscal responsibility. The longer this drama carries on, the more essential it seems to have greater involvement of supporters.
Curl
Guest
Don’t we already invest $500 to $1,000 each year in rugby, Foxtel subscriptions, games, merchandise and more. It is clear we will support the game, so not such a bad idea to invest directly. Good article, lets hope Rob Clarke is a reader of The Roar.
Joe King
Guest
Hey AndyS, you really need to capture all your thoughts in an article, especially while everyone is thinking about the best way forward in this regard. I think you've got some good things to say.
MDiddy
Roar Rookie
That's what I'm afraid of. I suppose this was always on the horizon. Perhaps the only positive in our position right now is that we have a large amount of Wallaby potentials who are early into their playing career and will be able to afford to stay around. As for the 500K plus group...hopefully some of them prefer our warm company and superior coffee.
AndyS
Guest
Depends whether you were going to any games likely to involve the Wallabies anyway. We weren't, but happily paid the money anyway. It was entirely about the rugby, the company and revisiting a favourite travel destination. The participants were largely incidental, so not a great analogue.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Yes we are. But privatisation in the sense of owning teams (Force, England, France) or competitions, (CVC buying in to Premiership and 6N), not in the sense of national unions selling off their flagship brands. (Which isn't the same thing as what NZ did with IAG, that's just a sponsorship model) At the end of the day, the option that unions and clubs have, if they can't balance their books and the broadcast revenue isn't there any more, is that they pay their players a whole lot less.