It might look like a distant mirage across the Nullarbor Plain for cash-strapped Rugby Australia after having the $20 million smoking ruins of the Melbourne Rebels dropped at the doorstep of Sydney’s Moore Park on the eve of the 2024 Super Rugby competition.
But never before has club rugby in Perth been awash with so much cash. And it isn’t because Western Australia’s biggest rugby benefactor Andrew Forrest has redistributed locally the $50 million he offered the Australian Rugby Union in August 2017 to spare the Western Force from the Super Rugby axe and “ensure the future of rugby as a national sport.”
Twiggy’s 50 large disappeared off the table when – at the August 22 lunchtime meeting at Adelaide’s Hilton hotel – the compelling logic of never standing in the way of a billionaire rugby tragic with a sack of cash somehow escaped then ARU chairman Cameron Clyne, himself a former banker.
In what was a tragic sliding doors moment for the national code, Clyne shook his head and told Forrest he was too late to save the Force. It was, in every sense of the term, a game-changer for rugby in Australia.
Some seven years on, it is the threat of the axe which has also led to the unprecedented cash splash out west. And there is further irony in that former Wallaby John Welborn, who was at Forrest’s side at the August 2017 meeting in Adelaide with Clyne as his rugby adviser, is now president of RugbyWA.
Club rugby in Aussie Rules-dominated Perth has always relied on recruits from interstate and overseas, primarily Kiwis, to bolster the playing pool and lift the competition standard. But that recruitment process has been supercharged since Covid.
And that has sparked an unprecedented inter-club chequebook war for playing talent, creating an even more uneven playing field between clubs with wealthy benefactors and sponsors and those relying on chook raffles to put teams on the field each week.
(Photo by Daniel Carson/Getty Images)
The reasons for the changing landscape out west are varied. After a clumsy attempt to reduce the number of premier grade teams in 2022, RugbyWA decreed in 2023 that the lowest-ranked club (measured across the top three grades) would be relegated. That triggered a scramble amongst the 11 senior clubs for imports to avoid the fateful wooden spoon.
By the time RugbyWA backtracked on that contentious decision mid-season, many clubs had already blown their budgets. Painting the visitors’ changing rooms would have to wait another couple of years.
In a rugby podcast last year, long-standing Wests Scarborough player turned volunteer Dean “Rangi” McKee estimated Perth clubs had spent up to $800,000 on recruiting players and coaches in 2023, primarily to avoid relegation. It might have sounded like a fanciful stab in the dark, but many in clubland believe Rangi wasn’t far from the mark. Individual player contracts with financial incentives between $5,000 and $10,000 are not uncommon.
However, the reprieve from the blowtorch was only temporary. For the upcoming 2024 season, RugbyWA has punted on a radical new two-tier competition, with the top tier (based on 2023 competition standings) restricted to six teams.
Under the revamped competition structure, two of those six teams still remain vulnerable to relegation, with the five second-tier clubs all fighting to replace them. Think Hunger Games with headgear.
It hasn’t rained in Perth for a while, with pre-season temperatures hovering around 40 degrees. But that hasn’t stopped many Perth clubs plundering their rainy-day reserves again to avoid being stranded as also-rans, unlikely to feature in the weekly Stan Sports televised coverage.
One of the reasons driving the chequebook war for rugby recruits is Perth’s low unemployment rate. Until recently, clubs who could find jobs in Perth for new players, particularly unskilled workers, got the pick of the out-of-towners. But with work now relatively easy to come by in Perth (even, dare I say it, for front-rowers), jobs are no longer the lure they once were. Indeed, Perth’s record low rental vacancy rate of just 0.7% has meant accommodation is more of an issue.
One lesson the post-Covid phenomena has also taught clubs is that money doesn’t buy loyalty – as witnessed by the fierce off-season horse trading of new recruits happy to play in a different club kit in 2024.
The obvious question is whether the cash being thrown around in club rugby is sustainable. The answer is almost certainly no. Painting the visitors’ changing rooms can’t wait forever. And as the recent free-fall in the price of much-hyped electric battery commodities like nickel and lithium has highlighted, the boom times out west don’t always last.
But in the meantime, for players at least, its nice work if you can get it.
Mark Drummond is a former rugby correspondent for The West Australian newspaper and the NZ Rugby News, and former WA editor of The Australian Financial Review.
andrewM
Roar Rookie
Given that it's taken league in WA nearly 30 years and nearly a million more residents to recover from the Western Reds debacle it may be a very long game Craigo
Muglair
Roar Rookie
I am in the latter group as well, and sadly am not expecting an exit anytime soon. There is enough detail in the article to satisfy your needs, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. Technically AF did not meet the demands either, only being said to offer a paltry $50m. Don't forget AF thought that Hamish I was the perfect man for RA, and that he should be given far greater authority so he could fix rugby. He is not the instant solution so many think he would be. The whole ship is shot full of holes when the only strategy RA has now is that Schmidt will fix the culture so that no player will want to leave. Seriously, this is the plan from an organisation that is hopelessly out of touch with the rugby community? They don't even have the courage to consult stakeholders on a strategic plan, let alone publish one and stand behind it. The other group I might be joining soon is old team mates and coaches at my SS club who have no interest in supporting elite rugby.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
You can count me with the latter group…although I realise we need to move on…. it is hard to restore trust. The details of what Forrest $50 million commitment is covered in the article. They didn’t get to detail mechanisms as Clyne wasn’t really interested to consider saving the Force. He bluffed and Twiggy called his bluff. Forrest asked ARU chairman Clyne what would be needed to save the Force and were given a list that was supposed to be impossible to meet: - underwrite the Western Force for the next eight years - fund grassroots rugby by $6 million a year for eight years and - compensate the Super Rugby competition by $20 million to cover the costs in keeping the Force. Forrest agreed and then Clyne backtracked quickly.
LBJ
Roar Rookie
Interesting piece - thanks. It sounds something like promo/ relegation I. The EPL - will be interesting to see if it works. How would the top teams rate against the top Shute Shield / Hospital Cup sides do you?
piru
Roar Rookie
People have been saying that for years though - never say never and I'll probably go along if they do come over, but I think there's room for both. Perth is probably one of the few places in the country that rugby is more popular than league, I don't think it would change overnight.
Craigo
Roar Rookie
Like the AFL in NSW and QLD the NRL have lots of money and will play the long game in Perth. The NRL will over take the Force on day one and never fall back. Super Rugby can't compete. Super Rugby is now dead man walking.
Craigo
Roar Rookie
Big call piru. I'd say the next team add will be Perth. But only time will tell.
piru
Roar Rookie
NRL won't come to WA now, they had their window when the Force were out and didn't take it. League exists here, but nothing like it used to.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
It does not provide the details of what all the mechanics of what was offered, especially in the context of an enquiry. That is a totally bizarre and fantastical demand from Clyne which sadly does not diminish my current opinion of him. Well over $100m and probably indicative of the failed management of RA/ARU over decades. Forget disciplined strategy and execution and go for the easy quick fix. As always, if the answer in 2016 was to cut the Force, what the hell was the question. Certainly nothing to do with rugby. This is one of the problems with cutting the Rebels, there are still a lot of rugby supporters around the country with residual anger and resentment over the Force, this is just stirring it all up again.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
Welborne’s testimony to the senate enquiry has the details. Good article on SMH. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/senate-inquiry-hears-twiggy-forrest-called-arus-bluff-to-save-western-force-20171011-gyz4tw.html
andrewM
Roar Rookie
Local Rugby League in WA peaked in the late 80's and the number of clubs is not even half the number of Union clubs. Whilst a NRL team may grab the headlines and gather a strong supporter base to start with (like the Fore did), I doubt that it will overtake union in the short or medium term, espeially if it fails to achieve some on-field success. Just look at how the Glory are going
Muglair
Roar Rookie
I was not aware of that detail. can you expand on that?
Craigo
Roar Rookie
"Can WA make Rugby a better social experience, and by doing that increase crowd size and participation, than League in particular?" Probably, Until the NRL put a team in Perth and Rugby will drop down the pecking order.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
piru, I've watched a bit on SBS 34. Perhaps there's a gap top to bottom but I wouldn't agree with your rating based on what I watched. I saw some good players amongst fairly ordinary teams. Time for a Club Championship! What I think you do have over there is a lot of passion for the game and directed well is the future.
Nick Maguire
Roar Rookie
Bliks, "the compelling logic of never standing in the way of a billionaire rugby tragic with a sack of cash somehow escaped then ARU" This is the crux of it and was IMO inexcusable.
whistleblower (retired)
Roar Rookie
I am not familiar with the strength of League in WA. I guess the aerial ping pong game reigns supreme; is there the potential for Rugby to be #2 given the high prevalence of kiwis and saffers in WA. Can WA make Rugby a better social experience, and by doing that increase crowd size and participation, than League in particular?
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
There's not even 12 quality teams in Brisbane. It's a 9 team comp and 2 of those teams are hopeless and don't have many grades.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
We have quality teams, just not that many of them as NSW and QLD have. I have been following WA junior and club rugby since 2002 and have seen a marked improvement. The imports (players and coaches) played a crucial role to drive this improvement. I have also noticed an improvement when academy players on the field. The challenge is to move from 3-5 quality teams to 12.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
There was no excuse not to have a discussion about this. It was unceremoniously wiped of the table with Clyne them explaining to Forrest how business works.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
Front rowers tend to do well in leadership roles including in the administration of the game. They are natural team players, they have street smarts, they are people that are prepared to do the hard work and that do not crave the spotlight. I have no evidence to support this but would not be surprised if more front rowers end up in leadership positions than any other position in a rugby team.