I have to declare I am part of a group known as Supporters of Australian Rugby Reform, SOARR. The objective of this group is to effect constitutional change in Rugby Australia.
Any analysis of Australian rugby shows a depressing picture. On field performance of our national team, the Wallabies are ranked ninth in the world. Our Super teams are constantly struggling, ranked in the lower half of the competition.
Participation numbers from the grass roots up shows decreasing numbers of school’s participation, shrinking numbers of players and clubs.
Skill levels, development programs and pathways are disjointed or non- existent. There are inadequate ‘coach the coaches’ programs and a non-productive elite youth development system.
The lack of funding for grassroots and the total disengagement of RA has caused a rapid decline in clubs, volunteers, sponsors and players.
The financial position of RA and the inability to adequately fund the Super Rugby model in Australia is a failure beyond belief. Within RA there seems to be an inability of the Board to strategise and articulate a survival model for Australian rugby.
The Board has allowed rugby in Australia to incur an $80 million debt facility on the basis of future events, this has been done without any transparency to the rugby population of Australia and is best a high risk, virtually secret, strategy.
The goal of SOARR is to remove the current constitution of RA and replace it with a constitution which has the broad rugby population of clubs and states vote for board members similar to shareholders of a public company.
Today’s constitution is a closed shop constitution which only allows 14 votes from member unions to decide upon board appointees selected by a board appointed nominations committee of three people and chaired by the Chairman of RA. This has produced a cabal of bankers, financiers and other professional board operatives maintaining control of rugby in Australia.
Daniel Herbert, Chairman of RA in his Annual Report states, “On the back of the success of the inaugural RA summit my fellow Directors and I are confident we are making steady progress in rebuilding the rugby population’s trust in us to deliver shared aspiration and desired outcomes.”
I’m not sure where this confidence comes from, there has been a review led by Andrew Slack, with only the recommendations being shared with the rugby public of Australia. We have been told there was a $2.5m overrun of the Wallabies World Cup fiasco campaign. We have not been told what the original budget was, we have not been told what the additional money was spent on and by whom. We have not been told who approved the additional $2.5m or how this was allowed to happen.
Rugby Australia Chair Dan Herbert. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
At this years Annual General Meeting, there are five directors up for approval. Two are replacements for Phil Waugh and Hamish McLennan. Three are existing board members up for re-election.
These three are, Matt Henning, Karen Penrose and Jane Wilson. A fourth, Pip Marlow, will stand down in four months. Dan Herbert, Pip Marlow and the three up for re-election were all responsible for the World Cup fiasco and supported Hamish McLennan, they were also responsible for the financial over run at the World Cup and also responsible for the sacking of Dave Rennie and his payout.
In addition to the World Cup mismanagement, they are complicit in signing an untested rugby league winger – Joseph Suaalii – for an estimated $1.7 per year. This $1.7m would fund the development program in NSW for two years.
They have been involved in a failed Private Equity agreement and the defunding of the Australian Super teams to the extent NSW and Victoria are broke and owing more than $20m. In addition the ACT Brumbies directors will not sign off on the 2023 financials which suggest they are close to insolvency.
On this basis the SOARR are asking the 14 votes from the Member Unions to cause a spill of the board, install an interim Chairman and committee to conduct a forensic and transparent financial analysis of the RA position. They would also be charged with the responsibility of developing a survival plan for Australian rugby, which would include a new constitution and a revamp of the coaching and skills programs discarded by previous administrations.
These actions are all constitutionally sound and legal.
In the recent past the RA Board under this constitution has been responsible for,
- The Wallabies’ lowest ever world ranking of 10th (currently ninth).
- Folau sacking and $4m payout.
- Raelene Castle fiasco and payout.
- Loss of QANTAS sponsorship
- Dave Rennie’s sacking and payout plus support staff payouts.
- Lowest-ever participation numbers and declining number of clubs.
- GPS schools converting to soccer and AFL.
- Lowest-ever skilled player and coach base.
- Loss of Foxtel media deal including News Limited media.
- Three Super teams on edge of insolvency and the entire Super model in Australia broken.
- An inadequate coach education program and a diminished pathway for coaches.
- Signing a $1.7 per annum deal with an untested rugby league winger
- A falling fan support base
- Total abandonment of experienced rugby support groups
It is the belief of the SOARR that this litany of issues is due to a constitution that has entrusted the wrong people with the responsibility of Australia’s rugby health. The closed shop of the nominations committee and the Board self perpetuating has seen a consistent decline in Australian rugby. All actions taken by the previous Chairman were endorsed by this board and for the AGM to again endorse this board will see further mismanagement.
The Australian rugby public must take ownership of the game, have a board elected by them who will be open and transparent, who will be qualified to focus on rugby, sound financial management and avoid divisive non rugby issues. It needs to re-establish the proven skill development program we had for players and coaches and put the survival and prosperity.
Russ Tulloch is a former Wallaby, ex-board member of NSW Rugby and president of Norths club.
Farthing
Roar Rookie
Yeah thats pretty impressive .
Russ Tulloch
Roar Rookie
Actually Norths have been minor premiers the last two years and in the top four longer. Numbers up through all grades. All done without any assistance from RA.
Don
Roar Rookie
Flogged us Gatesy! Well done to your boys. I think my Tigers are in for a tough season. I didn't get to the game but my mates told me it was still a great day with a good turn out. Apart from the score, the biggest issue of the day was the club has gone cashless and only accepts cards. So the tradie boys who do a few cash jobs and have a pocketful of notes ready for a big day, all had to use their cards. Can't hide the enormity of that spend from the wife... :laughing: None of us agree with the little stand being located in the can bar either.
gatesy
Roar Guru
Turns out it was a real cracker (for us, at least).
AndyS
Roar Rookie
It will certainly be interesting to see what all that turns out to be. My guess is some adjustment rather than wholesale change, but I guess we’ll find out where they’re really at then. . I suppose even if they are needing to dial back a bit going forward though, no question they’ve killed it to this point and they’ll keep the most of it. Whereas Australia…
AndyS
Roar Rookie
Absolutely NSW talent is stretched out, mostly because they have resolutely refused to do anything that might spread that load for fear it would make them less relevant. They should have done something about it long before trying to expand, they absolutely should have done something about it after, but just keep reverting to form. It is ultimately why an NRC...not cheap, but a damn sight cheaper and more focused than trying to catch all the Premier Comps up on a hundred years of investment in the Shute Shield. They've found the limit of that, and it is too limited.
AndyS
Roar Rookie
Absolutely agree that is the problem, but would add failing due to an unwillingness to institute a professional structure. That is what they are getting rubbed in their face, but closing up shop and making their own little sport of one probably isn't an option...both League and AFL have that niche well and truly covered. So realistically their choices would seem to be sort their professionalism out and stop trying to make do with a pre-1995 structure, or come to peace with stinking the joint up.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yet NZR is putting player development for the national team ahead of everything...to their own detriment. They've created an unsustainable inflationary pressure on themselves where they're paying way too much money to the professional players, and vastly too much for the semi-professional players, for what their income/revenue actually is, all based on a self-restricting philosophy of an archaic amateur era mandate of not allowing selection for the national team for players who seek professional opportunities outside NZ. NZR seeks outside financial assistance now to prop them up, and also are currently looking to reform their whole semi-professional NPC structure.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Great points. The only thing I can think of is NSW talent is stretched out to provide playing talent for multiple franchises in the professional era? The amateur era was more akin to a genuine representative "state of origin" style format from what I assume. I could only assume that NSW playing talent has made it's way to Reds, Brumbies, Force & Rebels over the past 20+ years, thus weakening their own ability to challenge. I guess this also applies to Qld & the Reds as well to some extent. Even more baffling is how the Brumbies (and others) didn't rate Mack Hansen, and now he ends up representing Ireland in a golden era for them! :shocked: Did Mack Hansen improve out of sight when he moved to Ireland, or are talent scouts and coaches biased against certain types of players? (Or maybe some combination of the two?)
AndyS
Roar Rookie
But it is why it is unbalanced. It wasn't when it was S10, with the Waratahs one step above amateur rugby vs Auskland and Canterbury, also one step above amateur rugby. But then they professionalised, and the Waratahs just started paying players, while remaining one step above amateur rugby. Whereas, with much the same revenue from the same deal, NZ created new professional teams, and paid to make the previous teams semi-pro development teams, all above amateur rugby. If it is boring and unbalanced, it is because Aus rugby made it that way by being lazy, and then stubbornly lazy. It is not some characteristic of the countries, or some fated outcome, just bad priorities stemming from a lack of willpower and spine. So now it is the equivalent of Australian teams at the level of a WAFL, going up against NZ teams operating at the level of an AFL. And that looks unbalanced for the exact reasons you'd think.
Micko
Roar Rookie
That's a great point Andy, but the facts are you didn't allow that to organically develop, what with Union being a weird parochial amateur sport. Rugby league literally got it's big break through this parochialism in Sydney, and rapidly took over through the working-class masses. Now if that didn't happen Andy? Australia probably would've been barred from international level for breaching the amateur rules. Yet (ironically) they would've led the way for the sport in general. The sport is still suffering through it's bizarre very late adoption of professionalism (mid 90's!), and (as much as you are going to hate me for saying it) SR/SRP is a product of an amateur sport trying to be professional, and failing.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I disagree Andy. The MAJOR issue is a boring unbalanced comp: a development war league with NZ where Australian players are spread across five franchises to play five NZ development franchises in their national sport (and SAF's biggest sport amongst their white minority). And yes, RA were daft to bring in Force & Rebels into such a comp unfit for purpose, where the development squad SR scenario and the niche nature of the sport in Australia meant it was only ever appropriate to have three franchises: Qld Reds, NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, in such a comp. But that was RA's fault for not reading the writing on the wall and developing a plan to exit SR in the 2000's and establish an Australian league. The same reason why SR is daft is the same reason why kiwis (JD Kiwi, Jacko etc etc etc) NEVER demand to merge the Sheffield Shield with the Plunket Shield: because it's inappropriate and unsustainable!
AndyS
Roar Rookie
Well, not often or recently anyway. But university graduates don’t immediately become senior engineers or doctors either. Doesn’t mean they could have skipped university altogether, or be put to work doing surgery straight out of high school. . That’s the real world equivalent for SR. NZ gets university graduates, Aus relies on apprenticeships and learning on the job. Both might eventually get to the same place, but there’ll be a lot more blood on the floor one way than the other. And if you had to choose which one was going to do your surgery…
AndyS
Roar Rookie
Again, we are not talking about the AFL/NRL, we are talking about NZ having the rugby equivalent of the WAFL/VFA feeding upskilled and 'professional-ready' players into its fully professional teams. Not the finished product, but 80% there. They have it, the Australian teams don't...they get players that have talent and potential, but are 0% aware of what professional rugby is really like or shown to be up to it. It is far and away the single biggest contributor to the imbalance between their five SR teams and Australia's five SR teams. And because RA is not prepared to spend that money, they don't show as well, they aren't an arttractive option, and it shows in their earnings.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Rookie players NEVER win the Brownlow Medal, Dally M Medal etc Andy. Why? Because they're not fully developed/matured professional players. A properly run professional league develops professional players, not the tiers below!
Micko
Roar Rookie
NZ has NOTHING like the AFL/NRL, and have NEVER produced one decent professional sporting league, hence their cultural reliance on Australia. NZR has a total professional football code competition of two franchises for the whole country: 1) Auckland/NZ Warriors (NRL) 2) Wellington Phoenix (A League) Soon to be joined new A League franchise Auckland FC in 2024. THIS is the reason why NZR feels it has no pressure on them to fix the dire SR system: it's a tiny economy that is culturally dominated by one sport, and more specifically, culturally dominated by interest in the national men's team of their favourite sport. Having the whole professional structure of a sport revolve around the success of the national team is a luxury NZ feel they can afford due to the cultural dominance of the All Blacks brand for kiwis. Australia can't afford this luxury as there's too much competition for the sport's fans dollar in Australia. What's interesting is even CA prioritises a T20 league (BBL) at the height of Summer, rather than it's iconic state based first-class cricket league (Sheffield Shield) which now goes on a two month hiatus from before Christmas till the middle of February! :unhappy:
AndyS
Roar Rookie
Sure. Would have been less than NRC level then and probably semi-pro based on the Aus end of the broadcast deal of the time, but perhaps it might have given them a base to build from. Or they'd've gone under completely long ago. We'll never know now though.
AndyS
Roar Rookie
You are wrong. At most they polish them. The WAFL, SANFL, NSWRL, QRL, etc, etc develop the best juniors, identify promising players, make them semi-pro, increase the standard, test their commitment, and give them somewhere to play and hone those skills at a elevated standard. THEN the AFL/NRL come along and cherry pick just the best of those with the confidence that they are the best of the best, ready for full professionalism, and hoping to add one more 'best' for the trophy room. Australian rugby doesn't, they just pick the best looking amateurs and throw them straight in the deep end. That is the difference between the AFL/NRL and SR, and why they work and SR doesn't. An extremely competitive and dynamic professional team is the product of its systems and the standard of its players. Australian rugby takes neither as seriously as its competitor codes, or even its competitors in SR. NZ does things like the AFL/NRL, and unsurprisingly they are quite good. And in fact there is nothing to stop them being recruited to the Force...several are. But not the top ones, not because they can't be, but because they won't...why would they? And for that matter, promising young talent either. Australia needs to take its own systems seriously, maybe then others will.
Micko
Roar Rookie
SR is a broken product as I have previously pointed out because of the silly development war scenario it uses for the basis of a professional league. RA needed to ditch SR in the late 2000's when they realised they need more professional franchises to compete with other codes and a decent product to try to sell to broadcasters.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Professional sport develops professional players. It's not up to Shute Shield, HC, WAFL, SANFL, NSWRL, QRL, etc, etc, etc to provide professional level players. You need an extremely competitive and dynamic professional product to do that, something SR/SRP just isn't, as it's essentially the descendant of the same amateur state/provincial competition that was it's forerunner. I told you previously why when I ask why can't top NZ talent be recruited to the Force in a proper professional league? There's a massive roadblock right there in turning SR into a product that works for the Australian market, not to mention the blatant hypocrisy! :thumbdown: