A.J. – Congratulations on publishing a well researched, balanced and constructed argument.
Its amazing how when you sit in a meeting with several other people, each participant leaves that meeting with a slightly different perspective on the agreed facts? Your article is very similar in that each reader is able to draw a slightly different conclusion on the subject.
I will add a quotation from the media that I believe casts some light and provides some small explanation as to the performaces of Raelene Castle up until her resignation:
“Castle talked a big game in her five years as Bulldogs chief executive. In chief executive meetings of the NRL, according to those in attendance, she and Souths counterpart John Lee would offer grand theories on how the game should be run but provide little substance. They were like the two old blokes out of The Muppets who always thought they had a better idea how things should be done than the rest of us”
Inexplicably, nobody from Rugby Australia spoke to the NRL or the Bulldogs about whether they thought she was up to it. Not NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg. Not Bulldogs chairman Ray Dib. None of them.” Andrew Webster – Chief Sportswriter SMH – 19 April 2018.

Paulo – in the article to which I refer it was Paul McLean that raised the bullying issue, not Raelene Castle. As stated in my comment above, I thought that her resignation announcement was quite dignified. In an interview, subsequent to her resignation announcement, she confirmed that she received some abuse in the media but admitted that it came with the territory of being a sports administrator. My criticism was directed at the apparent inability of RA to defend its female CEO in the face of workplace bullying but unashamedly terminate the contract of its greatest star player for his unacceptable comments about some minorities within the community. I am amazed at the apparent inequity of the RA statements.

“Rugby Australia chairman Paul McLean says Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle was the victim of constant and “abhorrent” bullying during her tenure”
For an organisation like Rugby Australia that terminated its world-rated Fullback for his non-alignment with its stated policy on inclusiveness and his scorn of minority groups it sounds exteremly disingenuous for the chairman to now play the bullying card as Raelene Castle exits the building. Why didn’t the Board of RA do something about it when and as it occurred?
Surely with the equal rights culture and policies at RA the bullying would have been called out and terminated in its tracks as soon as it was encountered, just as RA did with Izzy Folau?
I thought that Raelene Castle was dignified in her resignation announcement but this statement by Paul McLean and Rugby Australia does little to asssist Raelene Castle’s reputation as an effective executive, regadless of her sex.

TWAS – I know that you are not suggesting that NZRU will offer Ralene Castle a position now that she is available, but?
In the corporate sector, I believe that Ralene Castle, or any one for that matter, that has been associated with two major, controversial resignations from prominent positions (in her case Bulldogs and Rugby Australia) will find it difficult to achieve traction in another senior appointment application process.

Good article Brett. As Doug Mulray’s radio character, Hymie Fymie, used to say regularly at breakfast time: “There’s going to be big changes to the big changes!”

The “Oracle of Omaha” or someone similar that understands Rugby is not a silly suggestion. The thing about about Warren Buffet is that he made his fortune through multiple commodities in the equities market, not just one major play in one field of investment, and in a sustained career over many decades. Do many Australians qualify? A solid business person with first rate exprience in equity finance, strong management skills and hands-on experience in building a new business model from a start-up basis.

It is important to remember that the COVID-19 Pandemic erupted onto the Australian sport scene slightly after the financial issues arising from the difficult RA negotiations with Foxtel, and to a lesser extent Optus.

By that time, RA was already set on a course of financial uncertainty without the surety of AUD$57.0 million p.a., or an agreed lesser negotiated amount, from the sale of its broadcast rights.
The media reported that RA achieved a financial turn around from the loss of 2017 (AUD$3.8 million deficit) to a profit in 2018 (Rugby AU recorded a net surplus of AUD$5.2 million, aided by a $14.9m net expenditure reduction primarily due to reduced funding allocated to Super Rugby, player costs decreasing, and a reduction in administrative staffing and overhead costs ) including two significant decisions;
a. The decision to cut the Western Force from the Super Rugby Competition
b. The decision not to contribute support to the Sunwolves beyond 2020 (a joint decision with other countries)
(Remember that the 2017 and 2018 results were generated in a regime that included AUD$57.0 million p.a. from Foxtel)
RA itself always forecast that 2019 (Provisional Loss of AUD$9.4 million) would be a tough year financially due to the following programming issues;
c. RWC 2019 in Japan and
d. the reduction in domestic Tests in 2019 that contribute significant funds to RA
To add insult to injury, the Israel Folau fiasco represented another unforseen extraordinary expense.
Accordingly, in my mind, a loss for this financial year was a foregone conclusion. The extent of the loss was the only remaining question?

I note that RA is still pinning some hopes on the Domestic internationals proceeding against Ireland and Fiji in July 2020. These fixtures must be classifed as unlikely given that the 2020 Olympic in Japan have already been postponed until 2021 and there is talk that the 2020 Tour de France and Wimbledon may be cancelled

RA now finds itself in “the perfect storm” represented by a convergence of RA Board decisions made in January/February 2020 regarding media negotiations with Foxtel and Optus, reduced income from domestic internationals in 2019 and 2020, the Israel Folau settlement and now the closure of all rugby due to the COVID-19 Pandemic until further notice. As reported by Bluesfan, the bottom line will only plummet further if Foxtel puruse the return of payments already paid to RA for undelivered broadcast product?

RA definitely cannot be held accountable for the pandemic but Rugby in Australia was already on a difficult course before 1 March 2020 when COVID-19 began to really bite.

A number of media sources are suggesting a Federal Government or a Rugby Union (governing body) bail-out?

If the only source of rescue is private equity (media is already discussing Andrew Forrest as a potential backer) RA better brace itself for some forensic Due Diligence which will be brutal in the pursuit of a bargain deal or at least value-for-money. Corporate Due Diligence will cut straight through the COVID-19 effect and go straight to the underlying operations before the extraordinary event, focussing on the potential for a new media rights deal.

From my experience, private equity investors thrive when they smell “blood in the water”

The landscape will definitely be reset when the revenue for 2021 and beyond is accurately determined .

Either way the game, as we know it, is heading for further massive changes and the executive of Rugby Australia will come under intense scrutiny and may be the first casualties? Any incoming equity invetsor will need to control the Board and have a ma jority say in the management of the investment

The impact of World War I:
When World War I started, the NSW Rugby Union gave league another opportunity to gain support when it suspended operations for the duration of the war. League continued to function throughout the war, and by the time peace was declared, a fresh crop of stars had been developed. At no stage in the league’s dynamic first 10 years could it be claimed that players had been bribed to join the code, and most of them received only a few shillings a match, ‘Dinny’ Campbell, a big crowd-pleaser who played three rugby internationals for Australia before he switched codes, wrote that in his best season in league he made only 4 pounds a match. The main reason young footballers were attracted to the new code was poor administration of the rugby code.

When the 45th annual meeting of the NSW Rugby Union was due to be held in Sydney on 14 April 1919, charged with the responsibility of reviving rugby, pneumonic influenza had broken out in plague proportions. Emergency government edicts prohibited the assembly of people in public halls.

The above is an extract from the Rugby Australia website – Our History

It sounds like Shane Mattiske is calling the shots on the broadcasting rights negotiation strategy at Rugby Australia? By all acounts he make some smart calls for the NRL back in 2012-13?

Nutter – I agree that her appointment coincided with some spectacular dynamics in Rugby and sports broadcasting. Her 4 year term may prove to be the most difficult since the advent of professionalism. Georgina Robinson of the SMH is suggesting her ongoing tenure will rest of her successful negotiation of the Rugby broadcast rights?

If Raelene Castle is able to secure a similar pay deal while at the same time reaching a broader audience by making Rugby available to anyone with a tv she will have earn my support and respect.
I do not classify myself as a mysogynist and have only judged her on her performance to date. I do admit that she does have the ability to polarize any audience.

Paul D – It will be interesting to observe the post-Super Rugby landscape in Australia. I suspect that the possible loss of revenue from broadcasting rights will impact on our game at all levels: grass roots, player salary contracts, coaching salaries and RA executive salaries?

I am not a Raelene Castle fan.
“Fox Sports executives believe the RA boss scuppered a deal so she could take the struggling code onto free-to-air television on Network Ten”
“The report suggested Castle was also gambling on a bid from Optus, which is yet to make any offer, to make up for any shortfall in funding”
I understand that both sides are flooding the media with their version of the facts.
I assume that Fox Sport’s motive is to negotiate an improved price for the Rugby product against their eroding profitability.
However, from a first principles point of view, and in the absence of a new Broadcast deal, how will Raelene Castle and Rugby Australia replace the significant annual revenue from Fox Sports if her aim was to take Rugby to free-to-air on Channel 10?
It’s all well and good to assume that her aim may be to reach a wider audience via free-to-air television but Rugby Australia also needs significant revenue to survive against competing codes and dwindling attendance.
In general terms in 2019, RA declared a profit of approximately AUD$6.0 million with the benefit of AUD$57.0 annual revenue from Foxsports (this result also took into account closing the Western Force and terminating the associated drain on funds). You don’t have to be John Maynard Keynes to calculate the effect of losing AUD$45.0-AUD$50.0 million on revenue (suggested annual value of 2021 Foxsports offer moving forward)
If the reports of Raelene Castle gambling on an anticipated offer from Optus, without first having an updated conditional offer from Fox Sport on which she could rely, prove to be accurate, then her behaviour is wreckless and irresponsible. (I cannot help but notice the similarities with her stewardship during the Canterbury Bulldogs salary cap fiasco and her naive expectation that illegal salary deferments would not be detected by the NRL salary cap investigators and her current management of the critical negotiation of the renewal of the broadcast rights for Rugby Australia by not securing a fallback position whilst sumiltaneously exploring an improved/competitive position with Optus)
Player and coach agents play this game regularly and with great success by exploring all prospects simulataneously in a compressed time frame.
Surely her highest prioriy should be to secure an “doomsday” income stream for our Code for the foreseeable medium term?
If it proves to be accurate that Fox Sports will not renew their deal with Rugby Australia, even at a reduced annual Fee, then Optus may be the only option and will now have the balance of power handed to them on a platter to control the negotiation and the fees for broadcast rights.
In my opinion sequential negotiation with major broadcasters is naive in the extreme. If this negotiation ends without a secure position for Rugby Australia then surely Raelene Castle’s position as the CEO of Rugby Australua will be untenable?

The tsunami of rule changes and the evolution of the game of Rugby in response to those rule changes makes comparison of players from different eras almost impossible. The evolution of the game has even impacted on the size and shape of players across the paddock to further complicate any comparison.
The introduction of professionalism almost demands a pre-1995 and post 1995 selection?

“Four legs good, two legs bad”
This phrase, which occurs in Chapter III of Animal Farm, The phrase instances one of the novel’s many moments of propagandizing, which Orwell portrays as one example of how the elite class abuses language to control the lower classes. Although the slogan seems to help the animals achieve their goal at first, enabling them to clarify in their minds the principles that they support, it soon becomes a meaningless sound bleated by the sheep (“two legs baa-d”), serving no purpose other than to drown out dissenting opinion.
By the end of the novel, as the propagandistic needs of the leadership change, the pigs alter the chant to the similar-sounding but completely antithetical “Four legs good, two legs better.”

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 222–230

Despite the fact that the terms of the settlement are allegedly confidential television media are reporting this morning that the settlement paid by RA to Israel Folau was AUD$8.0 million.

No-one has mentioned in any article whether Israel Folau is now free to ply his trade as a professional Rugby Player, either in Australia or elsewhere in the world?

I have no faith in Raelene Castle to competently weigh any commercial proposal and make the correct decision for our game

I also believe that the Scott Johnson role of Director or Rugby was a creation to compensate for an inadquate and incompetent CEO that could not relate or control Michael Cheika.

Our resurrection will be a muli-stage process that will span multiple RWC phases and probably leave behind the corpses of a few notable coaches. For that reason I support an initial appointment of 2 years.
Based on your selection of the image of Raelene Castle making yet another announcement I almost apssed over this article.
I do not want this woman representing my code any longer

Until the outcome of the Folua dispute is resolved and RA sort out their internal political issues a fair assessment of the role as Head Coach of the Wallabies would be that it is a “poison challice” for at least the next 2 years. The next Head Coach may be simply a care-taker until the issues are resolved. Not much up-side for the man in the hot-seat?

Who was the TMO for the England v All Blacks semi-final game?
That decision to rescind the England try by Ben Youngs was the most observant and detailed call I have ever witnessed in a Rugby match. Whilst it was a technically correct decision, where does the trend of micro-review of each play (players and referee) take our game in terms of audience appeal and professional expansion?

Sandbox,
Now that the bandaid has been ripped-off the RWC wound it will be interesting to observe the fall-out as the full impact on RA of the following is realized;
1. Exit of the Wallabies at QF stage of RWC
2. Retirement and overseas transfer of many senior players
3. Resignation of Michael Cheika as coach
4. Resignation of Andrew Hoare from Waratah Rugby
5. Pressure on Raelene Castle and Cameron Clyne to justify their positions as CEO and Chairman of RA
6. The resolution of Israel Folau legal dispute in February 2020 without Cheika and Hoare (and possibly Castle & Clyne?) Additionally, any witnesses in this dispute called by RA that are no longer employed by RA may require independent legal Counsel at significant personal expense.

I am not a Raelene Castle fan and am disgusted at the attempted media manipulation being undertaken by her and RA. Your attached link, read in conjunction with excerpts from her recent press interview and evasions of the real issues, in my mind are a classic example.

In the business world, a CEO on a base salary AUD$815,000 p.a. would be fully accountable for a disastrous annual result and most likely forced to resign.

The 2020 financial results for Rugby Australia will also add fuel to the fire as the further impact of reduced revenue from Television Rights and less home tests in 2019, as a result of the RWC, are reflected in the RA accounts.

Stormy weather ahead for all Rugby fans in Australia.

CP that is an insightful and accurate comment. Well done!