The Awful Truth About The ARU's Financial Position

[Braveheart81]

There will be some Wallabies in the Rio Olympics team, I think you can bank on it.

I think it's far more likely that they will be involved or 3-5 IRB events prior to the Olympics than a summer domestic series that doesn't exist yet.

 

[Omar Comin']

There will be some Wallabies in the Rio Olympics team, I think you can bank on it.

I think it's far more likely that they will be involved or 3-5 IRB events prior to the Olympics than a summer domestic series that doesn't exist yet.

I agree with you!

I just think a summer domestic series would be a good fit as a piece in the long term puzzle of Australian rugby. As the ARU have so much on their plate perhaps it would be better if some other body organised it under some sort of licensing agreement. It would be great to know what happened to that group of investors, including David Koch, that were looking to buy into 7's in 2011. It'd be interesting to know what politics curtailed their involvement in the game.

 

[TOCC]

Nothing is utter bullshit.
In theory, your concept is right,but not in practical terms IMO.

BIL or Bled Test matches are highly sought after by cities to host,and they are prepared to pay substantial amounts to host these events.
But the 7's are not in the same ball park.
Any suggestions that the Qld Government pays a substantial amount to host this tournament is bullshit.
It was hardly a raging success in SA,and after 3 years on the GC,still draws less than an average crowd at the local NRL or AFL.
There are 4 other major sponsors that are featured before the Qld Government.
Which pretty much sums up their level of support..
IMHO

Ok, so the conclusion is that the state government pays to host the tournament but it's not a substantial amount..

I'm not going to pretend to know the finer details of the financial arrangement, so that where il leave it..

 

[Braveheart81]

I agree with you!

I just think a summer domestic series would be a good fit as a piece in the long term puzzle of Australian rugby. As the ARU have so much on their plate perhaps it would be better if some other body organised it under some sort of licensing agreement. It would be great to know what happened to that group of investors, including David Koch, that were looking to buy into 7's in 2011. It'd be interesting to know what politics curtailed their involvement in the game.

My guess is that they would have looked at the costs and structures potentially involved and decided to pass.

If people want to throw money at the game there are plenty of options available in my opinion and not much standing in their way.

The problem with a Summer series is that the only players likely to be available would be club players. Super Rugby players are well and truly in preseason training and Wallabies are enjoying their few weeks off a year before getting back into training.

The best players in Australian rugby are already fully committed in terms of their schedule. It's hard to add something in and expect them to be involved without taking away from something else.

 

[TOCC]

In regard to 7's, it's my opinion that it's a massive growth area for rugby union and has massive potential..

One area in particularly is women's rugby, women's XV's rugby participation figures have been stagnated for years, now you have 7's rugby and the growth figures are quite incredible.. Obviously growing from a small base, but still growth nonetheless. There are semi-professional female athletes representing Australia at 7's these days with other sports like touch-football and league admitting they are losing some of their top players to union.

Australia are favourites to take home a medal at the next summer Olympics.. This and a home commonwealth games in 2018 will build a lot of momentum for women's 7's within Australia.


Men's 7's are a separate issue, as rightfully pointed out the absence of the top athletes will prevent mass market appeal.. If there were a means to overcome this issue then we might see 7's rugby takeoff, until that point it's going to serve second fiddle to XV's rugby.

 

[Omar Comin']

You'd be able to recruit a few imported specialist 7's players from around the world, but I think some super rugby squad members, exciting young players and the occasional Wallaby would make sacrifices or do extras to be involved. At least for part of it. You'd have some guys writing it into their contracts.

Don't forget that for Super Rugby players to participate in IRB series events they will actually have to stop playing super rugby for a period of time. That's a bigger sacrifice.

It's a bit like the relationship between Twenty20 and Test and first class cricket. In time you'll get more sevens specialists, while the guys that want to do both will have to juggle things a little bit.

 

[Omar Comin']

My guess is that they would have looked at the costs and structures potentially involved and decided to pass.

Maybe. But I also wouldn't be surprised if the ARU were unwilling to give up any control of 7's.

 

[Quick Hands]

I agree non-rugby people go to one off events. That's great. We have one-off event. It could be a little more successful, but one event isn't the magic bullet. People go to all sorts of sporting events they are not that interested in because it's an "event" an "experience" and also the cynic in me, something to talk about to make them sound interesting.

For anything 7s related to be a significant benefit and have any sort of lengthened presence, it will need people who actually have an interest in the sport, which takes me back to my original question.

I'll give you an example at participation level.

The Independent Primary Schools in Sydney have just started a Saturday morning 7s competition. It's primarly aimed at the smaller schools who struggle to field teams at 10 or 12 a side. The bigger schools have also put the novice level players into this competition. It's held at a central venue every week and has received practical and logistical support from ARU and NSWRU.

The result is that boys from non-traditional rugby cultures are being introduced to the game. I've seen more boys and parents of SE Asian and Indian backgrounds in these games than I've seen anywhere ever.

7s can be used to bring non-traditional rugby people into the fold, in much the same way as the Big Bash has done for cricket.

Rugby must be the only Olympic sport in which we have supporters who don't seem to want to take advantage of Olympic status and all the advantages it brings.

No magic bullets, just people with ideas to try to improve the game and its profile.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

I'll give you an example at participation level.

The Independent Primary Schools in Sydney have just started a Saturday morning 7s competition. It's primarly aimed at the smaller schools who struggle to field teams at 10 or 12 a side. The bigger schools have also put the novice level players into this competition. It's held at a central venue every week and has received practical and logistical support from ARU and NSWRU.

The result is that boys from non-traditional rugby cultures are being introduced to the game. I've seen more boys and parents of SE Asian and Indian backgrounds in these games than I've seen anywhere ever.

7s can be used to bring non-traditional rugby people into the fold, in much the same way as the Big Bash has done for cricket.

Rugby must be the only Olympic sport in which we have supporters who don't seem to want to take advantage of Olympic status and all the advantages it brings.

No magic bullets, just people with ideas to try to improve the game and its profile.

They should be commended for those efforts as well. That is what's needed on a much larger scale. I'd actually approach the Catholic system at the same level to do similar. They could even use the schools to form 'clubs'.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

While there is some great posts and a robust discussion going on here, many of the recent posts could be better off placed in a thread such as Rugby 7's: How to win Gold at the Olympics, or a more generic discussion on Rugby 7's.




On the topic of ARU Finances, I'm keen to understand if there is any evidence in the accounts to support the necessity to levy junior rugby teams $200 each, with that decision being sprung on clubs at extremely short notice.

$19 m profit from last FY doesn't seem to justify the imposition of a levy of that nature on 10 six year olds playing for the <insert club name> Under 7's.

 

[Bardon]

Things like this are very good and the way forward for promoting 7s. I think what many are saying on the thread is that at the professional level the ARU realistically only has the funds to back one big investment. They've decided that the NRC is the one they're going with.

As an outsider I shouldn't really care about the success of the NRC or 7s in Australia but I'm very passionate about rugby. I think that Pulver is doing the right thing in setting up the NRC. I'd prefer to see the ARU do 1 thing really well than try to do 2 things in a half arsed manner.

Once the NRC is up standing on it's own then maybe the ARU can look at professional 7s and leverage the undoubted boost the format will get from the 2016 Olympics.

Private funding might be a possibility but often you get people who talk about being interested in such things until they have a real look at the figures. I don't think anyone would dispute that professional 7s would start out as a loss making venture and would have to be built into something that can sustain itself over time.

Due to that it's imperative that professional 7s is done when the conditions are right. Those conditions would include enthusiasm from the ARU, the public, possible private investment and sponsors.

If the ARU are focusing on getting the NRC right their enthusiasm for other project will be pretty low or non existent at present. Public enthusiasm will be much higher once 7s has been showcased at the Olympics.

If private investors went ahead now with approval from the ARU but little enthusiasm and drive from the governing body then the concept could fall flat on it's face. This would burn bridges with those who got burned this time and significantly shrink the pool of possible investors for when the ARU are ready to throw their weight behind the concept.

Sponsors like to back a winner and would be more likely to jump on board of a post Olympics bandwagon. Also it would make much more impact to have a post Olympic splash with the big announcement of a professional 7s circuit. The launch would then get both more media coverage and in a more prominent position.

Here in Ireland I'd just love us to reach the point where we had an established 7s team on the IRB circuit for both men and women.

I really do hope that Pulver continues with the push to get both 15s and 7s into Aus schools, especially in traditionally non-Rugby areas. For a country and a world facing a child obesity crisis there has to be a place for the game that's billed as for all shapes and sizes.

 

[Omar Comin']

Good points Bardon. You may be right that launching a new series after the Olympics would be the best option. Our men's and women's sides now just have to do their part and win a couple of medals, preferably gold ones!

In the meantime I'd think a one off super rugby 7's tournament as a pre-season thing like the NRL 9's could work. Just between the 10 NZ and Aus franchises and perhaps a couple of teams from the islands. That would be easier to do.

 

[TOCC]

I think 2016-2018 is the key timeframe to launch some form of domestic 7's series, even if it is a one off tournament similar to the Auckland 9's.. Between the 2016 Olympic games and the 2018 Commonwealth games on the Gold Coast is the ideal timeframe to launch a tournament and capitalise on any publicity or profiles developed through those events.

As rightfully pointed out, the NRC needs to be the key focus of the ARU for at least the next 2 years, allow that tournament to find its feat, establish corporate relationships and fan support before throwing another spanner in the works.

 

[Bardon]

Looking at the numbers the $19m surplus sounds like a lot of money for the ARU to play with. But thinking on it further the surplus is there due to the Lions Tour which only happens in Aus once every 12 years.

That's only $1.5m per year until the next Lions tour. Which IMHO will be the last Lions tour on a 12 year cycle. I'd expect the Lions to be seriously looking at exploiting the NA and Asia markets and have at least one more tour destination, moving the cycle out to 16 years. That's assuming the European clubs haven't completely buried the idea of the Lions by then.

This position makes the value of the new SANZAR TV deal even more important to the ambitions of Aus rugby. The deal needs to be big enough so that the ARU no longer has to financially prop up the Super Rugby teams.

The task for the ARU now is to use the cash they have to establish the NRC and improve their overall product in such a way that any subsequent TV deals will see a big increase from pay TV channels plus a sizable FTA deal tacked on.

It looks like Bill Pulver is taking things in the right direction and shouldn't make the mistakes JON made. I can't believe JON has been giving advice to the ARU/SANZAR via the media recently. That guy spent so long pissing away Aus rugby's reputation and fortunes that I'm surprised he's not on dialysis now.

 

[It is what it is]

Snip....
It looks like Bill Pulver is taking things in the right direction and shouldn't make the mistakes JON made. I can't believe JON has been giving advice to the ARU/SANZAR via the media recently. That guy spent so long pissing away Aus rugby's reputation and fortunes that I'm surprised he's not on dialysis now.

Whenever JON is involved there will always be 2 things in play;
A hidden self serving agenda AND a feed for his insatiable ego.

 

[Quick Hands]

The use of unpaid labour in the ARU sweat shop cocntinues.

We have just had confirmation of a venue for the 2014 Metro Camp Waratah.

Camp Waratah will be held at The Kings School.
Address 87-129 Pennant Hills Road, North Parramatta, NSW 2151

If you have any questions or troubles with registration please feel free to contact me.

Kind Regards,
Emily Deegan



Emily Deegan | Rugby Participation Intern | Australian Rugby Union LtdARU Headquarters | Ground Floor, 29-57 Christie St, St Leonards NSW 2065 (PO Box 115, ST LEONARDS NSW 1590)T +61 2 8005 5640 | W www.rugby.com.au

 

[TOCC]

Why is the ARU running such camps, isn't this the domain of the NSWRU?

 

[Braveheart81]

Why is the ARU running such camps, isn't this the domain of the NSWRU?

I think all the states share some services with the ARU. The ARU in particular seems to handle the IT side of things and mailouts which is why you occasionally get an email for another Super Rugby franchise.

 

[RedsHappy]

Whenever JON is involved there will always be 2 things in play;
A hidden self serving agenda AND a feed for his insatiable ego.

You forgot the other unmissable element: the cunning pursuit of personal income maximisation irrespective of the needs of the community or stake holders he's serving.

 

[I like to watch]

You forgot irrespective of his performance.
He has sacked plenty of people that did their jobs better than he did his.