The Awful Truth About The ARU's Financial Position

[Hell West & Crooked]

America will not become part of Super Rugby, you heard it here first.

Seriously, the travel would be fucking insane even for a West Coast franchise. 12-13 hours to Australia or New Zealand and even more than that for a South African tour..factor in the fact that the player base (the body is willing but the skills aren't there yet) literally doesn't exist and it just isn't going to happen.

The USA will not be pumping cash into Super Rugby anytime soon, if ever. I'd be surprised if there is any professional 15s competition encapsulating American franchises in the next decade the way the ship is being steered right now. Too many fuck-wits with money but no rugby background, or the rugby CV they do have is filled with drinking teams who had a rugby problem.

Well, for what it is worth, ARU and NZRU people are not talking about it as an 'if' but as a 'when'... apparently talks were also held by the US Rugby Bods with Northern Hemisphere Competitions, and it was decided that they could not expand their current structures, so...

It is unlikely you would see teams flying in and out of US/AUS/NZ etc - much more likely that the competition would form into a more linear 'CONFERENCE' arrangement than it currently is - with the bulk of travel occuring in the finals.

What that conference system may be is anyone's guess - as we don't know all the variables.

 

[USARugger]

That would be no good for Super Rugby. A huge part of the appeal comes from the SA/NZ/OZ tour matches during the regular season. That, and if there was some kind of AmeriCanada conference..they would get absolutely pasted during the finals.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Would it be better for clarity if this thread were renamed "Odds & Sods". Those of us whose attitude to the ARU has long been, "You wouldn't buy shares in the joint", are disappointed each time we click on it hoping to find something remotely related to "the ARU's financial position".
.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

When are the Annual Financial reports due out for this season from the Shute Shield Clubs, the State RU's, the Soup franchises where these are seperate entities from the State RU, and (drum roll please Maestro) the ARU?

Last season the only financially healthy Shute Shield clubs were Sydney Uni and West Harbour IIRC. The rest were in various states of unhealthiness.

Has anything improved this season?



Let us hope that the ARU do not spend the projected Lions Tour surplus on replenishing the ArU Boardroom Wine Cellar, and that is is not pissed away like the RWC 2003 profit appears to have been.

 

[Quick Hands]

When are the Annual Financial reports due out for this season from the Shute Shield Clubs, the State RU's, the Soup franchises where these are seperate entities from the State RU, and (drum roll please Maestro) the ARU?

Last season the only financially healthy Shute Shield clubs were Sydney Uni and West Harbour IIRC. The rest were in various states of unhealthiness.

Has anything improved this season?

Let us hope that the ARU do not spend the projected Lions Tour surplus on replenishing the ArU Boardroom Wine Cellar, and that is is not pissed away like the RWC 2003 profit appears to have been.

The irony of the ARU enquiring into the financial state of Shute Shield clubs takes my breath away.

The last I heard, the ARU's financial 'strategy' was based on hosting a Lions tour every 12 years and a RWC every 20-24 years. The kind of strategy which has Greece where it is today.

I do understand from the local paper and chats with those close to the board, that Manly have taken steps to ensure their financial position for the future by setting up a foundation. I understand that there has been a good response to the initiative so far.

 

[I like to watch]

Manly having a foundation is nice.
More importantly Dave Beat has posted several times, that last year the Marlins posted a profit of$200k, and this year are predicting a profit of around $160k.
If every SS club did that, there would be no tears,ever.

 

[Quick Hands]

Manly having a foundation is nice.
More importantly Dave Beat has posted several times, that last year the Marlins posted a profit of$200k, and this year are predicting a profit of around $160k.
If every SS club did that, there would be no tears,ever.

It involves a lot of hard work from 6s to 1st grade and good leadership/management. Little old Manly can make a $200,000 profit from a tiny geographic area and small population base. If the NSWRU and ARU could go close to emulating this, then this thread would be superfluous.

 

[wamberal]

It involves a lot of hard work from 6s to 1st grade and good leadership/management. Little old Manly can make a $200,000 profit from a tiny geographic area and small population base. If the NSWRU and ARU could go close to emulating this, then this thread would be superfluous.

No doubt if the whole of Australia was similar in demographics, and rugby tradition, to Manly's catchment of players and supporters (and sponsors) your assertion would be correct. However, it is not, and never will be. Count your blessings, and don't assume that your success can be replicated everywhere. It cannot.

 

[Quick Hands]

No doubt if the whole of Australia was similar in demographics, and rugby tradition, to Manly's catchment of players and supporters (and sponsors) your assertion would be correct. However, it is not, and never will be. Count your blessings, and don't assume that your success can be replicated everywhere. It cannot.

Never said it could be replicated everywhere, although there are a few areas with a stronger rugby demographic than Manly.

Nor did I assert anything, I merely pointed out that if NSWRU and/or ARU could emulate this that it might be a good thing.

Although Manly don't have a CEO on mega bucks, with assorted hangers-on with snouts in the trough, just a few committed individuals, a lot of hard workers and a big picture approach which looks at 6s to 1st grade. They haven't thought of anything new, they've just worked hard.

Maybe it's a model which works?

 

[wamberal]

Never said it could be replicated everywhere, although there are a few areas with a stronger rugby demographic than Manly.

Nor did I assert anything, I merely pointed out that if NSWRU and/or ARU could emulate this that it might be a good thing.

Although Manly don't have a CEO on mega bucks, with assorted hangers-on with snouts in the trough, just a few committed individuals, a lot of hard workers and a big picture approach which looks at 6s to 1st grade. They haven't thought of anything new, they've just worked hard.

Maybe it's a model which works?

Of course it works. Are there any SS clubs with CEOs on mega-bucks? Or successful clubs without hard workers, committed individuals, and so on.


You can feel as proud as you like about your achievements, but to imply that other clubs can learn from you is to understate our intelligence, except in the broader sense that we can all learn from each other.


As for the ARU and NSWRU, I really struggle to understand how organisations like these could benefit by being run by amateurs, and hard working volunteers. They do have some volunteers, of course, people of a very high calibre, and with very significant playing experience.


I know one individual who has volunteered very significant amounts of his time to serving both organisations over the last twenty years. I would back him to have the nous, the business sense, and the drive to do far better than 99% of the rugby population.

 

[Quick Hands]

Of course it works. Are there any SS clubs with CEOs on mega-bucks? Or successful clubs without hard workers, committed individuals, and so on.


You can feel as proud as you like about your achievements, but to imply that other clubs can learn from you is to understate our intelligence, except in the broader sense that we can all learn from each other.


As for the ARU and NSWRU, I really struggle to understand how organisations like these could benefit by being run by amateurs, and hard working volunteers. They do have some volunteers, of course, people of a very high calibre, and with very significant playing experience.


I know one individual who has volunteered very significant amounts of his time to serving both organisations over the last twenty years. I would back him to have the nous, the business sense, and the drive to do far better than 99% of the rugby population.

You contradict yourself in your first paragraph; 1st it's an insult to the intelligence that clubs can learn from another's success and then we can all learn from each other. That's my point, we can all learn from each other - do you think Manly invented good management? No they just looked around at what was working elsewhere and are lucky at the moment to have good and talented people involved.

Your 2nd paragraph is a complete misrepresentation of the post to which you reply and again at one point you say that you struggle to understand how amateur officials could run the ARU/NSWRU and then in the same paragraph you say that you know an amateur official who could do a better job than 99% of people. No one is suggesting that the ARU or NSWRU should be run by amateurs, just that the people who are currently (or in the recent past were) receiving significantly high salaries HAVE RUN THEM AT A LOSS. Is your friend who has given significant time on a voluntary basis to both organistions happy with that? You seem to be arguing that he could do a better job than 99% of people - so maybe we need more like him and less people on big salaries.

 

[Quick Hands]

Nick Farr-Jones has just acknowledged on Fox that "rugby in Australia is broke"

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Nick Farr-Jones has just acknowledged on Fox that "rugby in Australia is broke"

He is grinding an axe in saying that. But at least someone with some profile has finally publicly lamented the state of the game, albeit that his junior club connection is Lindfield and they seem pretty healthy.

 

[wamberal]

He is grinding an axe in saying that. But at least someone with some profile has finally publicly lamented the state of the game, albeit that his junior club connection is Lindfield and they seem pretty healthy.

That's the thing, pockets of the game are very healthy, in terms of financial support. If we are only sensible enough so that all stakeholders work together for the sake of the whole code in Australia, we might survive as a serious sport. However, I fear that the haves are not prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of the have-nots.

 

[Baldric]

http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/pay-cut-test-for-wallabies-20131016-2vmy8.html

The Wallabies are poised to accept pay cuts to help stop the cash-strapped code going broke.
A new collective bargaining agreement is set to end the days of players earning a guaranteed $14,000 a Test, win, lose or draw.
The Australian Rugby Union's survival is at stake. It is in a perilous financial position, recording a $19 million deficit in the past two years and a worrying slump in support for the 15-man game.
The Wallabies' dismal results this year - winning just three of their nine Tests to drop to No. 4 in the world - have also hit attendances and sponsorship.
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In eight months since replacing John O'Neill as the union's chief executive, Bill Pulver, in his own words, has ''brutally attacked the cost base'' by making cuts across the board.
Even a windfall from the British and Irish Lions tour in winter will not get the ARU out of the hole dug by years of over-expenditure, largely with executive salaries.
Pulver has already slashed staff at the ARU. ''My first six months at the ARU, a lot of my time, has been spent ripping costs out of the place, basically,'' Pulver said.
''It's not been a lot of fun but it's been a very important cleansing experience.
''From a financial perspective we're going to be skating on thin ice for the next couple of years. Can we get through? Yes, we can. Is it going to be bloody hard? Yes, it is.''
Warnings of cuts to club rugby has made Pulver - thinking of a new third-tier national competition - unpopular in club circles, but he is making no apologies for drastic measures.
A cut in player salaries has firmly been on the agenda and should be revealed in the next two months, when a new agreement, the first since 2005, is expected to be finalised.
The ARU board meets on Monday to discuss the negotiations with the Rugby Union Players Association.
Both Pulver and the players' association boss, Greg Harris, confirmed that Test match payments - which would see a Wallaby earn $196,000 if he played all 15 Tests this year on top of his salary - were among the issues.
The former World Cup-winning skipper, Nick Farr-Jones, has led calls for incentive-based pay, claiming that Wallabies should be paid far less for defeats. Harris said the players' union was taking a conciliatory approach to ensure the game did not go under.
''Player directors [RUPA] have been united in their commitment in trying to assist the game in trying to confront the financial issues,'' Harris said.
The last time a new agreement was drafted, in 2005, the code was in rude health, with $35 million in the ARU war chest and crowd numbers that challenged rugby league as the nation's No. 2 code.
Harris hinted that top players benefited from a generous deal in the prosperous times.
''My predecessor [Tony Dempsey] did a very good job of negotiating for the players when the dams were full,'' he said. ''But we have a drought at the moment.''
AAP

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/pay-cut-test-for-wallabies-20131016-2vmy8.html#ixzz2hvLj1rGV​

 

[Jets]

Doesn't make for great reading does it. The legacy of JON will have a lasting effect on the game in Australia.

 

[p.Tah]

How on earth can they allow the game to get into this situation and then let him bugger off with a massive golden handshake.

 

[wamberal]

How on earth can they allow the game to get into this situation and then let him bugger off with a massive golden handshake.

Presumably he had a contract of employment, which specified the terms of any separation. When he was recruited, he would have been able to name his terms, no doubt they would have been pretty generous. What (or who) was the alternative, back then?


I am always amused at people who criticise the ARU without knowing, or understanding, all the facts. The CEO position is an important job, it should carry with it appropriate terms of employment.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

That is why we needed the Arbib Report on Governance, and Independent Directors.

I'd like to see a ruthless hard arse Socialist on the board to keep the executive honest and focused on the game and not themselves.

I thought that General Peter Cosgrove was to perform that function.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

"years of over-expenditure, largely with executive salaries"