Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
Why was the SRU ever affiliated with the national body and not the NSWRU?
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Not sure why - IIRC it was when NSWRU split Waratahs and Community Rugby. (Both the SRU and NSWCRU incidentally)
Did it allow those direct grants etc in the past?
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Thanks for giving me the opportunity to put to bed once and for all the circumstances of the "direct grants."
When the ARC imploded, the ARU decided to fund the Sydney and Brisbane competitions as de facto 3rd tier for fringe super players. Whether this was a good use of funds is another matter - but it was at that point an ARU intiative. These funds have subsequently been withdrawn. (And yes, some of the clubs didn't like it, but who in this world likes having money taken off them?) The last "funding" provided by the ARU, was by no means direct funding - it was as the owners of rugby TV explained largely in kind advertising and promotion for the ARU and Wallaby games during FTA Shute Shield coverage (i.e. the ARU paid for advertising on FTA during the SS broadcast - probably not a bad idea actually).
Note that the SRU has had no problem replacing this "funding" from private companies. The agreement stipulates that the SRU have to provide a set number of advertising dollars to channel 7 to maintain FTA coverage.
The SRU and/or the SS clubs receive zero dollars in funding (direct or otherwise) from the ARU. And I'm not advocating that they do receive direct funding. I do, and have long advocated, that the national body should be supporting clubs (all clubs not just Sydney and Brisbane ones) along the line that the RFU does in England.