Australian Rugby / RA

[Gnostic]

What should we have done when the game went professional? 20 years is not bad, in a world of change. During those twenty years we have seen some of the best rugby in the world, right here. And we were, in effect, partially subsidised by the revenues of other unions.





The much maligned ARU was willing to bring a Perth based team into the competition, when the easy option would have been to go with Melbourne. Were you happy about that?





Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did you criticise Super Rugby 20 years ago? 10 years ago?

Super 12 was a natural growth of the Super 6 - 8 -10 concept. Nothing wrong with it. The problem was the absurd professional contracting structure and revenue sharing model the ARU adopted under JON MK1. As the Banking Royal Commission has shown these greedy corrupt F%$#@#ers have no concept about stability and are only in it for their contract term and as much as they can milk out of it.

Anybody considering the health of the whole game has to seriously question the long term viability of a structure that guarantees a portion of revenue to those deemed "elite" players. Not only does this bring in structural cash flow issues and prevents prudent spending on development of the whole system there is a very cogent argument surrounding the need to incentivise the contracts such that people are required to strive to maintain their place at the top table, and also not so as to lock out others who don't have the big contract and therefore must be played to get a ROI.

Ah sorry Wambers I forget you are firmly in the camp that management decisions have had no impact on the financial viability of Australian Rugby. As you were.

And yes 10 years ago, and you can look at my posts if they still exist on the server I was questioning the viability of Super Rugby as it had been "developed" (more like the Frankenstein chickens modified genetically to grow muscle mass faster than its bones and so cannot stand or move about under its own steam).

 

[Gnostic]

Finally on the weekend the briefest glimmers of hope for me with regard to coaching. No it had nothing to do with the bolt from the Red that was Qld's totally unexpected victory.

It was the simple statement from Kafer that has been spoken about from many intelligent Rugby posters here about the mantras of "Phase Play, and Building Pressure and Structure" that has hamstrung Australian Rugby since 2002 when Eddie Jones bet drastically wrong about how Rugby would go over the following decade, which was a reasonable thought given the endless recycle days of Macqueen and its success, but hindsight shows how narrow his view was of the international game and of the shrinking skill base of the Australian sides.

Maybe, just maybe we will see players and coaches start to do more than run through structures that make them not only predictable in play but unable to execute even basic skills away from their set plays and structures. I doubt we will see any improvement this year or next at Wallaby level as this current crop of players is already institutionalised and I doubt the coaches are willing to acknowledge that structures, building pressure and phases are not the be all and end all. Just take note this weekend, or have a look at last week's interviews and see how much those factors are mentioned. No acknowledgment of actually doing something effective with the ball. The commentators still go on about going 7+ phases with the ball as they did in the Macqueen era, but forget that possession is nothing if they do nothing with it. Then they trot out running metres stats which are horribly skewed when you consider how many of those running metres are gained behind the gain line and so are meaningless (just look at the Rebels and Brumbies games or Tahs the week before).

 

[Forcefield]

Sustainability is the goal. When will this venture be self-sustaining?

Is it though? Don't get me wrong, sustainability would be great, but are the cash up English and French clubs sustainable or do they just have wealthy owners/benefactors? You don't want a team to be a money pit, but the present reality is that private ownership (no, not like Cox with the Rebels) is worth investigating. It is a shame Own The Force never played out.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

So for all RA's rhetoric about importance of Western Sydney WTF did they do to help clubs like Penrith and Parramatta.

Seriously RA you are an absolute disgrace as a sporting organisation and we Australian rugby supporters are sick to death of your inner circle north shore head in the sand management of the game. Your recent board appointments show how ridiculously out of touch you are on need for major change at top level to give any chance to the tragic and rapid terminal decline seen under your decades of inept management and administration.

Clueless bunch of useless turds that could not administer a piss up in a brewery let alone strategic direction for our game.

 

[barbarian]

It's the responsibility of the NSWRU, not RA. I'd direct your anger there on that particular issue.

 

[Quick Hands]

It's the responsibility of the NSWRU, not RA. I'd direct your anger there on that particular issue.

Primarily yes, but the issue is slightly more complex than that. Under the model of administration since JON in the early 00s, the ARU/RA fund the state unions largely through the Wallabies, broadcast agreements etc. So when JON pulled the funding in the early 00s and the NSWRU went broke/almost went broke (and then had to be bailed out), the money being used to resource Penrith disappeared.

Please don't think I'm in any way absolving the NSWRU from the whole sorry affair as they indeed have prime responsibility, but the ARU/RA had their role to play and they didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. Particularly when they had a $31 million RWC windfall which could have been used to assist in this worthwhile project, but was effectively pissed up against the wall on salaries.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

Primarily yes, but the issue is slightly more complex than that. Under the model of administration since JON in the early 00s, the ARU/RA fund the state unions largely through the Wallabies, broadcast agreements etc. So when JON pulled the funding in the early 00s and the NSWRU went broke/almost went broke (and then had to be bailed out), the money being used to resource Penrith disappeared.

Please don't think I'm in any way absolving the NSWRU from the whole sorry affair as they indeed have prime responsibility, but the ARU/RA had their role to play and they didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. Particularly when they had a $31 million RWC windfall which could have been used to assist in this worthwhile project, but was effectively pissed up against the wall on salaries.

And there was no law which said that RA must not help rugby in western Sydney - they were crying crocodile tears over its problems.
Penrith had to go but this cluster fuck of a code has completely had the Richard.
I wake up to read that Phipps dressed up as a cow on his buck’s night and urinated on a bar at the Woollahra hotel.
Hey izzie, what happens to people who do that - piss on bars not dress up as a cow - in the unlikely event of there being an afterlife?
I hear that Someone very high up in the disorganisation paid some hush money to silence a story about another favoured tah.
Perhaps this is a new marketing ploy: let’s behave like leaguies as it doesn’t seem to impact on their popularity.

 

[sidelineview]

And there was no law which said that RA must not help rugby in western Sydney - they were crying crocodile tears over its problems.
Penrith had to go but this cluster fuck of a code has completely had the Richard.
I wake up to read that Phipps dressed up as a cow on his buck’s night and urinated on a bar at the Woollahra hotel.
Hey izzie, what happens to people who do that - piss on bars not dress up as a cow - in the unlikely event of there being an afterlife?
I hear that Someone very high up in the disorganisation paid some hush money to silence a story about another favoured tah.
Perhaps this is a new marketing ploy: let’s behave like leaguies as it doesn’t seem to impact on their popularity.

Phipps is obviously not a vegan and I'm not sure If Izzie could answer that question.

 

[Quick Hands]

And there was no law which said that RA must not help rugby in western Sydney - they were crying crocodile tears over its problems.
Penrith had to go but this cluster fuck of a code has completely had the Richard.
I wake up to read that Phipps dressed up as a cow on his buck’s night and urinated on a bar at the Woollahra hotel.
Hey izzie, what happens to people who do that - piss on bars not dress up as a cow - in the unlikely event of there being an afterlife?
I hear that Someone very high up in the disorganisation paid some hush money to silence a story about another favoured tah.
Perhaps this is a new marketing ploy: let’s behave like leaguies as it doesn’t seem to impact on their popularity.

Where are you Raelene?

 

[wamberal]

Where are you Raelene?

Polishing up her CV, no doubt. Who on earth would want this job?

 

[RedsHappy]

Primarily yes, but the issue is slightly more complex than that. Under the model of administration since JON in the early 00s, the ARU/RA fund the state unions largely through the Wallabies, broadcast agreements etc. So when JON pulled the funding in the early 00s and the NSWRU went broke/almost went broke (and then had to be bailed out), the money being used to resource Penrith disappeared.

Please don't think I'm in any way absolving the NSWRU from the whole sorry affair as they indeed have prime responsibility, but the ARU/RA had their role to play and they didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. Particularly when they had a $31 million RWC windfall which could have been used to assist in this worthwhile project, but was effectively pissed up against the wall on salaries.

QH - I for one am on record here and elsewhere stating that RA Blunder#201 was to invest vast RA cash in the Rebels and/or Force (with nothing now to show for it btw) when the clear and far lower risk (and higher potential gain) priority was to design a plan to build out a new rugby/Super Rugby franchise in Western Sydney. The sound strategic reasons for this policy priority - from a viable player base to geographical value in a pre-existing rugby State - were/are IMO obvious.

There is absolutely no way a State RU alone and without ARU/RA funding and general support could have done this or anything like it. For years now - largely through poor governance, poor coach development and other forms of mismanagement - the NSWRU/Waratahs institution (like that in QLD, the hapless QRU) has teetered on the brink of insolvency; like it or not, its innate capacity for serious new regional growth investment was low.

 

[RedsHappy]

So for all RA's rhetoric about importance of Western Sydney WTF did they do to help clubs like Penrith and Parramatta.

Seriously RA you are an absolute disgrace as a sporting organisation and we Australian rugby supporters are sick to death of your inner circle north shore head in the sand management of the game. Your recent board appointments show how ridiculously out of touch you are on need for major change at top level to give any chance to the tragic and rapid terminal decline seen under your decades of inept management and administration.

Clueless bunch of useless turds that could not administer a piss up in a brewery let alone strategic direction for our game.

Anyone here would know I agree with most of that.

Side point: if anyone bothers to read the excellent piece in today's AFR re how Catherine Brenner climbed the greasy pole via shameless but cunningly designed Sydney elite networking and smoozing to arrive as Chairperson of the AMP, whilst largely ill-qualified for the post, you will be rewarded in the understanding of just how the 2017-18 board of RA is what it is.

This is typically how the Sydney business elite gains traction and self-promotes, I have seen it firsthand many, many times. Properly aligned competencies for strategic board tasks are a wholly secondary set of criteria for board design.

This syndrome is a key factor as to why RA's board - pre Castle - was for years completely bereft of proven executive skills in the building and running of a professional sporting code's business organisation and was instead filled with a gaggle of 'prestige' lawyers, cruise company leaders, people from the likes of Microsoft, and, last but by no means least, Chairpersons from the finance, banking and insurance sectors flushing out their profiles and leveraging RA positions into other 'suitable' board positions.

And we are only now gaining real insight into the inner cultures and ethical frameworks of many of Australia's leading banks and financial institutions. Recent RA Chairmen have come from just these sectors.

 

[charlesalan]

If only Scott Morrison could urge the RA Board members to resign also

 

[Braveheart81]

First steps to replacing Penrith. Seems that a substantial element of the NSWRU/SRU booting them out was because they couldn't get their shit together and the way forward now is to replace the club rather than hope that it sorts itself out.

 

[wamberal]

Might work!!

 

[Braveheart81]

Apparently this is for colts at this stage and they will play in the place of one of the Parramatta colts sides.

 

[Quick Hands]

First steps to replacing Penrith. Seems that a substantial element of the NSWRU/SRU booting them out was because they couldn't get their shit together and the way forward now is to replace the club rather than hope that it sorts itself out.

As I commented on the SS, this is the only way to do it, but the three RUs need to be aware that this will take a good 20 years and they need to be it in for the long haul.

 

[Quick Hands]

Apparently this is for colts at this stage and they will play in the place of one of the Parramatta colts sides.

Sensible thinking outside the square by someone. There is hope.

 

[dru]

What should we have done when the game went professional? 20 years is not bad, in a world of change. During those twenty years we have seen some of the best rugby in the world, right here. And we were, in effect, partially subsidised by the revenues of other unions.


The much maligned ARU was willing to bring a Perth based team into the competition, when the easy option would have been to go with Melbourne. Were you happy about that?


Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did you criticise Super Rugby 20 years ago? 10 years ago?

TBH I wasn't watching it at the time, but I understood this to have been a bid that was fundamentally against the Kings. And that the decision was made by SANZAR. Is that wrong?

 

[dru]

What should we have done when the game went professional? 20 years is not bad, in a world of change. During those twenty years we have seen some of the best rugby in the world, right here. And we were, in effect, partially subsidised by the revenues of other unions.


The much maligned ARU was willing to bring a Perth based team into the competition, when the easy option would have been to go with Melbourne. Were you happy about that?


Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did you criticise Super Rugby 20 years ago? 10 years ago?

Only 3 years ago people would regularly call me out as an ARU apologist. I'm pleased however that I try to look at things openly. I was wrong. Happy to admit it. Badly wrong.