Junior clubs will struggle to pay 2014 fees

[phantom]

Over and above the ARU levy of $200 per team, Junior Clubs will also have to cope with a huge Fee increase by the WAJRU of between 30% and 40%, and with RugbyWA also announcing that they will be charging for all coaching course fees including manditory courses like smart rugby and Assistant referee ( touch judge).

In 2013 the WAJRU charged clubs per team the Fee for a U/16 team was set at $2000 per team so with most teams having 20 to 22 players it worked out to around $90 per player.
The WAJRU announced last week a fee structure that tops out to $125 per player. These club fees also does not include any mandatory coaching course fees of between $95 for a foundation coaching course or the mandatory assistant referee's course fee of $45 per assistant referee.

Financially struggling clubs Clubs already charge their members fees of between $195 and $220 per player in the U/13 and age groups these fees will now have to go up to around $250 per player to accommodate the increases from the WAJRU, RugbyWA and the ARU.

All this comes a month before junior registration day not leaving clubs with much time to now readjust their fees to accommodate all the extra costs

Fees payable by clubs per team/player could easily look as follow:

WAJRU Fee per team ($125 per player WAJRU Fee x 25 players ) $3,125
RUGBYWA per team for Smart Rugby( Mandatory) $15
RUGBYWA Foundation course( Mandatory for U13 and up coaches) $95
RUGBYWA Assistant referee ( Mandatory ) $45
ARU Fee per team $200
(excluding player insurance )This is a total of $3,480
Fee Per Player ( 25 Players) excluding player insurance $139.20

If you take in account that most clubs will have to purchase a extra set of Jumpers for the new U17 age group at a cost of $1500 per set then you are looking at some clubs having to fork out in excess of $5000 to be able to field a U/17 team in 2014. That is an cost per player of around $225
most clubs just don't have the fee structure to absorb/accommodate this on such short notice.

According to the WAJRU statement on 31 October 2013 there was close to $200,000.00 in bank account of the Junior Rugby Union so not to sure why the player fee increase for 2014 ??

[maelkann]

Lines like the following do not help:

For the first year since 2009 a deficit was recorded $(12,499), compared to a surplus in
2012 of $2,435.

[fulvio sammut]

How to turn our game back into an elitist sport for the children of wealthy families ....

[GIGS20]

Yes and no, has anybody taken a kid to any other sports recently.

I remember rugby was the cheapest season around when MiniGIGS was having a crack.

All the indoor sports were at least double and martial arts was exorbitant.

Is this just a move which addresses some of the imbalance (granted a big jump, but we might still have the cheapest sport around)

[Darren]

Agree GIGS - if only all my kids pursuits were as inexpensive as rugby. Big shout outs to all those that volunteer their time to make this possible.

[PeterM]

In my opinion the fees for rugby are not prohibitive when you look at the size of return the kids and parents get for their out lay.

The government pay the fees for kids from ''poorer'' families so if the child or children love rugby the only reason they won't play is down to the choice of the parents

[fulvio sammut]

Well, that's all right then. Carry on.

[G_Beard]

Rugby and Athletics offer pretty good value, when compared to dancing(from what I'm told), gymnastics and the parent involvement isn't as huge as other sports.
Some of the other boys team sports turn your kids into complete whiny little bitches, so rugby is worth every cent and more.
Some of the volunteers at our junior club are worth their weight in gold as well.
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[GIGS20]

Well, that's all right then. Carry on.

Sorry to put a lid on a well deserved rant Fulv, but I couldn't let it go without some perspective.

It's not the prohibitive ness of the price that's the problem, but the reason for the increase being needed that you should be shouting about.

[fulvio sammut]

And all this time my wife and I were concerned junior fees were paying for the exhorbitant costs of the club acquiring senior players.

Glad to see we were wrong.

[wholetruth]

This, I am led to believe, has come about partly because of some less scrupulous clubs who often have enough players for two teams but only register one to save money - of course that means some kids miss out. Now they can't cheat the system, but everyone gets hurt because of a few.

[westies man]

Surely you don't honestly believe that happens

[Hohepa]

This, I am led to believe, has come about partly because of some less scrupulous clubs who often have enough players for two teams but only register one to save money - of course that means some kids miss out. Now they can't cheat the system, but everyone gets hurt because of a few.

3 or 4 years ago the system did change to clubs paying per team instead of per child for juniors. I am not sure if the system changed for per team for ease of admin - perhaps it will change back to per child.

It is difficult when there may be close to enough for two teams - clubs have to make a judgement call on whether the children and parents involved in that age group are reliable and will turn up each week and whether there are enough children that would be keen to play two games if this was required.

Sometimes more players turn up after teams have been submitted. Clubs have to pay for the team (at least the nomination) if they land up not fielding a team and this is expensive to clubs.

[pieter blackie]

Surely you don't honestly believe that happens

Actually hitting the nail on the head with that statement Clubs were still charging their players the same fee but only had to pay a fee per team so basically made some money out of it
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[jargan83]

Pulver on the levy (cash grab because professionals employed by the ARU can't balance the books)

By Wayne Smith

AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver has admitted that a $200 levy imposed on every senior and junior rugby team in the country amounts to an appeal to the Australian rugby community to help get the game back on a sound financial footing.

Pulver described the levy, to take effect this season, as "a tough initiative" and one he wished he was not forced to introduce.

"But it is all part of getting the financial model back in shape," said Pulver, who has spent much of his 12 months in office desperately trying to steer Australian rugby away from the rocks.

"This is us basically asking the Australian rugby community to kick in a small fee per player to help with funding."

As The Australian revealed yesterday, the NSW Waratahs' financial position is so grave that a couple of rain-affected home games might be all it takes to send the organisation under, but the situation with the Melbourne Rebels, ACT Brumbies and Western Force is no less dire.

Only the Queensland Rugby Union, which acted quickly in the wake of its 2011 title win to move away from a boom-bust cycle driven by the on-field results of the Reds, could be said to be entering the 2014 season financially stable.

That said, the Brisbane clubs have been so daunted by some of the requirements set forth in the tender documents that it now is virtually certain that none of them will be involved directly in the planned National Rugby Championship to be launched later this year, either as stand-alone ventures or in syndicates with other clubs.

QRU chief executive Jim Carmichael confirmed he had no expectations of the Brisbane clubs tendering for any of the eight - but possibly 10 - NRC franchises. Tenders close on February 14.

"In that event, we already are looking at putting together two teams to participate in the new competition, which we recognise is extremely important for the growth of rugby in Australia," Carmichael said.

Queensland will follow cricket's Big Bash League lead in splitting the Reds squad into the rugby counterparts of the Melbourne Stars and Renegades, although Carmichael indicated the intention would be to steer into one of the two sides all those Queensland players with a background in country rugby. "It's not that we will stack one side," he said. "Our intention would be to ensure that both are strong and that players brought in from GPS club or Brothers or wherever are recognised and honoured by their clubs."

Pulver said the broader issue was that the ARU was trying to find a path for Australian rugby back to a sustainable rugby platform. "There has been a broad range of initiatives," he said. "We've taken an awful lot of costs out of the ARU. The longer-term fix, I hope, is going to be substantial growth from broadcasting agreements.

"We're working very closely with the Super Rugby clubs to get their costs in order and we have negotiated with RUPA (the Rugby Union Players Association) to try to bring player payments down.

"Absolutely this (the levy) is a tough initiative. I don't want to sugarcoat this."

In fact, the ARU has sweetened the levy, which is intended to raise about $800,000 nationally, to some degree after brokering about a $180,000 saving on insurance.

The saving works out to about $100 per senior club, scaling down to $40 for under-19 sides and $30 for junior teams. And while it might seem inequitable that the effective size of the levy is $100 for senior clubs but $170 for juniors, clubs currently are paying $1900 to insure senior teams but only $170 for junior teams.

Nonetheless, a club such as GPS, reputedly the biggest rugby club in the country with 95 junior teams and 12 seniors, will still be hit with an initial bill of $21,400 before the cost is softened somewhat by reduced insurance costs.

Club administrator Anthony Herbert said GPS was being hit with a massive bill because it was fielding so many junior teams.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...-1226814327351