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Just wondering if the Western Force fans will get any input into this summit?
The Australian
12:00AM October 19, 2016
Wayne Smith
The Australian Rugby Union has agreed to stage a summit of major stakeholders to review its strategic approach in response to a critical letter signed by dozens of the game’s luminaries.
Ironically, the letter — intended for ARU chairman Cameron Clyne and members of his board — has not yet been formally lodged but the ARU was made aware on Monday that it was being circulated among rugby greats seeking their support.
So far, former Wallabies coaches Bob Dwyer and Alan Jones have signed it, so too Nick Farr-Jones, Simon Poidevin, Peter Grigg, Anthony Herbert, Mark McBain, Barry Honan, John Ballesty, Peter Falk, Brett Papworth and at least two dozen other former Wallabies.
“We would like you to consider very carefully what we have to say,” the letter states.
“There are grave concerns with the rugby community that the continuing failure of the Australian Rugby Union to acknowledge and support the grassroots of the game will accelerate an already alarming decline in both participation and support of the game in Australia.”
The ARU has established that Papworth, an outspoken critic of the current administration, was the author of the letter but the former Wallabies centre insisted last night that it was not his letter alone but a collaborative effort.
“It was written by a number of us,” Papworth said. “My letter was much more aggressive than that but some calmer heads have prevailed.”
But while the language might be more temperate and restrained, the thrust of the letter is still confronting. Papworth and ARU chief executive Bill Pulver have already traded words publicly about the ARU’s effective abandonment of club rugby but Papworth insisted that the letter was voicing concerns that went way beyond Sydney’s Shute Shield or Brisbane’s Premier Rugby.
“It isn’t just club rugby,” Papworth said. “It’s investment at any level. I don’t care if it isn’t club rugby. It doesn’t affect us if they continue to give us nothing.
“We will still be putting corner flags out at TG Millner (Field) or wherever. It’s about the fact that across rugby nations and against other codes, we invest nothing. And they have no long-term vision and we’re under the hammer … the game is dying and blind Freddy can see it.”
Central to the letter is a table purportedly showing how much — or how little — the ARU spends on community rugby compared with other rugby countries, the NRL and the AFL.
“Not only does the ARU have the lowest percentage contribution compared to other national unions and domestic codes, it also provides the lowest total contribution compared to its peers, even Scotland.
“Our deep concern is the total imbalance between what is spent at the top of the game, both on players and administration, versus what is allocated to the grassroots. This is unsustainable and a total disgrace.”
But Pulver told The Australian last night that the figure cited in the letter, $2.4 million out of an overall budget of $85m — a 3 per cent fraction of the ARU’s budget compared with, say, England’s 15 per cent, £32m out of £208m — was wildly inaccurate.
“It says we spent $2.4m on club and community rugby … in fact, we spent $9.2m and that’s before the contributions of each of the state unions,” Pulver said.
“The biggest challenge we’ve got is around Super Rugby and I promise you we are working very hard with the respective CEOs to find ways of bringing that back under control and use those incremental funds to go into the community game.
In short, we’d be delighted to have this summit meeting, if that’s what they’re calling for.
“Because it will be a wonderful opportunity to put the facts on to the table instead of … the entire construct of the letter is built around that figure of $2.4m and it’s nonsense. So let’s put the facts on the table,” said Pulver. “I’ll be the first person in the room.”
Yet, whatever the rights or wrongs of the stated figure, there is no doubt that the letter has touched a raw nerve in the Australian rugby community at a time when support for the game is visibly draining away.
At every level, rugby is struggling. The Wallabies might have placed second in the Rugby Championship, but they have lost six Tests out of nine this season.
The ARU also must shortly make a decision on whether to cut its five Super Rugby teams back to four — with the Western Force looking especially vulnerable — as the body that runs southern hemisphere rugby, SANZAAR, recognises that Super Rugby has become unwieldy.
And all the while, the traditional strength of the game, club rugby, is being left to fend largely for itself.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spor...e46f5cb63a5d14