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Thread: Rebels 'raise looting threat'

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    Rebels 'raise looting threat'

    Rebels 'raise looting threat'

    By Wayne Smith
    April 25, 2007


    AUSTRALIAN rugby is in danger of being ravaged by a World Series Cricket-style raid if a threatened rebel European super club competition becomes a reality, Australian Rugby Union chief executive Gary Flowers warned yesterday.

    While Australian rugby has been preoccupied with its own internal problems in recent weeks, the game has been spiralling out of control in Europe.

    French and English clubs have withdrawn from the 2008 European Cup because of demands for more money, and now the boycott has evolved into a revolt.

    The leading clubs from France, England and Ireland are reported to be talking with cashed-up sports broadcaster Setanta about setting up a rebel European competition outside the control of the International Rugby Board.

    "It's a bit like a Kerry Packer thing," Flowers said, referring to the Packer-funded WSC rebellion of 1977 that shook international cricket to its foundations.

    "They could not only set up their own club competition but also their own internationals that would undermine Test rugby and ultimately the World Cup."

    That is a worst-case scenario but it is precisely what the game's global administrators are bracing themselves for in the coming weeks.

    "The threat is real," Flowers said.

    The proposed competition is a threat also to rugby league, with NRL chief executive David Gallop admitting yesterday that he would be monitoring developments.

    "We'll certainly keep an eye on it," Gallop said.

    "But rugby throwing large amounts of cash at our players isn't exactly a new problem."

    Perhaps not, but the demand for players might be so intense if a rebel cup competition is established that dozens, rather than one or two, of league stars may be targeted.

    IRB chief executive Mike Miller briefed Flowers and the chief executives of other major rugby nations on the crisis in a phone hook-up last week, and the budding rebellion is certain to dominate next week's IRB council meeting in Dublin.

    "There will be a fair bit of dialogue about it," Flowers said.

    "I took a phone call from one northern hemisphere official who said this was line-in-the-sand, take-to-the-trenches stuff. It's shaping as a bitter battle and it's one that traditional rugby cannot afford to lose."

    And yet it is a battle traditional rugby could very well lose.

    New Zealand, South Africa and Australia are particularly vulnerable to a cashed-up raider, and Flowers, who retains the position of SANZAR secretary despite having only another fortnight to serve with the ARU, intends to confer with his New Zealand and South African counterparts in Dublin to try to prepare a united response.

    The southern hemisphere unions are unable to pay their players anything like the salaries available in Europe, with one agent revealing recently that a fringe Super 14 reserve had been offered $180,000 a season by a French club, $60,000 a year more than his Australian side could offer.

    Indeed, the reason why ARU regulations stipulate that only players who turn out in the Super 14 can be selected for the Wallabies is to avoid a football-style situation in which the country's best players are all based in Europe.

    Proof of the rule's effectiveness was provided yesterday when Scott Staniforth, the incumbent Wallabies inside centre, turned down a lucrative offer from Japanese side Kintetsu to re-sign with Western Force because he would have ruled himself out of Rugby World Cup selection had he moved overseas.

    Wallabies mainstay Steve Larkham, who is being pursued by Toulouse but has not signed any post-Rugby World Cup contract, said there was "always the potential" for a rebel competition to ransack Australian rugby because of the disparity in pay rates between Australia and Europe.

    "I know the players talk about the fact you can earn so much more in Europe," Larkham said.

    "The rules are pretty much set out that you've got to play Super 14 in order to play for Australia, but I know the Rugby Union Players Association spent two hours at its last meeting discussing that whole situation and intends to raise it at the next ARU board meeting."

    Tony Dempsey, Australia's delegate to the International Rugby Players Association, which held a board phone hook-up on Monday night to discuss the looming rebel competition, said the situation was grave.

    "It's a very worrying concern, not just for southern hemisphere rugby but world rugby," Dempsey said.

    "We have the potential for a split in the game and for a rival league to be formed. History shows that rival leagues have an adverse impact on the game and its development."

    History also shows, as in the case of World Series Cricket and Super League, that players are able to cash in on the crisis.

    "But I'd like to think that the players would look beyond their own short-term," Dempsey said.

    "The effect on the game would be deleterious."

    Dempsey said it was understood that the English, French and Irish clubs would take a united stand.

    "They'll either all break away or they'll all stay," he said.

    "If they break away and take their entire rosters with them, the Rugby Football Union might tough it out and that would certainly create a demand for more players.

    "But if there is a split, the revenues available to the Welsh, Scottish and remaining English and Irish clubs won't be so great, which means the clubs wouldn't have the money to pay well."

    Flowers meanwhile was asked if Australia could insulate itself against any rebel competition.

    "That's something we've got to be thinking about in conjunction with our SANZAR partners," he said.

    "We've got players under contract but they (the rebels) could go on a buying spree and just pick up all players as they come off contract.

    "It will undermine the traditional game and the money that flows into it. If we don't have the best players then Super 14, Tri-Nations and eventually the World Cup will suffer."

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    Legend Contributor Flamethrower's Avatar
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    This could be the best thing to happen to Rugby, long term. There would be some pain felt ,but it could be the wake up call needed to jolt Rugby out of it's comfort zone and start thinking outside the box.

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    Champion Contributor no.8's Avatar
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    Other competitions

    There is rumours of a Super 20 Rugby World Series tournament:


    Rough guide
    2008-2012 from July-November (Not ever in a IRB Rugby World Cup year)
    20 Franchises each receiving $250K pm, or US$3m pa as follows:
    USA 8
    Canada 2
    Argentina 1
    Brazil 1
    Europe 4
    Pacific Rim 2
    South Africa 2

    website

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    We covered this somewhere else I think 8 but pretty sad if the best Rugby countries in the World aren't involved in the "World Series"!
    If they can get that up and running then great but it shouldn't be over sold as the majority will be representing Tier 2 countries.
    A true "World Series" would involve a breakdown more akin to:

    New Zealand 4
    France 3
    Australia 3
    South Africa 3
    England 3
    Ireland 2
    Wales 2
    Argentina 2
    Scotland 1
    Italy 1
    PI's 2
    Canada 1
    USA 1
    Europe 2
    South America (outside Arg) 1

    Have 32 teams with four Pools of 8, 1/4 Finals, Semi's and a Final.

    However, I think the current form around the Globe is the best and the above should be allowed to develop as a secondary comp.
    I do like the concept of RL's World Club Championship match each year which in RU could be the winner of the Super 14 v the winner of the European Cup. Or, once the ARC has evolved a little, perhaps every four (in between the RWC's, so '09-'13-'17 etc) years a World Club Championship with the Winners of the NPC, Currie Cup, ARC, Argentina's Comp, the American Super 8, Italy Super 10, France Pro 16, English Premier, Celtic Cup and the European Tier 2 Nations Comp going head to head in a Round Robin format.

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    Legend Contributor Flamethrower's Avatar
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    As the USA can't put one strong team on the park,where would they find another seven teams?

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    Champion Contributor tragic's Avatar
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    Maybe it's aimed at developing the US rugby team, perhaps?

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    Legend Contributor slomo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by no.8
    There is rumours of a Super 20 Rugby World Series tournament:


    Rough guide
    2008-2012 from July-November (Not ever in a IRB Rugby World Cup year)
    20 Franchises each receiving $250K pm, or US$3m pa as follows:
    USA 8
    Canada 2
    Argentina 1
    Brazil 1
    Europe 4
    Pacific Rim 2
    South Africa 2

    website
    usa eight teams, i haven't laughed so much since my granny got her tits caught in the wringer!!!

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  8. #8
    Senior Player NeoGirl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flamethrower
    This could be the best thing to happen to Rugby, long term. There would be some pain felt ,but it could be the wake up call needed to jolt Rugby out of it's comfort zone and start thinking outside the box.
    That's a fair point. Rugby's been in trouble in Aus anyway, with AFL to compete with. Maybe this is the push that rugby needs to get going.

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    Last edited by NeoGirl; 25-04-07 at 20:19.
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