Wallabies Scupper Tour trial over $2500

[mudskipper]

The Players have an ARU agreement... RUPA are doing their job correctly... This is outside the terms and additional. If the ARU CEO wants to sell tickets and sell TV rights then the players should be paid. Why because the players take all the risk, they could be injured they will have to put aside time to train and teams over and above their agreed matches and time in camp...

I'd love to see the match but I back the player’s decision not to play with no pay.... Its just been poorly thought out and this isn't the players fault... Sounds to me like the backroom ARU management have shattered the team morale in 2009 and we wonder why they played so poorly on the weekend…

[TOCC]

The Players have an ARU agreement... RUPA are doing their job correctly... This is outside the terms and additional. If the ARU CEO wants to sell tickets and sell TV rights then the players should be paid. Why because the players take all the risk, they could be injured they will have to put aside time to train and teams over and above their agreed matches and time in camp...

I'd love to see the match but I back the player’s decision not to play with no pay.... Its just been poorly thought out and this isn't the players fault... Sounds to me like the backroom ARU management have shattered the team morale in 2009 and we wonder why they played so poorly on the weekend…

i play rugby on my weekend muddy, i take time out of my weeknight to train and saturday is a write off for rugby.. In my work, if i get injured playing rugby, i cant work which means lost income.. Yet i do it because i enjoy playing the game and hanging out with the boys.

Sounds to me like some of the players need to wake up and realise what they are getting overpaid for, i bet a lot of money that there would only be a small portion of players who are refusing to play unless paid. Guys like Sekope Kepu, Matt Dunning, Quade Cooper and other guys just on the outer would jump at the chance to prove they are worthy of selection.

[AndyS]

“The RUPA responds to the inaccurate nature of the article published today by the Sydney Morning Herald entitled “Wallabies sink tour trial for $2,500″. In that article it is claimed that a proposed Possible- Probable’s [selection trial] match was postponed because of extraordinary pay demands from the Wallabies players.

The facts in this matter are as follows:

1. In or about August 2008 the ARU gave the rights to the NSWRU to host an Australia A match at the SFS;

2. In reliance on this the NSWRU sold from September 2008 as part of their membership package for 2009 an Australia A game;

3. In or about December 2008 the ARU withdrew from the Pacific Six nation tournament thus preventing the NSWRU from hosting the A game they had sold to members as part of their membership package;

4. In May 2009 the ARU first approached the RUPA to seek the player’s view on match fee for a game at the SFS to prepare the players for the game against the All Blacks scheduled to take place three weeks in Tokyo and to use it for selection of some younger fringe players for the upcoming European tour;

5. Discussions between the RUPA and the ARU then proceeded on details surrounding the match. From those discussions it emerged the match would be billed as the Wallabies V Australian Barbarians played at the SFS on a Sunday afternoon so that the NSWRU could honour its commitments to its members who has purchased the membership packages with an Australia A fixture included;

6. Discussions also took place directly between the Wallaby player group and the ARU senior management in June and July over the subject;

7. In August the RUPA, on behalf of the Wallaby group, conveyed to the ARU that if the game proposed was to be played at the SFS to ensure the NSWRU fulfilled its obligations to its members and therefore generate revenue then it was only reasonable the players be paid the usual fee for a similar Australia A type match – $2,500. If on the other hand the purpose of the match was solely to be used in preparation for the All Blacks match and for fringe selection purposes then the Wallabies would of course be happy to play the game at a local suburban park without request for a match fee;

8. In August 2009 the ARU responded to the RUPA suggestion by advising the game was not now proceeding in the format proposed but instead that the players’ preparation for the end of season tour would be altered to prepare them for the Tour in a different way;

9. The NSWRU has reimbursed its members for the Australia A game cancelled by the ARU last December.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s article is factually incorrect in a number of ways:

1. The match under discussion wasn’t simply about playing a trial – but about providing a substitute match for the NSWRU after the ARU cancelled their Australia A game last December;

2. The RUPA didn’t demand a payment of $2,500 but suggested a fee of $2,500 in response to a question by the ARU as to whether the players expected a fee;

3. After suggesting the fee the ARU decided to scrap the game without further discussion;

4. The ARU did not in recent days cancel the proposed Wallaby V Australian Barbarian match. It was called off in August;

5. The only venue proposed by the ARU to the RUPA was the SFS – not North Sydney Oval.

Tony Dempsey Chief Executive Officer of the RUPA said:

“It is easy for someone to suggest there are cracks within the player framework. Worse still it is easy to infer the players are money focused. A more challenging, difficult and yet constructive task is to provide positive solutions to the Wallabies recent lack of form against the All Blacks.

It is not clear what source the SHM relies upon when writing an article of this nature. Equally puzzling is why clarity was not sought about the issue from the RUPA before publishing it.

The Wallaby players’ themselves are generous both with their time and money when it comes to supporting charitable causes. Examples this year include donation of their first round Super match fees to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal and participation and support of numerous charities including but not limited to Cystic Fibrosis Australia, Starlight Foundation – various appearances, Blue September, Arthritis Australia – kids camps, Mission Australia – various programs, The Smith Family – various programs, The eMerge Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Australia, RSPCA, Cook Islands donation of books, Ronald McDonald House – various appearances, Xtrata Charity Rugby Day, Camp Quality – various, ActewAGL Country Visits, Red Cross Blood Donation, Cerebal Palsy, Breast Cancer – various, Movember, Pyjama Foundation, Red Kite, St Vincent de Paul – Youthreach/Matt Talbot, Retina Australia Foundation, It’s Time Foundation, Patch (Canberra Hospital), Red Frogs, The Why Genera tion, POW Sydney Hospital, Humpty Dumpty Foundation, This is Oz run by Acan – anti discrimination, Eightytwenty Vision, Wallabies Rewards program – Values in Sport Forum & Junior clubs, National Aboriginal Sports Corporate Australia (NASCA), Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Rugby CONNECT – womens rugby, disabled, indigenous and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse populations.

The players also spend numerous hours volunteering their time to help out at grass roots rugby functions and events.

In addition to assist Australian Rugby with the downturn in the general economy Wallaby players agreed earlier this year to take a Test match pay cut. Further, players from the Waratahs and Reds (including Wallabies from these two states) have agreed to forgo one week’s leave without pay.

It is not the first time and dare we say the last that during a Wallaby form slump that it is suggested the players are either overpaid or money hungry. The reality is players are just as committed as ever in representing their country and take great pride in representing their country.

What is needed now in Australian rugby is a galvanizing of support for the Wallabies as they prepare for the November tour – not misinformed ill advised rhetoric about the attitude of players to money.”

[brokendown gunfighter]

whaaat-the SMH has never been wrong before!!

[Stone Cold]

does anyone on TWF have a direct line of contact to someone at RUPA to get their official version?

[slomo]

does anyone on TWF have a direct line of contact to someone at RUPA to get their official version?

'skipper?.....

[normie]

That was a bloody entertaining story. Totally ruined, absolutely pole-axe RUINED by the facts...

[Burgs]

Even so, I still think Dempsey is a knob...

[brokendown gunfighter]

Even so, I still think Dempsey is a knob...

unfortunatly that fact was not stated in the article,robbing it of its credibility

[travelling_gerry]

RUPERT GUINNESS
September 23, 2009 - 12:09AM .
The wounded Wallabies reached their nadir yesterday when the Tri Nations wooden-spooners were hauled over the coals for their demands for match payments for a proposed Possibles-Probables trial match in the lead-up to the end-of-season grand slam tour.

There was a outcry from rugby observers after yesterday's report in the Herald that the Rugby Union Players' Association had asked the Australian Rugby Union to pay each of the 44 players $2500 for the trial, which has since been cancelled.

After a woeful Tri Nations campaign that ended with their capitulation to the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday, the Wallabies yesterday earned the wrath of disillusioned followers who crammed websites with comments condemning them for their demands. In a RugbyHeaven poll, 92 per cent of 3521 respondents voted ''no'' when asked if they should be paid for the ''intra-squad trial matches''.

However, just as it appeared the Wallabies were losing the public-relations battle and that their divide with the ARU had widened yesterday, it emerged that the players were originally willing to play the Possibles-Probables match without any match fee. A source told the Herald that the request for a $2500 match fee stemmed from the ARU saying the SFS game would double as a venture to help the NSW Rugby Union avert refunding $100,00-$120,000 to their membership from a cancelled Australia A fixture. However, the ARU yesterday said the game was not aimed at making a profit and if there were any financial gains they would have been given to the players to donate to a charity of their choice.

''Wallabies coach Robbie Deans wanted the game,'' an ARU source said yesterday. ''The match was driven by rugby reasons. It was never about revenue generation.

''Yes, NSW could have met a promise to members as a byproduct of the game being played, but the ARU and NSW were never going to receive any money from the game. In fact, there was an offer that if there was any surplus once the costs of the match were met, it would be donated to a charity of the players' choice.''

The source yesterday maintained that the Wallabies were told by ARU high-performance general manager David Nucifora after their first Bledisloe Cup loss in Auckland in July that the game would be a trial and a way to help the NSWRU out. The Wallabies said they were always keen to play the game for free if it was a non-commercial venture, but the source said if there were match proceeds, the players wanted them shared between the states and not just given to NSW. NSW members of the Wallabies supported either idea, the source said, but those from the Reds, Western Force or Brumbies did not.

RUPA chief executive Tony Dempsey confirmed the concern over helping the NSWRU was an element in the dispute, but said it was ''minor''.

Dempsey yesterday said: ''The major consideration was that it was going to be a commercial venture, it was going to be at the SFS, it was going to be billed as the Australian Wallabies v the Australian Barbarians and monies were going to be made not only through NSW memberships but by walk-ups to the games. Then it's only fair players receive a fee equal to an Australian A game, which was originally slated before Australia withdrew from the Six Nations. We were approached and asked what would the players want for a fee, if a fee at all.''

It was after talking to the Wallabies that the RUPA proposed to the ARU a match fee of $2500 a player, as against the $11,000 bonus they get for playing in a Test or $7500 they received when they played the Barbarians at the SFS in June.

''We said if it's a commercial venture, come clean with us. If it is, it's two-and-a-half [thousand]. If it's purely an internal game, that's fine. Let's play at North Sydney Oval or Manly Oval … The blokes will play and there's no match fee,'' he said.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald


http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spor...0923-g0pm.html

[GIGS20]

Something tells me everybody's spinning this thing like a three year old on a merry-go-round. I wonder what the real story is?

[TOCC]

So once the cost of the match was met, the surplus was offered to the players for charity....

[The InnFORCEr]

Match has been cancelled!

[mudskipper]

i play rugby on my weekend muddy, i take time out of my weeknight to train and saturday is a write off for rugby.. In my work, if i get injured playing rugby, i cant work which means lost income.. Yet i do it because i enjoy playing the game and hanging out with the boys.

Sounds to me like some of the players need to wake up and realise what they are getting overpaid for, i bet a lot of money that there would only be a small portion of players who are refusing to play unless paid. Guys like Sekope Kepu, Matt Dunning, Quade Cooper and other guys just on the outer would jump at the chance to prove they are worthy of selection.

I understand but you're a park player these guys ahve professional contracts... You play at your own risk...

[laura]

Qantas Wallabies open training day at St Ignatius College, Riverview, Thursday 8th of October from 9.30am.