Rugby union’s broadcast rights value tumbles in eyes of private equity firms

[GIGS20]

Hey Burgs. You know I hate the rebels as much as the next guy, but the whole argument for cutting one sr team is as flawed for the rebels as it was for the force.

The problems in Aussie rugby have nothing to do with how many or few super rugby teams we have.

Perhaps instead the rebels could move to a location which has a better chance of supporting them and building them into a rugby powerhouse.

Suggestions?

[blueandblack]

"Former Rugby Australia boss John O'Neill calls for independent review after Wallabies' World Cup debacle"

In the brief listing (aka clickbait section) for this article, it says "'Rome has been burning for quite some time': Former Rugby Australia boss calls for review"

Former chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union John O'Neill has called for an independent review into all aspects of the game. O'Neill's call comes in the wake of the Wallabies 40-6 thrashing by Wales at the Rugby World Cup and ahead of what is most likely the Wallabies' last World Cup game against Portugal on Monday morning (AEDT).

"The truth is Australian rugby has got a major systemic problem and it's been coming for a while," O'Neill told ABC Sport. "Essentially we're on life support now," he said. He said Rugby Australia (RA) needs to set up a review into the game.

"It has to be independent, no conflict, no self-interest," he said. "My own language on this is that Rome has been burning for quite some time — this didn't just happen. The review has to be of everything — everything has to be on the table."

O'Neill said the problems in the game start at the grassroots and go all the way to the elite level of the game. He said the lack of pathways and proper junior development, as well as the poaching of talented players by rugby league, had damaged the 15-player code.

His call for an independent review has been backed up by former Western Force chairman Geoff Stooke. "I think John's right, there needs to be an independent review — there's no point Caeser judging Caeser," Stooke said.

Those views, though, are not shared by Rugby Australia. In a statement to the ABC, a RA spokesperson said: "There has been no shortage of reports done in Australian Rugby. We don't need more of them – we need action. Those reports have led to the plan that we are currently embarking on to unify the community game and the Super Rugby Level and our elite international teams."

Prior to the World Cup, RA announced the game would pursue "a historic reset" with a goal of "greater success on and off the field". Stooke approached RA in 2020 proposing to set up a technical advisory committee, which was endorsed by the head organisation. The committee was the brainchild of Stooke, the former Wallabies coach, Bob Dwyer, former skipper Nick Farr-Jones and administrator and former national coaching director Dick Marks. The quartet were joined by former Wallabies Barry Honan and Roger Gould and set about talking to rugby clubs and coaches around the country. The committee wrote a paper for RA in 2020 on how to fix the game's problems at the grassroots and player development.

Stooke said there was a lack of quality coaching at the junior levels.

"Player development was becoming too exclusive, where certain players who could perform at say schoolboy level, were given a star on their butt and then were almost by default progressed through to under 20s and then super teams," Stooke said. And we felt there was a large core of players who were being missed in these pathways. What it meant essentially is that we had the athletes; they were just as big, just as fast, just as strong, but we felt the skill development was lacking."

Stooke said his report to RA had been largely ignored.

"Virtually nothing's been implemented," Stooke said. The bottom line to that was that two members of my committee [Honan and Gould] resigned because of the frustrations they were feeling."

David Lyons, the current president of the Sydney University Rugby Club and a former World Cup Wallaby, is also frustrated at the current state of Australian rugby.

"So many young kids — before they've really got a lot of hard matches under their belt — are being whisked off to professional contracts, not really playing and not getting the hours under their belt," Lyons said. He said Australian Rugby was its strongest when there were only three Super Rugby teams instead of the current five.

"Three Super Rugby teams which were successful," he said. There was a high amount of competition for places, and because of that we probably had stronger competitions because there wasn't as much opportunity for those people in club competitions and they'd have to really earn their stripes week-in week-out before they got a chance in professional rugby. I don't think Super Rugby's delivering those types of lessons like it once did."

O'Neill said you could not fix the Wallabies without fixing the grassroots of the game.

"There's a great saying in rugby: The bigger the base, the taller the pyramid," O'Neill said. All the major players in Australian rugby, put your self-interest in your back pocket, and let's act in the best interest of the game."

Despite a poor run of results since his return to the senior coaching role, with just one win in eight matches since the start of the year, O'Neill believes Eddie Jones remains the right man to coach the Wallabies.

"Sacking the coach is almost always the first port of call, but you really have to look at the players on the field and all the performance issues," O'Neill said. "And now, there's a pile-on already on Eddie, and we've got one more game to go against Portugal. You know, [take a] time-out, take a deep breath and then [make] a proper assessment when all the emotions have died down."

[jargan83]

Oh yay.

Another review.

[AndyS]

Well, as one of, possibly first amongst, the chief architects of Australia's major systemic problems, I guess he'd know. But yeah, sure, yet another review will fix things. And for sure it'll get right in there and make systemic changes to the code two and four years out from the Lions and RWC respectively...

The time for all those things were on their watch. They constantly banged on about how the code kept going broke, so it isn't like the signs weren't there.

[shasta]

Well, as one of, possibly first amongst, the chief architects of Australia's major systemic problems, I guess he'd know........

The time for all those things were on their watch. They constantly banged on about how the code kept going broke, so it isn't like the signs weren't there.

Exactly. And he's still rolling out the myth that a large part of the problem is the dastardly Mungos, rather than grass roots stagnation. In any event Stook & Co have already done the review and it's been ignored - like all the others.

I'm starting to think that maybe the best chance of a REAL reset was when Aus looked like going alone at the time NZ wanted us to punt 3 teams. When that looked a prospect they did a 180° turn and stated saying how vital our inclusion was. Which probably means RA should have told them to shove it.

[wholetruth]

Exactly. And he's still rolling out the myth that a large part of the problem is the dastardly Mungos, rather than grass roots stagnation. In any event Stook & Co have already done the review and it's been ignored - like all the others.

I'm starting to think that maybe the best chance of a REAL reset was when Aus looked like going alone at the time NZ wanted us to punt 3 teams. When that looked a prospect they did a 180° turn and stated saying how vital our inclusion was. Which probably means RA should have told them to shove it.

Perhaps it was ignored for a good reason. Let's face it not all reviews come up with the answers, just the views of the authors.

[shasta]

Perhaps it was ignored for a good reason. Let's face it not all reviews come up with the answers, just the views of the authors.

I don't recall it being released, so I don't know. Reports are usually framed to result in the outcome the commissioner(s) are looking for. It appears that in this case Stook approached RA rather than the other way round; so you may be right. Any clues as to what that good reason might be?

[blueandblack]

Maybe we should have a review of all the reviews so far - like the "scientific studies" that do a study of the existing scientific studies.

[wholetruth]

I don't recall it being released, so I don't know. Reports are usually framed to result in the outcome the commissioner(s) are looking for. It appears that in this case Stook approached RA rather than the other way round; so you may be right. Any clues as to what that good reason might be?

I have a vague memory of it but never saw anything about any findings. You wonder why Stooke and others did it if it wasn't asked for and whether there was anything in it worthwhile. A bit of self-promotion maybe? If there was any relevance, wouldn't they have put in the public domain. It was not a commissioned review so they could have done it. Who needs more reviews to review what has already been reviewed.

[blueandblack]

This is an ABC video item about it, which is basically the source of the above article.

[wholetruth]

This is an ABC video item about it, which is basically the source of the above article.

From what I see from that there was no actual committee or chairman just a group who wanted to make their views known. As I said earlier, why didn't they make the report public. Maybe they didn't come up with anything not already know. Did the ABC ask to see it and if they did and it was refused then why?

[shasta]

Hmmmm...this sounds familiar.

"The Brumbies are bristling after a recent meeting with RA, in which Nobbs said the governing body presented a terms sheet with an offer to wipe the Brumbies’ debt if the club relinquished all aspects of its business, including intellectual property. The proposal was rejected, with the Brumbies determined to maintain a locally run club in Canberra."

But wait there's more.....YES IT'S OUR FAULT AGAIN. Shoulda known.

The SMH should apologise to this bloke for making his surname plural too. It's obviously singular.

"Nobbs admitted the Brumbies were one of several Australian outfits under financial duress but said it was due to RA cutting funding in 2021. When the Western Force returned to Super Rugby, the other four clubs had grants cut from $5.5 million a year to $3.9 million, and assurances it would go back up have not been met.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...29-p5e8kk.html

[GIGS20]

Yeah, well CEO knob. If it wasn't for the force in 2017 you wouldn't know the danger of selling your IP and operating license to those sharks at ra. So you're welcome dipshit.

Let's also remember that funding was increased beyond the value of the force allocation in 2018 to enable all clubs to feast on the carcass, perhaps in 2021, funding was just returned to normal.

I wonder if the same deal was offered to the tahs.

[SNOB]

Hmmmm...this sounds familiar.

"The Brumbies are bristling after a recent meeting with RA, in which Nobbs said the governing body presented a terms sheet with an offer to wipe the Brumbies’ debt if the club relinquished all aspects of its business, including intellectual property. The proposal was rejected, with the Brumbies determined to maintain a locally run club in Canberra."

But wait there's more.....YES IT'S OUR FAULT AGAIN. Shoulda known.

The SMH should apologise to this bloke for making his surname plural too. It's obviously singular.

"Nobbs admitted the Brumbies were one of several Australian outfits under financial duress but said it was due to RA cutting funding in 2021. When the Western Force returned to Super Rugby, the other four clubs had grants cut from $5.5 million a year to $3.9 million, and assurances it would go back up have not been met.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...29-p5e8kk.html

Saved me trying to curt and paste.
I was amused at the shock of the brumbies that they were expected to give up their IP! Maybe they had taken notice of what happened last time a team did that.

[Burgs]

I'm warming to my half tongue in cheek suggestion of dumping NSW and continuing with four...