Australian Rugby is going bust in 2015!

This could have catastrophic consequences for the International game.

If Ozy goes bust there will undoubtedley be knock on effects within SANZAR and the wider SH community and basically across the international board.

Is it not time NOW for the IRB and the leading Unions to consider means to help support the ARU and to combat the NRL competitions influence in Oz and the wider region, NZ and the southern pacific?

http://www.espn.co.uk/australia/rugby/story/243671.html

Aussie Rugby has always struggled and its amazing they have always been at the top of the tree in the game.

League dominates...and Aussie Rules Football is huge also. Add in the growing appeal of football with the youngsters and rugby union is going to find it hard. I dont think this is a new thing.

Would it be catastophic?
It would certainly be huge, but i think we're at a stage now that other countries are really moving forward with the sport...and some of the old guard need to keep up or they'll fall behind.

It happened in football and it will certainly happen in rugby.

It's a mess of their own making.

Quick dose of financial reality is a good reminder to the Blazers of the perils of not having a sound commercial basis for big-spending top-down schemes.

Yup, agree with that. Non-transfer fees for players between clubs doesn't help net-exporters of players. Especially when depth is low to start with.

The game just doesn't seem to have any presence here anymore and while outside help would boost things for a while, you'd have to think that if the community itself hasn't much interest then it'd be a waste of effort by the IRB or the other countries. While i recognise we are often accused of being insular I think the only chance for rugby is to focus on building some interest in a local league. if they could roll back the clock now I'd think they'd be better off having opted for a lame local comp even if a few generations of Wallabies were lost to league. The Waratahs are the reigning champions but I havent seen a Tahs jersey, hat, shirt, etc in ages. No one seems to gives a sh.. It's pretty sad as a person who does, but it's certainly our problem to solve.

The first thing you do when you start a business enterprise is to budget.

Having a top down approach where you pa your top players income that is out of wack with the rest of your setup is looking for trouble.

SA and NZ earn roughly the same money as the ARU and has development systems, grass roots systems and many more paid professional rugby players, AUstralia is a first world country with a massive GDP in comparison to SA and NZ.

I see no reason why the IRB should bail them out financially.

The ARU should get private investors within AUstralia to help them and then revisit the manner in which they spend their money.

I unfortunately have little sympathy for their situation.

Super Rugby has been going for 18 years, that should be plenty of time to put the right system in place.

I agree everybody has to keep their own house in order, however the concern has to be that Australia's demise will affect the provincial and international competitions, especially within SANZAR.

Who knows? Maybe this will be the catalyst for real change. However it could be that that change means the demise of Ozy rugby and we'd all be the poorer for that.

The code wars in Oz are particularly unique even compared to England.

kingelderfield wrote:I agree everybody has to keep their own house in order, however the concern has to be that Australia's demise will affect the provincial and international competitions, especially within SANZAR.

Who knows? Maybe this will be the catalyst for real change. However it could be that that change means the demise of Ozy rugby and we'd all be the poorer for that.

The code wars in Oz are particularly unique even compared to England.

RL is no threat to Union in England and we dont have a third comparable sport. (e.g. aussie rules). Ireland might be a more interesting case study with Gaelic football.

Presumably this is why they wanted the Lions to stop off en route to NZ.

To be honest my sympathy is limited. There has been far too much focus on a top down model. As biltong says, super rugby has been going for years and in that time they have won a world cup and hosted another. That should have been a real catalyst for a boost in lower tier rugby, to give them a pyramid structure that we see elsewhere.

ebop wrote:Yup, agree with that. Non-transfer fees for players between clubs doesn't help net-exporters of players. Especially when depth is low to start with.

Rugby has pretty much the same transfer system as football. The difference is soccer clubs give long contracts so that they get those transfer fees.

And we also have this constant in house bickering. The Di Link, Beale triangle the latest. For link to be dropping people off to an airport while the team was training prior to their loss to Argentina just reeks of incompetence and a breakdown in the system. If they beat the AB's next week it will be a miracle.