Wallaby EOYT 2016
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In other news - the segregation of the Waratahs from NSW Rugby that was deemed so important to success, has been tossed under Kiwi CEO Andrew Hore.
The NSW Rugby Union has brought its “head and heart” back together by combining the professional and community arms of the organisation in a new administrative structure.
NSW has operated as two separate entities over the past six years with the NSWRU administering community rugby and Waratahs Pty Ltd operating the Super Rugby franchise.
But NSWRU has taken steps to bring the two organisations together to create a “whole of game” approach with four board members, including chief executive Andrew Hore and chairman Roger Davis, sitting on both boards.
“The dysfunction came with the Chinese wall between the two entities,” Hore said. “The head and the heart had lost one another.
“We have a new structure. No longer are we two separate entities. The Waratahs used to be masquerading almost as a rugby league club.
“We have two boards with four directors who move from board to board. There are six on each board and four that move from board to board.
“There are advantages in that because what it does is it means the community game gets a strong voice and the professional game gets a strong voice and four people moving between the two can ensure that there is a harmony there.
“That said, is it what we would like in an ideal world? No, but we are not just going to charge in to more governance reform unless its right.”
Hore said the Waratahs would now be a major part of NSW rugby rather than be separate from it.
“The Waratahs have their objectives for the season, but we are one,” Hore said. “The Waratahs are the flagship. They’re not the fleet, they are the flagship. Instead of talking about them separately now, they are one of the fleet, an important part of the fleet, no doubt about it, but they are the flagship.
“NSW is dependent on the success of the Waratahs and community rugby. There is a danger when you separate the Super clubs from the states that you can lose age old values and principles that rugby was built upon. The Waratahs Pty Ltd will still operate the Super Rugby franchise and pay the NSWRU an annual $1.1m licensing fee at least for the foreseeable future.
“At this stage it will remain, but the general feeling is for the time being the key thing is we keep putting money into community rugby,” Hore said.
Hore will present a four-year strategic plan to the NSWRU board today, which will involve further governance reform to make it relevant to the whole state.
“It’s got to be far more collaborative,” Hore said.
“Instead of having one major building of NSWRU, maybe break it up so we have representation around the state in different hubs.
“We have to grow up and lead this state and help the people below. Hopefully, that leads the national body (ARU) to have faith in us to give us that autonomy to deliver the outcomes they need as well.”
Hore said Australian rugby had to learn from recent squabbling in the NRL with clubs fighting with game’s independent commission over funding.
“It was quite telling last week when the NRL CEO said what the NRL clubs need to understand is they are just one part of the whole puzzle,” Hore said.
“Sometimes you can get too focused on just one layer of the game. What I’m seeing in the NRL is how damaging that can be.
“If you look at rugby traditionally, it has moved like a whole series of bubbles. Super Rugby has moved in its own bubble, Shute Shield has done its own thing.
“Hopefully, we can bring these bubbles into alignment. Everyone talks about the difference between New Zealand and Australia and keep looking at the elite end. It’s actually not the elite end. It’s the alignment of the sport underneath that that comes through as one.”
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The important bit is they appear to be addressing the issue. Change is what's important here, not outcome.
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@mariner4life said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
@NTA I've read the stuff Papworth puts out, he uses words like grassroots, but he doesn't really mean it. He means premier club rugby (if I'm generous, also including Brisbane). Yes he's a "proper rugby man" but he also has his own inherent bias. And that's fine, but people shouldn't pretend he's going in to bat for a rugby club in Mackay.
The ARU have a fairly unique set of challenges they need to overcome to not only grow the game domestically, but solidify it in it's traditional markets. The vigorous competition of 3 other football codes, all with better broadcast deals, more money, and greater market visualisation. Those same codes are also taking sponsorship dollars off the states/Super sides. Do you think the rabble at the Reds can compete with the Broncos? Hell, even the Roar? I had a yarn to Eddie Jones not long after his ill-fated job in Brisbane, and he said when he turned up, there was almost zero corporate interest in the Reds, there was no money from the big end of town coming in at all. One of his biggest jobs off the field was to try and turn that around. Success after he left did that to a decent extent apparently, but it all slipped away as the Reds slipped down from the 2011 high. Aussies love a winner, and unfortunately for any of the losers, your average sponsor doesn't have to turn very far to find one.
The ARU need more money to make the game strong. They can't get money while the game isn't strong and winning at the top level. The game won't get strong at the top level without a strong domestic game. Chicken and egg situation. It'll take some vision, and some fucking leadership, neither of which appear to be in abundance at ARU headquarters.
Yep, success on the field is vital. Which is why (for the 55,999,000,000 time) I think it was nuts to expand the number of super teams.
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That's a really good point about the lack of 'winners' produced in the current structure. Professional sport runs on fan rivalry and it's pretty hard to drum that up when no team can claim bragging rights over the others, especially when the season provides a home and away game that can go either way.
You would think the ARU's biggest push to make the most of 5 teams would be to have there own conference eg a Super Rugby structure that creates a clear Australian winner that then goes into battle against the other winners.
I guess we aren't as concerned in NZ because of the amount of overall winning teams we acheive. -
@Crucial said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
That's a really good point about the lack of 'winners' produced in the current structure. Professional sport runs on fan rivalry and it's pretty hard to drum that up when no team can claim bragging rights over the others, especially when the season provides a home and away game that can go either way.
You would think the ARU's biggest push to make the most of 5 teams would be to have there own conference eg a Super Rugby structure that creates a clear Australian winner that then goes into battle against the other winners.
I guess we aren't as concerned in NZ because of the amount of overall winning teams we acheive.I imagine that this is a similar problem that the Italian sides have in the Pro12 and then the European Cup. They don't have a dog's chance of winning the Pro 12 anytime soon, they then qualify for the EC and get tanked in the pool stages. The flip side is that they need to play at these levels to progress but it must be hard getting your arse handed to you on a regular basis. Buggered if I know what the answer is though.
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Just read a Gregory Paul article on the Herald about how the Force should get the flick.
I think that's a shame because I don't think the WA market is as saturated as Melbourne and there appears to be a genuine rugby following there. But to survive they needed to be half decent on the field and they never had a chance with 5 teams and no one wanting to play there.
Any chance of the Rebels getting the arse?
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Getting players into the isolation of Perth - remembering its a 4 hour flight to see family in the east instead of 1-2, seems to be a factor.
Plus they've had basket case coaching there under Foley, and the travel to other games is a bitch.
Almost be better off having a team in Adelaide, except for the saturation factor of AFL.
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@NTA said in Wallaby EOYT 2016:
Getting players into the isolation of Perth - remembering its a 4 hour flight to see family in the east instead of 1-2, seems to be a factor.
Plus they've had basket case coaching there under Foley, and the travel to other games is a bitch.
Almost be better off having a team inAdelaide except for the saturation factor of AFL.
You sick man Nick.
Did anyone consider the fact that bringing Melbourne into the comp was effectively signing the Force's death warrant?
