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'Australian rugby in trouble'
30/01/2008 10:32 - (SA)
Sydney - Australian Rugby Union's chief executive John O'Neill has called for major changes to re-invigorate the game before it slips into irreversible decline.
Amid falling attendances, ratings, revenues and performances, O'Neill said the ARU was in serious financial trouble and would have gone broke were it not for cash reserves built up by Australia hosting the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
"We are at the crossroads - the option of doing nothing can't be contemplated and some very significant radical changes have to be undertaken," he told a press conference on Tuesday.
"Our position has been eroding and, I don't want to be overly dramatic, but unless we find some transforming initiatives, that erosion will continue until it reaches an irreversible decline," he added.
Among the options being considered, he said, were working with New Zealand and South Africa to expand the Super 14 season, playing Wallaby Tests midweek to ensure greater attendance, and easing Australia's foreign player policy.
"The position is fairly disturbing, the Wallabies over that four-year period (from 2004) had a win-loss ratio of 60% compared to the 70-80% they enjoyed in 1998-2003," O'Neill said.
"In the recent World Cup the Wallabies were knocked out in the quarter-finals for the first time since 1995 and our Super Rugby teams have only won the title two years out of 12.
"Even worse, the teams that are our heartland of rugby, the Waratahs and Reds, have never won a Super Rugby championship and were the two bottom teams last year.
"The matches are not providing the entertainment that fans demand."
Not one Australian province or state had a healthy financial return from the game, something which would have seen the ARU go broke were it not for the A$43m stored up from hosting the 2003 World Cup, he said.
"Thank God we had those reserves," O'Neill said. "And those reserves are rapidly eroding. It's imperative the ARU doesn't go broke, because if it does, the game goes broke."
O'Neill said the ARU expected to post a A$7-8m loss this year despite a A$7m grant from the International Rugby Board.
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Rugby
