This was published 8 months ago
Rebels’ future cloudy as Australian rugby tackles thorny five-team question. Again.
By Iain Payten
The thorny issue of whether Australia can sustain five Super Rugby franchises is set to resurface after Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh ended a calamitous year for the code by refusing to guarantee the long-term survival of the Melbourne Rebels.
On his final day at work before a Christmas shutdown, Waugh fronted media to talk up the appointments of new director of high performance Peter Horne and, midway through next year, the return from Ireland of Australian performance guru David Nucifora, as an advisor.
After a disastrous year for Australian rugby, Horne will be tasked with restoring success to the Wallabies. A big part of that will be building a centralised system for Australia’s five Super Rugby teams.
Whether it remains five teams from 2026, however, is firmly in the air. And the Rebels appear to be one of the clubs in most danger.
Amid massive financial challenges for nearly all Super Rugby clubs, with a majority in the red, the debt problems facing the Rebels emerged this week, with the Australian Financial Review reporting the club is struggling to pay a large tax bill, and is also overdue in paying rent to AAMI Park.
The Rebels responded with confident assertions they can get through the financial squeeze, but did not deny reports their total debts are around $9 million.
Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh talking with media, next to new director of high performance Peter Horne.Credit: Oscar Colman
With the NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies also admitting to severe financial strain – which the clubs attribute to a $1.7 million funding shortfall from Rugby Australia – the Rebels’ plight has renewed discussions about whether Australian rugby can sustain five Super Rugby teams.
It is the same vexed question asked in 2017, when Rugby Australia decided it could not afford to fund five teams and, amid great heartache, axed the Western Force. The Rebels, who had been a financial drain on RA for years, were also considered for the chop but were saved by a multi-year $20 million content deal between the Victorian government and RA (which expires in 2025).
The Force saga tore the game apart and prompted multiple court challenges, and even a Senate inquiry. But with the support of now-owner Andrew Forrest, the Force stayed alive and returned to Super Rugby in 2020, during the COVID-era restructure of the competition.
A few years on and Australian rugby finds itself back in an uncomfortably familiar position, with most teams struggling to be competitive, and all bar Queensland posting financial losses every year.
Andrew Forrest brought the Western Force back from the brink.
New Zealand Rugby has made it known it believes Australia should have fewer teams in Super Rugby to improve on- and off-field outcomes, and several Australian rugby figures have called for one of the five sides to be shut down.
Asked on Friday if he believed Australia could sustain five Super Rugby teams, Waugh said: “We have said we need to have presence in five markets, and our biggest markets, and so it is our intent to continue on that path. It is our intent to have five teams in five markets.”
Pressed if that meant a Super Rugby presence, Waugh added: “That’s Super Rugby presence, as we sit here today. But right now we understand there is a reset of the game and how do we look at what is the best path forward?”
In an earlier television interview on ABC News Breakfast, Waugh included the “intent” caveat and appeared to leave the door open for a reduction when asked directly if he could guarantee the Rebels’ future beyond 2025 (when the broadcast deal with Channel Nine/Stan, the publisher of this masthead, expires).
Wallabies star Carter Gordon scores for Melbourne.Credit: Getty
“Our intent is to have five Super Rugby teams and a presence in our biggest markets, and Melbourne is clearly one of the biggest markets,” Waugh told the ABC.
“We move through ’24, ’25 and we have a new broadcast deal in 2026 and a lot will be determined on the appetite for that broadcaster and certainly Super Rugby more broadly. Certainly, there is a lot of work to do and we keep progressing.”
The major source of financial problems, argue the clubs, is Rugby Australia cutting funding during COVID austerity and then reneging on promises to restore it. Annual RA grants of $4.9 million per club were cut to $3.2 million, and with all other costs rising every year, expanding women’s programs and falling revenue from crowds and sponsors, all clubs bar the profitable Queensland Rugby Union quickly sank into the red.
RA told club bosses last week it can’t afford to restore the missing $1.7 million. The plan to boost Super Rugby funding via an injection of $150-200 million from a private equity deal didn’t happen, and there is no desire to burn chunks of $40 million raised in debt capital on Super Rugby.
Can Australia continue with five Super Rugby teams?Credit: Getty
“It has been well publicised that there are financial challenges, and the introduction of the new broadcast deal for this cycle was significantly less than historically, which has put pressure on the system,” he said.
“The value attribution to Super Rugby is considerably less. When we look through the path and the revenue events of the Lions, home World Cups in ’27 and ’29, and then the debt facility that we have taken out, we need to be really disciplined as to how we spend that money, to ensure we put up as much as we possibly can in reserve, so the game is set up financially going forward.”
The Waratahs’ bacon was saved by submitting to an RA takeover in November, and the Rebels were willing to do the same until talks stalled recently. The Brumbies are also in peril but, like the Rebels, believe they can keep their head above water. The Force have the backing of Forrest.
The debate about how many teams Australia should have in Super Rugby usually centres on on-field results. Statistics show there has been a steady decline of Australian success since the Force’s inclusion in 2006, and then the Rebels in 2011. Neither side has made the Super Rugby finals, and it is a decade this year since Australia’s last Super Rugby title, with NSW in 2014.
NSW Rugby chief executive Paul Doorn and Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh at the announcement of RA taking over the Waratahs.Credit: Getty
“A maximum of four would make it better, and that’s when Australian rugby was really strong. They had three sides that were competitive every weekend in Super Rugby, which was forcing us to get better ourselves,” World Cup-winning ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said recently.
Former Wallabies No.8 Stephen Hoiles kicked the hornet’s nest when he called for fewer teams after Australia’s exit from the World Cup.
“People get really shitty when you talk about this, but is five teams helping us produce a better Wallabies program? The answer is no,” Hoiles later told this masthead.
“None of them make any money, and only one has private money. So, it’s not producing high performance for us, and it is not financially sound, why aren’t we considering change?”
Waugh said last week his focus is on improving the depth of the five Australian teams and “creative” options around opening up eligibility criteria for the clubs have been discussed. A merger between Melbourne and Canberra is not desired by any party.
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