Jim Tucker: Cold reality of balancing dollars and sense

WALLABIES great Nathan Sharpe has branded the looming axe for his beloved Western Force as a disgrace, with emotion to be clubbed by dollars and sense.

Nathan Sharpe was the foundation skipper of the Force in 2006.

WALLABIES great Nathan Sharpe has branded the looming axe for his beloved Western Force as a disgrace, with emotion to be clubbed by dollars and sense.

The death sentence will be delivered by Thursday although the Australian Rugby Union said yesterday the Melbourne Rebels were also in the discussions to remove one club.

Sharpe was the foundation skipper of the Force in 2006 and knows more than anyone how the club was forged from ambition, hard work and a 37,000-strong first game crowd.

“Disgraceful that the effort, emotion and passion that has gone into establishing rugby on the west coast looks like it will be thrown away,” Sharpe tweeted.

Nathan Sharpe was the foundation skipper of the Force in 2006.

The brutal reality is that every new Perth kid to rugby, local product in the Force ranks, hard-fought win and share sold in the team still does not balance the books.

Those are the ARU’s books which reflect all five clubs being propped up to varying degrees.

Under-siege ARU boss Bill Pulver revealed yesterday the extent of the bleeding that made chopping one club imperative in the Super Rugby cull from 18 to 15 clubs next year.

“If you look at 2013-17, we will have spent $28 million unbudgeted on Super Rugby so sadly it’s very clear to me we can’t sustain five teams from a financial or high-performance perspective,” he said.

The ARU yesterday reported a $3.7 million surplus for 2016 after accounting for a $4.8 million investment in a Force alliance.

It fell short of the $8 million surplus hoped for which is one reason why saving the $6 million salary bill of the axed club looks so attractive.

Funds saved are to be targeted at the neglected grassroots of the game, including the faltering Australian Under-20s pathway.

Pulver admitted he got it wrong that the ARU could sustain five teams while ARU chairman Cameron Clyne hinted the tough call might have been made earlier.

Inadvertently, the ill health of the unwieldy, less competitive 18-team format stirred a review last year and created the opportunity for the ARU to suggest one of its own teams be jettisoned.

The Rebels, winless this season, are not exempt from more intense examination and nor should they be because having a private owner is rarely a long-term cure-all.

Clyne and Paul McLean were re-elected as ARU directors yesterday while Queensland’s Tony Shaw was elected president.

The consolidation of Australia’s talent into four teams is also aimed at improving the Wallabies.

The “tsunami of money”, as Clyne called it, enticing younger players to Japan and France has changed the entire landscape.

“Based on recent performance trends, it is evident that we do not currently have the playing depth in Australia to service five teams in Super Rugby,” he said.

Even the Force find that argument hard to challenge. They now just want the right club punted.