Rugby Australia rubbishes ‘laughable’ call to ditch the Melbourne Rebels

Rugby Australia has rubbished “laughable” calls from across the ditch to dump an under-fire team from Super Rugby.

Brad Wilkin of the Rebels attempts to break away from the defence during the round one Super Rugby Pacific match between the Queensland Reds and the Melbourne Rebels at Suncorp Stadium on February 19, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Rugby Australia has rubbished “laughable” calls to remove the Melbourne Rebels from Super Rugby as its funding dispute with New Zealand Rugby heats up.

Despite a seemingly peaceful union forming between the two governing bodies with the advent of Super Rugby Pacific, RA has continuously threatened to walk away from the partnership unless NZR agrees to share a greater chunk of its broadcasting revenue.

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Under the previous Super Rugby arrangement, which also involved South Africa and Argentina, broadcast revenues were pooled together and split evenly between the nations.

RA is seeking a return to this model with NZR, given the fact RA’s $33 million a year broadcast deal with Stan/Nine is said to be roughly a third of the size of NZR’s deal with Sky.

In recent comments, RA chair Hamish McLennan argued the Australian teams play an equal role in ensuring Super Rugby Pacific’s viability, and therefore need to be compensated evenly.

Placing a particular strain on the negotiations is the insistence from New Zealand that Australia cannot support five Super Rugby teams, despite a five-team Super Rugby AU competition during the pandemic bringing fans back in strong numbers to see Australian champions crowned.

Matt Philip of the Rebels runs with the ball during the warm-up before the round one Super Rugby Pacific match between the Queensland Reds and the Melbourne Rebels at Suncorp Stadium on February 19, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia.

The debate was brought to a head on Tuesday, with an article in the New Zealand Herald that specifically called for the Melbourne Rebels to be axed.

The article’s author, Gregor Paul, acknowledged NZR’s previous attempts to bully RA into cutting the number of Australian teams were beyond their jurisdiction.

Paul maintained, however, that it was specifically the Rebels that were at risk of bringing down Super Rugby, as they had “built little to no rapport with Melburnians”.

“Australia can’t afford to run five teams and it certainly doesn’t have the player base to populate five teams and its commercial hubris has proven to be its high-performance nemesis,” Paul said said.

“Chopping the Rebels would be an immediate way to strengthen the quality of the other Australian sides.

“It would not only flood the market with 35 or so seasoned professionals, it would also alleviate the wage inflation being felt.”

Billboard on top of Young and Jackson's Hotel in Melbourne featuring Melbourne Rebels players Jordan Uelese, Pone Fa'amausili, Rob Leota and Trevor Hosea. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

A Rugby Australia spokesman, however, said rugby’s role in Melbourne spoke for itself.

“It’s pretty laughable because the journalist who wrote that piece was at the Melbourne Bledisloe Test this year, which was a massive success,” the spokesman told news.com.au.

“It was a sell out, an incredible game of rugby, and it had four homegrown Melbourne players take the field for it.”

“We’re really happy with how Melbourne is developing as a rugby city.”

Melbourne’s Bledisloe Test was a homecoming for the Wallabies backrow trio of Rob Leota, Pete Samu and Rob Valetini, along with replacement tighthead prop Pone Fa’amausili, who all rose through the Victorian system.

The sold out Test, which saw the Wallabies nearly snatch an unlikely win from the All Blacks before a controversial penalty, was seen by RA as a reward for the organisation’s investment in the traditional AFL heartland.

Earlier in the year, Melbourne was chosen as the host city for Super Rugby’s NRL-inspired Super Round, an event which is slated to return to the city in March 2023.

RA said they are not entertaining the idea of losing a team, with the game instead looking to expand its profile ahead of the 2031 World Cup.

“We’re happy with the teams that we have now, but we’re always investing in new markets,” the spokesman said.

“We played a Test match in Adelaide this year, which doesn’t even have a Super Rugby team.”

The Melbourne Rebels declined to comment on the NZ Herald article.

Originally published as Rugby Australia rubbishes ‘laughable’ call to ditch the Melbourne Rebels