ARU boss Bill Pulver questions taxpayer-funded Senate inquiry into Australia rugby and Force axing

OUTGOING ARU boss Bill Pulver believes the Senate inquiry into Australian rugby has been an imprudent use of taxpayer money and said its findings won’t change anything.

ARU CEO Bill Pulver leaves the senate inquiry.

OUTGOING ARU boss Bill Pulver believes the Senate inquiry into Australian rugby has been an imprudent use of taxpayer money and said its findings won’t change anything.

The third and final hearing of the Senate inquiry was held in Canberra on Monday night, with ARU chairman Cameron Clyne fronting up for questioning. Pulver previously appeared at the inquiry’s first hearing in Perth.

The inquiry, titled “Future of rugby union in Australia”, was the result of lobbying by WA Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds.

ARU CEO Bill Pulver leaves the senate inquiry.

In often feisty exchanges, Force-supporter Reynolds pursued the ARU on why they’d cut the WA club ahead of the Melbourne Rebels, despite the latter club being a bigger drain on ARU resources over the last seven years.

Reynolds focused heavily on the probity of the ARU’s deal to sell the Rebels to private owner Andrew Cox in 2015, and the fairness of the ARU entering an alliance agreement with Rugby WA to keep the Force from insolvency in 2016.

Clyne said the decision to keep the Rebels ahead of the Force was down to a “superior” and tabled financial package from Victoria, as opposed to vague “promises” from WA and high-profile supporter Andrew Forrest.

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The Senate committee will publish a report on November 13 but Pulver questioned why the inquiry had occurred at all.

“To be frank it has been a problematic process,” he said.

“We had an extremely difficult task of eliminating a Super Rugby team for all the reasons we have explained ad nauseam, and the vast majority of the Australian rugby community support that decision,” Pulver told the Daily Telegraph.

“And yet we have ended up in a Senate inquiry. My own personal view — and I stress it is personal — is that is not a sensible use of public funds. I don’t think it will result in outcomes that will change anything at all.

“So no I am not entirely happy with it but we are living with it and we will go through with it and we will wait and hear the report in November when it comes out.”

The ARU’s wider frustrations with the Senate inquiry were made clear by Clyne in his testimony when he expressed his disappointment at “criticism, disrespect and even laughter Mr Pulver faced” in his appearance, and the hostility of the inquiry.

“It has been disappointing to observe the line and tone of questioning in previous hearings, which mostly focused on the sale of the Melbourne Rebels to Imperium Sports Management, rather than on the future of Australian rugby,” Clyne said.

Pulver with Irish president Michael Higgins (left).

When Senator Reynolds later argued the ARU was open to public scrutiny because they received some government funding, Clyne said their decision “was within our governance rights and was legal and, based on financial criteria, was the right decision.”

“There are 19 sports in Australia that receive more money than the ARU,” he continued.

“So it’s interesting that a decision that was both legal and within our governance rights, and supported by our members, is the first cab off the rank for an inquiry when there are 19 other sports that receive, in some cases, 20 times as much?”

Pulver’s comments came as he announced a three-match series to be played against Ireland in June next year.

The Test series — the first of its kind against a touring Ireland team — will see Tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in what will be the last June series before a global calendar shifts inbound tours to July in 2020.

The ARU hosted the President of Ireland Michael Higgins for a lunch in Sydney prior to the announcement.

The topic turned quickly to Ireland’s bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, up against France and South Africa. After bid presentations last month, a vote of World Rugby — including Australia — will be held next month to determine who wins.

President Higgins said his talks with the ARU were “very positive” and that he was optimistic Australia would back Ireland. Pulver declined to give any hints but said Ireland’s was “a superb quality bid”.

Originally published as ARU boss Bill Pulver questions taxpayer-funded Senate inquiry into Australia rugby and Force axing