Melbourne Rebels hit $22m debt deadline day

Wallabies great David Campese has floated an idea for the Melbourne Rebels next year to help save Super Rugby and build a “better competition”, as the deadline on the club’s debt deal expired.

Wallabies great David Campese says the Melbourne Rebels should merge with the ACT Brumbies next year to save the Super Rugby competition.

A deadline for presenting a proposed deal on the Melbourne Rebels’ $22 million debt expired on Friday.

A meeting will be held next week to consider whether to put the struggling club into liquidation.

It comes as a financial analysis revealed the Rebels lost $54 million in their 14-year history, or about $10,000 each day.

Melbourne Rebels captain Rob Leota tackled during the match against the Queensland Reds at AAMI Park.

Campese said on Friday there were too many teams in Super Rugby.

“I would merge the Rebels with the ACT Brumbies – they could play one week in Canberra and one week in Melbourne,” he said.

“That would build a better competition and we could get more money and bigger crowds.

“Melbourne is a hard town, how many premierships have the Storm won and no-one is interested in them?”

Campese said Rugby Australia, which is rapidly drawing down on an $80 million loan from Pacific Equity Partners, should also cut the Western Force to leave just three teams.

The Rebels’ board members have been scrambling to organise a deal to settle the debt this week.

They are subject to Director Penalty Notices, which make them personally liable for the club’s $11.7 million debt to the Australian Taxation Office.

The ATO has a seat at the table when deciding whether to accept any deal next week.

The former board members met with Rugby Australia on Tuesday to discuss the plight as they demanded $7.8 million from the governing body to cover some of their debt.

Wallabies Legend David Campese and wife Lara. Picture Glenn Hampson

The club was plunged into administration in January, with Rugby Australia pouring in $450,000 to keep the club running for just two weeks.

It has since guaranteed the wages of players and coaches until the end of the season.

Rugby Victoria was owed $337,000, according to a Rebels’ creditors report.

Sources claim that debt was discussed at a Rugby Victoria board meeting last week, with concerns about why the money had been given to the Rebels when it was in such a perilous financial situation.

The Melbourne Rebels were almost kicked out of Super Rugby in 2017, but survived at the expense of the Western-Australian based Western Force.

A Senate inquiry was held into that decision in Perth that year amid concerns the Western Force was treated unfairly.

A transcript of the inquiry states that Australian Rugby Union, now Rugby Australia, did not accept an offer from businessman Alan Winney to buy the club.

The club was instead later sold to TGI Friday’s owner Andrew Cox for $1.

Senator Linda Reynolds asked former Melbourne Rebels chief executive Robert Clarke about the deal.

“For $1, Mr Andrew Cox … got the organisation debt free, which I understand involved over $13 million worth of written-off ARU loans,” she said.

Former Melbourne Rebels chief executive Robert Clarke. Picture: Stuart Walmsley / Rugby Australia

Mr Clarke responded: “I will take that at face value”.

Mr Clarke no longer has an association with the Rebels and declined to comment on Friday.

But his work at the club and Rugby Australia was noted when he was appointed as the chair of the Shore Old Boys’ Union, an elite Sydney school that has produced many elite players.

“His professional career has included … rugby union administration where he was Chief Executive Officer of both the ACT Brumbies (2003-2005) and Melbourne Rebels (2013-2014) and held executive positions at Rugby Australia as Chief Operating Officer (2006-2007 and 2014-2017),” an announcement of his appointment in February said.

Rugby Australia declined to comment.

The Melbourne Rebels board were approached for comment.

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