Australian rugby ripe for transformation out of current crisis

World Rugby chair Bill Beaumont, right, and his challenger for the top job, Agustin Pichot. Picture: Getty Images

In 2016 the American singer Beyonce released her sixth album, titled Lemonade.

The album’s theme stems from a quote from her husband’s grandmother, Hattie White.

Hattie is featured on the album at the end of track 10, Freedom, when she says, “I had my ups and downs, but I always found my inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons but I made lemonade”.

When asked about what she hoped to accomplish with her work, which became the bestselling album, globally, in 2016, Beyonce said, “I hope I can create something that helps people heal and feel proud of their struggle … everyone experiences pain, but sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform”.

The message for Rugby Australia couldn’t be more clear. It’s time for us to transform our governance model and make something substantial out of the “lemons” left behind by Cameron Clyne, the RA board and now former CEO Raelene Castle, who resigned on Thursday night.

The rugby public are looking for transformational change and the current crisis gives us an opportunity to reinvent the game here in Australia. Surely the letter written by Nick Farr-Jones and his fellow Wallaby captains can’t be ignored. How 150-plus people are needed at Rugby Australia I have no idea.

To transform our game we have to start with a blank canvas.

There was always a massive light at the end of the transformation tunnel and that light is the 2027 World Cup. All Australians will rally behind Australian rugby if we can stage the cup but we will have no public credibility or support if we can’t focus on this mission via a fresh and new leadership.

Yet, with Argentina pulling out of the race and South Africa still smarting over being gazumped by France to host the 2023 World Cup, it looks like we have done a Steven Bradbury. To be fair to the speed skater, it was his fourth Olympics, so he had worked hard to get lucky.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup generated an economic benefit of $6bn to Japan, with the tournament increasing GDP by $3bn and boosting tax revenues by $300m.

As the host nation, we would have to guarantee World Rugby a huge chunk of cash. France have guaranteed a sum of $250m to World Rugby for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. We would be required to guarantee a similar amount for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

A lobbying battle looms.

World Rugby would certainly be in a better place if the relatively young but certainly brash Argentine, Agustin Pichot, were to be successful in his bid to be chairman of World Rugby.

Pichot is calling for World Rugby’s “Old Boys” club to be smashed and replaced with more democratic processes.

It sounds familiar. Democracy!

Well, last week I wrote about Barcelona FC and their amazing academy.

At Barcelona, the president is voted for by the members. The members are the ticket-holding supporters who turn up for every match at the Camp Nou, Barcelona’s home stadium that seats 100,000 fans.

Every six years, Barcelona’s 110,000 members, all paying $350 in annual fees, have a say in how their club is run. Their membership also gives them rights to purchase tickets and feel like they are part of their team’s journey.

The membership fees alone raise almost $40m a year, which is put back into the Barca academy.

Imagine if the Australian rugby fans could follow the Barca football model of universal suffrage. Our supporters would become seriously engaged members and we would have a revenue stream to fund a decent national rugby academy.

Rugby supporters want transparency, accountability and genuine democracy. At the moment we have none of these things.

If rugby is open to transformational change (and it would appear from the reaction to the letter from the Wallaby captains that it is not, but more prepared to defend the indefensible) we must give the rugby public a say in how things are done.

There is no doubt that Agustin Pichot wants the Rugby Championship to be expanded to include Japan and Fiji. He wants their votes. But dealing with the Fiji Rugby Union will be very challenging.

The president of the Fiji Rugby Union is also the Fijian Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, and the chairman of Fiji Rugby is his son-in-law, Francis Kean.

Kean is a story for another day.

Bainimarama came to power in 2006 in a military coup and was widely criticised for refusing to call elections for eight years.

None of this worries Bill Beaumont and Bernard Laporte who are counting on support from Fiji and the other Pacific Island teams.

In return, they have backed a proposal for Fijian and other Pacific Island players to play for their country of birth should they be overlooked by their current international teams.

Based on Australia’s 31-man World Cup squad in Japan, 10 of our players like Kerevi, Kuri­drani, Genia, Latu and Lealiifano would play for the Pacific Island teams.

Beaumont and Laporte are hopeful the measure will shore up support for them.

As Beyonce knows, it’s time to make lemonade out of the lemons we have been left with.

Everywhere in World Rugby, the blazer brigade are under siege. Democracy is on the march.

Just on democracy, don’t Australian rugby supporters deserve to know how their representatives, including Brett Robinson and Paul McLean, will vote on May 16?

Brett Robinson! Yes, he is not even on the board.

Pichot should be the man of the hour.

But as we have seen here, so it is in World Rugby, the blazer brigade have to be blasted out. Pichot wants to see the global game grow, and he wants to shake up the establishment. He passes the pub test with flying colours. It may not be enough.

Where is the Agustin Pichot of Australian rugby?

If we want transformational change we need inspirational leadership and genuine democracy in the appointment of our leaders.

Like Beyonce said, sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to transform.