Clear vision for future is starting point to saving rugby

As with most problems that plague rugby, the Israel Folau saga can be solved by the game’s leaders providing a clear vision.

Raelene Castle made the point that never in her career had she confronted an issue as difficult and divisive as Israel Folau’s comments on homosexuals. Perhaps there is a way to bring some clarity to the subject: ask yourself how you would have handled the problem had someone else made those exact statements.

It could have been Hamish Stewart or Jake Gordon or Reece Hodge or Rory Arnold or basically anyone from the four Super Rugby franchises. In every instance, so my conveniently close vox pop respondents tell me, their response was uniformly the same: bring the player in for talks and advise him that his comments were causing harm to his employer and to the wider game of rugby. If he then defied Rugby Australia by repeating those comments, give him a formal warning. And if he persisted and posted further comments, charge him under the code of conduct. Ultimately, tear up his contract if there is just no stopping him.

No doubt, there could still be legal ramifications for doing it this way and arguably Folau, if treated this way, could sue for wrongful dismissal, citing multiple breaches of his freedom of speech and religion. Imagine a defence based on him telling the court that all he had done was repeat what children were told in church and Sunday school. No one said any of this was easy.

Of course, if Castle is adamant she would have acted as she has done irrespective of the identity of the person making the comments, then I apologise most humbly for presuming. But the almost universal feedback I received is that a different set of rules has been applied to Folau. And that goes right to the heart of the leadership problem confronting Australian rugby.

Co-columnist Alan Jones yesterday listed his 10-point plan to get the game back on track. Some I disagreed with, some I have passionately campaigned for, some I felt did not come close to covering the complexity of the problem. But while it was possible to nitpick the detail, it’s the broad canvas of the picture that Jones paints that is so disturbing, so worrying.

Everyone knows the game is in crisis and it is difficult to fathom how this has come about. I recall, around 2006, writing a story tracing the popularity of rugby union and league, noting that if the two graphs held their course, rugby would soon eclipse league as the second-most popular football brand in the country. Commentator’s curse. No sooner were those words in the newspaper than rugby began to fold in on itself while the NRL soared to new heights. Yet how staggering that this was only a dozen years ago.

Saying rugby has lost its way since then is tantamount to suggesting its leaders led it astray. But it’s too convenient to portray the board of Rugby Australia as dunderheaded blunderers whose only concern is protecting their own perks. That’s true in only half the cases. (Only kidding!)

No, my experience is that board members have the best interests of the game at heart — even if at times it was hard to see that during the Western Force imbroglio last year — and they genuinely want it to flourish. But they are confounded on all sides by restricted options and even when they can see a light ahead it is difficult to strike out in that direction because of the lack of money.

That’s not the real problem, however. The worry isn’t the lack of money. It’s the lack of clarity. It’s the failure of rugby officials to articulate a vision that they are working towards.

Seemingly I started the clock on Castle; as of today she has been in the job 117 days and, frankly, I think Jones is being highly impatient in demanding significant change from her in that time.

There is no question, however, that she needs a short-term victory, be it approval from the Queensland government for the redevelopment of Ballymore or a Wallabies victory in next month’s series against Ireland. Something to take the constant pressure off her.

But yet again, on the big picture, Jones is correct in saying she needs to set a course and she is not going to do that by making well considered, sit-on-the fence statements. If she is looking for inspiration, she needs to get on a plane and go watch a World Series Rugby match over in Perth. The standard of rugby is probably a rung or two below Super Rugby level but, as Denis Denuto would say, “it’s the vibe”.

Nowhere else in Australia does rugby have the energy coursing through its veins like it does in Perth. And, yeah, some of Andrew Forrest’s ideas are oddball, even crazy, but everything is directed to ensuring that — win or lose the match — everyone goes home happy. When was the last time Waratahs followers went home feeling good after a loss? Or Reds supporters?

Get energised, Rugby Australia. Heaven knows, you at least have youth on your side. No one realises this but rugby is being run by middle management all aged in their 30s, early 40s. The whole top rung of senior administrators has gone, pulled the pin. So turn that into an advantage and get the game moving again. At the moment, it’s paralysed. It’s not even that people are sitting behind their desks, feverishly planning for the moment when the order comes down from above to mobilise. Even the planning seems to have stopped.

So, Super Rugby is on the nose. Spruce it up, on and off the field. There is, in fact, the promise of brighter days ahead as a result of Fox Sports securing the cricket rights. Guess what the market research has uncovered: that cricket is every football lover’s second sport. Love AFL, love cricket. Love the NRL, love cricket. Love rugby, love cricket. But where the other codes have access to free-to-air coverage, rugby basically has only Fox Sports.

What this means is that a lot of rugby lovers who maybe couldn’t justify a Foxtel subscription just to watch Super Rugby will now feel it is OK because Fox has the cricket. A lot of extra eyeballs will soon be on the sport. There is surely an opportunity for Rugby Australia right there.

Rugby has been reactive for too long. It’s time to get ahead of the game.

And another piece of friendly advice, Raelene. In another three weeks, Israel Folau will come into the same Wallabies side as a vocal supporter of gay rights, David Pocock. Not saying it will be a problem but, well, an ounce of prevention.