New boss of Queensland rugby will walk into a financial crisis

The new chief executive of the Queensland Rugby Union — be named tomorrow — will walk straight into a financial crisis.

ARU chief executive Bill Pulver says the QRU can get itself out of financial difficulty because of its sheer size. Picture: John Appleyard

The new chief executive of the Queensland Rugby Union — expected to be named tomorrow — will walk straight into a financial crisis, with the organisation forced to shed jobs as it attempts to ride out a major cashflow problem.

It is understood that radio executive and former Brisbane first-grade player Richard Barker has won the CEO’s position and will start work at Ballymore almost immediately. He will have a lot on his plate with the QRU already having made five redundancies last week, with more likely to follow. It seems likely that many of the expanded programs put in place by former CEO Jim Carmichael will be wound back.

The QRU has a staff of about 100 workers but about 40 of them are players and no cutbacks are expected to impact on the football department.

QRU chairman Damien Frawley insisted yesterday the organisation was still trading solvently. “But we’ve had conversations with the Australian Rugby Union, just in case,” he said. “I don’t think that there’s any secret that it’s pretty tough. But it is in other franchises as well. I don’t think it is isolated to us. We’re taking action to get our position back into a better place.”

The full extent of the QRU’s financial position remains unclear but it is understood that a number of minor creditors were paid last week while the organisation is now working through its list of major creditors.

ARU chief executive Bill Pulver insisted that Queensland’s problems were not that serious. “I’ve had a pretty regular dialogue with Damien Frawley ... and he’s looking to take a little cost out of the enterprise and I’m sure he can stabilise things very quickly,” Pulver said.

“What they’ve got in Queensland is scale. They’re a bigger enterprise (than the other four Super Rugby franchises) and when you get a little financial bump in the road, they’ve got the capacity to take a little bit of that scale out and keep functioning perfectly well.”

The QRU runs a $23-26 million business annually, the largest of the Australian franchises, and the belief in the organisation is that the structures are in place to allow it to bounce back and even record a slight surplus this year.

Pulver stressed recently that the ARU would not be able to bail out the franchises indefinitely. Queensland already has been forced to rely once on an ARU package, after the state ran up losses of $10.84 million over three years leading to 2009, although it was able to pay off the national body in record time thanks to its 2011 Super Rugby title.

“One of the things we’ve got to do and I would say this across all Super Rugby franchises ... there is a direct relationship between their success on the field and revenue in the bank,” said Pulver.

“That’s what Queensland’s now feeling as well. Look at the period when they have been most financially healthy, that’s when they have played their best rugby.

“So the big strategic challenge for our country is to get the right spirit of co-operation between the states and the governing body to try to create an environment when a rising tide lifts all boats. There are a lot of things we’re talking about … we need to do a better job collaborating on player lists and coach development.”

The QRU reported a loss of $1.483 million in 2015, down from a profit of $935,000 the previous year, and while morale has improved since Reds coach Richard Graham was sacked after only two matches this season, the team have managed only three wins and a draw from their nine matches under co-coaches Matt O’Connor and Nick Stiles.

The regular 20,000-plus crowds of recent years are a thing of the past, although their most recent match, against the Sunwolves, attracted more than 19,000. It’s not rocket science. Falling revenue, from all sources including sponsorship, is simply a reflection of falling crowd numbers at Suncorp Stadium.

Having now sorted out their CEO position, the Reds are expected to make use of the June Test window to finalise their coaching situation. Matt Taylor, the defence coach under Ewen McKenzie in 2011, has expressed interest in the Queensland coaching job, as has former Queensland five-eighth John Mulvihill, but seemingly the choice will come down to one of the two incumbents, O’Connor or Stiles.

Meanwhile, the Wallabies begin their camp in Caloundra today with a squad of 39 players — to be reduced to 30 for the three-Test series against England — but it’s likely even more players will be brought in to get a taste of being in camp with the Australian side. Reds hooker Andrew Ready and winger Chris Feauai-Sautia have already been invited in, although Feauai-Sautia is troubled by an ankle injury.