Players in dark as rugby faces $90m blackhole

Rugby Australia’s cash reserves are dwindling with just under a month of wages left in the bank to pay staff.

Rugby Australia’s under-fire chief executive Raelene Castle. Picture: Getty Images

Rugby Australia’s cash reserves are dwindling with just under a month of wages left in the bank to pay staff.

An analysis of the numbers by The Australian reveals that Rugby Australia and its state bodies are facing insolvency. However, the sport’s hierarchy has shut out 190 professional players from crisis talks as the code faces capitulation

Pressure is growing on the position of RA’s chief executive Raelene Castle. The governing body’s cash flow is dwindling with no TV deal secured beyond this year.

On Sunday night Rugby Australia’s rift with the players became clear via a statement from Rugby Union Players Association boss Justin Harrison. Castle met with Harrison and RUPA president Damien Fitzpatrick briefly last Friday but she refused to provide detailed information on RA’s financial picture.

In the statement Harrison said Australia’s professional rugby players were seeking to have a voice in the immediate future of the game but have so far been locked out of the process.

“Rugby Australia and the Rugby Union Players Association should be partners in this process to navigate their way together through this crisis,” Harrison said.

“RUPA members and the game’s stakeholders are frustrated. There is a vacuum of information.”

“While our colleagues in the other major football codes across Australia have been meeting with their governing bodies for weeks RA has refused to share any information about the future financial direction of the game. Are the players about to be presented with a fait accompli – the future of the game decided without any consultation?”

The RUPA executive hopes to meet with Rugby Australia on Tuesday after a number of cancelled dates. There is a Rugby Australian annual general meeting on Monday and a board meeting on Tuesday.

“The players are standing by ready to participate and engage and get an understanding of what the future looks like with a pragmatic and whole of game approach,” Harrison said.

RUPA President Damien Fitzpatrick believes his fellow players can be part of a solution to the biggest crisis our sporting communities have known.

“There is acknowledgment by the players that unprecedented action is needed.”

Player pay cuts of up to 50 per cent are being floated, while mass redundancies in head office are expected. Even before COVID-19 Rugby Australia’s books were in a worrying financial state with the code facing a loss pre-pandemic.

It is now hurtling towards a $90 million black hole with no television deal beyond the end of this year.

Like most football codes, all games are suspended for rugby.

A floated domestic competition has been shelved in lieu of Super Rugby because of the pandemic. It was supposed to start on April 3 but has been suspended until May 1. It’s highly unlikely there will be home Tests against Ireland and Fiji in July.

If there is no rugby played, Rugby Australia will have to forego broadcast rights payments for the next three quarters totalling $42.75 million.