Rugby Australia axes staff as revamp kicks off

Reality came crashing down on Rugby Australia when 47 out of its 142 full-time staff were laid off in the opening phase of its planned restructure.

Interim CEO Rob Clarke at Rugby Australia headquarters in Sydney. Picture: AAP

Reality came crashing down on Rugby Australia on Monday when 47 out of its 142 full-time staff were laid off in the opening phase of a planned organisational restructure as the game works its way through the impact of COVID-19.

The global pandemic may well have provided the backdrop and the rationale for savage cutbacks, but after a $9.4m deficit last year and with debts that effectively total around $14m, there is no way RA could have continued as it was.

Not only have one-third of its full-time staff been cut, but so too 30 contractors and casual workers, all of whom have been terminated with immediate effect. Even those workers who — for now at least — have survived the initial purge will be sharing the pain. RA is seeking to implement a 5 per cent reduction in base salary for all senior staff who have been retained. “It’s a bloodbath,” one RA worker observed grimly.

One of the departments hardest hit was RA’s digital news service, rugby.com.au, and while the high-performance unit sustained half a dozen hits, indications are it has been designated as a “phase two” target when areas of duplication between RA and the various states and territories are rationalised.

More than three-quarters of the staff has been stood down on JobKeeper payments or on drastically reduced hours from April 1, while executive staff all took a 30 per cent pay cut, though they continued to work on a full-time basis.

All up, the cuts will reduce the RA wages bill by $5.5m, a sum just under what RA allocates to each Super Rugby club annually. The expectation is that the next phase of RA’s restructure will focus on the member unions and the four Super Rugby franchises, though it would have to be said that most have been running on a very lean fuel mix for several years.

“Today was an incredibly difficult day for the organisation with many people affected by changes that are necessary to ensure the viability and sustainability of the organisation as a result of the devastating impacts of the pandemic,” RA interim CEO Rob Clarke said in a statement.

“We have delivered the news to staff this morning and told them that Rugby Australia values the contribution of each and every one of them, some of whom have given significant service to RA and the game over many years.

“This is a difficult time for a lot of very passionate, hardworking rugby people and we are committed to helping those people find their next opportunity, whether it be within the game or elsewhere.”

Rugby Australia was hit by another well-telegraphed punch on Monday when it was forced to scratch Japan’s Sunwolves from its proposed Super Rugby AU competition, to start on July 3.

The odds always were that the Sunwolves would have trouble convincing the Australian government that they should be granted access to the country and when a start date was fixed, it became a race to see whether approval would be granted in time for them to serve their two-week isolation and still have time to prepare for what will be a demanding competition. In the end, the timing was just too tight. “The reality is, given the time frame available, the team’s preparation for the competition would have been severely compromised,” Clarke said.

The tournament now will take place with just the four Australian Super Rugby sides, plus the Western Force, but only if RA’s broadcaster Fox Sports signs off on the new competition.

The decision effectively brings down the curtain on the Sunwolves’ 2020 season and may well spell the end of the venture on a permanent basis. SANZAAR had already culled them from Super Rugby beyond this season.