Rugby Australia is rotting financially and needs to come clean

George Gregan, left, and Phil Kearns were two of the Wallabies captains who sent a letter to Rugby Australia last month asking for transparency. Picture: Brett Costello

Rugby Australia is rotting financially and it is time its powerbrokers come clean with the fans, its players, the clubs, the states about the true condition of the code.

There is a desperate need for an independent financial inquiry into the code that has blown a tick over $500m in the last four years and according to excerpts from the 2019 “unaudited” report is staring at more than $20m in liabilities.

None of the key stakeholders — not even the states or players — have seen the books in full. The true financial position of the sport remains a mystery.

COVID-19 can’t be blamed for this mess. In recent times RA has been bereft of leadership and transparency.

Whatever your opinion of the 10 Wallabies captains who wrote the explosive letter last month, of which interim-chair Paul McLean was made aware of the contents over a week before it was revealed in this newspaper, one of the clear requests was for “transparency” when it came to the financials.

So, how can RA spend $320,000 a day in 2019 and have nothing to show for it?

Why does the game have no assets to speak of following years of massive broadcast revenue?

Who can verify this $9.4m loss figure taken to the AGM back in March? How quickly will RA go through its remaining cash and how much does it need to survive? What does it have to give away to borrow such vast sums?

And how did it come to that loss figure when the accountants are saying it is more than twice that?

All this makes the Wallaby captains’ request for the RA members to call an extraordinary general meeting more valid.

RA remains without a broadcast deal after 2020. No competition start date has been set. At this point, it seems that Rugby Australia can only dream of survival.