Rugby’s new broadcast plan a ‘show bag’ of unachievable offerings

Rugby Australia’s interim CEO Rob Clarke has issued an ultimatum to New Zealand. Picture: Getty Images

Nelson Mandela once said, of sport: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language that they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”

In the good times, rugby in Australia did just that. Yet now, “inspire” is not a word you associate with Australian rugby.

Just this week, Rugby Australia unveiled their 2021 broadcast proposal with great fanfare.

The new “offerings”, as they are called, include a potential trans-Tasman competition between Australia and New Zealand Super Rugby teams.

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The interim CEO, Rob Clarke — when are we going to get a full time CEO instead of someone who is identified with the failures of the past? — then followed it up with an ultimatum to New Zealand Rugby. All five Australian teams must be in the trans-Tasman competition or we walk. And, by the way, you have three weeks to agree to our terms.

It’s a funny way to behave when part of the so-called “broadcast offering” includes the Bledisloe Cup.

Surely we need a civilised working relationship with the Kiwis for that to work.

Maybe the brinkmanship and theatrics are a ploy to take the focus off the new broadcast proposal which, I have to say, looks like a “show bag”. And you know what they say about “show bags”.

The first part of the new broadcast proposal includes the Rugby Championship.

As you know, the Rugby Championship includes Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

For a number of reasons, including the COVID-19 situation in South Africa and Argentina, I’m not sure such a competition could take place.

And, anyway, South Africa are looking to play all their rugby in their own time zone.

Rugby in Argentina is decimated. All their players have bolted to European clubs.

Put simply, Rugby Australia can’t guarantee this competition to any broadcaster in the foreseeable future. This is Alice in Wonderland stuff.

So, to the next part of the new broadcast proposal, the Bledisloe Cup.

To be honest, this will be the only international rugby to be played by the Wallabies for some time.

Forget about domestic Test series against any of the big European teams; and forget about any tours to the northern hemisphere. None of this is feasible until COVID-19 is under control in those parts of the world.

Of course, this means we are paying our contracted Wallabies big money for not much.

Let’s go next to the “show bag”, the State of the Union series, borrowed from rugby league.

Rugby League’s State of Origin has 40 years of history. A rugby union version will be such a poor cousin in comparison to that of rugby league that it will only embarrass our game.

Cheap knock-offs are cheap knock-offs. A knock-off Rolex looks shabby. Get real Rugby Australia. Start preparing for our own domestic competition.

To be honest, it’s probably the best way forward, considering the difference in quality between the Kiwi and Aussie Super Rugby teams.

Super Rugby Aotearoa is top-class rugby, much like the NRL.

Most of us would rather see Australian Super Rugby teams competing against one another, on their level.

The next new proposal, the Super Eight competition between the best two teams in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, plus a team from South America and Japan, is the dumbest idea in the “show bag”, for the same reason that the Rugby Championship is pie in the sky.

The people proposing this rubbish are on another planet.

It’s as if there was a brainstorming meeting at Rugby Australia, but someone forgot to throw out the bad ideas.

As usual, the clubs and schools are the last item on the agenda. Whatever can be done in this space should be a priority.

If we can’t excite the next generation of players and supporters, our support will slowly evaporate.

I have said before, structure domestic rugby such that your international players can come back into club rugby and fertilise the game.

Rugby Australia needs a Kerry Packer-type visionary to revolutionise our game and make it prime-time. You can’t grow a game that no one can see.

The first step would be to pull some people together who actually understand the way forward.

It’s clear that those proposing the latest “show bag” would barely qualify for entry into the most remote provincial rural exhibition.

Much of what has been proposed to broadcasters by Rugby Australia for 2021 can only be described as “dodgy”. It would have to be a dumb broadcaster to buy into any of it.

But there is one sliver of good news. And it concerns an iconic piece of rugby infrastructure.

The historic Ballymore in Queensland is owned by the QRU on a Deed of Grant title, the closest you can get to freehold.

It is more than 12ha of priceless land, 3km from the CBD, arguably one of the finest rugby assets in the world.

At a time of hopeless uncertainty with Australian rugby, it’s encouraging to note that the Palaszczuk government has announced a $15 million grant to match the federal government’s $15 million, which was put on the table 18 months ago.

I read only recently a headline story, “Finally, facelift for Ballymore gets green light”.

If that’s not good news for rugby, nothing is.

The Queensland state ALP and the Premier are to be congratulated for promising to make Ballymore the famous home for Queensland rugby again; and the corollary, restoring it as the money-making venue it once was, to say nothing of honouring and perpetuating its magnificent history.

Indeed, in these uncertain times for rugby, Ballymore is the only stadium that belongs to our game and its family.

If we can have a new stadium in Townsville for $300 million; and Perth is to get a new stadium for soccer for $42 million; and the AFL has Marvel Stadium, which underpins its finances; Ballymore can add some much-needed grunt to rugby’s balance sheet.

The QRU has not made a quid since it moved to Suncorp and started paying rent.

Well done Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Now, let’s put the money on the table and get going. A magnificent pre-election boost for rugby and for a government exercising rare common sense.