Rugby’s road to redemption is clear: values must be followed

Wallabies captain John Eales and halfback George Gregan with the Rugby World Cup in 1999.

Benjamin Franklin was one of America’s Founding Fathers who helped to draft the Declaration of Independence.

At a time when big decisions have to be made in sport and beyond sport, but especially in relation to the future of our game, it’s worth reflecting on something Franklin said when he addressed value-based decisions:

“We stand at a crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel and the actions we allow ourselves to perform. Each choice is made in the context of whatever value system we have selected to govern our lives. In selecting that value system, we are in a very real way, making the most important choice we will ever make ...”

A road map to redemption for Australian rugby is easy. But unless it is underpinned by certain values, it can never work.

Thirty years ago, our teams won Grand Slams, Bledisloe Cups and World Cups. We were the rugby innovators. People felt good about the Wallabies and the game.

The success was due to simple and shared values, embraced by everybody. Those values then shaped the decisions that we made. Those decisions created success.

What are these values?

Firstly, humility. It’s human nature to warm to people who are modest, authentic and respectful. Is that how our players, coaches and administrators are currently viewed by our rugby family?

Second, credibility. It’s natural for people to want to follow leaders who are honest, believable and sincere. Is that how our rugby family see our current leaders?

Agility. Dealing with challenges requires progressive, smart and innovative thinking. We were world leaders in this area once. Does anyone seriously think the current administration is progressive, smart or innovative?

Accountability. Real leaders must be responsible and answerable. Is this currently the case? Can anyone seriously argue that the board of Rugby Australia accepts the responsibility to be accountable? We can’t even get the books audited, let alone see them!

Connected. The game must accept an obligation to connect to everyone in the game from kids playing mini-rugby to club sponsors and strategic decision-makers. Are we all connected, pulling in the same direction? Ask the grassroots. They don’t have a voice.

In the rugby home, all the money and focus is on the roof and nothing on the floor.

No wonder the house has collapsed.

I have written before about the Barcelona FC members, who vote for their president; and they are the most successful team in world football. Barca have 144,000 members. Each of them is incredibly engaged and connected to the organisation. Do we know so much that we have nothing to learn from such a club?

From off the paddock to on the paddock. We must not apologise for wanting to be competitive and wanting to win. But you have to do more than talk about it.

We must start by asking people who have had success in coaching to choose our coaches.

When you have the right coaches, you must ask the question, do our competitions give expression to our talent and advance the wellbeing of Australian rugby; or do we just sign up to SANZAAR because someone else did?

Instead of saying it’s a disaster, let’s get out of it.

Super Rugby has to be replaced with a 10 or 12-team trans-Tasman provincial competition that will include the Western Force.

Internationally, the Rugby Championship needs to be expanded to include Japan. It makes commercial sense.

Why doesn’t our national team tour the northern hemisphere, perhaps every two years? Why don’t we play for a Grand Slam every second November? Why are we appointing people from overseas who, when they fail, take a payout and go home?

We have talented players and, believe me, we have talented coaches. We can have world class teams like those we had in the past — teams that will play our unique style of rugby but we need to define what that style is.

No one is going to watch this pick-and-drive rubbish. No one is going to watch a game with a stack of people on the ground all the time. Mothers, in particular, won’t put their boys into a game of rugby where the commentators remind us, before the match starts that, “we want to win the collision”.

The Australian game is a high-tempo game where the ball moves, the support play is relentless and the skills are interchangeable. It is called total rugby.

If we don’t plant the field with the right crop, we can’t reap a harvest that we can be proud of.

Nelson Mandala said after the 1995 Rugby World Cup, “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 they understand. Sport can create hope where there was once ­despair.”

We are at rock bottom. We need some inspiration. And we need to make some big decisions that will shape our game for the next 25 years.

These decisions will be effective if they are made by people who share the values of the Australian rugby heartland — decisions made by people who have the clear endorsement of Wallaby supporters.

Revise the governance model. Give power back to the rugby family.

We need a chairman who truly represents our heartland. The rest will be straightforward.

If Nick Farr-Jones or George Gregan were to run for the chairmanship of Rugby Australia, they most probably would not get past first base.

They wouldn’t have been vetted by the “nominations committee”. They are not board members. They are not inside the tent.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

Until Rugby Australia changes the way they operate at the top, we can expect to see little change on the scoreboard.