The punters have spoken to Rugby Australia: Lift your game

The reaction to the columns I have been writing, and in particular last week’s, has been, by any reckoning, extraordinary.

Philanthropist Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest.

The reaction to the columns I have been writing, and in particular last week’s, has been, by any reckoning, extraordinary.

Last week, when I wrote about the rugby tent being barred and no trespassers allowed, Russell wrote: “This story is a great analysis of the woes of the state of rugby in Australia. The game is run by people who are the Old Boys’ Club and you’ll have so much trouble in trying to remove them. They have created, as AJ has said, a closed tent, with little prospect of any outsider gaining entry. It will have to get so much worse before the supporters of rugby revolt and demand change. What is so galling is that across the ditch there is a model worth analysing and adopting.”

Calvin said: “I am not Alan Jones’s biggest fan, but he keeps nailing it in these articles. Regardless of your thoughts of him or the various issues he points out, it is absolutely clear the game is at a crossroads. It is stuffed at the moment and may fall off the cliff. Look at attendances. No one’s going to games, Tests included. Anyone on the board of Rugby Australia who thinks it is all rosy needs to get their head out of the sand. There are huge systemic issues that need to be addressed and heeding some of the calls Alan is presenting would be a start.”

Interestingly, I wrote to Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle about the “critical state of rugby in this country” on October 18.

I have no acknowledgment of the communication.

I read recently where Andrew Hore, who is the boss of NSW Rugby, said there would not be a World Series Rugby team in western Sydney in 2019.

So I wrote to Andrew Forrest, saying: “I know you were looking to establish a team for a competition involving the Western Force and sides from several other countries like Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Japan. Hore says there will not be a World Series team there next year. Has any of this been discussed with you? He says that Forrest was aware of the Union’s view.”

Forrest replied: “It is rubbish. They are doing their absolute best to stop it. We are still very keen and I want to see it happen. Blokes like this are standing directly in the road of having ourselves and our supporters in western Sydney grow the entire national game. ”

Another supporter writes: “So much cronyism. What a disgrace. Who do these people think they are? Thank goodness you are there to expose it all. There is probably a whole lot more going on behind the scenes. Did you get much reaction to your previous article about the NSW Rugby Union and Queensland Rugby Union asking questions of Rugby Australia? Hopefully, more people are gathering to support you … it is not an easy job, but it is worthwhile. Things have to change. There are plenty of genuine grassroots rugby people who want to make rugby in Australia great again.”

All of that being said, in the wake of what I wrote last week, we had Rugby Australia chairman Cameron Clyne (there’s a Trivial Pursuit question: did anyone know his name until I just mentioned it?) playing down the intended scrutiny of Michael Cheika, when a week ago Castle was trying to look assertive by briefing the media that Cheika would have to tap-dance to the board and explain his win/loss record for 2018.

By all means run the ruler over the performance of the coach. But who is running the ruler over the performance in the past 12 months of the chairman and the CEO?

According to the much-publicised “Australian Rugby Strategic Plan”, Rugby Australia listed the following targets for itself:

To grow participation across all forms of the game to 350,000 by 2020.

This will be a spectacular failure, even if you ignore the Roy Morgan statistics that claim that rugby participation numbers have dropped 63 per cent since 2001.

If we are to ignore the Roy Morgan data, then we should probably also ignore the official Rugby Australia data, which says we have 274,000 participants playing the game.

Perhaps the only numbers that are solid are those from Sport Australia and they are saying we have 199,000 participants.

The bottom line for Clyne and Castle is that we are therefore 151,000 short of their own targets.

How do you explain the failure to grow the game? It cannot help that rugby in Western Australia and western Sydney has been completely abandoned. Andrew Forrest, ignored.

Have an average 100,000 viewers for every Super Rugby match played in Australia.

Again, we are staring down the barrel of failure.

On March 10 this year, when the rugby public should have been chomping at the bit to watch the Reds v Brumbies match, only 46,000 viewers tuned in.

That’s below half the viewers Rugby Australia targeted for that particular match.

Over the course of the season, the numbers remained limp at best. To put it into perspective, a recent Roy Morgan report revealed that 1.2 million Kiwis watched Super Rugby in New Zealand. That is almost 35 per cent of the population.

In Australia, not even 1 per cent of the population is tuning in to watch Super Rugby. In any evaluation, this must be considered another diabolical failure.

The Wallabies to be ranked as Australia’s most recognised ­national team brand.

How you measure this, I have no idea. But you would have to think the Wallaby brand is suffering due to the poor decisions made by the board of Rugby Australia.

Perhaps one way to measure the brand would be to look at jersey sales and jersey pricing.

A quick glimpse at Rugby Australia’s own online store suggests the Wallaby brand is struggling.

When the price of a traditional men’s replica Wallaby jersey is slashed by 30 per cent from $154.99 to $108.49, it is not a great reflection on the brand.

To have women in 30 per cent of board positions, senior management and regular staff roles.

So forget meritocracy and ability. This goal essentially says we do not care about picking the best people, we are going to use a quota system to select those who run the game. It is reverse discrimination if you happen to be a talented bloke with a passion for our game. Talk about political correctness gone mad.

How can you expect to be competitive if you don’t reward the most talented people, regardless of sex, race and belief?

In New Zealand, there are nine board members — eight of them are men. I would say New Zealand Rugby know something about winning and being the best.

If the best person came from Mars, you can bet New Zealand Rugby would appoint them.

They must laugh at us when they see Rugby Australia choosing political correctness over ability and effectiveness.

The appointment of Castle is easily the biggest mistake Rugby Australia has ever made.

Obviously her appointment was political, apparently to meet some target set by a misdirected board.

The issue is not about Castle being a man or a woman. Gender should have nothing to do with it.

The fact is, she doesn’t know anything about the game and it would be impossible to nominate a single thing that she has achieved since she has been appointed.

A couple of weeks ago, she seemed to be agitating to throw Cheika under a bus. She will have her hands full taking on the coach.

Of course the coach should be answerable, but how can you be answerable to people who do not have sufficient knowledge to be able to evaluate the success or otherwise of those on whom they sit in judgment? And Cheika has a contract until after the World Cup. So unless we have the money to pay him out, get out of the way and let him do the job. Stop grandstanding and pretending you have the nous or the leverage to take him on.

So while Rugby Australia is probably hitting its quota on this affirmative action rhetoric, it hardly seems a win for our game.

I have a tip for the underperforming board and executive of Rugby Australia. Forget the grandstanding and public berating of Cheika and start throwing in a few KPIs towards your own job.

The end-of-season report would suggest you have plenty of work to do on driving participation, growing viewership and building the Wallaby brand.

The only thing you are scoring well on is being politically correct.

But unfortunately that may well be impacting the multitude of failures in other key areas of the so-called Strategic Plan.

Post script: perhaps the best metaphor of the problem lies in the fact that the Wallabies are playing the All Blacks tomorrow. Does anyone know where or when?

Alan Jones is a former coach of the Wallabies and hosts The Alan Jones Breakfast Show on 2GB and the Macquarie radio network and is host of Jones & Co on Sky News at 8pm on Tuesdays