The Wallabies’ historic series victory over the 2001 British and Irish Lions wasn’t just a triumph for what happened on the rugby pitch.

Australia’s administrators also played a small but significant role in the team’s amazing turnaround after winning a bitter off-field battle with the Lions’ management.

Used to getting their own way, the Lions pulled a swifty that effectively forced the Australian Rugby Union into paying them a $2.5 million appearance fee.

When the tourists easily won the first Test - boosted by their famous ‘Sea of Red’ supporters - the Lions management were already patting themselves on their back, believing they’d won the equivalent of the rugby lottery.

But what they didn’t know at the time was that their bullish negotiating tactics were about to backfire because they had galvanised the ARU’s pugnacious boss John O’Neill into pulling off one of the most daring interventions in Australian sports history.

It’s now part of rugby folklore that the ARU changed the entire look and atmosphere for the final two tests, “golding” the stadiums by handing out truckloads of free Wallabies merchandise, closing the roof in Melbourne, and relocating some of the Lions supporters into the cheap seats.

The Lions were livid but the Wallabies lapped it up because their fans suddenly found their voice.

“It absolutely made a difference,” Wallabies winger Joe Roff said.

“It was a pivotal moment in shifting the old brigade rugby culture of soft golf hand claps to being one where you were encouraged to openly show your support for the gold jersey.”

A former banker who became Australia’s most revered sports administrator, O’Neill had never intended to get embroiled in a row with the Lions management but was given no choice after they threw the first corporate punch.

THE ‘SEA OF RED’ DOMINATES

The Wallabies had won the World Cup for the second time in 1999 and off the back of the stunning success of the Sydney Olympics, the ARU was banking on making a motza out of hosting the Lions in 2001 then the World Cup in 2003 when the Lions chair Syd Millar threw them an unexpected curveball.

“They’re shrewd negotiators,” O’Neill said.

“They absolutely understand the value of their brand and the leverage that brings and they aren’t hesitant to use it.

“So they threw this up the flag pole ‘how about we might split the tour between you and New Zealand.’

“That really pissed us off but it was a negotiating point because they knew how desperate we were. We had a World Cup coming in ‘03 but the appetiser was the Lions tour and Dr Syd Millar played a good game of poker.

“In those days, you made between $2.5 and $3 million net profit per Test so the fee that we had to pay the Lions was the equivalent of one Test.

“I wouldn’t say we gladly paid up… but the reality is you wait 12 years for a Lions tour and it’s worth the wait. The scarcity factor makes it valuable but it’s expensive.”

The gloves were off but the square up would come later.

The first Test was in Brisbane. The match would normally have taken place at Lang Park, now Suncorp Stadium, but it was undergoing major renovations, so it was transferred to the Gabba.

The game was completely sold out with the vast majority of tickets bought by Australian residents but most of the spectators that turned up weren’t cheering for the Wallabies.

“That’s why it’s known as the ‘Sea of Red’ Test,” Roff said.

“When we ran out, we were stunned by the fact we were playing an away Test at home for the first time ever in any of our careers.

“We were nothing short of shocked and comprehensively beaten that day.”

O’NEILL’S STADIUM MASTERSTROKE

O’Neill copped the backlash. The next day, the Australian media went after him and he took it on the chin.

“We absolutely got caught with our pants down,” he explained.

“We understood how many British and Irish Lions supporters were coming with the Barmy Army but we completely underestimated how many expats who lived in Australia and would normally barrack for the Wallabies would switch their allegiances to where they came from.

“We got well beaten on the paddock but we got smashed in terms of the cheer squad - and the media the next day just gave it to us.

“I remember the extraordinary sprays, some that were highly personalised, like ‘Okay, John O’Neill, you’re well paid. What are we paying you for - to sit on your backside? And what are you going to do about it?”

There was no time to waste. The second Test was scheduled to take place at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium just seven days later and the opposing management teams were already locked in another dispute.

The Australians wanted the retractable roof closed so that Melbourne’s cold weather wouldn’t ruin the spectacle. But the Lions wanted it kept open, insisting rugby was a winter sport that should be played in the elements.

A similar stand off had taken place before the 1999 World Cup final in Cardiff. The Aussies lost the argument that time but won the match and O’Neill was in no mood to back down because he needed the roof closed for the other plan he was secretly working on.

“I actually used the words of the great Tim Horan…that it’s like owning a Ferrari and leaving it in the garage,” O’Neill said.

“The chair of the Lions Syd Millar knew we were under the pump for getting beaten on and off the field so this didn’t cost us anything but it wasn’t until the 11th hour that there was a firm decision to close the roof.”

‘GOLDING’ THE NATION TO VICTORY

In the meantime, O’Neill’s marketing boss Brian Thorburn had been given the inevitable task of coming up with a way to get the home spectators more involved.

“Brian was a genius at these things,” O’Neill explained.

“He came back and said: ‘This is what we’re going to do. Because there was going to be a packed house, 52,000. We’re going to put a scarf and a Go Wallabies sign on every seat. And gold glitter will fall from the stands every time the Wallabies score.

“So I asked him how much? And he said $80,000. Now, in 2001, $80,000 was a lot of money but I bit the bullet. I didn’t bother to tell the board that’s how much it was but we were going to gold the stadium and the rest is history.

“There was some strategic rethinking about seating allocations. Instead of having all the Lions supporters in one spot we spread them around a bit and it served the purpose. It really was one of the great games.”

The Wallabies won the match in emphatic style to square the series and send it to a decider in Sydney.

O’Neill didn’t hesitate in signing off on another stock of gold supporters’ gear to light up Accor Stadium and invited one of the country’s most celebrated folk singers to whip the 84,000 strong crowd into a patriotic frenzy.

“It was in for a penny, in for a pound,” said O’Neill.

“So we continued the golding and had John Williamson sing ‘True Blue.’

“Even though we were World Cup champions, had won the Bledisloe Cup five years in a row and the Tri-Nations two years in a row, there were still some nations who didn’t consider us the best in the world.

“So here was an opportunity to shove it down everyone’s throat by beating the combined might of England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

“We did it and the rest is history.”