Re: Prince Charles now the Patron of AFL Europe
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:16 pm
The Wallabies are poised to accept pay cuts to help stop the cash-strapped code going broke.
A new collective bargaining agreement is set to end the days of players earning a guaranteed $14,000 a Test, win, lose or draw.
The Australian Rugby Union's survival is at stake. It is in a perilous financial position, recording a $19 million deficit in the past two years and a worrying slump in support for the 15-man game.
The Wallabies' dismal results this year - winning just three of their nine Tests to drop to No. 4 in the world - have also hit attendances and sponsorship.
Advertisement
In eight months since replacing John O'Neill as the union's chief executive, Bill Pulver, in his own words, has ''brutally attacked the cost base'' by making cuts across the board.
Even a windfall from the British and Irish Lions tour in winter will not get the ARU out of the hole dug by years of over-expenditure, largely with executive salaries.
Pulver has already slashed staff at the ARU. ''My first six months at the ARU, a lot of my time, has been spent ripping costs out of the place, basically,'' Pulver said.
''It's not been a lot of fun but it's been a very important cleansing experience.
''From a financial perspective we're going to be skating on thin ice for the next couple of years. Can we get through? Yes, we can. Is it going to be bloody hard? Yes, it is.''
Warnings of cuts to club rugby has made Pulver - thinking of a new third-tier national competition - unpopular in club circles, but he is making no apologies for drastic measures.
A cut in player salaries has firmly been on the agenda and should be revealed in the next two months, when a new agreement, the first since 2005, is expected to be finalised.
The ARU board meets on Monday to discuss the negotiations with the Rugby Union Players Association.
Both Pulver and the players' association boss, Greg Harris, confirmed that Test match payments - which would see a Wallaby earn $196,000 if he played all 15 Tests this year on top of his salary - were among the issues.
The former World Cup-winning skipper, Nick Farr-Jones, has led calls for incentive-based pay, claiming that Wallabies should be paid far less for defeats. Harris said the players' union was taking a conciliatory approach to ensure the game did not go under.
''Player directors [RUPA] have been united in their commitment in trying to assist the game in trying to confront the financial issues,'' Harris said.
The last time a new agreement was drafted, in 2005, the code was in rude health, with $35 million in the ARU war chest and crowd numbers that challenged rugby league as the nation's No. 2 code.
Harris hinted that top players benefited from a generous deal in the prosperous times.
''My predecessor [Tony Dempsey] did a very good job of negotiating for the players when the dams were full,'' he said. ''But we have a drought at the moment.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union ... z2hw9dGaTI
A new collective bargaining agreement is set to end the days of players earning a guaranteed $14,000 a Test, win, lose or draw.
The Australian Rugby Union's survival is at stake. It is in a perilous financial position, recording a $19 million deficit in the past two years and a worrying slump in support for the 15-man game.
The Wallabies' dismal results this year - winning just three of their nine Tests to drop to No. 4 in the world - have also hit attendances and sponsorship.
Advertisement
In eight months since replacing John O'Neill as the union's chief executive, Bill Pulver, in his own words, has ''brutally attacked the cost base'' by making cuts across the board.
Even a windfall from the British and Irish Lions tour in winter will not get the ARU out of the hole dug by years of over-expenditure, largely with executive salaries.
Pulver has already slashed staff at the ARU. ''My first six months at the ARU, a lot of my time, has been spent ripping costs out of the place, basically,'' Pulver said.
''It's not been a lot of fun but it's been a very important cleansing experience.
''From a financial perspective we're going to be skating on thin ice for the next couple of years. Can we get through? Yes, we can. Is it going to be bloody hard? Yes, it is.''
Warnings of cuts to club rugby has made Pulver - thinking of a new third-tier national competition - unpopular in club circles, but he is making no apologies for drastic measures.
A cut in player salaries has firmly been on the agenda and should be revealed in the next two months, when a new agreement, the first since 2005, is expected to be finalised.
The ARU board meets on Monday to discuss the negotiations with the Rugby Union Players Association.
Both Pulver and the players' association boss, Greg Harris, confirmed that Test match payments - which would see a Wallaby earn $196,000 if he played all 15 Tests this year on top of his salary - were among the issues.
The former World Cup-winning skipper, Nick Farr-Jones, has led calls for incentive-based pay, claiming that Wallabies should be paid far less for defeats. Harris said the players' union was taking a conciliatory approach to ensure the game did not go under.
''Player directors [RUPA] have been united in their commitment in trying to assist the game in trying to confront the financial issues,'' Harris said.
The last time a new agreement was drafted, in 2005, the code was in rude health, with $35 million in the ARU war chest and crowd numbers that challenged rugby league as the nation's No. 2 code.
Harris hinted that top players benefited from a generous deal in the prosperous times.
''My predecessor [Tony Dempsey] did a very good job of negotiating for the players when the dams were full,'' he said. ''But we have a drought at the moment.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union ... z2hw9dGaTI
> 
RU is dying, RL will take over in Australia and eventually in the very distant future, will compete with union in NZ too. We definitely need to start expansion into RSA though, buy up players there and drum up support then put a club there too.