Slow, tactful approach may be best for rugby

GREG BAUM

October 23, 2009 - 11:07PM
THE atmosphere at a 2001 breakfast at Southbank held under the aegis of the Weary Dunlop club was heady. The Wallabies were the reigning World Cup champions and the British Lions had just completed their first tour of Australia for 12 years.
Now expansion of the Super 12 competition was on the agenda, and it seemed that morning that every mover and shaker in town was on Melbourne's case. Rugby has always been able to speak companionably to the top end of town. The guest-of-honour was Australian Rugby Union chief John O'Neill, who was too diplomatic to throw in his hat with Melbourne publicly. Breakfasters, though, swore they saw him wink and nudge.
But when the day eventually came in three years, the new team was announced as Western Force, from Perth. The consensus was, and remains, that the ARU baulked at the idea of taking on the the AFL in its heartland. It was a timid decision, with consequences that are still playing out.
In 2001, Melbourne Storm's foothold in the Melbourne market remained shaky, despite a premiership two years previously, and Melbourne Victory would not even become a gleam in the city's eye until soccer restructured itself three years later - as it happened, under O'Neill's leadership - and the now successful A-League was formed.
Since, Storm has won two NRL premierships and Victory two A-League titles, each establishing itself as a personality in Melbourne. In the war of the codes, which though undeclared is being fiercely waged, rugby has been left behind.
Eight years later, the Super competition is about to grow again, and again, Melbourne looks the logical choice. But the hard sell has become harder still. The Wallabies are in a slump, and the code lacks the visibility it had at the turn of the century. This might be cyclic, but the downturn is inopportune. An interstate competition in which Victoria competed robustly was scrapped after one season. The frisson of 2001 is gone.
Politics has intruded awkwardly at two levels. Instead of a united front, Melbourne presented three bids: the VRU's, a breakaway group's and another led by Melbourne Victory chairman Geoff Lord. This did not displease O'Neill, now back at the ARU, for he is a former banker and believes in competitive tension. And it probably suited the ARU, which thinks it is best placed to build and administer a new club anyway. But it made for a shambolic public image. The bids have since been uneasily consolidated.
More broadly, South Africa is campaigning for the inclusion of a Port Elizabeth team called Southern Kings. Notionally, this is ridiculous. The Super 15 teams are to be divided into three conferences, one from South Africa (five teams already), New Zealand (five) and Australia (four). If successful, the Kings would play in the Australian conference.
But the Kings are predominantly black, and enjoy the favour of the South African Government, so everyone is walking on eggshells. The Kings say they will have more and readier access to players than the Melbourne franchise, so scratching at Melbourne's weak spot. No player rules have yet been drawn up for the establishment of the Melbourne team (as they have, for instance, for Gold Coast and Western Sydney in the AFL), yet a cohesive unit would have to be ready to play in less than 14 months. It is a formidable challenge.
SANZAR, Super rugby's governing body, requires unanimity when admitting a new team. Perhaps not surprisingly, it failed to reach a decision when it met in Brisbane this week, instead referring it to arbitration.
On the face of it, this was another timid decision, more procrastination when immediate and strong direction was needed. But perhaps, for once, slow and tactful will prove the most expedient way. Perhaps the South African union knew that it would not win, but could not countenance being voted down at SANZAR. In international competition, face matters.
When arbitrated, the decision surely will be in Melbourne's favour, but in a form with which the South Africans can live. A few extra days is neither here nor there now for Melbourne after nearly a decade of anticipation. It might be as soon as this week that the corks in the champagne that was put on ice all those years ago at last can be popped, and some of the fizz recaptured, too. It will be needed.

Source: The Age

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