Phil Waugh's plans for Australian Rugby
I'm unsure how much coverage this Aust Fin Review article (23 June 2023) was given as it's behind a paywall.
This was written before Phil Waugh took over as CEO of RAu.
I grabbed it from G&GR.
The article/solutions have a very Sydney/East Coast rather than a national focus.
I do know that Phil Waugh has been to Perth at least once outside game time as he was at Brett Sheehan's wedding.
To aid understanding and discussion.
ps I'm not a Phil Waugh fan.
"Phil Waugh has a plan to revive rugby.
It involves raising $250 million, winning hearts and minds in western Sydney, the heartland of the rival NRL, and getting the state and national teams winning games.
The former Wallaby and Waratahs centurion, who will take the helm of Rugby Australia next month, says he may turn to debt instead of private equity to finance a turnaround of the sport, which has lost key talent to other major sporting codes, including the NRL.
Waugh says the cash injection will ensure financial stability, but will also allow the governing body to launch new initiatives, including the creation of a rugby academy in western Sydney, the heartland of rugby league. “People have got different experiences with private equity and sport,” Waugh said. “That’s why it’s going to be really important to look at what are the pros and cons of private equity... there’s obviously the debt option as well, given the huge revenue events coming in. There’s no doubt we need to have more reserves to invest to get the outcomes that we’re after.
”Waugh, 43, never thought he’d be leading the code he has long adored when he played on Sydney’s northern beaches as a child. A first-grade cricketer and rugby player at Shore School, Waugh’s long-term ambition was to play for the Wallabies. But after achieving that at just 21-years-old, he set his sights on a career in business. Under the leadership of then Commonwealth Bank executives Ross McEwan and Ian Narev, Waugh began to pave his own way in the world of banking. More than a decade later, Waugh finds himself in a very different position from the man who retired in 2011 with 79 caps for the national side and two Rugby World Cups to his name.
He’s been married twice and now has four young boys of his own. His youngest, Arthur, attended the press conference where his new role was announced. “This is a really interesting role... at a critical moment for the sport in the country, and I think I can add a lot of value,” he says.
Waugh’s arrival at Rugby Australia comes at a pivotal time for the sport, which is bringing the British and Irish Lions Tour in 2025 and the Rugby World Cups in 2027 and 2029 to home soil. But most of rugby’s growth plans, including a multimillion-dollar contract with Roosters star Joseph Sua'ali'i, require funding. This is because, until recently, Rugby Australia was not fiscally responsible.
Rugby Australia made a $4.5 million operating loss in 2021 on revenue of $98.6 million, up from a $27 million operating loss in 2020. To take it to the next stage of growth, the governing body launched Project Aurora, a process that will attempt to raise about $250 million in capital from private investors. The process, run by investment bank Jefferies, will split Rugby Australia into two entities. RACo will pay player salaries and Rugby Australia’s management and corporate costs, while NewCo will be responsible for match-day costs as well as media, marketing and IT costs. The revenue stream for NewCo, which includes broadcast rights, sponsorship and licensing, will be split, with 80 per cent remaining with Rugby Australia and 20 per cent flowing to the private investor.
Australian sport does not have a long history of private equity involvement. Archer Capital’s $137 million investment in Supercars, headed by former Rugby Australia director Peter Wiggs, is widely considered a failure. Overseas, the model has traditionally revolved around a firm buying the commercial rights to a sport, such as CVC’s investment in the Six Nations, European professional rugby competitions and Italian football competition, La Liga.
But it doesn’t always work. Earlier this month, professional rugby team London Irish followed the Wasps and Worcester Warriors to become the third premiership club in the UK’s leading rugby union competition, Premiership, to fold despite a £200 million ($377 million) cash injection into the competition. Waugh says the code will decide on the model in the next few months. “We want to give our member unions and ourselves optionality. Once you model it up, it’ll become quite apparent what the best way forward is,” he says.
Financial sustainability is Waugh’s main priority. But his other focus is getting state and national teams to win some matches, which requires an investment in grassroots rugby and events to drive participation. High on Waugh’s list of ambitions is the creation of a western Sydney rugby academy, which he says will aim to leverage the ties of Sua'ali'i and other Pacific Island players who have grown up in the area.
“A lot of people have an affiliation with rugby, based in western Sydney, and I don’t think we capture that talent as best as we could,” he says. “We are committed to setting up and working with NSW Rugby and the other member unions to deliver an academy in western Sydney and bring the best talent through and secure them for rugby, rather than losing them to rugby league. ”Also key to his vision is appealing to existing fans, many of whom are from Sydney’s lower north shore and eastern suburbs. “I love the concept of an old boys’ day at Allianz Stadium... three back-to-back GPS games at Allianz Stadium from 11am to 5pm, and you just make it a festival,” he says.
Over the past decade, fans have become frustrated with the performance of Australia’s Super Rugby teams and the men’s national team, the Wallabies. Waugh says the code has lost its sense of community, which has partly been let down by poor scheduling decisions. Club rugby and school matches are being played at the same time as national games at Allianz Stadium. Super Rugby games compete for eyeballs on television against the NRL and AFL.
Waugh says Super Rugby needs to become a better competition. “It needs a rethink ... a committee or board focused purely on Super Rugby to ignite it,” he says. “We can work across the system and competitions so that New Zealanders can come into Australia…and make them eligible to be selected for the All Blacks. Eligibility across the tournaments is a good conversation to have.”
But it goes further than that. Missed tackles and lineouts, knock-ons and missed goals are among the many unforced errors Australians have grown tired of watching. Scheduling will help, but Waugh says the sport needs to do better. “What we’ve been fascinated with in Australia is around winning the Rugby World Cup … what’s really important is winning consistently every year. That drives interest,” he says. “Where I’ll be spending most of my time will be on how do we drive high performance to make [rugby] far more attractive commercially. We’ve probably had to go to market with a less compelling proposition than we’d like because we haven’t succeeded as best we could.
”Rugby union has always faced competition from other sporting codes such as AFL, NRL and soccer. In 2022, about 144,700 people over the age of 15 played rugby, compared to 149,700 in 2016. That’s despite a 1.5 per cent increase in children under the age of 15 picking up the sport during the same period. Waugh says the sport needs to focus on its strengths, to ensure participation at a young age flows through to the professional game. One of its key differences is international appeal. “You are always going to be in the fight for a contract in cash, but how do you give a touring experience and the global experience, which is the most compelling competitive advantage for rugby against other codes?” And do the Wallabies have a chance at this year’s World Cup? “If we can play with the discipline and the passion that [coach Eddie Jones] gets out of teams, then we could surprise everyone,” he says."
