O'Neill turns to AFL as cure for federal issues
O'Neill turns to AFL as cure for federal issues
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Bret Harris | April 24, 2008
ARU chief executive John O'Neill believes it is time for Australian rugby to "grow up" and adopt a more modern form of governance.
Australian rugby is ruled by a federal system but O'Neill is an admirer of the AFL's independent and centralised commission.
"I think it is time for rugby to grow up," O'Neill said at a function in Sydney yesterday to launch the ARU's new slogan, "Built By Rugby, Forged In Union" where seven Wallaby greats - Nicholas Shehadie, John Solomon, Ken Catchpole, Mark Loane, Andrew Slack, Nick Farr-Jones and John Eales - were announced as "statesmen" for the game.
"It's interesting, we had the 20-20 summit in Canberra on the weekend, talking about how it is time to move from a federated system to a more seamless system," he said.
"As we look at rugby in 2008 we are still running it under a system that isn't necessarily appropriate for today where we have the ARU and all the states and boards and management duplication, and then we say we don't have enough money to expand the game.
"My greatest challenge is to bring a sense of reality to the governance and management of the game to ensure we are not squabbling over the things that don't really matter, and when you look at AFL and where they have gone in a governance and management sense, you can only be envious.
"I think rugby, if we are a genuinely smart sport and genuinely serious about creating a far more successful game, we have to look at those government and management structures."
O'Neill said the ARU's recent decision to allow private equity in Australia's four Super 14 sides - the Brumbies, Force, Reds and Waratahs - could create a climate for the reformation of the governance of the game.
Asked whether the new ruling structure could be an AFL-style commission, O'Neill said: "That may come out of that, yeah."
O'Neill said he hoped the ARU would be able to produce a prospectus for potential investors by September.
"We've had the odd person enquire, but we are not at the stage to be entertaining distinct investors," O'Neill said.
"It's more about getting the methodology and the model right at this stage.
"What we did at the A-League was we put out an offering memorandum, which is similar to a prospectus. It's just another name. It sets out what you are offering, what you are selling.
"It's not an easy exercise, it's quite a complex exercise, but the offering memorandum will really describe precisely what is for sale.
"We are working on two strands at the moment: competition options and the introduction of private equity."
O'Neill will meet Australia's SANZAR partners, New Zealand and South Africa, about the ARU proposal to expand Super rugby during the IRB meeting in Dublin this weekend.
The ARU is advocating a 26-week competition, but New Zealand and South Africa are yet to commit to the idea because it would conflict with their domestic competitions, the Air New Zealand Cup and Currie Cup.
"I sense that New Zealand (which announced a $1.7million loss yesterday) and South Africa are facing some of the same financial pressures as we are, and therefore it may be timely to reposition their domestic competitions to extract greater value out of Super rugby," O'Neill said.
The main item on the agenda at the IRB meeting will be the decision on whether to trial the experimental law variations on a worldwide basis from August 1, a move O'Neill strongly supports.
"There will be some interesting behind the scenes chats with some of the northern hemisphere countries, who are yet to be convinced, but truthfully, there's only a couple," O'Neill said.
"It's really only Ireland and Wales that are steadfastly opposed. England, I think, is halfway there, but Scotland, France, Italy, the SANZAR countries, and Argentina are all on-side."
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