Ah, no, they get specific funding as well:
"There are a number of old and not-so-old pros being paid reasonable sums to play club rugby. But should they be? Would it not be a better use of limited resources to keep club rugby entirely amateur - if Argentina can manage it, why not Australia? - and save them from the bankruptcies brought on by player bills?
All this the ARU now has to weigh up after receiving a letter this week from the 22 presidents of the NSW and Queensland clubs demanding that the national body not cut its funding of premier rugby after this year.
This is all a bit tricky given the NSWRU not long back signed off on a memorandum of understanding with the ARU acknowledging the competitions review consultation (now under way) "will lead to a decrease in premier rugby funding". No doubt, NSW and Queensland will argue the memorandum was signed in the face of the former ARU administration's push for an Australian Rugby Championship, subsequently axed when John O'Neill returned as chief executive..... At stake is around $1.8million in funding, not a huge amount by the standards of, say, the AFL, but very substantial for the ARU given that O'Neill recently revealed the organisation would soon announce a loss of between $7-8million."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
""I want to put to an end to this scuttlebut that premier rugby funding was going to be eliminated, it is going to be maintained," O'Neill declared.
"It is in the vicinity of $80,000 per club."
He initiated the funding in 2000 and over that time $20 million has gone to clubs.
O'Neill said there would be conditions attached to the funding. The ARU, NSW and Queensland unions will audit the money to ensure it is used appropriately."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1111115926649