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Greg Growden Chief Rugby Correspondent | July 14, 2009
AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union chief John O'Neill has played down speculation that today's gathering of the leading officials from the four provinces will degenerate into a "crisis meeting" over the future of the game.
In recent days, there have been claims that some provincial officials are angry with the ARU, particularly O'Neill's control of the game, and fears that a major rift has developed between some Super 14 organisations and the national body.
The provinces are "demanding answers" from the ARU on several issues, including the location of the fifth Australian Super team, where the new franchise's players will come from, and what the provinces will receive from the new SANZAR broadcasting contract talks.
The chief executives and chairmen of the Waratahs, Reds, Western Force and Brumbies will meet O'Neill and other ARU officials in Sydney today. Last night, O'Neill said he was "bemused" by the threat of it turning into a "crisis meeting".
"I'm scratching my head to understand why the tag 'crisis meeting' has been attached to what is really a routine meeting," he said. "What is the crisis? In terms of the ARU, whilst we are operating in very challenging times, we are not looking at a crisis."
O'Neill said the provinces wanted an update on SANZAR's broadcasting negotiations, and "they will be given that".
"We put our offer in before News Limited and SuperSport [South Africa] on June 30, and they have 60 days to respond," he said. "There is still 47 days to go.
"They want a report on what our expectations are in terms of broadcast revenue.
We have some idea, but at the end of the day it's like selling a house. You never know until the day of the auction.
"Until the broadcast deal is done, we can't indicate what the funding arrangements are. We have to get the deal done first, and then we will understand what the size of the cake is."
On the contentious issue of the location of the fifth Australian team, which will involve private equity, in an expanded Super 15 tournament from 2011, O'Neill said it was premature to
provide an answer. In Queensland, there are concerns the new team will be based on the Gold Coast, which Reds officials believe would fragment their market. There are similar concerns at the Waratahs over the possibility of the team being based in western Sydney.
"There are demands that there shouldn't be due process and that the franchise should just be located in Melbourne," O'Neill said. "My belief is that competitive tension will more than likely bring a much better outcome. How do you know until you go to the market place that there mightn't be a significant interest and funding from other locations?
"This is not to diminish Melbourne's attraction, but there is also a new stadium on the Gold Coast, and a very good stadium in western Sydney. Australian rugby only gets a chance now and again to expand its footprint. We had one in 2005 and went to Perth. We have another one now, and there were some real lessons to learn from Perth.
"The Western Force did a lot of good things, but equally there were aspects in how they operated, particularly around uncontrolled third-party payments, that are not good for the game.
"The fear tactic that has been spread is that the ARU is going to own this fifth franchise. No, we're not. Our involvement may be a 10 or 20 per cent shareholding if it's necessary to get the franchise up and running. When the Western Force was established, the ARU had a completely hands-off role. And because we had a hands-off role and didn't control the movement of players, the ARU abrogated its responsibilities.
"Now we're trying to position ourselves to control the flow of players, whereby we can avoid the impact and damage on the four teams, through a 10 to 20 per cent shareholding, and we are getting criticised for that. We are in a no-win situation. People want absolute precision at this meeting about where the team is going to go, and what's the ownership model. These things are still evolving."
Concerns that players for the fifth side would be lured from the other four Australian teams were also misguided. O'Neill said the squad was likely to comprise Australian players now overseas, rugby league recruits and players from the Pacific Islands and Japan.
"Can we put together a good team which doesn't detract from the other four? I believe we can," he said.
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