Rudd pulls funding plug on $40 million national academy

[tdevil]

AUSTRALIAN and Queensland Rugby Union officials were last night devastated when told their proposed National Rugby Academy at Ballymore had been undermined by the Federal Government's withdrawal of $25 million in funding.

Former prime minister John Howard announced last June that the government would contribute $25 million to the state-of-the-art home for the Wallabies and Queensland Reds, which was scheduled to include gymnasiums, a sports science centre and a motel for visiting teams.

However, the $40 million revamp is now in serious doubt following the funding cut.

ARU chief executive John O'Neill said last night: "This has come out of the blue and we are clearly disappointed about the decision. We had a commitment from the previous government. We were told the money was in the bank. We're absorbing the shock of this decision. The disappointment is profound."

O'Neill said the ARU and QRU had already spent about $500,000 in engaging architects and planners to begin the design of the academy.

"The project was designed to create a train-play-stay environment available to all sports and to all countries in our region, particularly Fiji and other South Pacific nations," O'Neill said.

QRU chairman Peter Lewis said the government's decision had "come as a complete shock to us, especially when we believed we had a binding business agreement and have outlaid hundreds of thousands of dollars on plans, surveys and community consultation on that basis".

"I feel like a lineout jumper whose lifters have suddenly walked off with me still in mid-air."

[brokendown gunfighter]

$500,000 in the PLANNING stage

no wonder theARU's coffers are empty

[Badger]

Should have told Rudd the facilities were for the Chinese to train in.

[Skiza]

Alright, who voted for Rudd?

[The InnFORCEr]

Come on, if you read between the lines it reads "we would rather a pupose built rectangular stadium in Perth for the Force as they have spent millions on architects and plans"

[Darren]

Come on, if you read between the lines it reads "we would rather a pupose built rectangular stadium in Perth for the Force as they have spent millions on architects and plans"

If events such as tonights game were widely publicised (although I am noticing good coverage on the news - Channel 10?) and we managed to fill MES tonight that would go surely help the argument ? Would it have been worth RugbyWA giving all members a free ticket just to fill the place and 1. show it is too small and 2. give all members a taste of what they are missing out on ?

[The InnFORCEr]

If events such as tonights game were widely publicised (although I am noticing good coverage on the news - Channel 10?) and we managed to fill MES tonight that would go surely help the argument ? Would it have been worth RugbyWA giving all members a free ticket just to fill the place and 1. show it is too small and 2. give all members a taste of what they are missing out on ?

You really should apply for that CEO position Coach

[Skiza]

great thinking Coach ...i know that Chicken Treat were doing a "child enters free with paying adult" promotion, its a start i suppose.

[hopep]

Bit of a shame, although Rudd never actualy said "me too" on this matter.
QLD and the ARU should still go ahead with the plans, simply scale them back to a basic design then add in the other parts as funds are obtaines. The QLD govt. keeps saying how great they are doing so they should have some money.

On another tack, I think the ARU may have shot themselves in the foot. By scrapping the ARC the message was "we are not interested in developing players at the moment". If you say that its hard to ask for a big handout to develop players.

[RuckNMaul]

mabey rugby wa could "obtain a copy" of the plans thus far and Alan Carpenter could name it the "Carpenter Complex" and build it somewhere in the outer suburbs as part of his legacy.

$2.3 Billion Surplus, two point three BILLION Dollars, How many zeros is that??

[The InnFORCEr]

Bugger it why not just get the plans from Melbourne for thier brand new purpose built rectangular statdium for 31,000 that they are building behind Olympic Park and opposite MCG. The Vic government promised it to them if they got the 4th Australian Super 14 franchise in 2005.

We got the team, they got the stadium, WTF

[TOCC]

dont blame me, i voted liberal

[jazza93]

its not just this, he has pulled the plug on heaps of sport projects, on fox sports news they had a list of things that went on. i dont think the money is going to us insted.

i hate that nerd

[James]

Question you have to ask though is this: even if Howard was re-elected would he have followed through. Maybe. Politicians promise a lot they don't deliver on. When a polly says they'll do something you don't count your chickens.

The other question is if the ARC lost about $5 million and over the next say three years it could be streamlined to a loss of ohh say $2 million why the hell couldn't they just have had 8 odd years of the ARC. It would develop players better than a 'state-of-the-art' complex. Bradman learnt to be brilliant with an old bat and a rain water tank. Facilities are all well and good but take a back seat to drive and passion.

[TOCC]

this academy might still go ahead..

The QRU is in talks with the QLD Govt about possible funding, Peter Beattie was a massive fan of this considering he was a bit of a rugby fan himself and both his son's are rugby players. I dont know what Anna Bligh thinks about it though, whether they have the money to fund it as well.

If the QLD Govt does give it the go ahead, expect to see it either reduced in size and cost, or it could be turned into a Queensland Institute of sport facility which will cater to various sports like soccer and rugby league.