A lesson for ARU from Abe Lincoln

Wayne Smith, Rugby union editor | July 11, 2009
Article from: The Australian

WHEN US President Barack Obama was asked which book he could not live without in the White House, he named Team of Rivals.

Doris Kearns Goodwin's Pulitzer Prize winner traces the stories of the Republican candidates for the 1860 presidential nomination, who included Abraham Lincoln.As I read it, what I'm most looking forward to discovering is what inspired Lincoln, once he won the presidency, to offer key positions to his opponents.

I'm figuring it has to be more than magnanimity, though what shines through the early pages is how generous Lincoln was in his many political defeats. It's only to be expected that someone gracious in defeat would be even more gracious in victory.

More likely, Lincoln simply applied common sense. The US was facing one of its greatest crises, as the slavery-abolitionist gulf widened, eventually to the point of civil war, and the president realised if ever there was a time to get everyone working together, this was it.

Yet, two years earlier, in one of his greatest speeches, he discussed the constant agitation over whether slavery should be allowed in new states and basically foretold what was to come.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand", he said - OK, with a bit of help from the Bible.

Needless to say that after a week of covering the Australian Rugby Union's subtle manoeuvrings against the Victorian Rugby Union over the Super 15 expansion licence bid, the "house divided" line jumped out at me.

But on Googling the speech, it was the sentence that preceded Lincoln's timeless warning that depressed me even more: "In my opinion, it (the agitation) will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed."

There is a crisis coming in Australian rugby and it will soon come to pass. But it will not take the form of a war between the states. This time, the states are ferociously united and aligned against what they view as the ceaseless agitation of the ARU.

Kansas was the unlikely hot-spot state in Lincoln's day. This time it's Victoria. Under normal circumstances, Victoria barely registers on the Australian rugby consciousness which is a shame because, in its own modest way, the Garden State has contributed greatly to the game over the years, from Weary Dunlop to Ewen McKenzie to Digby Ioane.

But now, Victoria is set to take its place as a player. All that needs to happen is for Melbourne to be crowned as Australia's candidate for the new Super rugby licence - which effectively means it will win the bid because no one takes seriously the idea of South Africa's Southern Kings playing in the Australian conference, least of all South Africans.

Why Australia is even going through a bidding process is baffling. Leaving aside the promise the ARU made four years ago that Melbourne would get the next available licence, it is simply the standout location for a fifth Australian Super rugby team.

It is the country's second-largest city, there is a large and growing base of rugby support, its infrastructure and stadium will be second-to-none and the Victorian Rugby Union, under its president Gary Gray, has done an outstanding job of tapping into corporate and state government support.

So forget the ARU argument that there needs to be a democratic process. Indeed, if there was a truly democratic process in operation, Queensland and NSW would have been given a vote on whether they sanctioned bids for a second Super rugby team being formed within their borders. If a Gold Coast-based team is approved, the team that now trains at Ballymore would no longer be called the "Queensland" Reds. Similarly, if a western Sydney consortium wins , the Waratahs would have to drop the "NSW".

That just leaves Melbourne - which is where everyone always knew the new team should and ultimately would be located. But wait, there's more.

A second Melbourne consortium bidding for the licence in opposition to the VRU has just broken cover. Call it a conspiracy theory, but it is deeply suspicious that after the initial softening-up process of Moorabbin club president Steve Curnow's email claiming that ARU members had told him the VRU had "a snowflakes' chance in hell" of the ARU ratifying its bid for a Super 15 licence while Gray remains president, followed by the resignations of three dissident board members, the ARU then drops the bombshell of a rival Melbourne bid.

Clearly the agenda here is private equity. A successful VRU bid simply means more of the same, with the ARU having to make annual hand-outs to the states - even though the ARU supposedly is the states' body. But a private consortium would be the first step in a campaign to at least partially privatise Super rugby in this country, easing the strain on ARU finances.

But it is appallingly wrong that Gray has been targeted and undermined to achieve these ends. With a few exceptions, the VRU president has mobilised the entire Victorian rugby community behind the Melbourne's bid.

A house divided against itself. Australian rugby won't stand for much more of this nonsense.