‘We’ve got to reset the game’: RA says next five years key to code’s survival
Rugby Australia chairman Dan Herbert says the code must use the anticipated financial windfall from the British and Irish Lions tour in 2025 alongside the men’s and women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2029 to “reset” the game.
RA announced a loss of $9.2 million for 2023 in its annual report on Monday, a year after posting profits of $8.2 million. Herbert said the game simply could not afford to waste the cash windfalls on the horizon which, he said, “won’t come around again any time soon”.
“We’ve been spending more money as a game than what we’ve been earning and we can’t continue to do that,” Herbert said. “We’ve got these two big capital events with the Lions and the home World Cup, and by then I’m hoping the Women’s World Cup will be a really big event as well.
“We can’t squander that opportunity, so we’ve got to reset the game over the next couple of years otherwise, that windfall won’t come around again, anytime soon. It will be wasted beyond that, so we need to take the opportunity over the next couple of years.”
Rebels with a financial cause
The financial results cast yet more doubt on the future of the Rebels, with RA having funded the club to the tune of $3.9 million last year. Regardless of whether the Rebels’ investor group delivers a rescue package, annual funding would likely still need to be delivered by Herbert and chief executive Phil Waugh. RA has spent $12.5 million on the club in the last three years.
Herbert recently told Sky Sport NZ’s Rugby Breakdown that “we’ve been living beyond our means as a game” when asked about the future of the Rebels, and on Monday said negotiations with the beleaguered franchise were ongoing.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh and chairman Dan Herbert are facing another difficult financial yearCredit: Getty
“There’s still there’s still a lot to play out and I’m hesitant at the moment with what’s happening to say too much,” Herbert said. “Probably what I said [on the Rugby Breakdown] was about as far as I can go in terms of what will happen.”
Waugh had earlier highlighted the unplanned cost of RA taking on the Rebels’ operations for 2024 and acknowledged a decision had to be made sooner rather than later, given staff at the club are only funded for just over two more months.
“We understand the urgency and the time pressure given staff finish it at the end of June,” Waugh said. “Players need certainty, as do staff for 2025 and beyond. So I don’t want to anchor ourselves to a date except for the fact that we need to acknowledge that [a decision needs to be made] the sooner the better.”
The disastrous World Cup in 2023 will live long in the memoryCredit: Getty
French finance
Also missing from the balance sheet was an amount of over $1 million which this masthead revealed RA was chasing from the French Rugby Federation (FFR) after a contracting blunder relating to the Wallabies’ World Cup warm-up match against France earlier in 2023.
RA chief operating officer Richard Gardham revealed the organisation was still chasing this lost revenue and was engaged in negotiations with their French counterparts.
“We’re still chasing [the money], [we’re] optimistic we will end the discussions with them and get some money,” Gardham said. “The reality of the full exposure to it [money owed] will be determined through a negotiation with them.”
World Cup blues
The $9.2 million deficit in 2023 is an improvement on previous World Cup years, with losses of $9.5 million and $9.8 million posted in 2019 and 2015 respectively.
In 2023, the Wallabies were also restricted to just two home Tests against Argentina and New Zealand, significantly affecting broadcast revenue, which was down by $14 million from the previous year. Matchday revenue was also down by $25 million from 2022.
RA reported significantly higher costs given it was a World Cup year, with operating expenditure up by $11.5 million.
The tournament was disastrous on and off the field for RA, with Eddie Jones’ Wallabies becoming the first Australian team to fail to reach the quarter-finals of the competition and Waugh subsequently revealing $2.6m in unapproved expenses had been spent during the campaign.
World Rugby grant increase
RA benefited from a substantial World Rugby grant of $31 million representing over 30 per cent of the organisation’s revenue for 2023 and up from the previous grant of $905,000 last year, which is formed by the bulk of a participation payment for the World Cup in France.
Loan facility
In November, RA announced it would utilise an $80 million credit facility, reportedly with an interest rate of more than 10 per cent. The annual report shows that RA have drawn $50 million from that facility.
Broadcast deal
In the third year of RA’s broadcast deal with Stan Sport and Nine, the World Cup posted average audience figures of almost 450,000 for the final between South Africa and New Zealand, while the Wallabies’ 40-6 group defeat to Wales was the most watched Australian game with an average audience of 363,100.
The average audience for the weekly Saturday night Super Rugby game on free-to-air TV was up 15 per cent on 2022’s average.
Board news
In board news, Kristy Giteau was announced as Co-President alongside Joe Roff, Alexi Baker and Hans Pearson were announced as a new directors and Matt Hanning and Dr Jane Wilson as returned directors.
Karen Penrose will leave the board after she did not receive a two-thirds majority from members, which include the Super Rugby franchises and state unions.
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