Opinion
Rebels have handed RA an all-time hospital pass
Paul Cully
Rugby columnistThe idea that Rugby Australia wants to get rid of the Melbourne Rebels is half-truth, at best.
Why would any organisation seek to cut off one of its own limbs, especially when they are situated in a state whose largesse towards sport borders on the over-generous?
The current situation is more accurately framed as, “Rugby Australia can’t prop up Franchise X (in this case the Rebels), which ran up a $20 million-plus debt and which has given little evidence of being sustainable despite the best efforts of three previous owners”.
There is an enormous difference between those two statements, and as the saga deteriorates with the predictable levels of bitterness, it’s important to note it.
As things stand, there can be no winners from the current situation, and if wise heads prevail they will see that the only thing being decided at the moment is how bad the eventual losses will be for Australian rugby as a whole.
Will Harrison’s move to Japan, as reported by this masthead’s Iain Payten and Tom Decent, is a case in point. Harrison’s move, in part, reflects the uncertainty in the playing group at the moment and is a prima facie piece of evidence that an uncontrolled implosion such as the Rebels means that any high-performance benefits by a reduction to four teams are far from guaranteed.
There are players at the Rebels who are currently sitting on multiple offers from other Australian teams, and those decisions in turn affect the teams they could be joining.
It is a chaotic state of affairs, and if any other of the Australian teams end up being stronger next year, it will be down to good luck rather than good planning or centralised masterstrokes.
Reaping the high-performance benefits of going down to four teams from five would be difficult even in an orderly fashion, with a two-year runway to put the right players in the right places.
Doing it on an ad hoc basis, as is unfolding in front of our eyes, is extraordinarily difficult and RA may well end up in the invidious position of taking a financial hit on the Rebels (by sustaining them for at least this year) without any high-performance hit.
There are Rebels players who are currently sitting on multiple offers from other Australian teams.Credit: Getty
If the Rebels go, it might take two recruitment cycles before the dust really settles and Australian rugby has a demonstrably stronger presence in Super Rugby Pacific, with at least one squad clearly capable of going all the way.
This reality makes it hard not to feel some frustration towards the Rebels, at least in unguarded moments, and indeed towards the broader sense of the entitlement in Australian rugby that sometimes rears its head. You do encounter a sentiment among the fan base along the lines “we should have five teams” or “we deserve/need five teams”. But why?
Earlier this week, this masthead spoke to Martin Bogado, the Argentine fullback who plays for the Highlanders.
Two years ago, Bogado rocked up to Dunedin with barely a word of English, but here he was talking to reporters in a new language, and using that skill to explain how he missed his family, and Sunday barbecues in his homeland.
He misses them because Argentina doesn’t have one professional rugby team, never mind sooking about whether they can have five.
Argentina’s Martín Bogado has established himself at the Highlanders against the odds.Credit: Getty
Bogado played for the Jaguares XV in 2020-21 in Superliga Americana de Rugby after they were excluded from Super Rugby, and would love to be able to play professional rugby in his homeland, in front of friends and family.
And God knows Argentina “deserve” it, having made the Rugby World Cup semi-finals twice in the past three competitions, producing arguably the best Sevens team on the circuit, and beating the Junior Wallabies on the Sunshine Coast last week.
It was a timely reminder to be grateful for what you’ve got, rather than to lay a claim for something you think is owed to you.
This column has said it before, but Australian rugby is in an extremely fortunate position. It plays in the only international competition that has delivered every World Cup winner since 2003, it has the British and Irish Lions coming next year to fill the coffers, and judging by the $31 million grant from World Rugby listed in the 2023 annual accounts, it is regarded as too big to fail by the global governing body.
It still has many issues, but as the Rebels’ shambles shows, many have been self-inflicted.
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