I am not a Victorian by birth or inclination. I am a migrant to Australia and for this I am forever grateful. My wife and I have been lovers of rugby union for many decades. When the Melbourne Rebels ‘arrived’ in Melbourne we were pleased to join fourteen years ago and have remained as members ever since.
It has provided us with the opportunity to enjoy rugby and support rugby in Australia. Through all their ups and downs, we have enjoyed our association with the Melbourne Rebels and thank them for the opportunity to belong to, what has been for us, another community in our lives.
I am, we are, naturally disappointed with the decision to discontinue with the Melbourne Rebels going forward. Please allow me a few reflections on this decision and the state of rugby union in Australia. They are not delivered in anger but rather in reflection.
There is little doubt that the financial management of the Melbourne team has been hopelessly inadequate. So, too, has the financial management and general management of rugby in Australia. So, this malaise is widespread.
The recent changes of coaches and officials at a national level speaks to the confusion that is Rugby Australia. Anyone with any nous would have seen that the re-appointment of Eddie Jones would end in tears – it always does.
All associated with that appointment should have, as a matter of honour, resigned. It was a level of incompetence that beggars belief.
For me, what holds rugby in Australia back the most is that we continue to operate and think in the past. I have been considering what best word to use and have arrived at ‘clubbable’ – the inseparable liaison between NSW and Queensland in our thinking and doing.
It manifests itself at all levels – officials, commentators and the like. It is insidious and arrogant. If we are really to move forward we need to leave that behind and operate on a new level.
Where are our large financial centres in Australia? Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Arguably in that order. Where are the population centres? Same answer.
Melbourne Rebels Josh Canham emotionally looks on after his team’s defeat in their last ever game. (Photo by James Foy/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
So, forget about the Waratahs, the Reds, the Brumbies, the Rebels, the Western Force – yesterday’s thinking. Set up three or four teams in each centre with appropriate structures and overall central governance and start afresh.
The current leadership of Rugby Australia seem to be totally out of their depth. Not that they don’t hold good intentions but because they come with their ‘clubbable’ past and its associated impedimenta.
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Sadly, I feel now no sense of ‘belonging’ to rugby Australia – I choose my capital letters carefully. And for us in Melbourne, the alternatives are a bit like supping with the devil.
The whole matter is sad in its making and its ending. And we continue to muddle on.