Eleven evenings ago, I sat on the grass bank at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl enjoying Leon Bridges and his excellent seven-piece band, on tour in Australia to support Bridges’ fourth album, “Leon”.
As far as venues go, it’s a cracker. Sited inside Melbourne’s botanic gardens, an artfully designed set was framed by the towering lights of the Melbourne CBD skyline. To one side, just a couple of decent touch-finders across the Yarra River, Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena were hosting quarter-final action at the Australian Tennis Open.
Looming large behind that, was the unmistakeable profile of the MCG. And, to the other side, a short walk away, lay the Albert Park F1 race track.
There was an overwhelming sense of being a tiny speck on a mammoth-sized palette. Of being engulfed by an undeniably important, globally significant city. A city in the midst of hosting several world-class events, with a conveyor belt of others – sporting, cultural, business – lined up behind.
In that context, it felt incomprehensible that Australia could host an event as significant as the Rugby World Cup in 2027 – now expanded to 24 nations – and Melbourne not be a part of that. Hordes of Lions supporters due to descend on the city in six months would also have found the prospect ridiculous.
Yet that was the situation just four weeks ago, when information leaked to the News Corp press confirmed that Melbourne was to be excluded as a host city.
To understand how matters got to that point, the spin, and the scrambling that went on behind the scenes to try to remedy things, adds yet another dark chapter to Australian rugby’s recent history.
Thursday’s announcement by World Rugby and Rugby Australia focused on the positives; CEO Phil Waugh rightfully saying; “A Rugby World Cup presents a unique opportunity for our country. From the positive economic impacts, to the energising of the fan base, to the inspiration provided to the next generation of players, RWC 2027 will leave a legacy that will be felt in Australia for many years to come.”
The final schedule – semi-finals and final to be played at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, quarter-finals allocated to Brisbane and Sydney, the opening match in Perth, Melbourne now to host a number of pool and ‘round of 16’ games, but Canberra left off the roster – has been painted as a win for rugby fans.
But important concerns remain about the process, and what detailed strategies might be in place to ensure Australian rugby thrives post the World Cup.
The information leaked a month ago supported Rugby Australia’s narrative that the Victorian State Government had declined to submit a bid to host any matches. This apparent ‘disinterest’ also served to further justify their decision to exclude the Melbourne Rebels from Super Rugby.
Josh Canham of the Rebels runs with the ball (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
The media channel used – News Limited – found a willing ally in deputy opposition leader Sam Groth, only too happy to point to another example of the state Labor government dropping the ball on a major event, just as they had done with the Commonwealth Games.
A disclosure: as a small business owner in Melbourne’s CBD, emerging out of COVID barely solvent, only to be hit by substantial increases in state payroll tax and Worker’s Compensation premiums, coming on top of sharp increases in utilities, labour and rent/leasing costs, at precisely the same time the government was actively discouraging public servants to return to work in the CBD, it’s fair to say I’m no supporter of the Allan/Andrews state government.
The notion however, that the Victorian government does not support rugby, did not seek to bid for the World Cup final, was engaged in some kind of futile or naïve protest, or dropped the ball through incompetence is patently and demonstrably false.
In 2022, a meeting between senior government minister Martin Pakula, World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin and Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos, laid the platform for a Melbourne bid. It was here that the government made it clear they would do whatever it took to ensure they secured the final.
Then, in November 2023, immediately following the completion of the World Cup in France, a small delegation led by treasurer Tim Pallas, met with senior World Rugby officials, in London. There, a deal was thrashed out that would hand over tens of millions of dollars to World Rugby in return for the right to host the World Cup final and semi-finals.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
The proposed deal also included a number of legacy conditions, including the active, ongoing support for the development of rugby pathways in Victoria, further development and support for the state centre of rugby excellence at Latrobe University, and the guaranteed, ongoing participation of the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby.
Having already accepted a fixed, capped $100 million hosting fee for the World Cup, Rugby Australia was not represented at the meeting, but was kept abreast of details and developments.
The Victorian delegation left the meeting believing that their position – an effective last right of refusal to overtrump whatever bid might be made by the NSW Government, so as to ensure the future growth of rugby in Australia’s second largest state – was almost certain to succeed.
Concurrent to this, the Rebels also confirmed to Rugby Australia, their willingness to accept the same centralisation structure taken up by the Waratahs.
However, things would rapidly fall apart. In just a couple of short weeks, Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan had been forced out, Rugby Australia – devoid of palatable private equity options – took up an $80 million debt facility with Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) and, baulking at adding the Rebels’ debt to that of the Waratahs and seeking to reduce operating costs, advised the Rebels to seek legal counsel as a precursor to tipping them into administration.
Those events ran their course during 2024, up until the 30th May, when Rugby Australia chairman Daniel Herbert and CEO Phil Waugh delivered the news to players and staff that the Rebels were to be excluded from Super Rugby in 2025, and the franchise would be disbanded. A full account of what happened in the lead-up and aftermath of that decision is contained in my book, ‘A Year in the Life and Death of the Melbourne Rebels’.
Asked by a reporter about the 2027 World Cup and “will the semi-finals and final still be in Melbourne? Is that deal still on the table?” Waugh replied, “Yeah, so as I said, we’re very committed to working with Visit Victoria, the Victorian government. International rugby has been very successful in Melbourne for a long, long time. And we’re confident it will continue to be that way.”
Perhaps Waugh should have checked first with the government, whose response, from the minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopolous, was withering: “We have been extremely clear that having a Victorian-based Super Rugby team would be the reason we can continue hosting large rugby events on our major events calendar – including the Bledisloe Cup and any future Rugby World Cups. That social licence has been diminished today.”
Joe Schmidt, head coach of the Wallabies speaks to Phil Waugh (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
With an existing deal already in place – $16.5 million paid to Rugby Australia by the Victorian Government to host Bledisloe Cup matches in 2022 and 2023, in return for guaranteeing the Rebels’ participation until the end of the 2025 season – now trashed, angry at their $31 million investment into the state centre of excellence looking increasingly like a white elephant, concerned that any social licence to justify continued use of increasingly scarce taxpayer funds had been eroded, there was now no prospect of the government continuing with their World Cup bid.
Governments fund major events not only for the event itself, but for benefits that flow back in terms of ticketing (crowds, location, corporate), activation (hospitality, participation and social inclusion), marketing (tourism and future events) and legacy (benefits lasting well beyond the event itself such as infrastructure development, reputation, increased participation).
Key to the success of all of that is the relationship between government and the sport; the ability to work cohesively together to run a successful event and for all parties to leverage and maximise opportunities arising. Astonished at Rugby Australia’s aggression and arrogance and the breakdown of trust, a non-plussed government was left to ask, ‘what kind of partner takes your money with one hand and cuts you off at the knees with the other?’
Fast forward to January 2025 with Melbourne out of business as a potential host, and Rugby Australia, with their guaranteed $100 million, seemingly considering the matter closed. Enter the Federal Government.
What is largely overlooked is how the Rugby Australia delegation, headed by ex-Wallaby Phil Kearns, that won the hosting rights for the 2027 event, was underpinned by a $140 million contribution from the Federal Government; effectively a fee paid to World Rugby to ensure hosting rights.
As above, governments reasonably expect a return on that kind of investment. Having recently hosted the Women’s Football World Cup, having seen how that event captured the hearts and minds of the nation and has since translated into huge spikes in female participation in the sport, there was no way the Government was going to sit by and allow the Rugby World Cup to bypass Victoria.
Enter also World Rugby, essentially playing the role that one of their senior officials concurred with me last week, of being “the adult in the room”, consumating a late deal with the state government which, albeit nothing like the original proposal, at least brought Melbourne back into the event in some capacity.
World Rugby insists that the way the 2027 event is structured financially – different to the arrangements struck in France in 2023 and Japan in 2019 – means that the financial impact of this fiasco is of minimal importance.
Perhaps, but it doesn’t take much to calculate the difference in gate receipts for the final four matches (72,000 seats in total), plus the difference between what the Victorian Government was prepared to bid before Rugby Australia went nuclear on the Rebels, against what the NSW Government actually bid in a non-competitive situation, and the far smaller contribution now made by the Vic Government, and arrive at a shortfall in the tens of millions of dollars.
Is that money that rugby – facing intense financial pressure all around the world – can afford to leave on the table?
(Photo by Brendon Thorne – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
World Rugby’s spokesman instead highlighted their concern around the neglect of rugby in a key growth area as their primary motivation to step in and broker a new final-hour agreement with the Vic Government. And it is this that should be at the heart of concerns about the future health of the sport in Australia.
Who is the body responsible for the safeguarding, development and future proofing of the game in Australia? State and federal governments? World Rugby? Of course not.
That various parties were required to step in to try to resolve this matter is an awful indictment on Rugby Australia. Was it because they already pocketed their $100 million, or was it because of shame, embarrassment or disregard for the consequences of their decision to shut down professional rugby in the state, that they were happy to proceed with a World Cup excluding Victoria?
Even if Rugby Australia is involved in a legal case against a group of ex-Rebels directors, how does this justify them turning their back on rugby in the state, effectively telling junior players and their parents to seek out the NRL?
At various times since the May 30th announcement of last year, both Waugh and Herbert have reiterated their support and reassured rugby followers in Victoria that they have a plan for rugby in the state. Despite months passing by, no details have been forthcoming. Rugby Victoria is now without a CEO, is bereft of funds and is unable to provide the rugby community with any direction or confidence about the sport’s future.
An old saying encourages people to judge others not by what they say, but what they do. The only development of any note in rugby in Victoria since the Rebels were cut, has been the announcement that the rapidly improving women’s Super W team would also be folded.
Another view is that despite the sordid and treacherous pathway, by securing the World Cup final for Sydney, the ‘right’ outcome has been achieved. And for one, there’s something to be said in favour of a rectangular stadium over the cavernous MCG.
There’s also an underlying sense that people who matter in rugby’s two foremost states, New South Wales and Queensland, were never going to allow the final to be played elsewhere, whatever the cost.
Ex-Rugby Australia CEO John O’Neill thumped his chest last month and spoke about how the decision signalled a return of the World Cup final to rugby’s true heartland, and how; “history and tribalism indelibly promotes Sydney as an event and rugby mecca so it’s overwhelmingly compelling.”
The chutzpah of O’Neill – at the helm of a hubris-filled organisation that proved unwilling and unable to secure a prosperous future for Australian rugby following the successful 2003 World Cup; whose “heartland” and “mecca” extends no further than the CBD end of Parramatta Road – commenting in this manner, is next level.
But O’Neill knows he is speaking to a constituency for whom the loss of a professional footprint in an ‘AFL state’ is of no consequence, and the involvement of Victoria in the World Cup is neither here nor there.
Why do we never hear instead about rugby having an opportunity to build off an existing solid base in Melbourne? Do these people think the AFL looked at Sydney’s traditional rugby schools and said to themselves, ‘let’s not waste our time there, we’ll never get a foothold?’
O’Neill and his east coast traditionalists are people rooted in the past. People who continue to be blind to how rugby’s footprint in Australia is shrinking.
Demonstrable progress by the Wallabies on their spring tour, the women’s sevens bouncing back from Olympic Games disappointment, and 4000 people at Bowral for a trial match on Saturday, all point to a positive outlook for Australian rugby in 2025.
But for the game to be carried forward, administrators will need to offer far more rigour than December’s glossy wish-list thinly disguised as a ‘strategy paper’.
The game deserves – and needs – leaders who recognise Australia’s changing demographics, who can identify rugby’s future growth corridors, and who will devise and implement genuine strategies to properly engage communities with rugby. Around all of Australia.
