I GIVE UP!

[candybum]

what a marnus? pity it came down to money

 

[redunderthebed]

Well at least the old boys down at Randwick get thier way right? [/b]

Yes and they where behind the undermining of the comp all the way wankers. :angry:

So... we appoint Robbie Deans and all of a sudden rugby in Australia is saved. To be honest, even before this competition was scrapped, I was doubtful that we'd advance too much in the next two years at least. The ARC was an excellent competition, both in terms of entertainment and player development - now where does this leave us... Up **** creek without a paddle. The ARU is to be held fully accountable for the financial failure that this ARC has been. Lack of extensive marketing and very little support of the clubs to do their own - it was to say the least a shambles. The ARU say they are run as a business, though it seems they have forgotten quite a basic "rule" to financial success: don't be afraid to spend money in the short term, to gain in the long term. [/b]

Damn straight they need to grow some BALLS tell the wankers from randwick to **** off. We did something similar in Football/Soccer moving away from the roots of our game (south melbourne,melbourne croatia etc) to create a fully professional league and it has being a HUGE success we need to do that so so so so f***ing desperately needs in Rugby Union.

That said Football/Soccer was on its death bed maybe we need that before some people see the merit in changing and moving forward. <_<

I'm really peeved about this decision. Competitions like this need time to grow. I think a lot of people were not fully aware of this competition and what it involved.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but some of the Wallabies would have been available to play next season? Surely the ARU could have waited one more year to see the effect that would have had on crowds/ratings/media coverage and the like.

The games I went to were really enjoyable and a great display of rugby. Heaps better than the Waratah games I went to this year.

It's just another blow for rugby in this country. You can bet the league/soccer/afl are all laughing right now. [/b]

Oh **** yes.

Don't fret too much on JON scrapping the ARC.

This was the brain child of former CEO Gary Flowers, and is the last legacy he left behind in a dodgy administrative period for the ARU.

Basically the ARU has cut away most of those individuals that were put in place under the Flowers administration and have started a fresh.

What you'll likely see is come 2009 a new version of the ARC will start again with the more succesful ARC teams retained (Vikings, Spirit) and the Sydney teams replaced with a merged version of the big clubs.

Basically, clubs like Randwick, Easts an Uni will merge to create a next generation of the Fleet and this team will bring with it the money, crowds and sponsors from these teams. A similar approach will be applied to Brothers Sunnybank etc in Brisbane.

This way there will be no bickering from the Clubs behalf and a more universal support from all followers of club rugby in Sydney and Brisbane behind the competition.

But apparently, more importantly for the ARU (and a big reason why JON pulled the pin on this comp rather than tweaking it) is that the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) controlled all the players in the comp, while the ARU was the only financial stakeholder.

In the past, RUPA and its head Tony Demsey have been a real pain to the ARU by threatening strike action for both the 7's team and the Wallabies (pre WC03) unless the ARU pushed up the wages.

Under the ARC setup, RUPA could again hold the ARU to ransom and really stretch the purse strings even further if the ARU remained the only stakeholder in future years.

So, the ARU has cut the ARC completely and will introduce a club based structure where each club shares responsibilty, not just the ARU. That way, if RUPA threatens to strike there will be all the club bosses on the side of the ARU.

Dempsey has seen the writing on the wall from this decision and is rightly worried by what it could mean for RUPA losing any power against the ARU. So it's no coincedence that he's been the loudest critic of the ARC axing decision. Even going as far as suggesting the players will take a massive pay cut to keep the comp as it is.

So basically the point is with any business, when you change administration, most of the old staff get the chop too. And most of their work is changed. In this case O'Neill and Carroll have gotten rid of anything Flowers left behind and will attempt to build a more financial viable and safer comp in 2009.

It's just a pity that they haven't made this clearer so rugby fans get to see the real silver lining that exists from this apparently bad decision.

Look on the bright side guys, before it started there were so many opposed to the idea of the ARC. However, after just one season look at how many people so passionately want it retained in some form.

Heck, we may even see the ARC and NPC merging some time pretty soon. Keeps your chins up! [/b]

You make a good point there.

I wouldnt want to merge ARC and NPC because NPC has its own traditions and it should remain the way it is. Not to mention we dont want give the kiwis a leg up they dont need it.

I remember feeling pretty bad when reading this, the ARC was one of the few promising aspects which has come out of the past few years. I find it disgusting that the ARU will cut a competition (without consulting the player unions) because it ran a loss in its first year barely proportionate to the amount they spend on players like Giteau or Tuqiri.

Just illustrates that O'Neill's first responsibility is to his stakeholders (ie. frequent use of the term 'fiscally responsible') rather than the development of rugby in Australia. He's simply downsizing ARU assets, regardless of their promise, so as to engender confidence with investors.

Yes the ARU has made murmurs of a future competition, one which will assumably have to run off the scent of an oil rag. Yet these ARE murmurs, nothing has been promised, only hinted at, using overly politic phrases as 'may be' or 'could, in the future' so as to stave off the negative feeling about what is essentially more evidence that the ARU sees anything below state level as a bloody non-entity.

The ARC exhibited some really promising rugby, I'm genuinely sad to see it go and I know that a large proportion of Aussie rugby fans are too. The future of Australian rugby is a rather depressing prospect.

Though i'm sure the bunch of rich white guys that constitute the Randwick old boys and a few clubs in the North Shore will be creaming their pants at the ARC's death. [/b]

You speak the truth there.......ARU should be about developing the game no matter what the cost not sucking up to shareholders.