Wallabies great urges World Rugby bailout
Prominent Australian rugby figures have called on World Rugby to funnel its World Cup profits into struggling national unions as they face the loss of entire seasons of revenue amid the coronavirus emergency.
One day after a high-level World Rugby working group met to discuss how it could help member unions through the catastrophic downturn, World Cupwinning Wallaby Phil Kearns and former Rugby Australia chief executive John O’Neill called on the global governing body to open its coffers and offer grants or low-interest loans to those unions, including Australia, who face the prospect of insolvency.
World Rugby is yet to release the full financials from last year’s World Cup tournament in Japan, but predicted record revenue and a healthy profit from the tournament.
Chief executive Brett Gosper said in September earnings were expected to exceed the A$700 million (NZ$716 million) mark, topping the 2015 World Cup held in England and Wales.
World Rugby banked a A$372 million (NZ$380 million) profit from that tournament but expected the figure from last year’s tournament to be slightly lower because of higher staging costs at the first tournament held in Asia.
The organisation uses the four-yearly windfall to fund the game’s development globally, but is under pressure to redirect that money to bail out cash-strapped unions.
‘‘Absolutely there’s a role for them to play,’’ Kearns said. ‘‘At the moment, it’s probably just a reassuring role to say ‘we’re here, we don’t know what we can give you, but from what we’ve made out of you in this time, out of how many World Cups we’ve had, we’re here for you’.
‘‘Does anyone actually know how much money World Rugby has?
‘‘It’s time to stop playing games with secrecy around ‘how much we’ve got’.
‘‘In times like these you have to put it on the table and hopefully that will create a greater sense of transparency in the code, which isn’t there now.’’
O’Neill said loans and low interest rates would be the easiest way for the governing body to help.
‘‘World Rugby should not hesitate to help national unions who are financially stressed,’’ he said.
‘‘Loans at cheap rates, repayable over four years, say, would be the easiest way. Otherwise they won’t have a game. World Rugby is the lender of last resort.’’