New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew says that the All Blacks may be forced to withdraw from participating in future Rugby World Cups.
Tew says that the All Blacks participation at the World Cup has cost his union more than 13 million New Zealand dollars (£ 6.6 million).
The IRB will meet to review how the World Cup is run before May next year but Tew is adamant that unless significant changes are made the All Blacks will consider sitting out the 2015 event.
“We think we are at a really important juncture,” said Tew. “We want a couple of things taken very seriously around the IRB table.”
“One is the money that flows through and out of Rugby World Cup. It is well publicised that the major unions lose a significant amount of money net by participating in the tournament and that makes absolutely no sense.
“We lose NZ$13.2 million [£ 6.7m] worth of revenue after income from Rugby World Cup and costs are adjusted. It cannot carry on.
“We said at the last board conference that we needed a full review of the IRB’s financial model, Rugby World Cup commercial rules and RWC money flows. We are waiting with some anxiety to see what the IRB is going to do about it.
“The IRB did put an extra £ 1million on the table for the major unions six months ago, which helped and which was appreciated, but frankly the prospects of us going to England in 2015 under the current model are very slim. We cannot continue to sign on for an event that costs us so much money.
“We need to have serious discussions and some creative thinking to help us approach the next World Cup in a positive manner. I am not saying we will not be involved in 2015, but you either reform things through an evolutionary process or you plant a flag in the ground and say it’s time to change.”
One of Tew’s problems with the world cup is that Unions sponsors are not allowed to me mentioned during the world cup due to potential conflicts with the tournament’s backers.
“All we want is what is best for world rugby. Our approach has always been to do things by negotiation and discussion and try to reach collaborative decisions, but ultimately you have to get something,” Tew told the Telegraph.
The IRB is anxious not to get involved in a public spat with one of its major unions.
“The World Cup plays a critical role in the development and profile of rugby worldwide,” a spokesman said.
“It generates the revenues that are entirely reinvested and distributed by the board across our 117 member unions during the four-year cycle between tournaments to increase competitiveness and advance the strategic goal of implementing development plans in order that rugby can be a truly global sport.
“The current programme is £ 150 million between 2009 and 2012, with approximately 50 per cent of the revenues going to the tier-one nations. There are significant benefits for participation at rugby’s showcase sport, including brand exposure to a broadcast audience in more than 200 countries worldwide.
“We will continue to work with our unions to ensure that the tournament continues to balance the strategic needs of our unions with the global development of the sport.”
Scared of choking again? What nonsense. Most prestigious tournament in rugby and you don’t want your team in it? Scared of being perpetually labelled the best team never to have won the World Cup since 1987?
I don’t know what to make of this. Football is run along similar lines to Rugby and we all know that big events like Olympics, Cricket, Rugby, Football world cups just leave a hell of a bill for the host country to pay. I don’t think there is an upside to this unless all the individual unions can advertise their sponsors and they actually form part of a company that runs world rugby. I always have the feeling there are a lot of highly paid administrators who don’t really add value. The Management of the Company must move from country to country of the major unions is the only upside I can see. Huge revenues from the tv and the playing nations don’t see the bulk of that. £150 mil budget is actually quite small in the scheme of things. If NZ are losing NZ$ 13 mil…well their government must make that up out of the sport budget.
This is just blowing smoke, there is no way in hell NZ will not be at the next RWC, they are feeling the pinch of hosting a RWc which they couldn’t afford in the first place.
The stadiums aren’t being filled to their expectations and they have always struggled financially.
Their biggest problem is australia who is milking their economy, and thus they don’t have enough big corporates to hep sustain their sport.
They have already reduced and changed their NPC, ITM or whatever it is called next year.
NZ needs to find innovative ways of sustaining their sport, they knew about this long before the RWC.
Of course it costs money to take a team to the WC. If NZ is complaining how much it costs them to play in their own backyard, how much must it cost the visitors? Surely the NZRU must have budgeted for this? It is a bit self centered to be complaining about the costs to the NZRU, when we have players from the like of Namibia and some other minnow teams that have had to take unpaid leave from their full time jobs to play in the WC.
Hello all. Just popping in during a lull in the heavy work schedule.
Well, my dear Kiwi friends, this RWC was never supposed to be yours. It was supposed to have gone to Japan, but you lobbied, caljouled and applied pressure where required in order to get it.
The recession came at the wrong time for you and now you are paying the consequences for your demands.
Enjoy footing the bill. I don’t know if the RWC result will justify the means, (a RWC win?) but you now have to live with it I’m afraid.
Gooooooo Bokke.
This guy received a lot of flack in Union Sports Mag….I think he has gone and put his foot into his mouth. Perhaps they aren’t emotionally equipped to handle a tournament like this. First with suggestions of people withholding from having sex to support the team, now complaining they can’t afford it (not the sex….I meant the tournament). I
ts becoming a bit of National choke.
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