The new president of the Sydney Rugby Union has renewed calls for a western Sydney Super Rugby franchise, saying it is the only way to tap into the massive population base to the south and west of the CBD.
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David Begg, a former Manly Marlins president who took over from outgoing SRU president Rob Millner this week, said the offices of the Sydney and NSW Rugby Unions were littered with reports on the vexed question of western Sydney.
The region has always produced its fair share of professional players but has more recently been a breeding ground for the best of Australia's Pacific Islander players, drawn from the large Fijian, Samoan and Tongan communities in the area. Seven of the Waratahs' 2017 roster, including Israel Folau, Bernard Foley and Will Skelton, grew up in the west.
Begg pointed to plans released on Thursday for the $300 million redevelopment of Parramatta Stadium and said the best way to give rugby a foothold in Sydney's west was to take the lead from football and the AFL, where the establishment of the Western Sydney Wanderers and the Greater Western Sydney Giants have created highly-prized derby fixtures for both rival codes.
"People's shelves are lined with dust-covered reports on western Sydney," he said.
"I don't come from western Sydney and it would be slightly patronising of me to articulate a view, other than to say I would like, in the long term, western Sydney to house a Super Rugby franchise.
"I think that would be a fantastic thing for western Sydney. And I think to create what's been created in AFL and soccer, that eastern Sydney vs western Sydney rivalry, if we could replicate that in rugby, then suddenly there would be relevance to rugby in western Sydney that we don't have now."
Begg's call echoes comments made by former Waratahs, Force and Rugby Union Players' Association boss Greg Harris, who urged the Australian Rugby Union to abandon its "national footprint" plans in favour of shoring up a neglected part of the rugby heartland.
In his final days as Waratahs chief executive, Harris said the Western Force were the obvious team to sacrifice and move east, creating the Western Sydney Force.
Harris' replacement, Andrew Hore, threw up the idea of a sixth franchise being located there, while speculation has also swirled around the Brumbies in recent years, as a potentially good fit for expansion into the territory abutting western Sydney.
The Brumbies have a rich history in Australian rugby, as the only home grown team to win the Super Rugby title twice. But they grapple with the same financial constraints that have hampered the Force in its 11-year history, most notably a tiny supporter and commercial base.
The ARU, which is obliged under the SANZAAR agreement to provide five Super Rugby teams, appears to have no appetite to move around the licences or issue a new one. In fact, the futures of the Brumbies and Force appear secure for now, or at least until the end of the current broadcast deal in 2020.
Begg has been handed the reins at the SRU at a time when relations between the Sydney Premier Rugby clubs and the ARU are at a low ebb.
He said he and vice-president Brett Papworth were committed to making the Shute Shield "the best club rugby competition in the world" and would do so without the ARU's help.
"We don't see the need to play any particularly prominent role with the ARU, they've developed their strategic plan for their game, and that is a plan which focuses almost universally on elite and professional rugby, and that's where the vast majority of the money is going," Begg said.
"From our perspective we see a significant degree of autonomy coming from that and we're going to make the most of that autonomy."
The No.1 priority was finalising a deal with free-to-air network Channel 7 to have the competition broadcast into Brisbane and beyond, and then raising the estimated $300,000 it will cost to produce the live broadcasts next season.
"The clubs have said it is the most important thing we need to get finalised. I'm spending every living, breathing minute getting it done," he said.
Some clubs were taken aback when they were asked with two weeks' notice this season to chip in $5,000 each to ensure the broadcast went ahead. The SRU also had to go to the ARU to ask for the $300,000 shortfall to pull off the broadcast deal, and Begg said he was determined the SRU would raise the money on its own this year.
"The clubs were asked to contribute what I think was a reasonably modest amount last year," he said.
"My aim is not to ask the clubs to contribute anything next year ... what we're trying to do is investigate other corporate options that don't impose that financial burdens on the clubs."
