‘Unacceptable’: Players take swipe at Rugby Australia for penny-pinching

The boss of Australia’s rugby players union has taken a swipe at Rugby Australia for penny-pinching after negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement stalled ahead of a fast-approaching deadline.

Rugby Union Players Association chief executive Adrian Turner said it was “unacceptable” Rugby Australia were refusing to share the financial spoils of the 2027 Rugby World Cup with players, and called on RA to invest more in their athletes to generate success and additional money in the code, to prevent stars heading overseas or to other sports.

RUPA and RA are negotiating for a new CBA, after last striking a deal in 2022. That agreement, which covers men’s and women’s rugby in both 15s and 7s, expires on October 31.

Australia’s rugby players are arguing for a sizeable increase in spending on players at all levels, arguing the Super Rugby salary cap of $5.5 million per club has “effectively been frozen since 2018”.

But after weeks of talks behind closed doors, RUPA said there is still a “significant financial gap between the parties” and the union went public on Wednesday night with a statement, saying its members are keen to get a deal done but RA is not responding in kind.

RA boss Phil Waugh responded by saying the national body had a responsibility to use the Lions and World Cup windfalls to secure the game for generations to come, and RA had put forward proposals that reflect the players’ value to the game.

The Wallabies begin a four-Test tour in Britain on November 1, but there is no real prospect of a player strike if a deal can’t be struck, given obligations on players via their contracts. But if the CBA expires, players could be free to potentially boycott lucrative commercial engagements for RA, including appearances for sponsors.

“We have put forward alternatives to try to bring the parties closer together, including when Rugby Australia asked us to do so. We now need Rugby Australia to reciprocate, respect the bargaining process and engage properly with the proposals in front of them,” Turner said in the RUPA statement.

“Australian rugby has a unique financial opportunity off the back of the Lions tour and our home World Cups, which will generate significant additional revenue for the game.

“There remain significant issues to work through about how players share in that growth. As one example, Rugby Australia proposes that players do not share in a single dollar of the significant hosting fee it receives for the 2027 World Cup. That is unacceptable.”

Rugby Australia will bank $100m for hosting the World Cup in a joint venture with World Rugby, and last year posted a record $70.6 million profit, after total revenues in a Lions tour year of $262.2 million.

RA and RUPA have a revenue-sharing model where players receive a base pool of 29 per cent of all player-generated revenue. That figure is often higher and RA have argued the minimum spend over the last four years has been in the mid-30 per cent range.

Informed sources not authorised to comment publicly due to commercial sensitivities say RA are arguing that despite the windfall events of the Lions tour and the World Cup, future financial forecasting for the game is still worrying and the game can’t afford the level of increases being asked for by RUPA.

The struggle of Super Rugby to generate revenue – and for some clubs to turn a profit, or survive – has also been a sticking point in agreeing to a broad rise in the salary cap.

Speaking after issuing the statement, Turner said he was “extremely” frustrated by the lack of progress.

“The first and most important premise is that players are appropriately dialled into the revenue that they generate, and through that revenue sharing arrangement being fair and reasonable, the investment in the overall playing group, we believe is an investment in the settings to make Australian rugby successful,” Turner said.

“They’re not cost lines, they’re investments in how we all know professional sport will succeed. And that’s off the back of successful teams across super rugby, men’s and women’s sevens and men’s and women’s 15s.

“The cap has effectively have been frozen since 2018, and we think Australian clubs need greater capacity to invest in talent if we want to retain more of our best players. So that requires, from our perspective, proposing a higher and more appropriate minimum spend.

“It’s no wonder that we’re losing some of our best talent overseas because we’ve put these self-imposed restraints on us. We need to invest in the settings that will contribute to winning.”

Informed sources say RA have offered an increase in minimum spend, and with increases for minimum salaries for lower tiers of Super Rugby, with room for dispensations to spend above the cap if clubs can afford it.

In response to RUPA’s statement, Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh said the national body “has responsibility not only to today’s players and fans, but to every generation that will follow them”.

“The home Rugby World Cups in 2027 and 2029 represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure and grow the game in this country,” Waugh said.

“Our own history has shown what is lost when moments like this are not seized, and we are determined to make the most of it together.

“Rugby Australia and the Super Rugby clubs have put forward a submission to RUPA for the next CBA cycle that reflects how much we value our players.

“It would lift the minimum annual commitment to players to 32 per cent, increase minimum salaries across all full-time professional programs, establish a full-time integrated women’s rugby program, expand the successful full-time women’s sevens program, double the number of full-time professional female rugby contracts and ensure players share in any commercial growth, including by lifting salary caps.

“That commitment to our players is one we have honoured throughout the current cycle, with Rugby Australia and the Super Rugby clubs investing substantially above the CBA minimums. We look forward to continuing our conversations with RUPA and reaching an agreement together.”

Asked about what action the players could take if a deal can not be reached, Turner said: “There are a range of levers available to us, but we’re respecting the process and it’s not something I’m prepared to discuss at the moment. But there is pressure on the rugby bodies, in our opinion, to get a deal done before 31 October.”