RUGBY
CANADA REPORTS FROM SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING IN BC
22nd January 2007
Rugby Canada has put up the reports from the Annual General
meetings, the first time such transparency has been seen in
years. The link to these is at
www.rugbycanada.ca/2007SAGM/reports.html
Debts from Women's Rugby World Cup
A major part of the reports concerns the Women's Rugby World
Cup held in Edmonton. The event lost a reported $ 850,000.00
Cdn and President Roger Smith suggests that Rugby Canada
will take 7 to 10 years to "retire" this debt. No Tournament
budgets have been produced, so it is hard too know where
accountability may lie for such an overrun. However, Mr.
Smith is blaming broadcast costs and a lack of support from
all levels of government.
Previous Women's Rugby World Cups
have not made money, including the European based tournament
in Barcelona in 2002. However, the Spanish based tournament
did at least break-even. The Board's decision to underwrite
$ 850,000 for an international Tournament seems a little
adventurous to say the least. Just think back to 2002, when
Rugby Canada's $200,000 debt was described as a "political
crisis."
Rugby Canada's
president has tried to put a positive view on the
staggering loss. He justifies the expense because it has
earned Canada some goodwill credit from other Rugby
nations. "The Women’s Rugby World Cup represents the
single largest event ever undertaken by Rugby Canada and
the benefits flowing to Rugby Canada currently and in the
years to come from taking a global leadership role in
women’s rugby will be the lasting legacy of the event,"
commented Smith. "While we did at the end of the day have
an $850,000 debt from the event, it is an amount which we
can and will retire in an orderly fashion while not
impacting the on-going operations and positive progress
made in recent years by Rugby Canada.
This remains to be
seen, but Canada will not have some $120,000 a year as it
starts to pay off its debts. One doubts that Canadian
Women's programs will receive much funding in the next
quadrennial - even if the debt is more one for the Board
and IRB, than Canada's Women to bear.
Other Reports
There is a Report on the Churchill
Cup Tournament, which has now moved to Twickenham for 2007
to help the RFU with its revenues on a World Cup year.
President Roger Smith reports that
"...live television coverage will cannibalize attendance
figures," suggesting one presumes, that to show a match on
TV in Alberta or Ontario will reduce attendance.
The Churchill Cup may return to North America in 2008, and
rugby Canada is proposing that the preliminary rounds should
be held in Central Canada, with the Finals in the Eastern
USA. This, Rugby Canada feels will bring the best returns to
make the Tournament financially viable.
The Registration Report sees the
start of an IT-based national registration system, but at $1
per member per season, with additional charges for
additional services like online registration, league
management, statistics and website development.
Geraint John's report on High
Performance Academies now has program guidelines in place,
but Rugby Canada is still negotiating with the Provinces as
to who will run the academies. These were supposed to be in
place by January 2006, so the program is one to two years
behind schedule.
