Integrated seasons on IRB table

The International Rugby Board (IRB) will placed two of the most contentious issues – integrated seasons and inter-hemisphere tournaments – on the table at their ‘global playing season’ forum in Woking, England, next week.

The objective of the forum, from November 27 to 29, is to establish a blueprint for the future growth of the game in terms of an annual playing calendar that is relevant, commercially robust and acceptable to all stakeholders.

Attending the forum will be IRB council members and representatives from IRB member unions, Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), Premier Rugby Limited (PRL), European Rugby Cup (ERC), Celtic League, SANZAR, Six Nations and Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA), as well as players, coaches, managers, IRB management and commercial agents and consultants.

IRB chairman Syd Millar made reference to the “historic nature” of the gathering of the all the game’s stakeholders.

“Never before has there been such a forum involving the professional clubs, the national unions, players, coaches and administrators from around the world,” said Millar.

“We have some key objectives for the forum but it will also assist in building constructive relationships and fostering a better understanding between the Game’s stakeholders of the unique issues that exist in their respective regions.

“The IRB is committed to finding the best possible season structure and has been working with the national unions on the issue of an integrated season for over two years. This includes analysis of the existing playing calendar and potential new options for an integrated season.

“Part of this has been the delivery by Deloitte of two critical financial reports sourced from confidential information provided by the game’s stakeholders: A financial review of top-tier rugby; and an integrated season financial overview. These two documents along with several options for an integrated season will be at the core of the forum.

“The development of an integrated season is not any easy task when you consider the different requirements of clubs, provinces and national unions. Add in the fact that we have a game played across two hemispheres with different playing seasons, the positioning of the World Cup, the need for player rest periods and that we only have 52 weeks in the year, and you have a complex jigsaw puzzle.

“If there was an easy solution it would have been implemented some time ago. This is not a decision-making forum, however it will hopefully provide a consensus viewpoint for the way forward, one that stakeholders can take back to their various constituents for further review and refinement.

“I am sure this forum will set us on the right path and lay the foundations for rugby to continue its phenomenal growth of the last 12 years over the next 12 years.”

The forum will be managed on behalf of the IRB by Capgemini, the international IT services and business consultancy company.

The three-day forum will take place under its ‘Accelerated Solutions Environment’ that delivers a group activity and collaborative working environment designed to deliver solutions and action plans in days rather than months. This comprises plenary sessions and breakout working groups.

Main forum objective: To lay the foundations for Rugby to continue its phenomenal growth of the last 12 years over the next 12 years.

Other objectives:

* To understand the issues facing Rugby in terms of achieving growth and the implications for the rugby calendar (over four year cycles)

* To develop a view on what an improved calendar could look like in the short and medium term to deliver the right product at the right time for the benefit of rugby

* To develop specific recommendations for what changes could be made to the calendar in order to support the growth of the game and to protect, improve and grow the rugby brand

* To understand what other changes need to be made to enable the calendar to work better

* To understand how any changes would benefit rugby and to specify how these proposed changes could be made a reality

Integrated season options to be considered:

Four options were chosen by the IRB Executive Committee for consideration and to assist further discussion on the integrated season following analysis of various reports over the past two years. However, any other options that arise during the Forum will also be discussed.

* Scenario 1 – current cycle (RWC – IHM – IHM – IHM)
* Scenario 2 – potential cycle (RWC – IHT – IHT – IHT)
* Scenario 3 – potential cycle (RWC – IHM – IHT – IHM)
* Scenario 4 – potential cycle (RWC – IHM – RWC – IHM)

Inter-Hemisphere matches: [IHM]; Inter-Hemisphere tournament: [IHT]

Key financial considerations:

* In the last 10 years rugby’s revenue has quadrupled from approximately #150 million to approximately #600 million. But this is only just over one percent of the global sports market that was worth #48 billion in 2005. Rugby’s revenues are also about five percent of the market leader soccer

* Costs have risen with revenues and so Rugby basically breaks even.

* Club/provincial Rugby, which has many more matches, accounts for 45 per cent of Rugby’s revenue as opposed to Union revenues from international matches and other sources which account for 55 per cent. International matches attract far higher revenues per match.

Attendees will include:

* IRB Council/EXCO: Syd Millar, Bill Beaumont, Oregan Hoskins, Bernard Lapasset, Mike Miller, Graham Mourie, Bill Nolan, David Pickering, Carlos Tozzi, Peter Boyle, Abdelaziz Bougja, Jonathan Dance, Gerald Davies, Pearce Higgins, Ichiro Kono, Raul Martins, Noboru Mashimo, Noel Murphy, Hugo Porta, Harry Schuster, Mike Stofile, Martyn Thomas

* RWCL: Jacques Laurans, Bob Tuckey

* Six Nations/British & Irish Lions: John Feehan

* SANZAR: Ashley Selwood

* PIRA: Keni Dakuidreketi

* Tier 1 Union Chairmen: John Hussey, Jock Hobbs, Peter McGrath, Allan Munro, Alejandro Risler, Mpumelelo Tshume

* Other Chairman: Max Guazzini

* Tier 1 Union CEOs: Francis Baron, Jean-Louis Barthes, Philip Browne, Fabrizio Gaetaniello, Roger Lewis, Gordon McKie, Chris Moller, Johan Prinsloo, Raul Sanz

* Union officials: Rob Andrew, Pierre Camou, Matt Carroll, Nigel Melville, Jonathan Stones, Steve Tew, Eddie Wigglesworth, Allesio Distinto

* Ligue National de France: Serge Blanco, Marcel Martin, Patrick Wolff

* Celtic League: David Jordan

* PRL: Mark McCafferty, Peter Wheeler

* ERC: Jean-Pierre Lux, Derek McGrath

* IRPA: Rob Nichol, Richard Harry

* Coaches/Managers: John Kirwan, Ian McGeechan, Jo Maso, Jake White

* Players: Richie McCaw, Agustin Pichot, Pierre Spies

* Medical: Mick Molloy, Martyn Raftery

* IRB Management: Darren Bailey, Robert Brophy, David Carrigy, Mark Egan, Kit McConnell, Huw Morgan, Greg Thomas, Paddy O’Brien, Steve Griffiths

* Consultants: Morgan Buckley, Ian Frykberg, Austin Houlihan, Dan Jones, Laurence St John, Jake Wilson

* IMG: Ian Todd, Julian Brand, Nick Chesworth

With thanks to the IRB