Dark days are all too common for Australian rugby and the demise of the Melbourne Rebels is another sad chapter for a sport struggling for relevance in this country.
Rugby Australia (RA) confirmed on Thursday the Rebels — who will contest their first Super Rugby Pacific finals series this season — would not play in the 2025 competition as they hadn’t “demonstrated financial stability” and would require “substantial ongoing” support.
Meanwhile, the future of the Rebels’ Super Rugby Women’s team remains up in the air.
The move to cut the Rebels from Super Rugby Pacific comes as no surprise, as they had accumulated a debt of almost $23 million prior to entering voluntary administration in January.
A consortium had been established to save the Rebels, but RA questioned its projections for revenue growth, saying there was a “lack of transparency” and “unacceptable level of risk” associated with its proposed financial model.
In announcing its decision, RA claimed it was acting in the “best interests of the game and its stakeholders”.
There’s merit to this statement but it’s open to interpretation, as there will be doubt about RA’s commitment to investing in rugby outside of the sport’s traditional strongholds without the presence of a professional team in Victoria.
Cutting the Rebels from Super Rugby Pacific will save much-needed money for RA, who is struggling financially and does not have the resources to support five professional teams.
Consolidating its playing talent in four teams also makes sense as Australia does not have the depth to field five competitive franchises in Super Rugby Pacific.
This was an issue when the Rebels were established ahead of the 2011 Super Rugby competition, with RA (then known as the Australian Rugby Union) giving them permission to recruit up to 10 foreign players to bolster their roster.
RA will be accused of turning its back on one of rugby’s expansion markets and it will need to convince the critics this isn’t the case.
It says it’s “deeply committed to rugby in Victoria” but there is a lack of confidence in this assurance considering the national governing body’s own dire financial situation.
While the Rebels failed to make an impression with their on-field results, the presence of professional rugby in Victoria has borne fruit.
The state’s junior pathways have produced Test players in both the men’s and women’s games, perhaps best highlighted when Rob Valetini, Pete Samu and Rob Leota formed the Wallabies’ starting back row against the All Blacks in Melbourne in 2022.
This was no fluke, with considerable effort having been made to develop talent at the junior level, especially in public schools.
For example, a partnership forged between not-for-profit organisation Academy Movement and Rugby Victoria led to the establishment of several public-school programs in Melbourne.
The programs cater for male and female students in some of the city’s growth corridors, including Melton and Narre Warren South.
Without the Rebels’ presence in Super Rugby Pacific, will young Victorian players see a pathway to the Wallabies?
Will they be lost to rugby league, with the NRL’s successful Melbourne Storm committed to doing more to develop Victorian talent?
RA can justify shutting down the Rebels on financial grounds, but it must remain mindful of the long-term ramifications of diminishing rugby’s footprint in Victoria.
Rebels’ chequered history
Australian rugby’s move into Melbourne was not ill-conceived but it was let down by poor execution.
The city’s commercial appeal, as well as its large population and appetite for sport, made it an attractive destination for the expansion plans of both rugby codes.
With rugby league successfully staging State of Origin matches in Melbourne, the then-Australian Rugby Union (ARU) followed suit and hosted a Wallabies’ Test against Italy at Olympic Park in 1994.
After turning professional in the mid-1990s, rugby’s popularity and profile grew in its non-traditional markets and the ARU took advantage when it played Bledisloe Cup Tests at the MCG in 1997 and 1998.
A crowd of more than 90,000 attended in 1997 and over 75,000 watched on the following year, vindicating the decision to test the waters in AFL-dominated Melbourne.
Talk of a Melbourne-based Super Rugby franchise gathered speed, but it was Perth – with the Western Force – who got the nod when a fourth Australian Super Rugby team was added ahead of the 2006 season.
It would take another five years before the Rebels would join Super Rugby, with the late Harold Mitchell heading up the franchise when it gained entry into the expanded competition.
There were promising signs in the build-up to their debut following the signing of Rod Macqueen as head coach and Stirling Mortlock as captain, but the Rebels soon hit troubled waters.
In April 2010, less than 12 months out from their first match, they were already on the lookout for a new CEO after Brian Waldron resigned due to his role in the Melbourne Storm’s NRL salary cap scandal.
Waldron had joined the Rebels from the Storm and his recruitment was regarded as a coup, given his extensive administrative experience in the Melbourne sporting market (he had also worked with AFL club St Kilda).
While there was no suggestion of impropriety during Waldron’s brief tenure at the Rebels, the episode did little to instil faith in the fledging franchise’s ability to have its house in order.
This was compounded by the nervousness associated with the Rebels’ flirtation with private ownership during their history and the financial problems they encountered in their 14-year existence.
They were considered fortunate to survive the axe in 2017 when the Force was cut from Super Rugby as part of RA’s rationalisation strategy, while the consistency of their on-field performances across their existence – under a succession of coaches — was found wanting.
Their lack of success contrasted that of the Storm, who won three NRL premierships after the establishment of the Rebels.
Amid Melbourne’s obsession with Australian rules, the Storm have still been able to carve out a space in the city’s congested sporting landscape, yet the Rebels – despite a loyal band of supporters – barely made an impact.
It was even joked on social media that Melburnians didn’t know they had a professional rugby team until there was coverage of the Rebels avoiding the cut from Super Rugby seven years ago.
Whether RA will consider having a professional presence in Melbourne again remains to be seen, but if it chooses to go down that path it can take many lessons away from the Rebels’ experience.
