Disappointment and a responsibility on fans for the ongoing financial health of Rugby in Ireland were the two strong themes to emerge from the publication of the annual financial report by the Irish Rugby Football Union in recent days.
A poor season for the senior men’s team in the RBS Six Nations needs to be turned around in order to attract ticket sales and raise once more the sense of wellbeing around the sport that serves to attract the general public and with them the kind of commercial deals that are required at the top level of sport.
On Friday the IRFU revealed that only €14 million of a hoped for €40 million had been secured through the latest sale of premium tickets at the Aviva Stadium, and that the Union would have to borrow to fund a deficit between now and 2020.
The figures for last year were boosted by a once off payment of €11.5 million from Puma as part of their exit from the national kit supplier contract. Indications at the weekend were that a replacement provider would be announced ahead of the next main event of the Autumn internationals.
It may well be that Under Armour, who have made strides into the sport in recent years and who currently supply the Welsh team could view Ireland as a good brand to be associated with, perhaps especially in its own home market of the United States in the run up to a World Cup.
A winning team is important as was pointed out in Wales yesterday, and that needs to be built on the success of a strong grassroots and provincial pipeline of players.
The biggest threat to the future of that pipeline remains the ongoing uncertainty over the Heineken Cup beyond next May. The group fixtures have been published but there is still no agreement between the English and French clubs on one side and the Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Italian and the European Rugby Cup administrators on the other.
There are TV contracts already in place for European Rugby of some description but it is the high end of competition among the best of clubs that makes the tournament special for fans across the continent and a dilution of that could have serious knock on implications for the game as a whole.
The continued possibility of a ban on alcohol sponsorship was also highlighted as a major concern and the IRFU’s principal long term partner is now in process of being taken over by rival brand Three which has always been involved in sport but primarily in Soccer, Gaelic Games and Golf up until now.
At least that contract is in place and confirmed until 2016 so there is time to find either a transition or a replacement but it will not be easy at the top of the sport and with top money required if the team is failing to record the right results.
The most successful team of the year was the Women’s side who captured Ireland’s only third ever Grand Slam in March and which has drawn great praise from around the sporting family.
The success has been recognised with a substantial increase in funding for the Women’s game though there has been no joy as yet in securing sponsorship.
Team Manager Gemma Crowley was a strong contributor to The Business of Women’s Sport conference organised by Sport for Business at UCD Smurfit Business School in June of this year and it is hoped that a sensible approach to the valuation of the sponsorship will yield a positive response from the business community in the early stages of the great potential which the women’s side of the sport has in advance of its Olympic debut in sevens format at Rio 2016.
Greater spending in one area though has meant reductions elsewhere and it is at the club and development level that the cuts are being felt deepest.
It is impossible at a time of reduced income to keep spending in all areas and priorities have to be set. The IRFU has sought to lessen the impact through borrowing to cover an expected continued deficit over the next few years and to cover that through a better return on corporate and multi annual seat sales in 2020.
The Aviva Stadium will then be ten years old and a solid manifestation of the sport and its appeal. It is only to be hoped that the development of players that will attract big enough crowds and TV deals will continue to unearth stars like O’Driscoll, O’Connell and Sexton and that fans will heed ‘Ireland’s Call’ as expressed on publication of the 2013 annual report to support the sport through attending matches and digging deep.
The bulk of revenue continues to come from the activities of the national team. Through this the funding of the provinces is made possible but if the Heineken Cup does emerge from negotiation as an even stronger platform for Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht, it will be interesting to see if the balance does not change, as it has in soccer, from national to ‘club’.
After all it does not take a calculator to work out the shift between the number of provincial jerseys worn on the streets of Dublin, Belfast and Limerick versus those of the Irish green and this will be a changing dynamic over the coming years, one to be managed but which could ultimately lead to a stronger sport overall.
Wednesday: FAI Finances
Thursday: Comparison of the Big Three
Sports Tourism Seminar at Croke Park (September 19th)
Sport for Business 20/20 at Ulster Bank HQ (October 8th)
The Business of Youth Sport Seminar (November 28th)
