Australian rugby in trouble, says chief

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian Rugby Union's chief executive John O'Neill has called for major changes to reinvigorate the game or it will slip into irreversible decline here.

Amid falling attendances, ratings, revenues and performances, O'Neill said the ARU was in serious financial trouble and would have gone broke were it not for cash reserves built up by Australia hosting the 2003 World Cup.

"We are at the crossroads -- the option of doing nothing can't be contemplated and some very significant radical changes have to be undertaken," he told a press conference late Tuesday.

"Our position has been eroding and, I don't want to be overly dramatic, but unless we find some transforming initiatives, that erosion will continue until it reaches an irreversible...