The Rugby Australia Board has held its February meeting in Sydney today.
One of the main agenda items was Rugby Australia’s strategy ahead of SANZAAR negotiations for the 2021-2025 broadcast cycle. The Board agreed the key focus points for discussion at the next SANZAAR meeting in March and were also updated on the feedback from current SANZAAR broadcast partners.
The Board also re-affirmed Rugby Australia’s support of World Rugby’s continued drive to deliver an aligned global competition and these discussions will continue at World Rugby meetings in Dublin in March.
Vacant Qantas Wallabies positions including National Selector, Attack Coach, and Head of Athletic Preparation were discussed, with an announcement on the appointment of a National Selector likely to be made in the coming days. Recruitment for the two remaining positions will be completed following the arrival of new Director of Rugby, Scott Johnson.
The Board heard a debrief from a successful HSBC Sydney 7s at Spotless Stadium earlier this month, which included a sold-out finals day on Sunday and a positive fan response to a new mix of entertainment options at the event, including the popular addition of a music festival stage. The Board also approved the approach for venue appointments over the next four-year cycle of the event beginning in 2020.
The Board also acknowledged today's release of a report ‘Pathway to Pay Equality’ by Male Champions of Change (MCC) Sport, a joint initiative between Australia’s leading sports organisations. The report made several recommendations for sports organisations and other major stakeholders in sport to continue the push to achieve pay equality in sport, as well as publishing results of a self-assessment of each MCC Sport member’s progress on The Pathway to Pay Equality.
Rugby Australia Chief Executive and MCC Sport Special Advisor, Raelene Castle said: “Rugby has made a significant step forward over the past year by achieving pay parity on entry-level minimum contracts across the professional game, with our women’s and men’s sevens players and male Super Rugby players entitled to the same minimum terms.
“Equality and Inclusion continue to be a strong focus of Rugby Australia and the MCC Sport report released today has shown that our sport has made significant gains in the area of pay equality and has benchmarked well alongside some of our fellow sports. We remain committed to making further progress over the coming year,” said Castle.
The next meeting of the Board will be held on the day following the Rugby Australia AGM on Monday 8 April.
