I’m gutted that the ARU have dropped the ARC after just one year. They have cited financial reasons for the axing, however I have my doubts. The skeptic in me feels that success of the ARC would look favourably on the Flowers administration. That combined with trying to cut costs to make Deans salary without affecting big wig bonuses…… but I’ll leave those accusations for Growden.

For those who don’t know (and that’s probably most), the Australian Rugby Championship was a competition set up last year to provide a level between the disparate state club competitions (such as Shute Shield in Sydney and Queensland Premier Rugby in Brisbane) and Super 14 (14 teams ; 4 from oz, 5 nz and 5 sa). In theory the ARC was to provide a proving ground for young players, similar to the National Provincial Competition in Enzed and the Currie Cup in Seth Efrika. Without a strong domestic competition we’ll always have young blokes jumping into the deep end of Super 14 to sink or swim, and many more never getting a chance to show their wares.

The comp was never going to make a lot of money, in fact it was well known right from the start that it was going to run at a loss in the millions. In my opinion running the comp at a loss isn’t a terrible thing, and if you look at the Moomoo (Pura) Cup you’ll see a perfect example of why this statement is true. It runs at a huge loss, yet CA realise that having a quality breeding ground for future baggy greens ensures continued domination of the top tier of cricket, which in turn brings in the big bucks. These big bucks are then invested back into the game and the cycle is complete.

The ARU seem unwilling to make a loss at any level, so after having invested heavily in the first year of competition have thrown it away, which is a tragedy. Following are a bunch of arguments for giving the comp a second year: