“AN ILL WIND BLOWS NOBODY ANY GOOD”

• By Rolling Maul

Wellington’s summer breeze is typically more abrasive than caressing, with the atmospheric disturbance swirling around rugby union early in 2024 creating discomfort for many loyal supporters of the game. News that the Wellington Rugby Football Union Inc. is considering selling its 50% share in Hurricanes GP Limited “after mounting losses”, reminds Rolling Maul of Harold Macmillan’s acerbic tongue when, in 1985, he accused Margaret Thatcher of “selling off the family silver”. Macmillan warned against the irreversible effects of turning assets into income.

One can only wonder if there are similar murmurings among the affiliated clubs of the Wellington Union? Rolling Maul is not in a position to speculate whether (or not) Wellington Rugby’s “return on capital employed” has been at the level expected of the Union’s Directors since Hurricanes GP Limited was first incorporated in 2012.

Sir William Molesworth, (once Secretary of State for the Colonies and pictured in the photo above), whose name is on the street address of New Zealand Rugby’s presidium in Wellington, remarked in 1851 that if colonial institutions “mismanage their affairs, they should be held responsible for the result”, a sentiment that Rolling Maul suspects all stakeholders of the institution of rugby union will no doubt wholeheartedly agree with 173 years later.

So, what has gone so spectacularly wrong?

Without the benefit of publicly available financial statements for 2022 and 2023, Rolling Maul can only assume that Wellington Rugby’s revenue forecasts have not matched the expenses of “running the business”. Revenue expectations (at least in part) rely on there being continued local interest in the game, which in the face of a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by entrenched inflation, means that families’ sporting decisions are more likely to be focused on the affordability of local club membership subscriptions and the price of children’s rugby boots, rather than on buying family passes (or match-day tickets) to NPC matches at SKY Stadium, or pay-to-view TV subscriptions, to watch the Lions.

Rolling Maul suggests that at the grassroots, where money is still (mercifully!) not the motivation to participate, Wellington Rugby’s clubs are generally still in good heart. Wellington’s clubs rely on unpaid volunteers, with club generated revenue generally going straight back into the delivery of a rugby programmes and facilities for club members. Where the financial problems for the union appear to have emerged is where Wellington Rugby’s investment has been directed into the professional (or semi-professional) game, in the expectation that the return from that investment will flow back to the community.

Investment carries risk.

Rolling Maul’s 1967 Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines “risk” (in the case of ownership) as “bearing any contingent loss”. Hurricanes GP Limited was incorporated in 2012, 16 years following the launch of Super Rugby, with the Wellington Rugby Football Union Inc. purchasing 50% of the 3,200,000 shares issued, in exchange for $1,600,000. Rolling Maul wonders what that investment might be worth today in the event of a forced sale?

The saying “an ill wind blows nobody any good” is attributed to John Heywood (1497-1580) with the full proverb explaining that “a wind that was unlucky for one person would bring good fortune to another”. Rolling Maul hopes that if a Hurricanes forced sale is required, “the good fortune” stays in the region, rather than being blown offshore.