Browne sounds a cautionary note

SEVENS RUGBY:On the day the IRFU launched a new domestic sevens competition, chief executive told CIARAN HANCOCKthe union faces a real struggle to fund a professional sevens team

IRELAND MIGHT not be able to field a sevens rugby team when it makes its bow at the 2016 Olympic Games due to a lack of funding and a lack of player resources, IRFU chief executive Philip Browne has warned.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Irish Times(see Business This Week) Browne estimated the cost to the IRFU of forming a competitive sevens team would be more than €1 million a year.

“The reality is that to put a professional sevens team on the circuit in a serious fashion is going to cost in excess of €1 million a year. Frankly, we don’t have that sort of money,” Browne said.

“I don’t see any money of any significance coming from either the International Olympic Council or the Olympic Council of Ireland. or indeed the Sports Council.

“So that begs the question: what gives? And we haven’t made a decision as to how we’re going to deal with it.”

Browne said a paper produced by a working group of the IRFU would be considered at the next two meetings of its management committee and the union.

“In the new year we’ll have a better view of how we’re going to deal with it,” he said.

The IRFU is currently feeling the strain of the recession. Its surplus last year fell by 16 per cent to €1.6 million and Browne expects it to record a “small cash deficit” for the current financial year, which ends on April 30th.

This is due to an accounting treatment of 10-year premium ticket sales for the Aviva stadium.

Building the Aviva has also resulted in the IRFU taking on bank debt of €38 million.

About a dozen corporate boxes at the new stadium lie empty as the recession suppresses demand. The All Ireland League is also without a sponsor following AIB’s decision to end its association with the event.

This has forced the IRFU to meet the costs of the AIL from its own resources.And its revenues are further threatened by a proposal from Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan to designate Six Nations and Heineken Cup matches as free-to-air.

Browne has warned this could blow a hole of €12 million a year in its revenues.

He said sevens rugby would produce no income for the union. “It would simply be a cost centre. It’s hard at the moment to see where we’re going to go with it.”

He also raised concerns about player resources. “Sevens rugby clashes directly with the 15-a-side game and you would have to extract 15 to 20 players out of the 15-a-side game.

“They would undergo a separate training regime. There are some elements that are similar to 15-a-side rugby; obviously they would have to be prepared in a completely different fashion.

“So it begs the question: do we have 15-20 players we can take out of the system without leaving a hole in our provinces?

“For the bigger countries, with bigger playing populations it’s an easier proposition. But all of the small unions would be questioning can they afford it.

“For us, we don’t have a tradition here. That’s not to say we can’t play sevens rugby. We’ve got some great players who could easily transfer to the sevens game. But that’s the issue – they would have to transfer to the sevens game.”

The sevens game is being introduced for the Olympics in Rio in 2016 but could appear in London as a demonstration event.

“There are no easy answers. And the bottom line is that it’s going to cost a significant amount of money that we don’t have.”