World Rugby Candidate Robinson Advocates for Global Expansion of Test Rugby

Brett Robinson, a candidate for World Rugby chair, asserts that the sport’s leading nations should increase the number of matches played in novel locations to benefit the game universally. Robinson has a background as the high-performance manager and deputy chair of Rugby Australia. The Australian, aged 54, is among three individuals vying for the premier position at the sport’s international governing organization. His fellow contenders are former Test players Abdelatif Benazzi from France and Andrea Rinaldo from Italy. World Rugby’s 52-member council is scheduled to elect the new chair on Thursday in Dublin. He informed BBC Sport, “It is not a new thing to be taking major matches to new countries or other venues to generate interest and revenue.” He further stated, “If we don’t get on with it, we will miss the opportunity. So I would push us to get moving.” Robinson added, “In most of our core markets, particularly in the northern hemisphere, the growth opportunities are not as significant for the game as they are potentially in other parts of the world.” The Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 marked the initial occasion the tournament took place beyond the sport’s traditional strongholds, with the United States set to host the event in 2031. Qatar is designated as a prospective location for the finals of the upcoming biennial Rugby Nations Championships, an event scheduled for 2026 that will unite the top teams from both hemispheres for a season-ending culmination for the first time. Individual Test matches, like the encounter between New Zealand and Fiji in San Diego in July, have also occurred outside established union territories. Robinson contends that other prominent unions ought to intensify their efforts to expand the sport, especially in anticipation of a World Cup hosted in the United States. He further commented, “The lead-in to that tournament is really important. We need alignment with our major unions about what we might take to the United States and where we might go to have the cut-through and connections with fans.” Robinson, who earned 16 caps for the Wallabies as a flanker, additionally advocates for rugby to innovate its playing style and presentation to engage younger fan demographics. He observed, “The channels that we historically consumed through – print, TV and radio – are not the channels younger people consume.” Robinson elaborated, “When you look at the way that NBA and NFL are targeting my kids and their friends with the gaming, with the Netflix series, the podcasts- we have to challenge ourselves to do things that are contemporary and relevant to them.” The Autumn Nations Series this year has incorporated various new law modifications, such as 20-minute red cards and accelerated set-pieces, alongside referees explaining their decisions to spectators in the stadium. Robinson maintains that further actions are necessary to sustain the game’s momentum and to incentivize teams that attack with the ball, as opposed to kicking. He added, “The fan is not something we have necessarily put in the centre, and I do think that is changing.” He continued, “At World Rugby, we have historical process about change and that is challenging because we are a massive global sport with lots of stakeholders, but we can probably do more.” Robinson remarked, “I think we can probably reflect on how we move things forward faster – it is probably the impatient Australian in me but I find it a bit bureaucratic.” Conversely, Robinson seeks increased regulation concerning player contracts and transfers. He expresses apprehension regarding the global transfer of promising young athletes, as academies present contracts to male teenage players, encouraging them to relocate thousands of miles from their homes, potentially jeopardizing their eligibility for their national teams. The escalating salaries of players also pose a challenge to club rugby. Earlier this year, the Australian team Melbourne Rebels, like English Premiership clubs Wasps, London Irish, and Worcester, entered administration. Robinson stated, “World Rugby doesn’t directly control things, but it has a role in bringing together unions to consider how we can deal with it.” He emphasized, “We need to work together on a model that creates some friction in player transfer arrangements, because we have some environments where player wage inflation is being underwritten by philanthropy, not the true commercial revenues of the sport.” He concluded, “That is not sustainable in that competition, but also it is destroying the foundations of other competitions as talent leaves or the attempt to retain it pushes the salary budget through the roof and teams fall over.”