ARU records 6.3m deficit to keep rebels afloat

The Australian is reporting that the Australian Rugby Union has returned a 6.3 million deficit for 2014 including 3.3 million spent keeping the Melbourne Rebels afloat. The Australian also says that participation in WA and Victoria hasnt justified the inclusion of those teams in the Super Rugby sphere.

Overall participation numbers have risen to 687,488, an increase of 12 per cent on 2013, but all the gains have been on the margins. More than 120,000 children took part in National Rugby Week while the growing popularity of sevens rugby — which becomes an Olympic sport in Rio de Janeiro next year — saw the number of women and girls playing the game rise to 13,488, a 66 per cent leap. Queensland again have the highest participation numbers (296,356) but NSW continue to lead the way in terms of competition participants with 116,521 of the overall 241,577 nationally.

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