Chairman Cameron Clyne, who presented the results and annual report at RA's annual general meeting on Monday, acknowledged 2017 was "an incredibly difficult year" but said the game's grassroots would benefit from the call to axe the Force.
"The difficult decision to remove a Super Rugby team was made with the games best interests at heart, but it resulted in a great deal of hardship," Clyne said.
Dark days: Matt Hodgson, centre, and teammates after the Western Force's last Super Rugby game.
"Ultimately, we believe the decision will strengthen our code in the long term. We want to be able to invest more significantly in community rugby, something we have often been unable to do confidently over the past five years. We also want to improve our performances at the highest levels of the game and we will continue to invest in our new collaborative high-performance model.
"Despite the significant challenges of the past year, there were some great highlights, including huge participation growth in Womens Rugby and Indigenous Rugby, and the inaugural Aon Uni 7s and advent of the Buildcorp Super W competitions to bolster our female pathways.
"At the community level we have also made great advancements in improving the safety of our game, which is crucial to continue to attract young boys and girls into the sport."
Fresh start: Clyne and Raelene Castle at the announcement of Castle as new CEO.
Photo: AAP
Women's rugby bucked the downward trend, with club XVs participation jumping 53 per cent and club sevens participation growing 47 per cent. The women's game benefited from help from the Australian Rugby Foundation (ARF), including a $234,000 grant to support the Wallaroos' World Cup campaign.
Elsewhere, indigenous participation grew 134 per cent thanks to the Deadly Sevens program in schools. RA also strengthened its pathways, announcing the start of the Super W women's XVs competition, the Aon Uni 7s competition and expanding the National Rugby Championship to include a Fijian team.
Statement: Australia wore the first indigenous-design Wallabies jersey in the third Bledisloe Cup Test last year.
Photo: AAP
And despite losing the series for a 15th straight year, the Wallabies beat New Zealand in the third Bledisloe Cup Test in Brisbane last October. The match also marked the debut of the hugely popular Wallabies indigenous jersey, which will be used in a home Test every year.
Also on Monday, Gordon club president Hayden Rorke and ARF chairman John Wilson were elected to the Rugby Australia board.
Comments disabled
Georgina Robinson is a Sports Reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald
Morning & Afternoon Newsletter
Delivered Mon–Fri.
