Introducing: The Breakdown

March 28, 2021·40 min·3 clips

Player agent Kota Nasser, who manages Sonny Bill Williams and Quade Cooper, says Australian rugby excludes anyone who isn't from a white private school — and that the All Blacks could have had Sonny Bill too.

Journalist Jessica Halloran of The Australian introduces The Breakdown, a podcast investigation into the collapse of Australian Rugby Union. The episode opens with a montage of voices — players, coaches, and officials — describing a game that has lost its culture, accumulated $20 million in debt, and hemorrhaged grassroots clubs. The central figure in episode one is David Campese, who played 101 tests for Australia and scored 64 career test tries — a record no Australian has come close to. Campese grew up in Queanbeyan outside Canberra, the son of Italian immigrants, and came to rugby union from rugby league and Australian rules. He went from fourth grade in Queanbeyan in 1979 to the Wallabies in 1982. He describes a trade with Russell Crowe: Campese gave him a jersey from the 1991 World Cup semi-final, and Crowe gave him the Gladiator mask he wore in the film. Despite this status, Campese has never held a full-time coaching role in Australia. He left a voicemail for the New South Wales Rugby CEO during COVID and was never called back. When he ran coaching clinics around Australia for two years as a part-time ambassador, he repeatedly found that children playing rugby couldn't name a single Wallaby as their favourite player. Club president Techie from the Blacktown Scorpions confirms this; girls at his club took a photo with Campese and had no idea who he was. Techie also notes that Rugby League scouts attend junior games and recruit, while Rugby Union scouts are absent. Player agent Kota Nasser, who manages Sonny Bill Williams and Quade Cooper, makes his first on-record statement about race in Australian rugby. He argues that the sport excludes anyone who is not from a white private school background, pointing to the absence of Polynesian and Aboriginal players in leadership and boardroom positions. He notes that Quade Cooper was fined $40,000 and effectively ended his Wallabies career by calling the environment 'toxic' in 2013. Kota also reveals that when Sonny Bill Williams was available to be recruited, the All Blacks came to him while Australian rugby did nothing. Nick Farr-Jones, who captained the 1991 World Cup-winning Wallabies, describes Campese as a unique player who ran against the rule book and whose desire for the ball was unmistakable. He reveals that before the 1991 World Cup he had to hold a meeting in a bar to reconcile Campese and Michael Lynagh, who had stopped communicating after Campese published a book critical of Queensland's style. Campese was named player of the tournament after Australia won. Coach Alan Jones is credited with the 1984 Grand Slam tour, which first brought the Wallabies to national consciousness. The episode closes with Campese's reflection that Australia won two World Cups and forgot to celebrate or build on it, losing the culture that made the game great.

As heard by us

A sports investigation into who killed Australian Rugby Union.

The Breakdown follows Jessica Halloran and Claire Harvey as they look at who killed Australian Rugby Union and how the game with all the money ended up broke.

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Press play for a sharp look at how Australian rugby ended up broke.

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