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Speaker 1: So we have a significant development in the ownership of rugby.

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Speaker 1: The Wellington RFU Rugby Football Union has sold its fifty

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Speaker 1: percent stake in the Hurricanes to private owners basically as

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Speaker 1: a result of running out of money. The buyers are

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Speaker 1: New Zealand Sport Investment Limited. Malcolm Gillies is part of

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Speaker 1: it and he's with us now.

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Speaker 2: Him Malcolm, Gooday, how are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm very well? Thank you mate, thanks for talking to us.

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Speaker 1: I understand your in Fiji, is that right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Oh you're a good lovely weather.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you for doing it.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Did you go to the Hurricanes or Wellington Football and

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Speaker 1: offer this deal or did they come to you?

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Speaker 2: Well, we deal started with Wellington Rugby. They came to

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Speaker 2: us and said that they were thinking of so in

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Speaker 2: this years and so we took it from there.

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Speaker 1: Okay. Do you think it's a good investment given what's

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Speaker 1: going on with rugby.

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Speaker 2: I think it's a challenging one. I think it's got

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Speaker 2: a great future. There's a lot of untapped potential, but

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Speaker 2: there's certainly a lot of things to do. So I

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Speaker 2: think if you just do it the same way as

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Speaker 2: it's been done, then this is going to be very difficult,

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Speaker 2: but we did it for a lot of reasons. My

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Speaker 2: partner John Bellen and Peter, we both all of us

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Speaker 2: decided that well, we've got a passion for rugby and

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Speaker 2: we certainly got a passion for Wellington rugby. So it

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Speaker 2: wasn't all necessarily about making money. Was about trying to

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Speaker 2: help help the union sort itself out and at the

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Speaker 2: same time obviously help the Hurricanes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but they need to make money. I mean, it

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Speaker 1: does need to make money to continue, doesn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it does. It's got to pay its way. And

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Speaker 2: we're we're reasonably happy that we can with our business

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Speaker 2: skills that we can do that.

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Speaker 1: So what are you going to change? Would you change

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Speaker 1: where you host the games? Get out of sky Stadium?

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Speaker 2: Look, that's always an option. But then once again, if

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Speaker 2: you know, the easiest thing is to blame sky Stadium,

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Speaker 2: it's too big, it's this, and it's that. The reality

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Speaker 2: is the Hurricanes also have a responsibility to re engage

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Speaker 2: with their fans. I mean, we had an average crowd

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Speaker 2: size of seven thousand, and I think, you know, realistically,

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Speaker 2: we've got to look at ourselves. How do we get

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Speaker 2: that When we had the pacifica game we had nearly

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Speaker 2: twenty thousand. So the reality is that we've got a

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Speaker 2: lot of work to do. We've got to re engage

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Speaker 2: with our fans, their past players and our communities. We've

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Speaker 2: got to get people in behind us again and we've

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Speaker 2: got to have a product that they want to go

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Speaker 2: and watch.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to turn up so big. Why the

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Speaker 1: fans turn up for that, Malcolm, apart from obviously being

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Speaker 1: really ardent fans, Is it not because it's a rare

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Speaker 1: thing on the calendar. It's an event.

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Speaker 2: No, you've got to make You've got to make an

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Speaker 2: event out of the day. And you know, we don't

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Speaker 2: have a lot of money to spend massive things on marketing,

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Speaker 2: but there's a lot of things we could do to

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Speaker 2: re engage to make them. We can set up club

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Speaker 2: competitions where they wear their jerseys. We can do a

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Speaker 2: lot of things.

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Speaker 1: Are you committing You've got five fixtures that you have

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Speaker 1: to play next year apparently at Skystadium. Are you definitely

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Speaker 1: going to play all five of them there?

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Speaker 2: Well? This year we've got one in christ Church and

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Speaker 2: we've got one in Napier. It depends, It depends what

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Speaker 2: we can do. We also think we have a responsibility

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Speaker 2: to take the game out into the regions as well.

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Speaker 2: This year we've got one in Napier and I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, we've got six pus right stretching right up

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Speaker 2: to Gisbon. So I think it's important that we get

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Speaker 2: at least one of those games each year out into

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Speaker 2: the PUS. So if we've got five home games next year,

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Speaker 2: we'll just have to look at how we're going. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is it might not be.

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Speaker 2: You know, we've got to make sure we can pay

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Speaker 2: what it costs to play at the stadium, and that's

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Speaker 2: my job.

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Speaker 1: If the women's team doesn't make money, do you have

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Speaker 1: to continue with it?

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Speaker 2: We probably will have one of the best women's teams

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Speaker 2: looking at the roster or with the coaching roster at

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Speaker 2: the stage that we've ever had, So we're not contemplating

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Speaker 2: that losing money. I mean, the women's team is supported

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Speaker 2: well to start with. Why the NZAU anyway really up

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Speaker 2: to us just to to you know, to play a

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Speaker 2: reasonable game of rugby, and it's a growing attraction the

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Speaker 2: woman's game all across the world.

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Speaker 1: I feel kind of sorry for you, Malcolm, because I

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Speaker 1: think you're pushing it up here with this because part

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Speaker 1: of your problem, and you can only fix so many things.

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Speaker 1: Part of the problem is rugby is boring, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: Like you look at what is going on in the field.

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Speaker 1: It's so fast on rugby league, it's so fast. Now

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Speaker 1: in the football you can really enjoy it. Rugby they're

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Speaker 1: getting together and slowing down the ball the whole time.

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Speaker 1: You can't fix that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, firstly, I don't want you to feel sorry

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Speaker 2: for me, you know, really, I totally agree, and I

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Speaker 2: think anyone with half a brain can look to see.

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Speaker 2: But that's a bigger thing than what I can fix.

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Speaker 2: I still believe people that are passionate about rugby will

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Speaker 2: give the people that have the opportunity to change the

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Speaker 2: rules the time to do it. I mean, rugby has

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Speaker 2: been a part of our culture. It's a part of

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Speaker 2: who we are in New Zealand as this league. But yes,

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Speaker 2: definitely league is a better spectacle right now. You need

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Speaker 2: to be honest. We all know that. But I think

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Speaker 2: surely we're not the only ones that can see that.

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Speaker 2: And the people that have the power to change that

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Speaker 2: given time, I think we'll do that. They'll address it.

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Speaker 1: The time Malcolm, they take so long. Listen, good luck

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Speaker 1: with it and thanks for stepping and mate and talking

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Speaker 1: to us from Fiji, Malcolm Gilly's Hurricanes chair.

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Speaker 2: For more from The Mike Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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