KEY POINTS:
Crusaders coach Robbie Deans is worried what would happen to rugby if the governing bodies lost control of the game.
Speaking in Paris after the World Cup final, Deans said the trouble was that change from amateurism to professionalism had been so dramatic and had been driven by
external parties.
"But I hope the governing bodies remain in charge of this game otherwise rugby will be driven by people that don't care for the game itself and its lower echelons. There are some risks on the horizon."
The way forward was with co-operation, but that was also the Achilles heel of the game.
"The risk for the game is that revenues generated by TV rise so that the direction of the game can also be influenced by the holders of those rights.
"It is the challenge of amateur and professionalism, how you cater for both.
"The guy that wants to play for recreation at the weekend doesn't want to train as much as the semi-professional. He doesn't want to play at the higher level or meet guys from that higher level. He has to go back to work on Monday but the game has to cater for him."
If outside parties did grab control you could have a truly elite game like grid-iron. "Rugby lends itself to that outcome if we are not careful. But grid-iron is just played at college level and professionally and that would be disastrous."
Deans said the good thing was that the governing bodies were addressing aspects such as the global season and more meaningful matches between World Cups.
"If these things are not achieved, the game is definitely at risk because private individuals might seek to exploit that vacuum. Remember, that is how professional rugby started. So the authorities cannot be complacent.
"We just managed to cut that off [the growing interest of commercial outsiders] in the past, in 1995, but I suspect another challenge is coming. So we need to bring some agility to what we do and the only way to do that is co-operation and co-ordination."
He said this World Cup had been fantastic and what had been especially good was the emergence of some nations that were more competitive now than they had been. "The more these nations spread the gospel the more rugby will capture the imagination of wider audiences."
Deans believed the game was heading for a two-tiered structure: international and franchise rugby on the one part, domestic and club rugby on the other. There were safety issues that had to be urgently addressed. Those who saw Portugal's amateurs confront the super professional New Zealanders in this World Cup understood implicitly the dangers.
Deans was reluctant to analyse publicly and in great detail why another All Blacks World Cup campaign came off the rails.
"As soon as you accept something, you are in trouble. That is part of the challenge for the New Zealand rugby public in terms of their ability to cope.
"You have only got to listen to the NZ rugby public to understand what went wrong. They are very intelligent. You want your supporters to support you win or lose and to some extent be blind to your faults. But in terms of coping, realism is a great attribute. If you only ever hear one side of the story and you don't ever contemplate defeat, you won't embrace reality."
