Heather du Plessis-Allan: The rugby bosses would be idiots to turn Qatar's offer down

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Brace yourself, because it looks like we’re about to have another debate about whether sport should be taking money from Qatar.

And this time, we’re probably going to care more about this as a nation, because this time - the sport is rugby.

It's being reported that Qatar has made an offer to host the new upcoming Nations Championship, which is the tournament that basically combines the Six Nations up in Europe and the Rugby Championship down in the Southern Hemisphere - and then possibly adds in Fiji and Japan just to get to 12 nations.

It’s supposed to happen every couple of years, played across the winter rugby window and then culminating in a finals weekend in November.

This is what Qatar has offered to host, that finals weekend. They will bill it as a sort of 'Super Bowl of rugby' and they've promised commercial returns of $1.7 billion (NZD).

Come on, the rugby bosses would be idiots to turn this down, wouldn't they?

Unless they know that they can get better money elsewhere - and where are they going to get better money?

Because they are short on cash. NZR is losing money fast, it's burning through its Silver Lake money, and Rugby Australia just posted a deficit yesterday.

They've got seven days to decide if they’ll start exclusive negotiations with Qatar, and if they go ahead - you know what will happen.

There will be years of angsting over whether they’re selling their souls to a state known for the abuse of migrants and the mistreatment of the LGBTQIA+ community, and people will rage about it and threaten to boycott.

And it will carry on until the first whistle, but then it'll go quiet and we will love the tournament. We'll love the the seven world-class stadia within 55 km of Doha, the public transport and the luxurious six-star hotels - and we will declare it a success.

Because that is what happened with the Football World Cup 2 years ago, it's probably what will happen with the World Aquatics Championships, the Basketball World Cup in three years time, the 2036 Olympics if Qatar wins the bid - and maybe even the rugby.

As I say, unless rugby can get better money elsewhere, they’d be idiots to turn this one up.

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