By Sam Ryan

A few years back, Australia had the best cricket team in the world.

Both our Test and One Day side were near unbeatable and the Australian public adored them. When one legend retired, two or three young stars were knocking down the door, taking wickets or scoring runs consistently at state level. It seemed like it would stay this way forever.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

You see, the game just had to become more professional. Even though Australia was already the best side in the world, things had to change. Despite already owning the Australian summer, Cricket Australia needed more.

As cricket evolved from a sport to a business, the empire began to grow and more and more individuals became employed by the game. To feed the empire, Cricket Australia needed more cash, so their finances became their main priority.

They needed to pay players more money to be more professional, so they could play more games and increase revenue from TV deals, sponsorships and gate takings.

And because they were paying the players so much money, they needed to employ more staff to make them better cricketers. And the empire got bigger and bigger and bigger.

Unfortunately though, somewhere along the way Cricket Australia forgot what it was that made them a powerhouse.

It wasn’t the ever-growing coaching staffs, or the numerous high performance units. Nor the physios, sports psychologists or dieticians that made our players great.

What made Australian cricket so strong was competition and depth that stemmed from the domestic competition, the Sheffield Shield and below that grade cricket.

Young players learnt how to play and train in all sorts of conditions, some more suitable than others. When things got tough, they learnt what it takes to knuckle down and really work hard.

Now, a young player is picked in a junior representative side, some as young as 15. From there, if he or she is deemed talented enough, they join a high performance squad and train on immaculate fields until they are good enough to become a professional.

The grassroots community are no longer deemed relevant. The empire just doesn’t have time, or the money to spend on the more traditional pathway. They’ve already bought their eggs and they’re all sitting comfortably in one basket.

And while all that has been happening, the Australian side has got worse, crowds and TV ratings have declined and suddenly, according to the national coach, the sport is in crisis.

Sound familiar?

It’s almost as though the ARU and Cricket Australia have been reading from the same script.

Last year, the ARU’s Corporate Expenses, that’s the wages, salaries and allowances of head office outweighed their investment in grassroots or community rugby by 741%.

The empire has never been bigger.

Take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me, page 61 to be precise.

Now I understand the modern sporting landscape is a professional one and that a lot of things have changed in recent years. I’m not saying that there’s no place for top quality coaches, high performance units or sports psychologists.

But the ARU’s pursuit of professionalism cannot come at the cost of the community game.

Rugby in Australia is much bigger then 200 professional players and the ARU must realise this or it’s going to get harder to find them.

After a meeting with a number of former Wallabies last week, the ARU announced it would review its strategic plan.

But I’m not holding my breath and neither should you. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words and until then, it’s difficult to believe that the governing bodies position has changed.

It’s been a disappointing start to the Australia summer but if the ARU and Cricket Australia’s top-heavy, corporate approach doesn’t change, there could be plenty more long months to come.