A Year in the Life and Death of the Melbourne Rebels

In November 2023, the Melbourne Rebels began a pre-season full of hope and optimism. With a deep roster and a strong, unifying ’Ubuntu’ culture embedding itself within the franchise, there was high anticipation that the 2024 season - their 14th - would finally deliver success.

Granted unprecedented insider access, writer Geoff Parkes set out to document the Rebels’ season and to provide rugby followers with an insight into what makes a professional rugby franchise work.

What followed was an extraordinary turn of events: the club tipped into voluntary administration early in 2024, now not only fighting to compete in one of global rugby’s toughest elite competitions, but against a governing body intent on shutting it down.

A Year in the Life and Death of the Melbourne Rebels is a raw, close-up account of a group of committed people who, despite being forced to operate under severe financial and emotional stress, strove to take their club to its first ever Super Rugby finals appearance.

This book also provides a window into the administration of rugby in Australia; a troubling account of how a newly found determination to impose financial austerity clashed head on with rugby’s traditional values of respect, comradeship, and a shared love of the game.