Australian rugby makes changes to governance
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) is set for a shake-up to the way it’s governed, with the traditional power base of the game to be dismantled as they look to keep pace with rival codes.
The ARU on Tuesday announced the findings of a governance review by former Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib.
Rugby’s governing board in Australia will implement 15 recommendations made by Arbib.
Two of the key recommendations enacted from the review conducted are changes to the ARU voting structure and a requirement that all directors on the ARU board are to be independent.
The recommendations will be up for approval by the ARU’s membership at an extraordinary general meeting in December.
Under the current system, votes are mostly controlled by NSW and Queensland who have eight of 14 votes between them for ARU constitutional matters.
But under the new system, there will be one vote for each member union, one for each Super Rugby franchise, one additional for a member union with more than 50,000 players and a vote for the Rugby Union Players’ Association.
ARU chairman Michael Hawker admitted it was time for an overhaul and to have a governance that fairly represented the modern game.
“Our original constitution was in 1949 and we really (only) had NSW and Queenslanders,” Hawker said.
“There was a heavy concentration of NSW and Queensland in the voting on the board and we felt that – as a game we’re spreading more across Australia – that that wasn’t truly representative of the growing game across the country.”
Under the restructure, directors will no longer be nominated by states.
“Currently what happens is various power groups choose our directors … it’s (new system) a more-open process and democratic process and one that goes through a recommendation in the body which is a nominations committee,” Hawker said.
Current board member and chairman of the governance committee Peter Cosgrove admitted changes had to be made to bring the game up to speed off the field.
“With what we are doing here, we recognised the reality that this is a professional game, a national and international game and it must be run in the most business-like way, so that the structure of the board is not only independent but highly professional,” Cosgrove said.
“From our point of view, we have some tremendous advantages and we’ve got to seize them in a crowded sports market. Nobody is going to give us a free ride in Australia – we’ve got to compete strongly.”
The ARU is searching for a replacement to outgoing chief executive John O’Neill, a situation Hawker hopes to have resolved by the end of the year.
© AAP 2013The Crowd Says (13) | Page 1 of Comments
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October 31st 2012 @ 8:25am
TC said | October 31st 2012 @ 8:25am | Report comment
Not before time – it’s the QRU’s and NSWRU’s power struggles that have held the game back for decades.
When the Brumbies were dominating Australian rugby, winning Super titles, ACT rugby was going through a massive growth spurt, developing players for the Wallabies and the Vikings were playing the big state comps and giving them all a bit of a touch up.
You would think that the powers that be would have been supportive of ACT rugby continuing to grow.
Well, the evidence is to the contrary.
A whole series of things happened to do the opposite.
Firstly, a position on the ARU Board opened up, an ideal opportunity to have an ACT rep there, given how much the ACT was doing for the game.
But no – the predominant Qld and NSW members decided to fill the vacancy with someone from the NT – a far more important rugby area!!
Then when the Vikings were winning a bit too much in the Sydney comp, they were forced to play in the Brisbane comp, became too good there, and were kicked out altogether – so the opportunity to create a strong Eastern board comp featuring the best teams from Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra was put on the backburner, perhaps for good.
And then the Sydney schools got sick of St Eddies winning too many titles, so they were kicked out again.
ACT rugby has been going backwards ever since, the QRU and NSWRU having succeeded in forcing the Johnny-cum-lately back into its box – well done guys.
TC
October 31st 2012 @ 9:52am
Chris @ the Old Barbershop said | October 31st 2012 @ 9:52am | Report comment
The Viking$. Canberras version of the Broncos.
October 31st 2012 @ 9:27am
formeropenside said | October 31st 2012 @ 9:27am | Report comment
Brumby rugby got lucky back in the mid 90′s with once in a generation players in Gregan, Larkham, and some clever poaching. That does not a rugby powerhouse make. How many top-class Canberra boys have turned up since?
Dont lump the QRU in with NSW as the problem. The QRU is the solution.
October 31st 2012 @ 9:57am
Chris @ the Old Barbershop said | October 31st 2012 @ 9:57am | Report comment
Not luck. Just the product of a good Junior and Club competitions mate.
November 1st 2012 @ 9:32am
Rugby Diehard said | November 1st 2012 @ 9:32am | Report comment
And not poaching – they were all discards from the other states FOS.
October 31st 2012 @ 10:02am
TC said | October 31st 2012 @ 10:02am | Report comment
The point is that at the precise moment when rugby was exploding in Canberra, the old guard did everything they could to put it back in its box – and they succeeded.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?!
TC
October 31st 2012 @ 10:27am
Chris @ the Old Barbershop said | October 31st 2012 @ 10:27am | Report comment
The Old Guard or the New Money. They’re both as bad as each other.
October 31st 2012 @ 10:33am
Jutsie said | October 31st 2012 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Just because the QRU have got their house in order now does not mean they weren’t as complicit as the NSWRU in holding back the game from developing in the early years of professionalism.
I applaud guys like mccall and carmichael for instigating the required change but lets not forget the state that queensland rugby was in 4-5 years ago.
NSW need to shake things up at the top a bit like the QRU have done.
October 31st 2012 @ 12:35pm
Mike said | October 31st 2012 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
The changes seem to lay a sound foundation for good management of rugby, for years into the future.
I hope that NSWRU and QRU support the changes at the EGM in December.
October 31st 2012 @ 12:48pm
Jutsie said | October 31st 2012 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
Nick Farr Jones has indicated that the NSWRU will most probably support the changes but have some queries to address before giving the green light.
October 31st 2012 @ 10:03pm
BigMike said | October 31st 2012 @ 10:03pm | Report comment
Governance is one issue, but the entire game structure is another right from the junior comp to the inter State competition. Any one viewing the Sharks vs Stormers Currie Cup final can see how dismal our long term prospects are unless we get a proper high level internal competition going. What a match it was. And what do we have? Zilch, by a comparable standard. We need to do more to grow the base level and the intermediate levels, not just A Grade Club competitions. Otherwise, we will continue to see the same lack of depth we are currently encountering.
November 4th 2012 @ 1:44am
Ra said | November 4th 2012 @ 1:44am | Report comment
All that drops out of good quality governance that leads to policy development
November 1st 2012 @ 12:55pm
Krasnoff of Noosa said | November 1st 2012 @ 12:55pm | Report comment
Campese recently made the following criticisms: Will the referees make or break the games by making petty calls within goal kicking range? Will Deans still stand by his quote and reinforce his predictable and boring tactics? Will we see any change in his style of play, especially after all the criticism? These are comments made in public forum which unfortunately have only minimal effect. Campo and other like-minded legends of the game—with their celebrity—can do much more. Like demand a change to the parochial nonsense within the ARU—no pettifogging. Demand a removal of silly rulings by referees preoccupied with minor technical points of play and remind them of the fact that they are part of the game, not sacrosanct dogmatists. Raise the standard of what they (the ARU) expect from Deans. The ball’s in the court of the like-minded NOT the high-minded.