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Alan Jones’ recent call for the outgoing Commonwealth Bank CEO, Ian Narev, to replace Bill Pulver as CEO of the Australian Rugby Union highlights what is fundamentally wrong with the sport of rugby both on and off the field.
Bill Pulver came to rugby because, in the words of then-ARU Chairman, Michael Hawker, “We wanted someone with proven commercial success at CEO level, with international business experience and a love of rugby. The Board also set priorities around good communication skills and an understanding of the world of Sports Marketing and Media.”
While Pulver’s passion for rugby or indeed his desire to help grow the sport cannot be denied, what he seemed to lack was skill and experience in sports management.
The great folly in both the ARU management and board is that because someone loves rugby and because they’re good at business, then that is often taken as sufficient evidence that they are able to manage a beloved major sports organisation.
Sport is a unique industry and just because someone can manage a business it does not mean they can manage a sport. It requires a distinct attitude, approach and understanding.
Sport and sportspeople have to be managed very differently and by the right people – sports managers. This was illustrated in the recent cricket pay dispute.
The Cricket Australia’s chairman, David Peever, a former managing director of Rio Tinto and Australian operations, tried to bring approaches used in settling industrial relations disputes for the mining industry to the negotiations with the cricketers.
It was only when Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, who has considerable sports management experience, became involved that the dispute was able to be settled.
What Peever did not appear to understand was that athletes are not workers in the sports industry, they are the product!
Sport is a special and idiosyncratic enterprise which requires skills and experience for and from it.
(AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
A comparable trend can be seen in relation to on-field matters. Michael Cheika has as his two senior assistant coaches Nathan Grey (defence) and Stephen Larkham (attack). Despite both playing for the Wallabies in the past, neither of these have significant credentials in terms of coaching success.
In fairness to Grey, he did have runs on the board firstly with the Waratahs’ 2014 Super Rugby success and the Wallabies’ 2015 World Cup performance. But since then it has all been downhill for both those outfits under Grey’s defence tutelage.
Yet Cheika expressed total (“one hundred per cent”) confidence in Grey after the most disastrous defensive effort ever by a Wallabies team.
If the ARU is to go forward it needs a drastic change of culture and attitude in its selection of key personnel.
In regard to the coaching staff, Cheika brought in the proven scrum specialist Mario Ledesma, and that has been reasonably successful. He needs to bring that same approach to his choice of defence and attack coaches by hiring proven specialists, not just ex-players.
As for the CEO, the ARU must first and foremost bring in someone who understands and has experience in sports management.
Preferably it is also someone from outside the broader ARU circle, although that is not as essential. Passion alone, nor generic skills, will ever be enough to successfully govern, manage, coach and indeed win in sport.
Proven specialists are needed, and urgently.
Paul Jonson is an Honorary Associate Professor in Sports Law and Management, University of Technology Sydney and a Former President of the World Association of Sport Management and Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. He is a Co-author of the book Sports Law.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.