The historic inception of rugby league’s independent commission is at least another week away despite a significant step being taken in Brisbane on Tuesday.
John Chalk officially took over as Australian Rugby League (ARL) chairman, replacing the long-serving Colin Love at a board meeting at Suncorp Stadium.
But Chalk said more would be known about the independent commission’s fate when the ARL and News Limited meet in Sydney next Tuesday.
However, Chalk said the commission would “most certainly” be up and running by the start of the 2011 NRL season.
“Our time frame is sooner rather than later – we haven’t set a date,” Chalk said of the independent commission’s official announcement.
“But we are meeting next week with all parties.”
The Queensland Rugby League (QRL) have been accused of stalling the process but NSW Rugby League (NSWRL) delegates are reportedly fiercely determined to push through News Limited’s amendments to the commission’s much-heralded constitution.
The NSWRL approved the constitution’s final amendments last week.
QRL chairman John McDonald said on Tuesday that they still had “some issues”.
“There are a few terms of reference in there that we needed to clarify and we will be doing that today week in Sydney to make sure the wording is correct,” McDonald said.
“But basically we are in agreement with things and look forward to the next stage of talks and then go on and eventually get the commissioners in place.”
Chalk confirmed that an agency would be employed to supply a shortlist of candidates for the eight commissioners.
An NRL club representative will be included in the process for transparency.
Love’s decision to stand down as ARL chairman ended a 20-year association with rugby league.
Karlos
Guest
Perhaps the commision is not going to be so great after all with News Ltd making another play for complete control over the games future by having an Australian Rugby Union blueblood filtering out who should be available to be on the commission. Rugby man leading the search for league chiefs Brad Walter December 9, 2010 .AN AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union board member is overseeing the search for directors of rugby league's new independent commission. John Mumm, whose son Dean plays for the Wallabies, is in charge of board services and CEO practices with international recruitment consultancy Spencer Stuart. The company has been appointed to determine the skills directors of the new Australian Rugby League Commission need, and then to find candidates with the appropriate credentials to fill the eight positions. A subcommittee comprising representatives of News Ltd, the ARL and South Sydney chairman Nicholas Pappas, who was appointed on behalf of the NRL clubs, will then choose the inaugural directors to lead the commission. It was decided to appoint outsiders to ensure the process was transparent and non-partisan. Spencer Stuart is considered one of the world's leading executive search recruitment companies. It has 51 offices in 27 countries. Mumm has been with the company since 1993 and led its Australian operations for 15 years. He served on Spencer Stuart's global board of directors for five years. He is also a long-serving member of the ARU board and in April was re-appointed for another three years. Dean was a member of the Wallabies squad that last week returned from an end-of-season tour that included a Bledisloe Cup win over the All Blacks in Hong Kong and Tests against England, Wales, Italy and France. Another of Mumm's sons, Greg, is the director of rugby with Sydney University and Fiji's forwards coach for next year's World Cup in New Zealand. John's father, Bill Mumm, played for the All Blacks. Meanwhile, former Penrith chairman Barry Walsh has resigned from the club's board after being elected as a NSWRL vice-president. Former Bulldogs chairman George Peponis, Canterbury great Terry Lamb and ex-Roosters captain Royce Ayliffe were also elected to vice-president positions at Friday's NSWRL annual general meeting.
Tiger Watto
Guest
Gary, I'm glad to hear some people south of the border are starting to realise the implications of the Commission. Thank god commonsence has prevailed from the QRL to ensure Rugby League still has a future in this country outside of the thrills, spills & media hype of the 16 NRL Franchises.
Gary Magpie
Roar Guru
I just hope the QRL ammendments go even further and balance the voting bias currently favouring the clubs!
Gary Magpie
Roar Guru
It is very positive to see the QRL still making sure the details are correct. This Independent Commission model was very flawed from the start as it effectively tried to give blanket control of rugby league to the 16 current NRL clubs at the expense of the rugby league heartlands in the regions and divisions. The QRL ammendments focus on funding guarantees for regions (ironically they are also ensuring the NSW CRL divisions are included) so that the 16 NRL clubs can't pour all the cash into their own businesses and their own feeder clubs. The QRL provisions give rugby league a positive future despite the best efforts of the clubs to push through the model and despite the NSWRL basically rolling over since the proposal was launched. You'd have to question why officials from the NSWRL would so quickly accept a model that is bad for rugby league... I'm sure we have seen the end of Love - I'll take wagers on that!