The disgraces kept surfacing last week. The disgraceful sacking of David Gallop as ARLC chief exec, the disgraceful behaviour of ARLC chairman John Grant, and the continued disgraceful behaviour of brain-dead swimmers Nick D’Arcy and Kenrick Monk.
How Grant could be the final step in trapping Gallop is just as disgraceful as the sacking.
There have been rumblings about Gallop’s future for years from far lesser light rugby league administrators not fit enough to lick Gallop’s shoes, let alone wear them.
But when you have a power-drunk chairman listening to no-ability lesser lights, then supporting them, Gallop’s days were obviously, and unfairly, numbered.
For Grant to tell a media conference Gallop was leaving by “mutual consent” was utter bollocks.
Grant made Gallop’s position untenable last Monday when he was, by far, the very best man for the job as he’s proved over a decade.
Right throughout some of league’s worst moments on and off the field, Gallop has been the man to calm stormy waters, deal fairly with offenders who have tainted the image and name of rugby league, and deal with those offended.
He was always a quality communicator within the code, and with the media.
There were many sticky moments.
But problems were solved, and Gallop always had a firm, but fair, grip on his position.
In the near 50 years I’ve been a sportswriter-sportscaster, dealing with hundreds of administrators from so many sports, David Gallop is right up there in the top four, along with Sir Donald Bradman, one of Gallop’s predecessors, John Quayle, and John O’Neill.
Sir Donald was just as remarkable an administrator as he was the world’s undisputed greatest batsman. There was never any danger of him ever being sacked.
Nobody would have been game enough to take him on. The Don ruled with a rod of iron.
I had many chats with him during the lead-in and early days of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in 1977. Sir Donald firmly believed he had let cricket down globally by not averting the Packer charge.
In his mind, it was his only failure.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There was no way Sir Donald had the ammunition to fire to beat the billionaire who owned a television station, and wanted the world’s best cricketers playing exclusively on his Channel 9.
The combination was a no brainer.
Quayle suffered the same fate when Rupert Murdoch set up Super League two decades later, roughly along the same lines. Like cricket, rugby league was pillaged.
But during his 13 years as the first GM of the NSWRL, Quayle was a superb administrator and communicator, having been on the other side of the fence as a player with Easts and Parramatta beforehand.
Quayle should have been made chairman of the ARLC instead of Grant.
And David Gallop would rightfully still be there. The perfect combination.
O’Neill isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he is mine. He can be bristly, but what he’s achieved for rugby and football over the last 16 years has been enormous.
He saw in professional rugby in 1996, winning the RWC in 1999, beating the British and Irish Lions in 2001 in a series for the only time, heading the hugely successful 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, seeing in the revolutionary A-League, overseeing the Socceroos move into Asia, and qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974.
All major achievements, that netted both organisations multi-millions of dollars profit.
I’ve saved D’Arcy and Monk until last because I didn’t want to waste Roar space, and all they have achieved is not knowing right from wrong, nor how to behave as elite Australian sportsmen. Both are dickheads, and a waste of space themselves.
Just six words for the Australian Olympic Committee and Swimming Australia.
Get rid of them both forever.
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Guest
I must admit I was not a fan when David Gallop was appointed CEO after the Super League War was over but I think over the years he has done a great job . The fact that not all are pleased with him shows he was a fair administrator. Maybe it was time for a new face now but he deserves respect for the job he has done for the last few years and should have been shown respect when he parted ways with the NRL.
Maximus
Guest
WE will see if Gallops replacement is up to the task but tough job. Gallop looked over it by the end...;The next guy is on a hiding to nothingi
Handles
Guest
I couldn't agree more - the over-reaction is just diabolical. I remember Wallaby teams visiting firing ranges in South Africa, and getting pictured on the telvision news shooting Uzis. I have no time for Monk or D'Arcy, but I cannot believe that they can be punished for doing what tonnes of kids their age have done.
Tom
Guest
Couldn't agree more, the thought of Michael Diamond posing in Speedos is a sight that every right - thinking Australian should fear.
Tom
Guest
The moral outrage surrounding the Monk/Dárcy photos is what is most outrageous. In the US, it is legal to hold and fire such weapons. The guns are inanimate objects, no one is in any danger whatsoever. I have photos of my brother and myself firing guns at a rifle range in the US, as do plenty of my other friends on Facebook. Firing guns at a range is a perfectly legitimate recreational activity. What was most amusing was one SMH letter writer claiming that swimmers such as Kieran Perkins, Susie O'Neill and Grant Hackett represented the kind of image Australian athletes should aspire towards. I'll grant the first two, but Hackett's behaviour of late is several orders of magnitude worse than that exhibited by Monk and Darcy here.
Old Rugby Boy
Guest
Hello David, looks like the code warriors are out in force, quoting their doctored up stats, to justify their love of a particular code. Mines RU but I still watch a bit of RL and AFL, even though I believe the AFL is barking up the wrong tree with GWS. Just on David Gallop, I do not know if he alone turned around the fortunes of the NRL but it seems to me that he was the driving force. Gallop may not of handled each issue perfectly or even satisfactorily but on the whole he did a good job. So you are right the way he was asked to leave was disgraceful. The two swimmers did nothing wrong in having that silly photo taken. The reaction to it is from the minority who demand thoughtless political correctness. However, D'arcy, in particular, is a spoilt, dishonest prick and he and his lying friend should have never been given the opertunity to wear Australia's colours ever, ever, again.
Todd Slater
Guest
What Gallop should or shouldn't have done is now irrelevant. Sounds like you are plugging your mates Scott on another post by calling for Arbib & McInnes to run the game. Last time i looked McInnes was a director at Easts & running Sol Lew's gig in Melbourne. Arbib is another Bondi boy, who just because he knifed a siting prime minister doesn't mean he is up to running rugby league.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
sean Sorry about the typo, but my point is still relevant. The deal he did was 83,000,000 a year compared to the AFL deal of 156,000,000 a year. I think in this case we can compare Apples with Apples. Gallop should have contracted a special negotiating team who specialise in deals like this. You may say he was selling to his mates and it looked "hot" or you may say it was gross incompetence, either way, John Grant did the right thing.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Oikee, Do you ever try reading what someone else wrote, and answering their points ?
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Gaz, Its very very hard to work for people who dont want you there. If they were willing to pay out a large enough chunk of his contract, then walking is a much better option than being destabilised in the press until you have to resign.
Gaz
Guest
What I don't understand is - if it wasn't a mutual agreement then what on earth did David Gallop do or not do to allow the Commission to tear up his four year contract?
The Great G Nepia
Guest
I've got no time for this guy John Grant. The first thing he does when he's made chairman is bag AFL and rugby union. What a dreamer.
Boomshanka
Guest
Sean His silence on this spoke volumes. This was the primary reason so much hate was thrown his way when he finally visited Melbourne last year. It was a good release of anger at the right target (ie the man that allowed hoarding of the game into Melbourne with no apologies or effort to do anything about the plight of fans outside of NSW and QLD). The presentation of the trophy was then followed by zero coverage into Melbourne of the finals series (except for a last minute scheduling change which saw the semi against the Warriors) as had been for many years prior. The final itself (even when Melbourne won) would cut straight to the parochial Melbourne news at the final whistle. No post match interviews, presentations nothing. With Gallop gone, we may actually see the ARLC stick their finger up on Channel Nine who have done so little to promote the game.
Brendon
Guest
Bradman was a great administrator? Bradman was a great batsmen and thats it. Theres a reason his team mates couldnt stand him and the players while he was administrator thought he was terrible. Bradman without a bad in his hands was not a great man. We need to stop this cult of Bradman. While the way Gallop was pushed out was dirty that doesn;t mean there werent valid reasons behind it.
Queensland's Game Is Rugby League
Guest
"Parramatta is a massive city. It is nearly the size of Brisbane and has massive growth potentail, is why AFL is trying to get a foot in the door." Parramatta has a population of 172,333 and an area of 61 km². It's the 23rd largest city in Australia. Brisbane has over 1,000,000 people, making it the largest city in Australia.
KNACKERS
Guest
You neglected to mention the most appallimg incident of the week -apparently some members of our Olympic shooting team were skylarking somewhere overseas and posed for photos of themsevelves in swimsuits on some facebook site (Hard to believe I know but apparently this kind of thing is not illegal in some places )
David Heidelberg
Guest
The Terrorgraph had some great sensationalism - linking the photos to the Port Arthur massacre. By the same logic a photo of the two in a pool could be explained as containing water, the substance responsible for the Boxing Day Tsunami. D’Arcy and Monk may be dickheads but Swimming Australia has no right to punish them for doing something legal in a public place. They are pursuing a political agenda at the swimmers expense.
Billo
Guest
David, I'm amazed that you have such a high regard for David Gallop. The chief executive of the NRL is responsible for maximising commecial and broadcasting income for the game, which Gallop has clearly failed to do. He is responsible for creating a regulatory structure for the code, and allowing it to function effectively and without prejudice. And the CEO, as the leading official in the game, is the administration's public face. He has responsibility for effective PR for the game as a whole. Gallop has failed on all three counts. He has shown no commercial or broadcasting nous. Negotiating the Channel 9 deal without industry experts being in the room with him was naive, as the result of the negotiation demonstrates. And not enforcing the NRL's right to be screened in Melbourne was crazy. On the other hand, he couldn't stop himself from interfering in cases where players and clubs were found guilty of misdemeanours, often making ad hoc decisions that would have been indefensible if subject to a legal challenge. His blunder with Brett Stewart was unforgivable. And Gallop rarely gave the impression in public that he really liked rugby league. He seemed to lack empathy for the code he was supposed to be leading. The truth about his departure, I'm sure, is that he doesn't want to be answerable to a proactive Commission, as opposed to a moribund partnership board that he has been accountable to until now. There are plenty of people who don't like to be accountable to others, but you can hardly blame John Grant for not wanting one of them running the NRL.
Punter
Guest
The thing was they posted it on facebook & seen by a few of their friends, it was the media who brought it to the attention of everyone else, so who is to blame. What about drawing a line thru the numerous football (all codes) thickheads with this mindset, geez you would rule out a lot of decent players.
oikee
Guest
Mate, they did not respect Gallop, and is why for over 10 years our game has had little to no promotion into the southern states. I say get a good CEO, it wont really matter, he will just be a hardhead, a guy or gal who wont take any crap, the Commission will be the kneecappers. This is why Gallop had to go, his relationship with channel 9 was unworkable, when your about to crack skulls, no good having a mate feel sorry for them. The baseball bats are being polished as we speak.