When I was told about the incident that occurred between Wallaby staff member Di Patston and Kurtley Beale I was bemused.
Surely there had to be more to this situation. I fantasised that Beale had actually been involved in another great Australian sporting tradition of seeing how many drinks he could get through on an international flight a la David Boon.
People being sent home over an argument about a t-shirt? What the hell?
What was the most disturbing to me was that two different articles ran in the Sydney Morning Herald. One proclaiming the ARU are standing by Di Patston, the other claiming that player power saved Beale.
Both Phil Lutton and Georgina Robinson are hardly sensationalists. Both have always been pragmatists close to the action. Both have researched the facts and given such alarmingly polar perspectives as to the support of Beale dividing the united players and the bourgeoisie ARU that you almost expect the Wallabies to start wearing BLF jackie howes.
Ironically, Beale would now make a great poster boy for the Melbourne Rebels brand.
Let’s take a view of the facts provided so far:
▪ Di Patston was travelling with the Wallabies on tour for the first time
▪ Di Patston was sitting next to coach Ewen Mckenzie
▪ Kurtley Beale was wearing the wrong shirt
▪ Di Patston told him to change his shirt and an argument broke out when he refused
▪ Di Patston had recently become involved in discipline matters involving Wallaby players
▪ Senior players and captain are standing behind Kurtley Beale
▪ Beale did not play against Argentina.
▪ Kurtley Beale is off contract and has been talking to NRL clubs and wealthy French clubs
End of facts. Summary: What the hell is going on?
You don’t have to work for a leading consulting firm to have surmised after those facts that something is gravely out of order with the leadership of our international rugby side. By leadership I mean the ARU and the coach.
Let’s start with the ARU. For the last five years the ARU has been allowing elite talent to drip through its fingers by poor mismanagement and woeful leadership decisions. I am not talking about the leadership that requires strategy working groups, press releases and disciplinary committees; I am talking about the type of leadership that understands the strengths, weaknesses and motivations of its key personnel and sets up processes to support them – not disillusion them.
How could Kurtley Beale not be disillusioned about this treatment? He has already been played out of his best position for numerous Tests and is now warming the bench. His efforts to correct his behaviour are well documented and successful. It must be considered that he is a senior player now.
He has played over 50 Tests, won a Super Rugby title and is about to play in a second World Cup. He is regarded as one of the most talented footballers in the world. No player is bigger than the game, but all histrionics aside, Beale is a bloody good player that when on form is a drawcard. I will even be willing to drive out to the western suburbs to watch him play for the GWS Rams in the National Rugby Championship. He is great for the brand of rugby.
Both Rod Kafer and Simon Poidevin have spoken out to prevent the ARU once again pushing our best overseas. Why is it so hard for the management of the ARU to humble itself before our talent when they get the decision wrong?
An easy route for the ARU here is to blame Di Patston for not following an acceptable chain of command that would include going through the coach or the captain to enforce discipline. Tellingly, they have not. However, she was allegedly sitting next to the coach and chose not to go through Michael Hooper on the understanding she was allowed to discipline players in behaviour.
What the hell was McKenzie thinking? Has he completely forgotten what it is like to play in a combative sport? He was in the 1991 Rugby World Cup team… could he actually imagine someone outside of Nick Farr-Jones or Bob Dwyer chipping a senior player like David Campese or Simon Poidevin?
Ever since I have been involved in rugby I was aware of four people in my team that I always listened to. The coach on what I had to do, the captain on how I was going to do it, the physio to tell me if I could and the head of the social committee to tell me which ladies in the grandstand were single.
Anyone approaching a Wallaby veteran after a hard loss and deciding to engage in an open debate over a t-shirt on an international flight instead of going to his captain or coach seems to have remarkably poor judgement or has been given very ill considered KPIs in their job description.
Maybe it was all a misunderstanding – a storm in a tea cup if you will.
What the hell? How is this even news then? Is the ARU so filled with its own importance that it believes the place to escalate a feud over a t-shirt, to the point “player futures are in doubt”, is in our major newspapers? We simply do not have the playing depth in Australia to handle situations with our elite players like that.
When analysing where you stand in business practices it is best to benchmark off the industry leaders. In rugby this is easy to identify thanks to IRB rankings and 100 years of dominance by a team known as the All Blacks. They have the best brand, best depth and best record.
Could you ever imagine this happening in the All Blacks? With their brand and their culture? Even with their amazing depth would Sonny Bill Williams ever have his international career in question over an argument about a t-shirt?
What. The. Hell.
Whupom
Guest
All very interesting reading but when is someone going to say what is sticking out like the proverbial testes of a canine - someone, most likely Mr McKenzie, is enjoying more than the professional attributes of Ms Patston. There I've said it and it will take a lot to convince me otherwise as no other rationale makes any sense.
amband
Guest
Gender politics. The femmos will be out to see the ARU side with Di. She should have approached the player via the usual channels, and Yes, KB should have worn what others were wearing Why is this woman in that position anyway? Why does such a paid position exist?
Rob G
Guest
Somehow missed this article the other day but it was a great read and i completely agree. I just hope he is not lost over something so trivial. It would be a massive gain to NRL (or anyone else) on marketability, if not playing ability alone. Like you i would happily drive out purely to watch him play....and there aren't many other individual players in the team i could say the same for
Andrew George
Roar Guru
Thanks mate appreciate the nod. The military systems on management of elite combat units that are male dominated, alpha male environments filled with men and women who are used to being the "alpha" are often managed with a flat hierarchy and almost cult like culture. But then again so are most of the best organisations . Give Jim Collins "Good to Great" a read ... one of the best leadership books on the market for corporate.
General Duncan
Guest
All good points, and I agree with them while still maintaining the view that the lack of information in this situation has led many to presumptuously villify the staff member. The axe that I grinded last night I guess was in response to the first comment and exchange about trumped up administrators with T-shirt fetishes, as well as many other comments on other articles. Wouldn't you love access to the ARU's various organisational and policy documents, including RMPs etc, to analyse. They probably leave a lot to be desired when compared to other organisations with more entrenched systems, and they probably are incomplete or inadequate due to under staffing and lack of prioritisation. One would imagine that had the ARU been sitting on a $50m profit this FY, then they would have 20% extra staffing required to properly forecast, manage and mitigate these issues. It is criminal that the PR around this incident has been managed so poorly. Finally, I would love to see more articles from you analogising military organisational behaviour with professional rugby - a free, public consultancy exercise if you will. It would be a gold mine for content and illuminating for those with no insight into the sophistication (and adversity) or military systems at the small group level as well as the macro level. Anyway, thanks for the chat and considered responses. You, one of the Aussie staff writers, a couple of the South African blokes and one of the Kiwi blokes always produce well written, pragmatic and sophisticated copy compared to some of the more binary stuff.
Andrew George
Roar Guru
I see your point. The unique situation that is presented by elite sportmesn however is that they are not only personnel, but the product and the marketing of the brand as well. Does this mean that they are allowed to get away with anything like their NFL counterparts seem to? Not at all. It does mean that the risk management of these athletes is a force multiplier to the success of the entire organisation. To go back to very strict organisations as a benchmark -(you mentioned the military and there are few better examples) should a soldier not do what he was told in changing a t shirt by a senior officer there would be no question as to the outcome. Should a senior soldier (lets say CSM) was told to change his shirt by a junior officer outside the chain of command - not only would it more than likely be ignored but the any escalation of the problem outside of "ladies and gentleman shut up, shake hands and get back to work" would be frowned upon. If Beale has indulged in unacceptable behaviour - that is a entirely different situation. I pointed out in the article that it is alarming that the players have sided with Beale. Either they believe that management are handling this incorrectly or they have a culture that does tolerate unacceptable behaviour. Both of these things amount to a leadership problem in ARU. If in the wash it turns out that this was a "storm in a teacup" and Beale leaves Australian rugby due to the unwanted drama (it turns out that he was dissatisfied with his recent contract offer)- then heads have to roll. Any rugby supporter who thinks losing talent of that calibre over a non-event is not a friend of Australian rugby. Look at how the All Blacks have handled SBW. He changes his mind about where he is playing every week it seems and indulges in dangerous sports like boxing. They have formed a mutually beneficial relationship with him instead of vilifying him. The NZRU have a deeper taint pool and stronger brand than the Wallabies but seem much more capable at forming these relationships than the ARU when they have less requirement to do so.
General Duncan
Guest
Andrew, I agree with much of what you say, except for one important point. To characterise the issue as being about a t-shirt (and therefore an avoidable triviality) is misguided and simplistic. Yes, the issue may have started with reasonable direction being given to two players out of 30 to change into attire commensurate with the team travel rules. But what of the reaction to this reasonable direction? Imagine for example it then escalates unjustifiably because an angry player makes a totally unwarranted comment relating to the fact that a person's husband just left them, or that their child has Down's Syndrome, or that the woman is overweight, or something else publically impugning the person's character and humiliating them. To then characterise the issue as being about a t-shirt as opposed to an overreaction to a justifiable direction is bordering on a wilful misrepresentation. You make a very valid point in comparing this issue to all work environments - a much more helpful analogy than comparing it to an amateur rugby environment. And as you know, work disputes can escalate extremely quickly and become extremely vitriolic, whether at board level in a large commercial entity, within the public service (or indeed Defence Force), amongst teachers at a primary school or within any other professional context. My main point anyway is that many have taken the opportunity to see this issue as proving a stereotype of an officious, petty bureaucrat lacking the skills and common sense to deal with a player, rather than that of a petulant and immature man who humiliated and intimidated a professional person for the flimsiest of reasons. The "complicated" part of this is the emotional response from the impugned woman, who betrayed her own professionalism by meeting the antagonist at their level.
Campbell Watts
Guest
If he towed the line and took notice of team rules and protocols there wouldn't be any "public vilification" would there? Beale is the problem here, not the staff or public vilifying him. He is the one creating all these situations - take responsibility for your action Kurtley and there wouldn't be any problems
Andrew George
Roar Guru
said like a true Brumby fan - Beale stays and he will be in the RWC squad and the Olympics - that is a certainty
Andrew George
Roar Guru
No prejudices here Duncan. Simply a matter of extremely poor risk management and leadership on behalf of the ARU. I would not have made a different observation regardless of gender , creed or colour. For the record I have targeted the Coach and the ARU. How this has been handled in what is supposedly a positive culture is completely inappropriate - explain why the players have all backed Beale. The fact is that you will have differences in ANY work environment - but to allow something so trivial to be handled in such a manner and escalated to a national PR disaster is ompletely unacceptable. It seems to me that other elite rugby teams manage to deal with their personnel issues; which I am sure as as numerous as the Wallabies, without having to recovered by every major newspaper. The guy had on the wrong T-shirt! An incident has now got the entire teams culture being vilified in the press!! Get some perspective!
Johnno
Guest
General Duncan Di Patson is quite hot, you gotta admit that.Nothing like a good looking women to stir up the boys clubs.
General Duncan
Guest
OK, the speculation vilifying Di Patston is getting out of control. It was another staff member who told Carter and Beale to change their shirts, Di had nothing to do with it initially except to make a fairly innocuous comment to that staff member. Beale, in an act of petulance, made an incredibly offensive and degrading comment to her - for which he later tried to apologise. Patston responded to this disgusting comment with a pretty cutting comment of her own, and then it was on. Everyone's desire to extrapolate from the bare facts to support their own prejudices is disgusting, and this good woman is being vilified as a result. Pull your heads in, accept there is a vacuum of information at the moment, and resist the urge to fill it with BS.
niwdEyaJ
Roar Guru
Why all the fuss over a guy who won't make the starting XV or even the bench next year unless we have a horrific run of injuries in the backs... Kurtley is a handy Super XV player but standards have risen at international level and he just hasn't managed to stay with the pack, and worse, he doesn't have the attitude to try and improve himself. The "A" team will be back in the Wallabies starting team very soon (and by "A" team, I mean key players that were backbone of Deans' success that McKenzie hasn't had available to date). I'm slowly starting to turn against Link as I turned against Deans around the 2011 RWC debacle, but I won't be firmly in the "anti" camp until he's had a chance to show us what he's got with a higher % of our core talent to choose from...
Andrew George
Roar Guru
here here
Andrew George
Roar Guru
Campbell, this is elite athletes in a professional sport. We simply can not match the overseas clubs in cash so the best way we keep players like Beale is by providing other motivators. Being publicly vilified for a minor incident would have to get tiring. Beale by the way is not just "any [player". He is a John Eales medalist, played almost 50 caps, still yet to hit his athletic prime and has been nominated for IRB player of the year. Any team in the world would love to have him including those with greater playing depth than Australia. Furthermore , wouldn't you agree that poor treatment of Beale, by all accounts a very popular player amongst the playing group, would effect the motivations of other players and their willingness to stay.
Andrew George
Roar Guru
Different situation entirely. He had been drinking and that was the team Captain. This last incident says a lot about the inability of the ARU to manage our elite players. Furthermore this incident has been over amplified and should have been managed in a team environment. Hooper and the senior players stood behind Beale ... so past form aside he is not on the nose in the team - therefore it is a management issue.
Andrew George
Roar Guru
I agree that he was in the wrong - but this has been blown entirely out of proportion and been very badly handled. Add to this that the Wallabies just lost a game they should have one and there is something off about how they are being managed. They have the cattle - not the culture... I think this is a good example.
redbull
Guest
"Could you ever imagine this happening in the All Blacks? With their brand and their culture? Even with their amazing depth would Sonny Bill Williams ever have his international career in question over an argument about a t-shirt?" Can you ever imagine a New Zealander, South African or Englishman selected to tour for the national side turn up on the plane in a t-shirt rather than actual team colours? KB either doesn't want to be in the team or doesn't think the team wants him in it. Either way is bad. If the senior players are backing him then are they condoning his right to tour with the team on his own terms? I rate KB as a full-back and that is where he should be starting. But only if he wants to be a part of a national team. Just wear the frigging shirt. It is hardly going to kill you.
Tissot Time
Guest
Andrew KB does have form- last time he approached his Captain after another T shirt incident the Captain got punched.
Common Sense
Guest
"Could you ever imagine this happening in the All Blacks? With their brand and their culture? Even with their amazing depth would Sonny Bill Williams ever have his international career in question over an argument about a t-shirt?" The All Blacks have a team manager that has just as much authority as the coach, the wallabies got rid of theirs. At the same time though the All Blacks are a team first group whereas the Wallabies are turning into a me first group so this incident would never have happened with the All Blacks.