Rugby Australia Chairman Dan Herbert claims the code’s governing body is making “steady progress” in rebuilding the trust of the Australian rugby community and to “maximise the wonderful opportunities we have in front of us” as the state unions and Super Rugby franchises consider whether to seek more boardroom scalps at the 29 April RA annual general meeting.
Herbert’s pleas for board stability were included in a notice of meeting sent ahead of the AGM obtained exclusively by The Roar, which revealed former Wallaroo and Stan Sport commentator Kristy Giteau could emerge as the first female RA President, working alongside Joe Roff.
The board will be further refreshed with former National Rugby League executive Alexi Baker and Brisbane businessman Hans Pearson nominated to replace CEO Phil Waugh and former chairman Hamish McLennan, who was forced out of the role in November due to concerns over leadership and direction of the game, capped off by the Wallabies World Cup disaster.
In addition, long-serving director Pip Marlow has flagged her departure from the RA board later in the year.
Rugby Australia chairman Dan Herbert has called for stability and says the governing body is making progress. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
Apart from voting on the appointments of Giteau, Baker and Pearson, the state unions, Brumbies, Western Force and Reds Super Rugby franchises and the Rugby Union Players’ Association will also decide whether incumbent directors Matthew Hanning, Karen Penrose and Jane Wilson are re-elected to the board. The trio will need a two-thirds majority, which means each has to secure 10 out of the total14 votes.
A group known as the Supporters of Australian Rugby Reform – which includes former RA director Geoff Stooke, former Wallaby and inaugural national coaching director Dick Marks and fellow former Wallaby and ex-NSW Rugby committee member Russ Tulloch – last month circulated a nine-page letter calling for board spill at Moore Park and a constitutional review.
In his Chair’s Message, Herbert said: “This Board renewal and our planned transition to Pip’s retirement comes at a pivotal time when the game needs not only strength and stability but also new skills, perspectives and experience to unify the game and to protect rugby’s interests whilst building future value for the code.”
“Off the back of the success of our inaugural Australian Rugby Summit held earlier this year in Melbourne, my fellow directors and I are confident that we are making steady progress in rebuilding your trust in us to deliver our shared aspirations and desired outcomes for Rugby in Australia across the agreed workstreams of Participation, Performance, Promotion and Resourcing.”
“Since the Summit, RA Managing Director & CEO Phil Waugh together with our new Director of High Performance, Peter Horne, and Wallabies Head Coach, Joe Schmidt have been in full swing building a new team to deliver a more cohesive and streamlined high performance system designed to optimise resources and expertise across the country to develop our elite players, with support in terms of the women’s game provided by Jaime Fernandez, our first dedicated Women’s High Performance Manager and Jo Yapp, our first full time Wallaroos Head Coach.
RA CEO Phil Waugh has made a number of significant appointments over the past four months, including the announcement of Joe Schmidt (L) as Wallabies coach and Jo Yapp as Wallaroos coach. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“I believe the above balance of Board Committees and Steering Committees allows us to direct the necessary expertise and workload to the required areas to sustain the game and to maximise the wonderful opportunities we have in front of us.”
“We are fortunate to have so many talented and hard-working people who are willing to roll up their sleeves to help rugby achieve this. While there’s still lots more work to do, we are making good progress and the RA Board and Management remain committed to working together and collaboratively with all of you to ensure Australian rugby thrives at all levels of the game well into the future.”
Herbert said that if ratified at the AGM, Giteau’s appointment as President would be “an important step in growing and promoting the women’s game and further enhancing our diversity across all our governance structures including our Committees and at Board level ahead of the anticipated release of revised gender equity targets for sports’ governing bodies by the Australian Sports Commission later this month.”
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
Trust improving? Without the Board taking accountability for overseeing RA and what has gone wrong in especially 2023 there cannot be any trust. It would be good to replace at least 50% of the Board and then push the required constitutional changes through including getting rid of the nominations committee. This is not a Board election as no-one can be nominated that the three members of the nomination committee did not vet! If anyone has any other ideas than Herbert and Waugh he/she will not be vetted. The president role is a mystery: has Joe Roff done anything since his appointment? He kept a very low profile and has been totally invisible - not sure he did anything. It appears that he needs help to do nothing better. I am not sure what qualifications Kristy Giteau has but it would not matter if the role is the same as that of Joe Roff's.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
You know you cannot trust those that are current in the positions. They are a bunch of symbolic idiots that have let the Chairman, Coach and CEO do whatever they wanted to do. Can we do better? Yes. Can we do much worse - unlikely.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
Why do you think they deserve another year? This was the Board that was in place and therefore responsible for last year's mess. No accountability! Are the Board positions also symbolic like that of the president?
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
More symbolic impacts ... just what we need
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Thanks for the background Mugs. With a twist.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
When you do not have a plan, you will become part of someone else's. When Clyne and solvency vacated at RA there had not been any plan in place for years. The board's new plan was Peter Wiggs, but then he attached some preconditions to taking the Chair in the face of finding out that RA was in such poor financial shape. Next up was Hamish and it was reported at the time the board was virtually begging him to come on board and take the Chair. I seem to recall he was going to join the board anyway but his ascension was rushed through because he convinced them he was the Messiah. Instead it seems only a naughty boy who mainly skipped class.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
“ the Chair cannot explain to us why each director has been appointed” I’m still hoping that the reverse explanation is delivered ie. Please explain how the cowboy got the reins.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
McLennan clearly stated that he was disappointed with many on the board who he had personally helped in business. They are probably not mates anymore, but it does show Hamish's complete ignorance of corporate governance and director integrity. An open supporter is leaving the board this year, but I thought a few more should be considering their positions. One problem of not having a transparent strategy is that the Chair cannot explain to us why each director has been appointed, how they provide value and how that is demonstrated to rugby stakeholders.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Did you read the article? It goes a lot deeper into the commercial realties for the states and their employees. There is very little understanding of how rugby in Australia fits together in practice. These articles are very frustrating as the author has no idea and sometimes goes as far as just writing what fits his narrative. For people that think the administration of Australian rugby is important, it amounts to serious misinformation.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
We got used to PDV and his mini me, Hamish, being front and centre with their paw prints over every decision. One seems to have got a lot of them right, while the other got most of them wrong. Herbert clearly enunciated on his appointment, that he would assume a traditional Chair role, leaving the CEO in charge of operational matters. This is how it should be, especially as Herbert has a full time job. He manages a business for a foreign investor, over a hundred employees across five sites. Useful and relevant experience, on top of extensive rugby administration experience and a former Wallaby. I sincerely hope he does have his paw prints all over the new director nominations. I don't think Marlow will be missed either.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
The reason I said that is how the letter emphasised his part in the Stan and Cadbury deals and de-emphasised his part in the car crashes.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Clause 7 page 25
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Who would McLennans mates be JD?
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Yes mj, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Sober, accurate measure is the order of the day. If the only tool in the shed is a guillotine then soon every problem starts to look like someone with too many heads. I’m on record here asking for accountability from the Board responsible for giving the keys of the limo to a cowboy. But that is a different quest, in theory at least, to a total flush out of the boardroom. That said, I’d be interested in what ‘faction’ Dick Marks is part of, and their manifesto to MARGA.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
tsuru, I’m pretty sure that a few ‘first drafts’ have made it to print.
Olly
Roar Rookie
Herbert and Waugh together seem to be not taking rash decisions and looking long term for the game. I want to see this play out.
Olly
Roar Rookie
I do not argue that RA has had some very poor leadership but the current lot are finally thinking longer term. I can't be upset with the performance since November as they seem to have wrestled some common sense back into RA.
Olly
Roar Rookie
"Olly, the state and territory unions are the only reason the game is alive in Oz" No and an absolute no and frankly this style of thinking is an insult to the real people keeping a pulse in grassroot rugby. Let's be crystal clear about this..The only people keeping grassroots Rugby alive are the community people donating their free time to coach, ref and attempt to run Rugby clubs with zero support. These are the people keeping the game alive while seeing nothing from the money players etc are paying to the state unions.
Piccolino
Roar Rookie
Informative post thanks. I know the Board has been an issue but useful context as to where the breakdown lies.
Redbeard
Roar Rookie
Olly, the state and territory unions are the only reason the game is alive in Oz (;at least at the amateur level). However , for too long there has been an unholy alliance between that once called the ARU and the Waratahs! To the detriment of rugby in Oz!