Last week I wrote an article in The Roar which articulated the dreadful shortcomings of the Rugby Australia Board over the past few years.
I must have struck a nerve as it received over 11,000 reads and more than 500 comments. The comments were interesting and I felt generally in support of change. I hope this article answers many of the questions asked.
Of course, not everyone agreed with the article and some noted my age. Actually, two of us involved in the Supporters of Australian Rugby Reform (SOARR) are over 80, but we both have extensive experience with rugby and rugby governance and administration.
One of our group is very experienced and has been on both the RA and WA Rugby Boards whilst another of our group is a world leading sport governance and constitutional expert.
It is important to note, none of our group has any barrow to push, there is no group or state or person we are promoting. Our goal is for open and transparent governance and administration. We want a Board selected by the rugby population of Australia. A Board of the best people Australian rugby people can find.
The closed shop process allowed under the present constitution has delivered a Board of financiers, bankers, eg Phil Waugh, and professional Board operatives. We need people with the skills to develop and financially sustain the game from the grass roots up to the revenue-earning Wallabies.
Phil Waugh. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
The previous and current Board, whilst well meaning, have lacked the skills to run a game like rugby and have taken rugby in Australia into a near terminal decline.
Without a total change, a full cleanout, only more of the same will occur. Talk of stability and experience is fatuous, these are the people that have created the crisis. A definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
The process for effecting this change is not complex. There is an Annual General Meeting on the 29th April. At this AGM the people who vote for the Board are known as the Member Unions. There are 14 votes in all, eight State / Territory unions, three Super Rugby franchises and RUPA, (Professional player association). NSW and Qld have two votes each.
Under the current constitution three Directors are up for reelection. This is by virtue of the three-year rotation system. There are two new nominations to replace Hamish McLennan and Phil Waugh. These people have been endorsed by the so-called Nominations Committee, a three person committee chaired by the RA Chairman and designed to keep Board selection in house and as a closed shop.
If these candidates were successful, it would mean seven out of the nine directors would be from the disastrous Board of the past three years. That means no renewal, more of the same.
By any measurement, financial position, participation, skill levels, coaching pathways or world rankings the Board of RA has been a disaster for rugby in Australia. Australian rugby needs new ideas, new perspectives, a new direction.
We propose the Member Unions reject the Nominations Committee recommendations and move a vote of No Confidence. This means a Special General meeting to formally spill the Board. At this meeting an interim Board with an interim Chairman would be installed.
We propose that an Interim Board be installed by the Voting Members and it be comprised as follows:
- One nominee from NSWRU
- One nominee from QRU
- One nominee (or two) nominees from the other States/ Territories MUs (WA, ACT, Vic, NT, SA, Tas)
- One nominee from a Super Team (whose State or Territory is not yet represented)
- Two Directors selected by the above four to help complete the skill mix.
- The CEO to attend Board meetings and be part of developing solutions but not be MD, that is, no vote.
There would be the opportunity to draft specialised skilled people as required.
We advocate the Interim Board’s tenure would be 12 months and its mandate would be:
- Review the governance structure and the Constitution of RA in consultation with the wider Rugby community
- Conduct a forensic review and analysis of the RA and Super Team finances, including appropriate financial risk analysis. This would include analysing the debt facility and dependance on future events.
- Implementation of a policy of ‘spending within our means’
Review the competition structure - Overhaul the coach development system
- Overhaul the Elite Youth Program
- Review the organisational structure of RA
- All the above to be undertaken with complete transparency and accountability to the rugby community
- The day to day administration of RA that is the responsibility of RA management, through the CEO, will be monitored by the interim Board as a matter of course.
We believe this course of action will stabilise the decline of the rugby game in Australia. A complete reset has been asked for several times before but the request for stability and coming together has seen continuing disasters.
The group known as Supporters of Australian Rugby Reform, SOARR has a Facebook page and if you go to change.org and search for SOARR you can join a petition for change, complete a survey on the state of rugby in Australia or view the Facebook page and the detailed analysis which prompted our actions.
Now is the time for a complete reset, rugby in Australia cannot sustain more of the same.
Russ Tulloch
Roar Rookie
Correct and needs to be addressed .
Russ Tulloch
Roar Rookie
Hi Sheek and Piru, yes a big workload and one that would need to be managed carefully by the Interim Board and maybe not doable in 12 months. I think a sensible Board would be able to extend the tenure but details such as this can be resolved.
Russ Tulloch
Roar Rookie
Hi blink, we are not putting ourselves up for anything. Our names are published on the facebook page and there are no secrets. We don’t promote anyone and have no contact with Hamish McLennan. Our goal is for a new constitution and open elections by the rugby population of Australia. There is nothing subversive about this. Our position is the current constitution has created a board of bankers and board operatives with very little rugby knowledge. It is self fulfilling and a closed shop. Surely an openly elected and a board selected by the rugby population is something to be desired.
cs
Roar Guru
Because some of us worry he might be somewhere behind the picture. We need more transparency from the bods advocating more transparency.
RockyTee
Roar Rookie
Blink, It seems the opposite of ego. These guys aren't putting themselves up to be elected, nor do they suggest they have all the answers (as RA does). They ask for a fair and honest election with oversight on who is nominated and why they should be elected. To me, this is the opposite of brown-nosing, if you want to use that term. They have also been very critical of McLennan, but he is no longer in the picture, so why labour the point?
Muglair
Roar Rookie
You promised details. I have no faith in any of the existing members or your group. Any of this could have been done much more smoothly at any time in the last ten years. Where are the names of these directors. Presumably they will have put forward their names to the existing nominations committee already. I cannot understand why the members have not already taken action such as proposing items for discussion on the AGM agenda or the nomination of directors. At the end of the day, you are asking me to trust a bunch of people, none of whom have put their names up as directors, none of whom have taken any effective action in ten years in regard to these matters, to do a better job while not specifying what you will actually do. Your group needs to do much better. There is no solution on the table and your proposals will just bring further division and chaos to the game.
Blink
Roar Rookie
After enough reading we see Russ has nothing to offer. Just another big ego who knows whats required and is the frontline for change providing they aren't female. He provides absolutely nothing worthwhile to look forward to but more of the same from fellow past flops. This has been brought on by the hopelessly performed Mclennan who Russ Tulloch supports. Russ Tulloch and his crew are a miserable bunch of brown noses with nothing to offer.
BeastieBoy
Roar Rookie
Fine... but any change as outlined will have little impact to the Decline in Australian rugby without MASSIVE CHANGES TO THE RULES OF THE GAME. It has been manipulated by the Northern Hemisphere to slow it right down and have so many stoppages so that it can carry massive players who have time to recover. The Saffas had a full forward pack on the bench in the World Cup. To Australians including those who used to play it... it is boring to play and to watch. That is why it has been dying for so long. I dont think the ARU would take that step. So set up the Australian Domestic Rugby Union who are independent and responsible for everything except the Wallabies and Super Rugby and let them change the rules for the rest to get engagement.
ShortBlind
Roar Rookie
Done the AICD course and understand a boards remit. My position is that it seems that several of the board members have NFI about how rugby operates across the spectrum and putting on some time to touch base with the community might help to improve their decision making. Ivory towers are lonely places.
cs
Roar Guru
Great. So any idiot can nominate. That'll help a lot.
Alli Anz
Roar Rookie
Call me a sceptic but why would we replace some genuinely passionate rugby people with who knows what? Sure changes have to be made but this stinks of a couple of your guys getting on the board. It’s the captains letter all over again. There’s been some really positive changes made since Hamish left, so I for one would like to see how this pans out until after the Lions. On a recent podcast, one of the members of your group, Geoff Stooke, mentioned that he thought that women’s rugby and 7’s should have their funding cut. In light of the Wallaroo’s long term sponsorship through to after the 2029 World Cup, and the women’s 7’s teams a medal contender at the olympics, that would appear to be, in all fairness, a rather dumb remark. Can you clarify if that’s a position you agree with?
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
You'd need to be a washed up, alcoholic country and western singer to sign this one now.
BlouBul
Roar Rookie
Do you think they are the best around and if so how do you know that?
Bearswanatah
Roar Rookie
All fair points, I pushed the discourse to the extreme to garner some interest - I’m a Bear supporter so tradition and history is important - but rugby is on life support and needs to change.
Bearswanatah
Roar Rookie
All fair points :)
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
If only I had the benefit of being a Queenslander and seeing everything through untainted eyes, eh?
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
It's called 'influence'. Of course the fish doesn't know it's living in a bowl does it mate?
cs
Roar Guru
The makings of a country song.
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
Indeed. So explain how explain how NSW *is* the board when the majority are not from NSW?
sheek
Roar Guru
Bearswanatah, I disagree with point one. This is perhaps a problem with current society, that anyone can be anything to everyone. Life doesn't work like that. Sport is different from business, it can be run like a business only up to a point. Sport requires history, tradition, heritage & tribalism to succeed - HTHT. Destroy one of those foundation stones, & the sport unravels. I can live with a couple of outsiders, but I want my provinces to be full of guys competing for Wallaby jumpers. Point 2 is also dangerous. Yes, I think all the district & suburban clubs can be trimmed, but I'm open to how far you go. I think your suggestion is too severe. Point 3 I agree with. I recently asked a bunch of my ex-schoolmates which was better - the 77/78 schoolboys or the 1981/82 schoolboys? Most said the 77/78 team. I observed that while we might prefer the more exciting team to win, rugby, sadly or otherwise, at test level anyway, games are usually won by the team with the stronger forwards. Backs only help to embellish the scoreline. I also agree with point 4. The game needs a complete reset. But don't hold your breath waiting for change from WR. Most of their members, from the UK & Ireland, still hold up the Eton Wall game of the mid-19th century as their ideal!