Raelene Castle safe as Rugby Australia boss - for now
Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle survived the final board meeting of 2019, but just how long the CEO survives into 2020 is as uncertain as who will wear the Wallabies No.10 jersey next year.
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“Full support of the board.”
The dreaded statement no chief executive wants to read was issued by Rugby Australia for Raelene Castle following a lengthy board meeting on Monday.
While it was the final meeting for the year, just how long Castle survives into 2020 is as uncertain as who would be the wearing the Wallabies No.10 jersey for each Test this year.
None of the board members raised concerns about Castle’s position in the meeting at RA headquarters. But not all of them are convinced she remains the right person for the job.
They’ll keep publicly backing Castle while talking quietly to those who are scheming in the background for executive positions. If the mood rapidly swings against Castle next year, they’ll choose self-preservation and vote her out.
Chairman Cameron Clyne, who has already announced he’ll depart next March, has been forced to repeatedly support Castle under mounting criticism.
Castle has two marks against her name already.
She chose to keep Wallabies coach Michael Cheika on late last year when the mood of the public, and some Wallabies players, was to dump him after the worst season in their professional era.
Instead, Cheika stayed on, assistant Stephen Larkham was thrown under the bus and relieved of his position — but given a different coaching role within Australian rugby — and director of rugby Scott Johnson was appointed to oversee Cheika while Michael O’Connor was made a third selector.
So after the most disastrous season in Australian rugby history, nobody was sacked, yet three jobs were created.
So the argument they couldn’t afford to pay out Cheika’s salary didn’t wash. And they could have appointed any number of candidates as head coach including Johnson or Dave Rennie — who they did speak to last year about coaching at this year’s World Cup.
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Amid those fractious times, Castle failed to properly ensure all the social media clauses in Israel Folau’s contract were airtight.
Had that been handled correctly, Folau simply could not have sued them this year after his contract was terminated.
Instead, RA realised their error after Folau had already signed his four-year, $5 million deal, and then sent him additional social media clauses to sign, which he refused to do.
Castle’s actions after Folau’s controversial social media post regarding homosexuals, however, are to be commended.
In impossible circumstances, she fought for the values of the game and those it employs.
But RA’s multi-million settlement and apology to Folau last week only reignited the heat on Castle.
Now attention turns to her negotiations with broadcasters Fox Sports and rivals Optus regarding the rights from 2021-25.
Castle has angered many at Fox after rebuffing their offer, around $100 million less than she’d asked, and began talks with Optus.
However the talks turn out, Castle needs Fox to come back with a much bigger offer, or for Optus to put down a remarkably lucrative deal that would secure the game’s future in the face of serious concern most fans won’t buy Optus subscriptions.
“Raelene’s position is not in question and the board is united behind the process undertaken with Israel Folau,” Clyne said.
“2020 is an important year with the broadcast rights negotiations underway and we remain in dialogue with our long-term partner Fox Sports as we aim to deliver the strongest levels of coverage for all of our competitions over the next five-year cycle.”
Sports bosses are well aware of the connotations of the board’s full support.
And another one about three strikes.
Originally published as Raelene Castle safe as Rugby Australia boss - for now
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