ARLC loses bitter legal battle with NSWRL over board elections

The Australian Rugby League Commission has lost its bitter legal battle with the NSWRL over a controversial election of a board member.

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys (right) stepped in following the NSWRL board election earlier this year. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

The Australian Rugby League Commission has lost its simmering legal feud with the NSWRL after its appeal against an earlier court loss was on Tuesday dismissed.

Rugby league’s latest civil war in May spilt into the NSW Supreme Court when the NSWRL sued the ARL Commission.

The spat centred on NSWRL board elections held in February when Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta nominated for a position as a director.

However, concerns were raised that he was not eligible due to a conflict of interest.

After receiving legal advice that Mr Mezzatesta was ineligible due to his position as a paid employee of the Sharks, the existing incumbent candidates were elected unopposed.

The stoush prompted two of the game’s biggest heavyweights – Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis and former NSWRL chairman George Peponis – to resign from the board.

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys stepped in following the NSWRL board elections this year. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

But that move prompted ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys to step in and launch an investigation.

Prominent barrister Bret Walker SC provided legal advice to the ARL Commission that the NSWRL board elections should be run again.

The court was told that the NSWRL dug in its heels, creating a fault line between two of the sport’s governing bodies, and refused to provide any information because it asserted the ARLC had no power to carry out an investigation.

The feud centred on Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta’s bid to be elected to the NSWRL board. Picture: Brett Costello

The ARLC in turn claimed that the NSWRL was in breach of its services agreement because the board had not been validly appointed.

It demanded the elections be run again within 30 days, threatening to withhold funding.

Justice Michael Ball found that Mr Mezzatesta’s position as Cronulla chief executive did not preclude him from standing on the NSWRL board.

Justice Ball also rejected that the elections were invalid.

The ARL Commission appealed the decision; however, it was on Tuesday dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

Justices Andrew Bell, Anthony Meagher and Carolyn Simpson upheld the previous Supreme Court decision that the NSWRL was not in breach of its obligations.

In a decision handed down on Tuesday morning, it found that the NSWRL’s obligations to comply with the ARLC’s instructions related to the management and staging of State of Origin matches.

“The directions or instructions purportedly given by the ARLC in relation to the election of board members were not in relation to that subject matter,” Justice Bell said in the judgment.