Dissident Wallabies captains renew threat to Rugby Australia chairman

The 10 dissident Wallabies captains are threatening further disruption amid a bitter brawl with Rugby Australia.

Former Wallabies captains Phil Kearns and George Gregan both signed a letter of protest against Rugby Australia’s leadership. Picture: Brett Costello

The 10 dissident Wallabies captains are threatening to revive their threat to propose a special general meeting of Rugby Australia members unless RA chairman Paul McLean and his directors honour promises made by former board member Peter Wiggs before he resigned from the board.

The threat was contained in a letter distributed by Rugby Union Players Association chief executive Justin Harrison on behalf of the 10 captains on Tuesday to member unions and Super Rugby chief executives. A copy of his letter was leaked to The Australian.

Wiggs was seemingly on his way to becoming RA chairman when he met with former Wallabies captains Nick Farr-Jones and Phil Kearns and Harrison on April 27.

At that meeting, which the captains describe as “very positive”, Wiggs gave the players a number of undertakings that RA would:
• Confirm a review process, consistent with the one outlined in the captains’ Australian Rugby Review Board charter.
• Form three operating committees in the areas of 1) finance, business and governance; 2) current financial position, efficiencies, forecasts, relationships with member unions, options for ­appropriate corporate structures, etc; and 3) broadcasting, sponsors and relationships, creation and management of external relationships with parties to bring the required capital to the game, “Community to Wallaby”, rebuilding the links with our grassroots clubs, developing viable competition structures, revisiting performance at all levels, including high performance.

Wiggs was, at the time, preparing for a “deep dive” into RA ­financial records.

Former Rugby Australia board member Peter Wiggs, left. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

As RUPA and their advisers had worked to develop a meaningful picture of RA’s finances, they might have been of some ­assistance. They then left Wiggs for some days to commence the review, which was due to start around April 29.

But then came the fateful RA board meeting of May 4, where Wiggs spelt out to his fellow ­directors his conditions for becoming chairman. He wanted Matt Carroll, a close friend and chief executive of the Australian Olympic Committee, to come on board immediately as chief executive and he wanted room made on the board for the return of two-time ARU chief John O’Neill.

When his fellow directors challenged his demands, asking why RA was going to the trouble and expense of hiring headhunters to find a suitable replacement for Raelene Castle if he intended to ride roughshod over due process, Wiggs threatened to resign. It was a promise he made good less than 36 hours later.

Now the captains are demanding answers to the following three questions:
1. Does RA remain committed to the commitments made by Wiggs at the April 27 meeting regarding creation of a review process and their involvement in it?
2. If so, who will have carriage of re-establishing that process for RA (the Wallabies captains propose the same Wallabies delegates, being Farr-Jones, Kearns and Harrison).
3. Will the findings of the “deep-dive review” be shared, in any fashion, with the stakeholders of the game, including the Wallabies captains.

RA had not digested the content of the letter by Tuesday afternoon but it is fair to assume that they will not feel particularly ­motivated to immediately adhere to the captains’ demand, given that subsequent events have demonstrated the close ties between some of the captains and Wiggs.

Yet on the same day that Wiggs resigned, all of the member unions — with the exception of NSW — issued a statement in which they expressed support for McLean and the board, which means it may well be that RA will opt to bring this challenge to a head by allowing a special general meeting to be called.

McLean on Monday said he wanted the headlines in the game to return to the players — now preparing for a return to an all-Australian competition early in July — and not to the RA directors. Seemingly, he might have to wait a little longer.