Former RA chairman Hamish McLennan made a ‘scapegoat’ for embattled code
An extraordinary attack has been launched on the Rugby Australia board by a group saying former chairman Hamish McLennan was a made ‘scapegoat’.
A rebel group has launched an extraordinary attack on the Rugby Australia board, calling for directors to be axed and stating former chairman Hamish McLennan was made a “scapegoat” for the embattled code’s problems.
The group, who call themselves Supporters of Australian Rugby Reform – and includes former RA director Geoff Stooke and former Wallaby and national coaching director Dick Marks – have fired off a nine-page document on “major concerns” to key member stakeholders stating the RA board has “failed” to “rectify Australia’s rugby problems”.
They say the RA board, chaired by former Wallaby Daniel Herbert, is “not the appropriate group to fix (the problems)”.
It states McLennan, who stepped down after a Queensland-led member union coup, should not have been made the “fall guy” for a code they say is besieged by poor and bad governance. It also suggests the board members should move on and for a “constitutional review to take place”.
“The previous Chairman cannot be the scapegoat and we therefore need a spill of the RA Board and a constitutional review including a change to put appropriately qualified and skilled directors in their place (other than the CEO),” the letter obtained by The Australian reads.
“The Member Unions, Super Rugby teams and RUPA (RA Voting Members) owe it to the supporters of Rugby Union in Australia to bring this about, thereby giving the game a fresh start and improving democratic principles.”
“That is a big call and the group advocating it makes no apology for detailing the long story of maladministration in dealing with the many problems and own-goals that have beset the sport in Australia. All those who have played rugby know what it is like to be dropped from a team after a poor performance and this practice should equally apply to administrators and governors.”
Late last year McLennan paid the price for advocating a centralised model for RA that would disempower the states in the current federated model. Those states turned against him, with six calling for his resignation. McLennan valued the centralised Irish model. Ten days ago Ireland were crowned Six Nations champions, having gone into the 2023 Rugby World Cup as the No.1-ranked nation.
Rugby Australia’s annual meeting is next month and a number of board members are up for re-election. In its letter to member unions, the group says the process for electing RA board members is undemocratic.
“However, as you would also be aware, they do not offer options from which the Directors are elected. Rather, they recommend a fixed list of candidates to be elected by the voting members of RA,” it states. “It is in effect a take-it-or-leave-it proposal.”
“We find this system fundamentally objectionable in terms of lack of democracy. Of more concern would be the abhorrent scenario wherein the three current Directors of the RA Board who are required to stand-down, are the candidates named by the Nominations Committee.”
The letter is signed by University of Technology Sydney associate professor Paul Jonson, who is a governance and constitutional adviser for the Oceanic rugby region. He is also a co-author of the book Sports Law.
The document includes an overview of issues from “poor international rankings, financial instability, and diminished fan engagement” and attributes this decline to systemic issues within the sport’s governance and operational models.
They state there has been “erosion of development pathways” and “weak connections between community and elite rugby levels have contributed to dwindling talent pools and fan bases”.
The authors said the paper was based on what has been reported by RA itself, along with “evidence gathered from the rugby community base”.
The letter details a breakdown in pathways and decried the state of the game at school level – where GPS schools have been shrinking their numbers with soccer on the rise at some schools. “Australia’s rugby base is shrinking with major school nurseries even considering dropping rugby from their sporting curriculums,” it states.
“Rugby needs to be a united whole but for this cohesion to eventuate there must be strong links in the development chain – schools, juniors, clubs, premier clubs – leading to professional teams. Some would suggest that a semi-professional tier needs to be the penultimate progression.”
“Rival football codes have raided our breeding grounds usually through the weight of financial incentives and Australian rugby doesn’t have the revenue to meet these challenges in that material sense. Rugby Australia seems bereft of ideas on how to resist this poaching.”
It says RA’s financial problems go back to when the Rebels were established and it was insisted by the ARU it be privately owned. The Rebels recently went into voluntary administration – more than $20 million in debt – and are facing the axe from Super Rugby.
“After three years of operation and one year of set-up costs, the private owner exited after losing approximately $12m. Through obligations under the SANZAR Agreement, the Australian Rugby Union had to pick up the costs and as of 2017, it had lost a further $17.5m. Unfortunately, without government or philanthropic support (or RA support), the Rebels were always going to struggle. RA never recovered from this financial hit,” it reads.
“Subsequent financial hits include the loss of Foxtel, the loss of QANTAS, the Folau case and various expensive departures. Moreover, it has now been publicly revealed the failed RWC campaign was $2.6m over budget although – despite promises of transparency and accountability – we have not been told the full campaign cost nor that of any recent ‘bailouts’ of Super teams. Oversight by board and management of the financial affairs of RA have been totally inadequate with the unauthorised over payments during the RWC being a prime example.”
To ensure the future of the code, it calls for pathways to be rebuilt and for a financial restructure. Their key recommendations include rebuilding pathways, financially restructuring and strengthening fan engagement.
Rugby Australia is yet to respond to the letter and document.
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