Rob Clarke must gain field position so next Rugby Australia CEO can kick goals

Rob Clarke may be laying the groundwork for his successor to transform the job.

Rob Clarke has spent nearly 20 years in rugby administration. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The last of the witty Republicans, PJ O’Rourke, once wrote that the Democrats were the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer and remove the crabgrass from your lawn ... the Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then get elected and set about proving it.

Effectively, then, a pox on both their houses, although, just speaking personally, I might volunteer for a stint in parliament if it makes me, say, 15cm taller.

Rugby Australia has been through three chairmen, maybe four, and two chief executives so far this year, yet all of them have fallen dramatically short of what is expected by my co-columnist Alan Jones. Cameron Clyne, Paul McLean, Peter Wiggs, Hamish McLennan … all entirely different men, all different chairmen, all different agendas, yet all of them confined to the stocks and pelted with rotting fruit. Well, maybe not Wiggs, given that he lasted barely a single board meeting. And then there are the chief executives … Raelene Castle and Rob Clarke. Have no doubt that rugby is the most politicised sport on the Australian continent, bar none.

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There are those who openly wonder why a man of such diversified interests and talents as Mr Jones would delve so deeply into what is, after all, only a game, notwithstanding that it was the game which effectively helped make him who he is. Nothing like coaching a Grand Slam tour of the Home Union and winning the last Bledisloe Cup series on New Zealand soil to cement a man as a lifelong rugby devotee.

Lately, Jones had targeted his fire on Clarke, the interim boss of Rugby Australia. Clarke has served the best part of the past two decades at or near the top of the game and so, naturally, has made his share of enemies. (Refer to the above description of Australian rugby.) Mostly he has let the praise and the insults slide off him and I confess I was surprised and somewhat delighted that he managed to raise a smile at my depiction of him as the pedantic Sir Bernard Woolley while lampooning the Yes Minister-style intrigue in the drawn-out process of culling the Western Force back in 2017.

Back then, Clarke was seen as an undercover agent of the Melbourne franchise, constantly diverting the culling process away from the Rebels and focusing it again and again on the west.

He has assured me that when he took back the Super Rugby licence from the Force, it was never with the intention of one day beating them over the head with it. This happened, remember, when the then CEO of the Australian Rugby Union, Bill Pulver, was still insisting he would not shrink the game to greatness. I am just not sure how far we can stretch credulity by suggesting that the ARU was consciously working against its own stated objectives. Yeah, yeah, quieten down at the back …

I believed him then and I believe him now, though I can fully understand why people out west still harbour lavishly constructed conspiracy theories about his actions. It does look suspicious and I can fully understand why his first phone call after being appointed interim CEO of RA in May was to RugbyWA chairman John Edwards. “Awkward” doesn’t even begin to describe their exchange but Clarke had taken the bit between his teeth and broken the ice. Everything he has done subsequently appears to have been done in the best interests of the Force.

Moreover, let’s get our facts straight. Clarke resigned from the ARU on May 4, 2017. The final decision on the fate of the Force wasn’t made till August 11, so his resignation came not only long before the Senate inquiry but long before the Force was actually culled. Not saying he didn’t influence the decision and by that August he was working for the Rebels as an adviser, which further fuels the conspiracy arguments. But this is why dates are so important in history — because only by referring to them can cause-and-effect be determined.

Oh, and one more thing. Clarke didn’t sack the 12 development officers in NSW. That was done by the NSWRU. As for hiring hatchet men, my preference is not that they cut $15m from the RA budget but that they cut the right $15m.

Jones has raised questions about Clarke’s interim appointment but curiously, has not asked the question that keeps bothering me and others.

If he is in place to take all the tough decisions before he departs around Christmas time — deciding on competition models, negotiating with broadcasters, dealing with private equity firms, rectifying the constitutional issues and navigating between the states and franchises — then what is his successor to do? These are all fundamental pieces of the future rugby is trying to build for itself in this country but once they are in place, surely they are in place.

Clarke might be a lame duck administrator, acting for a short period before being replaced, but consider all the damage Donald Trump could do if given a second term. Will the man or woman who succeeds Clarke become a captive to his decisions? On one hand, that would be immensely liberating, being able to blame whatever goes wrong on a predecessor. On the other, it would be like donning a straitjacket.

Clarke insists he isn’t motivated by any long-term personal ambitions, that he is in a position to make what he considers are the best decisions in the interest of the game and then walk away.

There are a couple of other factors to be considered.

The agenda that Clarke is attempting to implement has been approved by McLennan and the board. And when Clarke does ride off into the sunset after completing his “to do list”, McLennan will be staying on, providing a real sense of continuity of ideas and strategy.

As for what the incoming CEO might do, McLennan already has hinted at making the most of this opportunity to take the role in a new direction. If the nuts-and-bolts decisions have all been taken, might it not free up the new administrator to kick some goals in the commercial area or elsewhere?

Meanwhile, Clarke has a lot of work on his plate.