RA chairman backs Castle even as game faces existential crisis

Embattled Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle will survive the coronavirus crisis but faces an uncertain future beyond that, along with the rest of the game in Australia.

Castle retained the full support of the RA board at the end of the most difficult and tumultuous week in the game's history, in which 75 per cent of the game's non-player workforce were stood down, a pay cut stand-off turned ugly with the country's 192 professional players and a small but powerful group of former players began agitating for change at the top.

Rugby Australia chairman Paul McLean came to the defence of his embattled chief executive Raelene Castle. Credit: James Alcock

Reports emerged on Friday that personnel changes on the RA board could see Castle sacked over the weekend, but interim chairman Paul McLean said, despite daily board meetings link-ups week, there was no plot to topple the game's under-fire chief executive.

"We had a board discussion prior to Christmas and we indicated to her then she had 100 per cent board support and the board has not been back to talk about Raelene's position since," McLean told the Herald.

Rugby Australia chairman Paul McLean.

"We are quite legitimately spending all our time looking at the business. I can guarantee that the focus of our daily board meetings is 100 per cent on cash flow and cash flow alone. That's the position we're in.

"Raelene has our absolute support."

The board's last link-up was on Thursday night, and McLean said there was no inkling of a coup, including after addition of the three new directors, former Wallaby Daniel Herbert, Supercars chairman Peter Wiggs and Virgin Australia founder Brett Godfrey. No directors contacted by the Herald on Friday responded to enquiries.

"There's always things happening on the edges in rugby and nefarious forces at play," McLean said. "The three new directors have had their shoulder to the wheel on our cash flow problems and the implications of that. None of the three of them have raised anything to do with Raelene.

"We are quite genuinely looking only at the business. Things could change - the game could look completely different next year, there may not be the need for all the people doing what they're doing now in rugby, will there be a need for state unions or all the agreements we have in place right now? This is a genuinely game-changing moment.

"But at this point in time we are in the crux of some critical discussions around a whole bunch of things domestically and internationally and Raelene is at the forefront of that."

A senior executive said the new directors had rolled up their sleeves at the start of the week and were adding "enormous value" to rugby's pressing cash flow concerns.

'There's always things happening on the edges in rugby and nefarious forces at play.'

Rugby Australia interim chairman Paul McLean

Yet there was no end in sight to the increasingly bitter stalemate between the players union and head office, with RA adamant it would not cede ground on handing over its financial modelling and the Rugby Union Players Association voicing their frustration in response.

"At a time when governing bodies in the other major football codes have been open and transparent with their players RA continues to refuse our requests," RUPA boss Justin Harrison said in a statement.

"Australia’s Professional Rugby Players are awaiting the delivery of, and the opportunity to analyse, information detailing Rugby Australia’s financial position. This has not been provided.

"The Rugby Union Players Association again emphasises the need for an open and collaborative approach from RA before we can properly understand our role in Australian rugby’s restructure, for both short and long term transformation.

"Our players approach this long-term transformation with a collegiate and team approach and with an acknowledgement the game has to change.

"That is why RUPA is again respectfully requesting the financial data to fully digest before returning to the table for open and honest negotiations. We see no reasons why RA refuses to engage, despite the provision of protection under a non-disclosure agreement."

On top of rugby's balance sheet and player problems, Castle and the board appear to have stoked the ire of a group of influential former Wallabies. Respected Fox Sports analyst and RA elite coaching development adviser Rod Kafer led the charge this week proclaiming, in a widely reported interview, that "rugby was sick a long time before the coronavirus came along".

Former Wallabies captain and RA director George Gregan added his "sadness" at the state of the game and World Cup-winning former hooker Phil Kearns, who lost out to Castle when she was appointed Bill Pulver's replacement by unanimous vote two years ago, said it was obvious the game "has not progressed".

Recent former Wallabies captains endorsed Kafer's comments on Linkedin, with Stephen Moore saying "spot on Rod Kafer" and James Horwill liking Moore's post.

The game also has no broadcast deal locked in after rejecting an early Foxtel offer for less money and choosing to take its five-year rights offering to market.

Telco Optus, in partnership with Ten, was poised to swoop until the coronavirus crisis hit, with both businesses agreeing to put talks on hold for six months.

The circumstances have been painted as a blunder by Castle's critics, despite Foxtel facing solvency issues of its own amid the challenges of subscriber loss, a heavy debt burden and the sudden shutdown of professional sport globally.