Rugby WA boss Mark Sinderberry could replace Bill Pulver as ARU CEO should Pulver be

I read this article online this morning, hope it doesn't happen as he still has work to do at the Force.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/r...-1227105281996

A yet-to-be-completed TV deal may provide some job security for Bill Pulver but Rugby WA boss Mark Sinderberry has been backed as an heir apparent should the ARU board dump their embattled chief executive.

Pulver's leadership of Australian rugby has come under heavy scrutiny in recent weeks as the code deals with a seemingly endless Kurtley Beale-Di Patston saga, and reels daily from the damage to its public image.

Calls for Pulver to step down have multiplied and a report yesterday said the ARU board were "headhunting" potential replacements to give the code a clean start.

Anonymous ARU chairman Michael Hawker has also come under fire to keep his job.

The Daily Telegraph understands SANZAR's broadcast negotiations may give Pulver some breathing room, however, with the ARU board keen to convey some semblance of stability.

The entry of Japan to Super Rugby last week will see extra millions added to a previously reported $35-40 million per year deal for the ARU from 2016, and SANZAR negotiations about the exact split of broadcast money are yet to be finalised.

Pulver surviving deep in the last year of his contract 2015 looks increasingly doubtful, however, with support for his position dwindling across ARU stakeholders.

With the experienced Andrew Fagan recently moving to the Adelaide Crows, replacement deputy Rob Clarke or Queensland's profit-turning CEO Jim Carmichael have been mentioned as alternatives.

But former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones believes Sinderberry's 20-years as a rugby administrator — from being the inaugural Brumbies CEO to running London giants Saracens — makes him a walk-up start.

"If you look at his CV, he has the strongest CV of anyone in Australia in terms of rugby administration," Jones said.

"He knows the game of rugby. He has put together a champion team at the Brumbies, put together the foundations of Saracens being one of the strongest teams in Europe.

"Now he has gone to the Force and definitely helped them resurrect themselves. He has all the markers in place."

Not from NSW or Queensland, Sinderberry's lack of political backing at board level should not be a reason to overlook him, said Jones, who believes the blue and red factions at the ARU need to "pull their heads in" for the sake of the struggling code.

Jones said for Australian rugby to pick itself back up and move forward, it has to unite nationally under strong leadership; the existence of which he currently questions.

"I read about Beale not being told to front the media after his hearing. That's just incredible. That is incredible," Jones said.

"There has to be someone there who has a strong vision for the game and for Australian rugby. (John) O'Neill had his faults but what he has was a strong vision for the game and how to achieve it. Everything was then cohesive about doing it.

"To have a vibrant rugby community in Australia, you need a strong Wallabies team. That's where the money comes from, that's the reality of it. Everything has to be geared towards that.

"If provinces don't come in line, there's got to be action taken. You need a strong guy at the top that's prepared to do that. You are not going to be liked because you are going to have to bang heads together to get a result. Because that's what needs to happen.

"I think if that happens Australian rugby can turn it around very quickly. But it is not going to happen in the situation we are in now."

Michael Cheika's proposal to involve all four state coaches in his Wallabies program is a "fantastic first step", Jones said.

"The big thing is we have to become the smart country again," he added.

"While it's always been separate provinces, when Australian rugby has been strong, everyone has worked together to produce a strong Wallaby team."

Originally published as Pulver's fight for survival continues

selfishly...

http://i.imgur.com/Jydd56P.gif

Well I think I'll go buy a lotto ticket. Eddie Jones talking sense. :S

I sent an email to Mr Sinderberry giving my 4d worth as to why I think he should stay! :eek: Selfishly!

any more on this?

Wayne Smith

October 31

AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver looks set to survive the Kurtley Beale scandal but the ARU is planning to conduct a forensic examination of the sloppy handling of the affair.

There has been widespread criticism of Pulver’s leadership but The Australian has been told ARU directors have rallied behind him and his position is safe, even though plans are afoot to revisit every step of this journey to determine what he and the organisation could have done better.

The month-long imbroglio enters a new stage today when ARU integrity officer Phil Thomson considers statements from participants in the in-flight incident on September 28 in which Beale had a verbal altercation with then Wallabies business manager Di Patston.

In the aftermath of this clash, which left her in tears, Patston made the ARU aware she received two obscene images on her mobile phone on June 9. An independent code of conduct tribunal last Friday found Beale guilty of sending the first text but ruled there was insufficient evidence to establish he was the author of the second.

Unless today’s integrity unit investigation uncovers new grounds for termination, the ARU will be forced to abide by the findings of the tribunal, which ignored the ARU’s recommendation that Beale’s contract not be renewed and instead fined him $45,000.

To say the ARU was gobsmacked at its recommendation being ignored, especially in light of the fact Beale was found guilty of sending an obscene image to a *female employee, would be a gross understatement, but having announced in advance it would abide by the tribunal’s findings, the ARU is caught in a bind of its own *making.

It is understood ARU directors are virtually unanimous that they do not want Beale to continue representing Australia but cutting him loose might not be as easy as simply not renewing his contract when his agreement expires at the end of the year.

As soon as the ARU launched disciplinary action against Beale a month ago, it suspended contract negotiations with him.

It is unclear whether the offer on the table at that time comes back into play or whether the ARU, in response to what is thought to be his 12th major transgression, can scale down its offer to such an insulting figure that Beale will walk of his own accord.

Even that might not be the end of it if, as Waratahs coach Michael Cheika told The Australian on Oct*ober 13, a week before becoming Wallabies coach, and re*affirmed by NSW chairman Roger Davis yesterday, the Waratahs go it alone and try to find alternative sources of funding to keep Beale playing for NSW.

All Super Rugby contracts in Australia are tripartite agreements involving the player, province and ARU. Unless all three parties are in agreement, there is no contract.

As Davis put it yesterday, in arguing that the ARU could not tear up Beale’s existing contract: “The contract is a dual contract between the ARU and the Waratahs, so to terminate his contract requires both parties to agree to it.”

If the ARU cites Beale’s lengthy misconduct record as grounds for refusing to sign off on any private Waratahs deal, the question then arises whether NSW or Beale would be prepared to launch a restraint-of-trade *action against the national body.

One wonders how rugby fans in NSW and across the country, particularly female fans, would respond to the Waratahs going to such lengths to defend a player found guilty of sending a highly offensive obscene text to a woman.

An even more pertinent question is whether Beale really wants to stay in rugby. In his statement to the code of conduct tribunal, he insists he does, highlighting his ambitions to work with kids and charities.

“Though I may not have acted like it sometimes in the past, I understand and appreciate what a privilege it is to play rugby union and to have the opportunity to represent my country with the Wallabies,” Beale wrote.

“I am very proud of my role as a Wallaby. I have really loved my time at the Waratahs this year and want to play with them again next year. I want to be eligible for the World Cup in 2015.”

Yet contrast those words with what he said to his roommate back at the time of the texting incident, Ben McCalman.

“I told Ben that I was upset at being on the fringe of the squad and being left on the bench and I noted I was off contract at the end of the year.”

As early as June, then, Beale was hinting at quitting Australian rugby. Of course, that was while Ewen McKenzie was still Wallabies coach. Courtesy of the Beale-triggered upheaval in Australian rugby, that no longer is the case.

12th major transgression!!!