Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 63

Thread: Rugby kept its own cricket-style cultural review secret in 2015

  1. #1
    Immortal Contributor The InnFORCEr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    West Leederville
    Posts
    16,871
    vCash
    3102000

    Rugby kept its own cricket-style cultural review secret in 2015

    By Georgina Robinson
    6 November 2018 — 12:01am

    Australian rugby buried its own Cricket Australia-style tell-all cultural review three years ago.

    Michael Hawker, the then-chairman of the then-Australian Rugby Union, commissioned Simon Longstaff of the Ethics Centre to undertake a cultural review of the organisation in May 2015, six months after Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie quit amid the biggest crisis in the sport's recent history.

    Fairfax Media understands the report was finished and sent to the ARU (now Rugby Australia) but was never made public.

    Over the next three years, Hawker and then-chief executive Bill Pulver, half the board, plus the entire senior management of the organisation, bar high performance manager Ben Whitaker, resigned or moved on.

    Those people included chief operating officer Rob Clarke, general manager of commercial, John Nicholl, chief financial officer, Todd Day, general counsel Richard Hawkins, community general manager Andrew Larratt and general manager media and corporate communications Rachel Hickey.

    On the board, Cameron Clyne took over from Hawker as chairmain, while John Eales, Geoff Stooke and Elizabeth Broderick moved on, leaving Brett Robinson, Ann Sherry and Pip Marlow still serving terms. Phil Waugh replaced Eales, Hayden Rorke replaced Stooke and John Wilson replaced Broderick. Tony Shaw also joined and is currently president, a largely ceremonial role.

    Pulver, who was a non-executive director, quit at the end of last year. He was replaced by Raelene Castle, who started in January.

    Hawker could not remember the review when contacted by Fairfax Media.

    A spokesperson confirmed the report had been received but was always intended to be confidential. Its findings were fed into the larger ARU five-year strategic review, which had been announced at the same time and was unveiled 10 months later in April 2016.

    Other stakeholders told Fairfax Media they were lined up to interview with Longstaff but had their appointments cancelled. The feedback from the ARU legal department at the time was that the review had been shelved.

    A media release from May 2015 quoted Hawker on the review and said the Ethics Centre would talk to "around 400 people involved in professional rugby in Australia" through one-to-one interviews and an online survey.

    "This cultural review will examine the extent to which the values of Rugby Union in Australia are
    aligned and being applied by both players and administrators in the professional game. In other
    words, we want to know, if what we do and what we say are aligned," Hawker said.

    The announcement was made after the McKenzie resignation split the sport and revealed cost-cutting and an absence of high performance structure at the heart of the Wallabies' slow implosion over 2013 and 2014.

    McKenzie was appointed by Pulver as the successor to Robbie Deans at the same time as Pulver and the board authorised the dismantling of the role of an overarching high performance manager (David Nucifora at the time). McKenzie, who had coached the Reds to a Super Rugby title in 2011, brought in an adminsitrative assistant from Queensland, Di Patston, to help him run the Wallabies program. The pair presided over a team environment that became dysfunctional over the next two years, before the matter exploded into the open when Test playmaker Kurtley Beale sent an offensive text message about Patston to teammates in June 2014. McKenzie resigned in October that year, while Beale was hauled before a Code of Conduct tribunal and fined $45,000, and Patston left the ARU and settled out of court with the organisation.

    A Rugby Australia spokesman told Fairfax Media that Longstaff submitted his review in July 2015. The overall tone was that the sport was not aligned with what it purported it was trying to achieve. He said the findings appeared to have been fed into the strategic review, which put values and the spirit of rugby at the heart of its purpose when it was unveiled by
    Pulver the following April.

    Cricket Australia is still reeling from the fallout from Longstaff's review of the organisation in the wake of the ball tampering scandal.

    'Australian Cricket: A Matter of Balance' was originally held back by the Cricket Australia board but was released publicly late last month after sustained urging from the Ethics Centre.

    CA chairman David Peever, who was re-elected to the role just days before the review was made public, resigned last week - three days after the report was released. Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor resigned from the board on Monday.

    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...05-p50e4u.html

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?

    Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!

    Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!

  2. #2
    Immortal Contributor The InnFORCEr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    West Leederville
    Posts
    16,871
    vCash
    3102000
    Well how about that!

    About as transparent as a blackboard.

    3 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?

    Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!

    Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!

  3. #3
    Champion SinBin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    1,430
    vCash
    5000000
    Curious as to why RA's darling, Georgina is leaking this. Is it RA's way of getting ahead of the game - with Cricket Australia's review in the spot light, it was just a matter of time before RA's review was leaked. See, we had a review and all's well in rugby land now.

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  4. #4
    Veteran valzc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Denmark WA
    Posts
    2,841
    vCash
    5066000
    Well whaddya know.......and it was never published. Speaks volumes on what they are trying to hide.

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  5. #5
    Legend Contributor blueandblack's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    6,087
    vCash
    8894664
    "The overall tone was that the sport was not aligned with what it purported it was trying to achieve."

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    "12 Years a Supporter" starring the #SeaOfBlue

  6. #6
    Veteran BLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    2,759
    vCash
    5004000
    I would love if it mentioned cutting a team, but alas Clyne would say it's before his time so not his problem.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  7. #7
    Veteran sittingbison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    North Freo
    Posts
    2,800
    vCash
    5000000
    Clyne, Clarke, Day, Hawkins, Robinson. Names of Infamy

    WTF are Sherry and Marlow doing on the board. Any self respecting, normal person (Stooke) would have resigned after the Force fiasco, Senate Inquiry and Wallaby implosion. Snouts in trough

    One of our posters said recently all you had to do was replace a single consonant..."C" with "R"... in Longstaff Report and voila!! ready made analysis of rugby administration issues. Didn't know that guy was clairvoyant

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    The long sobs of autumn's violins wound my heart with a monotonous languor

  8. #8
    Veteran Bakkies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    3,728
    vCash
    5000000
    Swept it under the carpet and brought in a parasite as Chairman. Has this been sent on to the Senate Committee, Wayne Smith and Alan Jones?

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


    https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne

    Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca

    https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board

  9. #9
    Legend Contributor Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,308
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by sittingbison View Post
    Clyne, Clarke, Day, Hawkins, Robinson. Names of Infamy

    WTF are Sherry and Marlow doing on the board. Any self respecting, normal person (Stooke) would have resigned after the Force fiasco, Senate Inquiry and Wallaby implosion. Snouts in trough

    One of our posters said recently all you had to do was replace a single consonant..."C" with "R"... in Longstaff Report and voila!! ready made analysis of rugby administration issues. Didn't know that guy was clairvoyant
    Sherry left the board pretty soon after the ‘questionable dealings’ were coming under public scrutiny. Eales cut and ran soon after. The words ‘rats’, ‘sinking’ and ‘ship’ came to my mind at the time.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby

  10. #10
    Legend Contributor Alison's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,308
    vCash
    5000000
    I think this revelation unequivocally justifies the Senate Inquiry. The lengths certain people went to to try and get the Inquiry quashed at the time always did seem a bit suspicious to me.

    I feel totally vindicated now.

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby

  11. #11
    Veteran Bakkies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    3,728
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by Alison View Post
    I think this revelation unequivocally justifies the Senate Inquiry. The lengths certain people went to to try and get the Inquiry quashed at the time always did seem a bit suspicious to me.

    I feel totally vindicated now.
    Puller was supposed to table all the RA’s reviews. We don’t know if this occurred and we still don’t know what happened with the recommendation to look in to the behaviour of certain witnesses.

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


    https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne

    Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca

    https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board

  12. #12
    Champion SinBin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    1,430
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by blueandblack View Post
    "The overall tone was that the sport was not aligned with what it purported it was trying to achieve."
    Other gem was "Hawker could not remember the review when contacted by Fairfax Media."

    1 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  13. #13
    Veteran Bakkies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    3,728
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by SinBin View Post
    Other gem was "Hawker could not remember the review when contacted by Fairfax Media."
    Reminds me of the testimonies from the Inquiry.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


    https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne

    Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca

    https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board

  14. #14
    Legend
    Apprentice Bookie
    Contributor .X.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    6,697
    vCash
    -14799739
    Anyone wanna bet that Mr. Stooke can remember it?

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

    Exile
    Sydney


    "Pain heels. Chicks dig scars and Glory lasts forever." Shane Falco

  15. #15
    Champion SinBin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    1,430
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by Exile View Post
    Anyone wanna bet that Mr. Stooke can remember it?
    Just wish Senator Reynolds had known about it when she was grilling Clyne - that would've been gold.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. NZ Rugby forms 'cultural change' panel stacked with women
    By The InnFORCEr in forum New Zealand
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 14-10-16, 18:32
  2. 2015 SEASON REVIEW MEETING
    By Arfur Daily in forum Western Australian Metro Rugby
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 16-08-15, 21:34
  3. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 20-12-13, 10:45
  4. Cricket Cricket Australia appoint ex-rugby player
    By beige in forum Other Sports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 13-10-11, 15:35
  5. Secret summit to save rugby
    By travelling_gerry in forum Wallabies
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 23-09-09, 13:35

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •