NZ rugby governance - the world is watching
Support for the New Zealand Rugby Players Association's stance on the future governance of the game has come from an unlikely quarter: Stephen Jones of The Sunday Times.
In his weekend column, Jones said the issue facing New Zealand was the same around the professional rugby world and had held the professional game back by decades.
Jones said claims in New Zealand that the player stance threatened to 'split the game in two' was the same split occurring where professional rugby is played and the professional and amateur arms are wrangling in the 'least holy of alliances.'
He added that the players' solution, should the proposal to have the game run by a board of nine independent specialists lose in favour of a counter proposal from the provincial unions, or 'amateurish officials' as he called them, be to have a new body govern the game.
"This was sensational. It amounts to the possibility that there could be two competing bodies in charge of the elite game in the country.
"The present governing board was hardly conciliatory. It went blah-blahing about noting views of the players' group and remaining 'committed to working closely with stakeholders' and all that stuff. But it said that it would apply the outcome 'that voting members choose at the special general meeting'.
Jones said the stance of the Taranaki Rugby Union, which supports the recommended changes, was fascinating.
The Taranaki Union said the provincial unions' response underlined the deficiencies in retaining old-style officials in charge of the New Zealand game.
"While this is good in theory, the structure is not serving us well...as the calibre of candidates we are putting forward as provincial unions is simply not high enough. And because of this, we are struggling to attract high-calibre independents to work alongside the provincial union representatives."
Jones said those comments were fascinating because they could have been written and applied in nearly every country in the professional game.
"Taranaki's observation shows that simply coming to be an administrator as a keen amateur gives you a limited scope when set next to professional specialists. Buffoons in blazers.
"Furthermore, it is absolutely staggering that it has taken a set of players so long to rebel.
"The point is this – that life as an elite professional player is so testing and loyalty is at such a premium that hardly anyone has time to make a judgment on how their careers are being administered and how their interests are being represented.
"The other disaster has been the total lack of informed and wise retired players moving into administration.
"The loss is profound. It is absolutely astonishing how few international players are in administrative positions. Someone like the great Conrad Smith, a fabulous player for New Zealand with the wisdom to make the switch, is one of the few successful conversions.
"Time-servers. The works of rugby administration have been gummed up almost solid for so long. Why not a forest fire of players, across the globe?..All hail, the All Blacks."