RUGBY - Toe to toe with Tew

Advocate reporter MIKE DINSDALE puts the hard questions to NZRU chief executive Steve Tew, pictured, about the decision to drop Northland from first-division rugby.
Q: Does the NZRU lay the blame for Northland's potential demotion at the feet of the game's administrators at the Northland Rugby Union?
A: We are not in the business of laying blame. Other people have to assess the performance of their unions. They have a constituent membership of 47 or 48 clubs up your way. That's for them, it's not for us to draw judgement.
What we have got is a set of criteria, which were set back in 2005 when we established the format of the new Air New Zealand Cup.
It was agreed that if you took account of population numbers, player numbers, playing history and development, governance administration and finance you could make a pretty subjective decision of a union's ability to compete in that competition.
The NRU scored 8.1 for its financial position, governance and administration out of a possible combined 45 percent in the NZRU criteria.
Q: Why only take account of playing history from 2006 and 2007?
A: You can't asses what was happening years ago as an indicator of current performance.
Q: What concerns do the NZRU have with the NRU performance?
A: The financial performance is one obvious issue, but its not appropriate to get into the details publicly because the process is live and we've given everybody, including Northland, the chance to provide feed back for us...and we need to judge that fairly and reasonably.
Q: What is your understanding of the NRU debt given that the NRU says it will be in the black next year?
A: It's not appropriate to give any further information they've shared with us. But I will say we 've been working with Northland for six months because there are obviously some challenges for them as there are for other unions. It's for them to release the figures for this coming financial year, but they have kept us fully informed.
Q: Would a change of administration and/or a substantial cash injection (possibly from a benefactor) increase the likelihood that the Air NZ Cup status could be maintained for Northland?
A: There's an opportunity for (NRU) to give us some feedback. They can bring whatever they wish to the table to encourage the board to rethink. I can't pre-empt or predict what the response would be. But I will say you can't buy your way in.
Q: What would it take to keep Northland up?
A: That's asking me the same question in a different way and I've been around too long to be trapped by that.
Q: The NZRU claims this is a fully transparent process but how can it be when the NZRU won't release all the information we ask for or comment on some issues?
A: It's transparent in that there are criteria that are well documented. We measured Northland and the other 13 against them, provided the media and the public the opportunity to see the discussion documents both times they've been written and released. And we are now in the middle of asking for feedback from the 14 unions, two of whom are seriously affected by this process. It's not right and probably not sensible legally to have a debate in your paper about that. We are not hiding from anything.
Q: Are there things the NRU can do to save us from the drop?
A: It's a draft decision. We've asked for feedback and will then consider that. And then the decision will be reassessed. I can't predict if the board will make a change or not. It's not a done deal.
We wouldn't be putting ourselves through this process if the decisions were final.
Q: Northland was the only union not to make a written submission on the process, but made a verbal submission. Did this surprise you?
A: We asked for written submissions the first time and got them by about May. We expected to get a written submission from everybody. But we took heed of what was said in the face-to-face meetings (with the NRU) and we are expecting a written submission before we make the final decision in September.
Q: If we go down, how the hell do we get back up with one team being semi or fully professional and the other basically part timers?
A: That's the dilemma we've wrestled with. We acknowledge that it is a challenge, just as it is in any professional sport that has a different weighting of investment in it and promotion and relegation. It's just the same in Premier League football in England. It's not an easy or black and white area but we think on balance, despite the challenges, the opportunity for a team to perform and win their right to come back up is worth maintaining and it's a clear pathway. But yes it will be difficult.
Q: Have you had to step in to help the NRU with its finances, admin and governance?
A; I don't recall us having a red alert about Northland. But there's a group do unions that live on the cusp (financially). And Northland is one of them. They struggle to raise enough money to play in any competition, let alone one that has a salary bill as high as it has.
Q: This draft decision has stirred up a lot of emotion here in Northland, will that have any influence on the final decision?
A: We'd be disappointed if people weren't taking this decision seriously. The NRU can provide us with whatever feedback they wish, whether that includes some assessment summery of depth of feeling that's for them to determine.
Q: Will any NZRU officials be at tonight's game
A: Some probably will be there.
Q: There is talk of a pitch invasion tonight to send a message to the NZRU that people' won't lay down and take this decision lightly. What's your take on that?
A: I'm not sure what that would achieve. People would be breaking the law and I would imagine Northland would take the appropriate actions. But we won't be determining the future of Northland rugby because of the actions of a minority of misguided people.