They say that the unions are now guilty of egregious overreach and that they are using their constitutional power to take total control of the game without a legitimate or legal mandate to do so.
What the unions are effectively doing is circumnavigating their own proposal by rewriting it in such a way that they will control every step of the governance process and never need any buy-in from any other stakeholder to retain their dominant position.
This attempted power heist comes a week after NZR presented a set of accounts that showed it burned through more than $20m of cash last year and suffered a $9m loss.
Under the same resolution, the constitution will be changed to lower the number of people who need to serve on the proposed Governance Advisory Panel (GAP) for it to be recognised as a quorum – a belt and braces move to ensure that even if the unions can’t coerce pseudo representatives of the NZMRB, NZRPA and SRC to serve on the GAP, it will still be recognised as a constitutionally viable entity.
North Harbour’s resolution has been lodged because none of the NZMRB, NZRPA nor SRC put forward a representative to serve on the GAP – a key part of the so-called Proposal 2 that the unions voted to implement at a Special General Meeting in May.
For Proposal 2 to work, it must first set up this GAP which was intending to have three provincial unions representatives, one from the Pasifika Advisory Group (PAG), one each from the NZMRB, NZRPA and SRC and an independent chair who would have no voting rights.
The GAP would then appoint three people to sit on the Appointment and Remuneration Panel – the body which would select NZR board members.
But while the unions have put forward three names to serve on the GAP – Kate Daly, Andrew Golightly and Corey Kennet – the PAG has nominated Pauline-Jean Luyten – and John Palmer had agreed to serve as a non-voting independent chair, none of the NZMRB, NZRPA or SRC have forwarded a name because they don’t support the implementation of Proposal 2.
To further complicate matters – and in a sign of how divided and fractious the rugby community has become - it is understood that Crusaders director Scott Ford has been put forward as someone to serve on the GAP as an SRC representative.
But his nomination is not supported by any of the five Super Rugby clubs and has been put forward by Wellington Rugby – which is a 50 per cent shareholder in the Hurricanes and supported by the provincial unions which own a majority stake in the Crusaders.
North Harbour chair Gerard von Tilborg told the Herald that the resolution has been lodged to prevent the whole change process coming to a grinding halt.
“Our view is that there has been some kerfuffle around whether non-members will put a name forward to the GAP.
“The resolution has been put forward because we don’t want to create a stalemate, and so we want a process in place that allows us to continue.”
Von Tilborg says that he understands that the situation of the unions picking representatives on behalf of stakeholders who have rejected Proposal 2 is not ideal, but says that it is a better outcome than a stalemate whereby the GAP can’t be formed and the process can’t move forward.
The NZMRB, NZRPA and SRC have tried to engage the provincial unions in formal discussions to explain their concerns with Proposal 2 – that they say it largely condenses power further in the hands of the provincial unions, is not independent and will ultimately fail to attract the best people and not serve the needs of the whole of rugby - to see if a better way forward can be agreed.
Von Tilborg acknowledges that these three stakeholders have reached out, but he says that while some provincial unions have been willing to open dialogue, others have rejected the idea and have no desire to backtrack or further a delay process that has taken the better part of a year with no outcome.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He’s won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.
