KEY POINTS:
Deposed New Zealand Rugby League chairman Sel Bennett is mulling over whether to fight for the post at next month's annual meeting.
He says his decision could swing on the detail of constitutional changes ratified by league's governing body at the weekend.
Bennett's successor, acting chairman Andrew Chalmers, was the driving force behind a raft of changes seeking to overhaul the game's governance at board and regional level.
At an intense special general meeting of the game's 22 districts and associations in Manukau, Chalmers successfully pushed through a reform agenda that would see the current board of six elected directors replaced by a new board of nine, three of whom would be non-elected professionals.
The move comes in the wake of the Nathan Fien "Grannygate" affair and a subsequent Chalmers-initiated review of the game's governance by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
But Chalmers' dictatorial approach - particularly his unilateral suspension of board member Peter Douglas for allegedly tipping off Bennett that he would be asked to fall on his sword over the Fien debacle - is believed to have ruffled feathers among the game's old-school, regionally-based administrators, prompting some to call for Bennett's return.
"I have been asked to stand again," Bennett said, adding he would make his decision after studying the detail of the reforms.
Bennett's chances of re-election will not have been helped by the revelation that his wife Ivy had been convicted in December of 23 charges of fraud relating to the misuse of $131,000 raised from poker machines at pubs she and her husband owned.
Ivy Bennett was fined $23,000.
Chalmers' reforms met resistance from a lobby group believed to have been led by the Auckland Rugby League and initially failed to gain a two-thirds majority, but were eventually passed in a second vote after several amendments.
Chalmers did not respond to a Herald request for an interview last night but said in a statement that "after 100 years of our sport in New Zealand, these are landmark changes that will ensure that rugby league continues to move forward in a dynamic and exciting way".
Chalmers now looks to be in a strong position to lead the board and assume permanent chairmanship of the NZRL at the annual meeting.
He is yet to confirm his intention to stand for the position but it would be a surprise if the successful businessman did not see himself as the man to lead the game into a new era of professional management.
The planned changes to the game's constitution mean the existing board would step down at the annual meeting but would be free to seek re-election.
The existing district definitions are also to be replaced with more relevant regional zones.
* Britain's RFL has confirmed the three test match dates for the Kiwis' centenary All Golds tour. The Centenary International against a British XIII (with Andrew Johns making a guest appearance for the Kiwis) will be on Saturday, October 20 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington.
Huddersfield's Galpharm Stadium will host the first test against Great Britain on October 27, Hull's KC Stadium the second test on November 3 and Wigan's JJB Stadium the last test on November 10.
