https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...e/news-story/366e8087226e72520c292c751005739c
New names on ARL Commission put rugby league in right place
ARL Commission chair Peter Beattie has vowed to revisit constitutional reform within the year. He needn’t bother. Through a mix of good luck and good management, rugby league has landed exactly where it should be.
The ARL Commission remains independent, while at the same time strengthened by the addition of two of the country’s finest sporting minds.
Peter V’landys needs no introduction. The Racing NSW chief executive has been a powerful figure on the sporting landscape for some time, his crowning achievement arguably The Everest, a race which transcends the sport of horse racing.
At a time when rugby league needs every cent it can find, V’landys will bring unprecedented knowledge of the gaming industry and its rivers of gold.
Former Nine Network executive Amanda Laing’s appointment is pivotal for the game as well. Rugby league, like every other sport, not only in this country but around the world, is entering uncharted waters in the broadcasting business.
Part of the rationale for spending $150 million on its digital platform was that no one, let alone the NRL, knows what the broadcasting game will look like in coming years.
Streaming services such as Netflix, Google and Facebook are emerging as genuine alternatives for sporting organisations. Facebook last year bid $600 million for rights to stream cricket matches in India for five years. It missed out, but it was a shot across the bow of the traditional broadcasters.
Laing knows the landscape better than most. Not only did she play a significant role in negotiating the most recent commercial broadcasting deal for rugby league as an executive at the Nine Network, but she was also involved in a consultancy basis in the recent merger between Fox Sports and Foxtel.
Former Nine Network chief executive David Gyngell, once touted as a potential commissioner himself, is among those to hold Laing in the highest regard, claiming she is as smart, hard working and tenacious as anyone he has worked with in business.
Gyngell also insisted Laing would not blink under pressure nor be charmed by anyone, her one and only priority doing what is best for the game. Sounds like the ideal commissioner. She continues a recent trend of strong women taking a leading hand in the game itself. Laing’s fellow commissioner Megan Davis is one of the country’s finest lawyers, a member of the United Nations no less. She is also a rabid rugby league fan.
Gold Coast co-owner Rebecca Frizelle has shown her conviction and backbone throughout negotiations over constitutional reform. Frizelle was placed under inordinate pressure but never flinched. Rugby league is lucky to have her.
So too Canterbury chair Lynne Anderson and the Wests Tigers’ Marina Go. In talking about his dealings with the chairs in recent weeks, Beattie claimed they were no wimps. That comment applies across the board. The game has been lampooned at times for its misogynistic tendencies but the tide is turning.
The commission has been criticised as well, hence the push for reform. The loudest and most vehement critics have often referred to the lack of nous on the body. Those complaints no longer ring true.
V’landys and Laing could scarcely be more impressive, Beattie yesterday acknowledging both were the type of candidates who could one day replace him as chair.
The states, while without representation on the commission, have been given a place on the finance committee and will have a say in how the money is spent.
No longer will they be an afterthought. Beattie deserves inordinate amounts of credit for the way he negotiated a potential minefield. There was disappointment in some quarters at yesterday’s events, but there was no overt public ridicule of the clubs who voted against reform — Canterbury, Gold Coast and Melbourne.
The closest the meeting came to dissension was when Souths chair Nick Pappas channelled Winston Churchill, looked in the direction of Canterbury director Paul Dunn and New Zealand Warriors chair Jim Doyle — who had the proxy votes for Melbourne and Gold Coast — and uttered the former British prime minister’s line that those who never change their mind, never change anything.
Pappas had every right to be frustrated given reform has been very much his baby. That moment aside, Beattie has pacified the clubs and added two quality commissioners. He has promised to investigate further change but he should let sleeping dogs lie.
If there is to be a change, it should only be in the way club officials transition to the commission. At the moment, they are required to wait three years after the end of their club involvement. Beattie should remove the three-year stand down period.
If Pappas wants to quit the Rabbitohs to join the commission, on the proviso that there is a vacancy and he has the requisite support, he should be able to do so without being forced to wait three years. Similarly with Sydney Roosters chair Nick Politis.
As V’landys made clear yesterday, rugby league is fortunate to have their type involved in clubland. Better still if they decide to move to the highest echelon of the sport. Politis and Pappas have rugby league in their DNA.
Their time will no doubt come. For the moment, V’landys and Laing will be given the opportunity to bring their qualities to the sport. Rugby league is lucky to have them.
For all the bitter fighting and protestations, rugby league has somehow landed on its feet.
The Independent Directors would have been able to out vote the two club and two state reps by a 6-4 margin.
