Cullen: Sharks' board displayed poor governance
Martin Cuddihy reported this story on Tuesday, July 30, 2013
MARK COLVIN: The Cronulla Sharks rugby league club is again without a chief executive after Bruno Cullen decided to walk away yesterday.
The NRL appointed Mr Cullen to run the club but he resigned when the Cronulla board made decisions without consulting him.
Trainer Mark Noakes, doctor David Givney, football manager Darren Mooney and physiotherapist Konrad Schultz were all sacked for not informing the Cronulla board about potential problems with the Sharks' supplements program.
But the club's board has reappointed them.
The departing chief executive Bruno Cullen spoke to Martin Cuddihy.
BRUNO CULLEN: Unfortunately, I just felt as though I wasn't being given the courtesy or the confidence of the board in regards to this particular item of the reinstatement. I came here four months ago and read the full reports and the legal advice given to the previous board about why they terminated these guys. I wasn't part of that decision-making process. That was done prior to me coming here.
But unfortunately, for whatever reason, the board now didn't advise me, the company secretary, or the chief operating officer of their advice and the reasons, if you like, why they'd taken the decisions they've taken.
So that's poor governance, it's a lack of confidence I think, in the CEO, and I just thought that it was probably time to move on.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: So that poor governance, that's the reason why you quite the club?
BRUNO CULLEN: Well yes, on top of the fact that I'd given my opinion and my advice, and the readings that I had already undertaken with regard to the original decision was that the board should at least wait until the ASADA investigation's completed before they made any decisions in that regard.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: So do you think the board has acted recklessly in this instance?
BRUNO CULLEN: I wouldn't say recklessly. See, the thing is, one of the things I can't do is comment on the decision that they've made, whether it's a good or bad one, because they haven't, as I said, I haven't been given the courtesy of the information that helped them make that decision, which is as I said very, very strange.
We, as operators, the CEO and particularly the company secretary, have to make sure everything's legal and above board and everything's recorded and etc.
We haven't been privilege to any of that, so we can't really comment whether it's reckless, whether it's good, whether it's bad, or otherwise, because we just simply don't know why they made the decision.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: The actions of the board, does that leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth though, the fact that they didn't actually consult you and just decided to take this action without consulting you at all?
BRUNO CULLEN: Yeah, well that's the whole crux of it, and that's what I can't understand. It's obvious, now, they were a pretty much aware of how I thought because I'd expressed my views to them very early in their new tenure, when we talked about things that had happened in the past and historically.
And as I said, I'd been privileged under confidence sign off to all of the documentation, including the company report and all the ASADA investigations and both legal and QC - I know QC's legal, but - both legal recommendations and QC endorsement of those recommendations.
So I was very much aware of all of what happened prior to and subsequent to the dismissal of these people, and I was able to advise them of that, and I was pretty passionate about that I suppose, about, you know, we should really let this thing play out, the ASADA investigation, because who knows? If ASADA come back and say whatever, this current board might actually be made to look a little bit foolish if they've jumped the gun, so to speak.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: What about the ASADA investigation? Where is that up to with Cronulla at the moment?
BRUNO CULLEN: We've locked in all of the - they've started the interview process again, and remembering that ASADA did call off the process, Cronulla didn't.
So they called off the process some time ago now, but they've now asked for it to be reinstated. We've fully cooperated with that and the players have all locked in their interviews commencing next week.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: What's the atmosphere like at Cronulla now? Is there, for want of a better way of describing it, a cloud hanging over the club?
BRUNO CULLEN: Well, there's a mixture of course of emotions and situations, both operationally and perceived.
I mean, from an operational sense, both the leagues club and the footy club have suffered dramatically through loss of revenue, through branding and all the like. So they are struggling financially because they're probably down - there have been costs associated with all of this so far to the tune of around half a million dollars, but there's also been a lack of support in a corporate sponsorship regard, and that's anywhere between $2-3 million.
So the club really is suffering financially because of it all.
MARK COLVIN: Former Cronulla Sharks CEO Bruno Cullen speaking to Martin Cuddihy.
