Deadline passes, but commission is 'getting there'
Adrian Proszenko, Josh Rakic and Daniel Lane
May 1, 2011
ARL chairman John Chalk yesterday broke his silence on the stalled negotiations for the independent commission as yet another supposed new dawn for rugby league goes by today without the new governing body being in place.
News Ltd had trumpeted today as being the day it would walk away from its joint ownership of the sport, but the independent commission is still not ready because the media giant, the ARL, the QRL and the NRL clubs have not been able to agree on several key issues.
Chalk said he was keen to see people with rugby league in their blood on the commission, not necessarily captains of industry.
''There are three lots of lawyers in this and there's a lot of contracts to be dissolved,'' he said. ''There's a myriad of companies involved that need to be taken out of the equation and the lawyers have been working on it every day for three months. The rest of it is pretty much on track. The devil is in the detail.
''We've only got one shot at it and we've got to get it right.''
When asked about the stumbling blocks, such as the demand for News to sign a non-compete clause, he said they were ''toing and froing'' on the issues with the media group.
''At the moment, it's lawyers at 40 paces. It's been, at times, frustrating. But we're getting there. To me it [News's April 30 deadline] was always going to be a problem.
''We've got consensus on people and then those people need to accept positions. I certainly want them to have a feeling for sport and know about sport. They should have a feeling for rugby league and its tribalism. There's a lot of emotion involved in sport. I imagine some of the people who were approached were quite strange. They may be captains of industry, but they love the arts and sciences - we're people who run around the grass in coloured shirts and socks and footballs in our hands colliding with one another. I want people who like rugby league and are passionate about it. I don't particularly care which state they come from.''
NRL boss David Gallop said the process of forming the independent commission was frustrating for everyone, including the fans.
''Everyone's intensely interested in it, but it's important that the current issues in the game are dealt with without the restructure being a distraction,'' Gallop said. ''I think we've done a pretty reasonable job of that over the past year or so. It's been a difficult time to be involved in the administration. The good news is that the commission is the right move for the game, it's just a matter of getting all the pieces of the jigsaw together.
''It's obviously got a bit of a way to go. It's not a matter of a week away. It's a work in progress. There is a raft of contractual arrangements. Some of which are closer to completed than others. And then the dissolution of the existing bodies and then hopefully we can hit the ground running and get those eight people across all structures and strategic plans. There will be a big induction process for the eight commissioners and we are already doing some planning for that.
''We've helped put together some material for prospective commissioners but beyond that we will get involved with the contractual documents as they get done. But beyond that, it is really a matter between the ARL and News Ltd. I have a lot of people talk to me about a lot of issues but I'm not directly involved in sitting down to negotiate those issues. We have a process ready to go with external experts like Colin Smith and the group of club CEOs, so that everyone is consulted along the way.''
Former Brisbane international Shane Webcke said rugby league had always suffered from people in power wanting to preserve their spots.
''I think a big part of the reason this independent commission has been hard to get together is because of the vested interests and the long-term interests of a lot of people,'' he said. ''And the fact they want the independent commission is a credit to them because the people involved have set themselves up around the income and lifestyle derived from their positions in rugby league.
''I understand that [to relinquish power in such a circumstance is hard], but that is the challenge. People say, 'Put the game first', but if you are relying on the game to determine your income and lifestyle it would be hard to follow the call to put the game first. That's human nature.
''But it is important to get it across the line, all of the great things we've talked about [that the independent commission could bring] will drip away unless rugby league can get up and stretch it's legs.
''I've read with interest that a bloke like John Quayle - and I am talking as a Queenslander who grew up in the Quayle-Ken Arthurson era - is not guaranteed a place. If you talk to those people who know, John Quayle is unquestionably one of the great administrators in Australian sport and he also ranks highly around the world [through his involvement in the Olympic movement]. So, why isn't he an automatic selection for the commission? I don't get that.''
