Fans let down by provincial unions as NZR maintains status quo

By Alex Powell

New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association (NZRPA) boss Rob Nichol has expressed his disappointment for fans of the game in Aotearoa after Thursday’s vote to effectively maintain the status quo in how the sport is governed.

Last August, an independent review into New Zealand Rugby found the current model unfit for purpose, and put forward changes into what became known as “Proposal 1″.

Among other findings, the review found the inability of New Zealand’s provincial unions to act outside of their own self-interest to be a hindrance which was ultimately unsustainable.

In response, the provincial unions put forward what is known as “Proposal 2″, which rejected the recommendations of the review’s findings, in order to protect the influence of the provincial unions on the NZR board.

In particular, Proposal 2 guarantees the provincial unions will still be represented on the NZR board, as opposed to a solely independent collective, selected through an approved process.

Despite Proposal 1 being described as the change necessary to take NZR into the future, a majority of more than two-thirds of voting members opted to implement Proposal 2 at a special general meeting.

The NZRPA did not get to vote at the SGM, but was heavily behind Proposal 1, so much so it was suggested the organisation would break away from NZR to form a new body to govern the professional game.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave, Nichol insisted those suggestions were overstated, but clarified a separate body to govern the professional game was needed.

The group most affected, though, will be the fans, and those who have supported the game at any level.

“From a professional players’ perspective, the world will go on,” Nichol said. “The ones I feel have been let down are the fans, the people that make up the game in this country.

“We all, through the different bodies, fed into this review process. We were told our governance is not fit for purpose, the game is in trouble, it needed to change.

“That gave everyone hope. They haven’t taken advantage of that opportunity. We haven’t changed in the way that was recommended.

“I suppose everyone has lost a bit of hope now. We thought this was the way forward.

“It was laid out, all you had to do was adopt it, but you’ve chosen to go with something else that’s more akin to status quo.

“If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’re likely to get what you’ve always got.”

Nichol also voiced his disappointment over the failure to heed recommendations put forward in the Pilkington review.

The NZRPA said it will continue to work with those in power for the betterment of the game, even if – in its view – the future is far from clear as to how the game will be run at the highest level.

“Everyone accepted the findings, we are not fit for purpose,” Nichol said. “The implementation of the recommendations is where we’ve let ourselves down.

“We 100 per cent know what we did was the right thing. Unfortunately, the model they’ve adopted today is not designed to deliver that – according to the experts. That’s where we’re disappointed.

“Our big driver here is [that] we want excellence on the field and off the field. We just feel the fans, the public and the game have been let down.

“There was an opportunity to do that today, and it wasn’t taken.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission