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Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan says he will fight against move from four state unions to oust him after the disgruntled group confronted the embattled official and urged him to resign.<\/p>\n
The chairmen of the Queensland Rugby Union, ACT Rugby, Rugby WA and South Australia Rugby confronted McLennan on Friday, following a secret phone hook-up on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the RA chairman\u2019s leadership following a disastrous year in rugby. QRU chairman Brett Clark phoned McLennan on Friday afternoon to inform him of their collective stance.<\/p>\n
Under the Rugby Australia constitution, voting members of the national union \u2013 the states and territories, the Super Rugby clubs and the Rugby Union Players Association \u2013 can call an extraordinary general meeting and remove a Rugby Australia director by a majority vote.<\/p>\n
The four unions believe they have the numbers to force McLennan\u2019s hand but their call for him to resign was rejected immediately, meaning they\u2019ll have to call an EGM and vote on the matter. Two member unions can call an EGM and Rugby Australia then has 60 days to hold the meeting.<\/p>\n
McLennan confirmed on Friday he had received a call from Clark but said he would not be standing down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be the defining moment for the battle of rugby. It\u2019s all about money and control and we have been failing for years. We live in interesting times,\u201d McLennan told this masthead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about principles. They are actually not putting the game first and its about self-interest and parochialism.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Steven Siewert<\/cite><\/p>\n Rugby Australia has been in a state of crisis after the Wallabies failed to progress beyond the Rugby World Cup pool stages for the first time and coach Eddie Jones then resigned from the role in October, less than a year into his five-year contract.<\/p>\n NSW Rugby Union, which this week signed over the running of the Waratahs to Rugby Australia, was not on the Wednesday phone hook-up and is not among the group seeking to remove McLennan.<\/p>\n The Herald<\/em> can reveal powerbrokers from Rugby Australia\u2019s state unions and Super Rugby clubs began discussing confidence in McLennan\u2019s leadership before the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n There are 13 voting members of Rugby Australia: each state or territory gets one vote (and a second vote if it has over 50,000 players), each Super Rugby licencee gets a vote, and the Rugby Union Players Association also has a vote.<\/p>\n With the Waratahs\u2019 vote now void given it is under RA ownership, there are a total of 15 votes.<\/p>\n A group of Queensland Rugby Union\/Reds (3), ACT Rugby\/Brumbies (2) and Rugby WA\/Force (2), along with South Australia (1) would represent a majority. But it is unclear whether the Force will vote alongside Rugby WA.<\/p>\n Eddie Jones resigned as Wallabies coach less than 12 months into a five-year deal.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n The four unions who confronted McLennan are aggrieved at his leadership across a number of areas, including the Jones\u2019 recruitment, the Wallabies\u2019 failure at the Rugby World Cup, the big-money recruitment of Joseph Suaalii, a blowout in the Wallabies budget and a failure to meet RA promises of funding increases to the state unions. After plans for a private-equity deal were shelved and increased debt sought instead, state unions were angry when informed there would not be any increase in funding, according to informed sources.<\/p>\n McLennan\u2019s departure would likely see more willingness by states to sign up with Rugby Australia\u2019s centralisation plans, according to sources close to the process who spoke anonymously due to the confidential nature of the talks.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to stay to deliver the 2027 World Cup in Australia,\u201d McLennan told this masthead last month. \u201cMore destabilisation will just make matters worse just when we\u2019re about to break through. Life is not a continuous line of perfect calls and success.<\/p>\n \u201cI came to rugby to find a way to fix it when it all fell over and despite the sad Eddie situation, this is another hurdle we\u2019ll overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n In an interview with Stan Sport last week, McLennan issued his first apology for RA\u2019s turbulent period but denied Jones had been a captain\u2019s pick, and stressed he was keen to \u201cstick it out and fix it once and for all\u201d. He also said he would make the same decision to hire Jones again.<\/p>\n However, RA chief executive Phil Waugh this week offered a contradictory view to McLennan\u2019s enthusiasm to sign more rugby league players.<\/p>\n At a press conference following Jones\u2019 resignation, Waugh pointed to the power of Rugby Australia\u2019s member unions and stakeholders when asked about McLennan and the RA board taking accountability for the World Cup disaster.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are ultimately responsible. There is the governance framework that provides for that if that\u2019s what our stakeholders and our members and people would like,\u201d Waugh said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot that goes into making decisions and the performances that followed on the back of the decisions that were made were not what any of us anticipated. As I said, there is a governance framework for that.\u201d<\/p>\n McLennan is also chairman of the REA Group and deputy chair of Magellan Financial Group, and is a director of ARN Media. He was chief executive of Network Ten from 2013 to 2015.<\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary.<\/i><\/b> Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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