Another week – another damning report on the state of English rugby. For weeks we had the debacle of the RFU hiring an intelligent and business driven CEO only to then drive him out. John Steele’s fault was to not understand the hugely political and backbiting nature of the RFU. Anyone who has played any sort of representative rugby will recognise the make-up of the RFU board. Mainly old boys who have intense interest in their own opinion and self-importance. They were subdued by the economic achievements of Francis Bacon, the previous CEO, but this was just a cloak covering what is effectively an old boys club. Once Steele hit this he really had no chance – they weren’t looking for a leader more a puppet to do their bidding. He was forced out on what was seen as a botched recruitment process for Performance Director – a job the board hoped would bring back the saviour of Rugby – Sir Clive Woodward. The RFU now stands under the Chairman Martyn Thomas – who was probably more influential in Steele going than anyone else and with all the blame for the failed recruitment process placed on Steele. Let’s not forget this is the same board that forced out Clive Woodward in the first place and signed off the all the decisions they sacked Steele for making. They are without doubt all tainted by this – perhaps it is time for a totally new board, with a better representation of players, fans and officials.
Then we have the failed world cup bid. I for one had no problems with the team out having a few beers together and building the team moral. However it now seems that even this was a false picture. The camp was divided into those who wanted to party and ridicule the effort in training of others. Worse still a core only interested in the money to be made from a ‘last’ world cup. All the rugby players who went before would be weeping for the state of a game they used to love. Up until 15 years ago the game was amateur, with players competing in International sport and on the Monday back at a desk with their colleagues. In the first world cups the drive for the English was they did not want to go out of the tournament or it meant going back to work. Now we hear of players gutted at the £35,000 they could have made from winning.
Conan Doyle captured the original amateur spirit in his Sherlock Holmes novels, when Holmes comes across a Rugby man ‘You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton--a sweeter and healthier one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England’. In just over 15 years these ideals are being lost and we are moving towards the Football model, players detached from the crowd that support them, on money they can only dream of, interested more in their own wealth than the pride of representing their nation. Do we really want Rugby to resemble Football?
The Rob Andrew report that has leaked shows clearly we have no leadership in English rugby. Not on the board of the RFU, not from the management of the RFU, not from the Team manager and not from the captain. With the power of money threatening to destroy the very make-up of the Rugby spirit – it is now vital we find some leaders. They have a saying ‘ change the people or change the people’. Find a CEO who has experience of driving a complex and large organisation forward. Build an inclusive and cooperative board (sack the existing board entirely), find a new manager with experience and integrity, find a captain with some pride in the Red Rose on a white shirt. I dread to think of the fun Sir Gerry Robinson would have tearing apart the way the RFU is run.
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