New Zealand Rugby will have a critical vote on Thursday to determine who governs the game in the country, with senior players potentially leaving the governing body if they do not get their way.
Months of simmering discord are about to boil over at NZR’s extraordinary general meeting in the capital, Wellington.
Powerbrokers will vote on one of two suggestions for a new leadership structure for the country’s rugby governing body.
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NZR and the professional players’ union support a plan for far-reaching changes, most notably that the nine-member board be elected independently.
This was a crucial point among the recommendations made in a blistering independent study of
Last year, the game’s governance was implemented. However, the influential 26 provincial unions representing New Zealand rugby’s amateur heartlands have submitted their own proposal.
They agree that change is needed at the top, but they want to maintain their current power to choose three seats on the nine-member board.
Ahead of the vote, the players’ association raised the stakes by threatening to withdraw from New Zealand Rugby and form their own rebel entity to administer professional rugby if the provincial unions win.
If neither option receives the two-thirds majority required from the 90 votes, there will be impasse and persistent animosity.
All Blacks great John Kirwan, a member of the 1987 World Cup winning team, is concerned that top-level infighting may drive away spectators.
“The saddest thing for me is that people don’t give a (expletive) anymore because they’re just sick of it,” he told Newstalk ZB.
“If you just stop caring, that’s when our game is in real danger,” he stated.
However, Canterbury Rugby Union chairman Pete Winchester has cautioned that the professional players’ 11th-hour breakaway threat will further harden provincial opinions.
“We look after 150 000 amateur players, [spread] around 26 provincial unions in the country,” Winchester told Newstalk ZB.
“It is a complex business. We’re just saying it would be beneficial to have three people with provincial rugby experience.”
Richie McCaw, who captained the All Blacks to consecutive Rugby World Cup victories, urged all stakeholders to look beyond themselves.
“I would urge people that make the decision to not just think about their own patches, but to step above that and think what is right for New Zealand rugby in the long term,” McCaw stated in the New Zealand Herald.
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