Hīkoi heads for Parliament, leaders meet at Apec summit and Russian missiles put Poland and Hungary on edge.
Chief executive Rebecca Russell has quit and is leaving Auckland Rugby League after two years and eight months in the job.
Her leadership exposed multiple conflicts of interest, management issues and fraud at AucklandRugby League.
Former Auckland Rugby League chairman Cameron McGregor was stripped of his life membership in October over alleged management and governance failures. He denies wrongdoing.
The woman whose leadership exposed alleged conflicts of interest and fraud at Auckland Rugby League is leaving for a new role, saying her work is done.
Rebecca Russell came into Auckland Rugby League (ARL) as chief executive to then be dubbed “The Duchess” by league’s old guard onceshe started digging into 20 years of management and governance decisions.
It also revealed an alleged fraud by a long-serving staff member that had been going on under the eye of managers and board directors for at least a decade.
“It’s been a wild ride,” she told the Herald. “One thing I really reflect on for me and my team is the level of personal resilience. I have surprised myself with the level of resilience I’ve had. It’s been huge.”
Russell was the first female CEO at Auckland Rugby League.
“I think I’ve done everything with integrity. I’ve always wanted the best for the game,” she told the Herald.
Russell said she was leaving to run The Y North which operates 20 centres from the Bay of Plenty and Waikato up to Warkworth. “The Y” is a modern evolution of the YMCA which operates community programmes along with accommodation, camps, and fitness centres.
“It’s big and it’s meaningful. It’s an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up.
“With ARL, when I came into the role there were a couple of things I made clear … that transformation would take two years, and it’s taken a little longer. And I said I never wanted to be part of the furniture.”
She said she now leaves the organisation with modernised systems and robust governance through a new constitution voted in by Auckland clubs.
When Russell came to ARL she found a paper-based office that had “no processes, no procedures, no standards”. In her attempt to institute order, she developed concerns over decisions that had been made, so hired PwC to carry out a review.
The PwC report raised questions over $7.2 million of spending over the period it studied with some of league’s vaunted administrators caught in its inquiry into governance practices.
Rebecca Russell, departing CEO of Auckland Auckland Rugby League (left), with GM finance Louis Nel (right). “If you know in your heart and mind you’ve done things with integrity then you don’t have regrets” she told the Herald. Photo / Michael Craig
The PwC report alleged conflicts of interest along with poor decision-making with ARL’s new management describing the inquiry as painting a picture of an organisation with a 20-year history of slipshod management and governance.
It also alleged a long-serving staff member had taken $183,798 through credit card and invoice fraud and spent much of the money at SkyCity casino.
Three directors of ARL were suspended with long-time administrator Cameron McGregor the highest-profile among those singled out by name in the PwC report.
McGregor, an accountant, was stripped of life membership along with former ARL employee Pat Carthy with ARL citing alleged management and governance failures during their time on the board.
In an interview with the Herald, McGregor denied any wrongdoing, saying: “I know what I have done is right and my values that I adhere to have never wavered and the truth will come out.”
He also backed the national sports body, New Zealand Rugby League, when it organised meetings with Auckland clubs without their own governing body ARL involved. NZRL’s Independent Appeals Committee also attempted to over-rule ARL’s suspension of directors.
“If the clubs come together – and that’s what NZRL wants them to do – the clubs can control what’s going to happen,” he said.
Russell meanwhile says she’s confident she’s leaving ARL in good shape.
She said the Auckland clubs had voted on a new constitution that demands greater rigour at board level, an appointments panel to screen applicants for the right skills, an increase in independent directors, and the removal of voting rights for life members.
“I think the clubs made it pretty clear they didn’t want any interference from NZRL.”
Only two of the current dozen life members turned up for the vote, she said, with one objecting to the removal of life member voting rights. The previous system had given “huge power” to life members, she said.
She said the mix has increased the skill set of those running a $15m organisation that served the 10,000 players across 30 clubs, along with a role managing the $78m held in its charitable investment arm, the Carlaw Heritage Trust.
The new board was now made up of three independent directors (up from two), a director elected by each of the three Auckland regions and a “wild card” director elected by all regions.
Former ARL Chairman and life member Cameron McGregor, who has had his life membership withdrawn.
Voting was currently under way to choose a new board which would then choose her successor in the new year. Russell is expecting to finish next month and start with The Y in February.
“What we’re starting to see come through is really quality candidates. We’re not seeing those with conflicts. It looks to me that it is no longer a popularity contest.”
She said the internal office systems were now strong with a shift to digital tools and a great team carrying out the work.
Russell said discussions with NZRL had largely resolved friction between the organisations with some matters from the appeals board still lingering.
She said reflecting on the period of her leadership brought no second-guessing on decisions. “If you know in your heart and mind you’ve done things with integrity then you don’t have regrets.”
The $500,000 cost of the PwC report was the price paid for skipping processes for years, she said. “If it had been managed, we wouldn’t have this one-off cost. I don’t see it as a cost. I see it as an investment.”
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
