By CHRIS RATTUE
"Power to the people" might have been the catch-cry at rugby headquarters yesterday. Even "Down with Big Brother."
The New Zealand Rugby Football Union's "strategic thrust" involves giving more independence and/or finance to the Super 12 franchises, provincial unions and clubs.
The proof will remain in the eating of the pudding, but the NZRFU claim to be on a mission to release the reins and some money.
A big part of the strategy is to get greater value out of the All Blacks by getting other national unions to share gate-takings and broadcast revenue, rather than the traditional method whereby the host union takes the risks and the profits.
But a large part of yesterday's announcement in Wellington was about proposals to invigorate the domestic game.
They include playing all tests, outside of the World Cup, at night, partly to give club rugby breathing space on Saturday afternoons.
And the rule preventing a coach such as Robbie Deans from heading both the Crusaders and Canterbury NPC side is also set to be scrapped as part of a move to give franchises more independence.
The latest appointments have already shown the franchises have a more controlling hand. The Chiefs appointed John Mitchell, and the Blues chose the Frank Oliver/John Kirwan/Sean Fitzpatrick unit when Gordon Hunter was forced to step down.
After five years of the professional game, the NZRFU are certainly in no mood to give up ultimate power - which they hold through their television and product deals and by owning the contracts of the top players (there was evidence of that in the Blues coaching dramas - it was the national body which medically tested Hunter and forced him to step down).
But chief executive David Rutherford told a gathering of 20 media people that the NZRFU wanted to guard against the "cloning" effect of central power.
It was also time for the provincial unions to take full responsibility for the health of the game in areas such as reversing the massive drop-off in player numbers at secondary schools everywhere apart from in Auckland.
"We have the rights and obligations to set some rules - otherwise we could end up with teams full of overseas players," said Rutherford.
He placed the health of the All Blacks as the single most important factor in the game here.
"We will technically remain the employers but it is extremely dangerous for New Zealand to develop things like one coaching style.
"Local people are often best to come up with solutions.
"We can have our little scraps, as long as we're on the same roadmap."
That the NZRFU needed a review at this time, there can be no doubt.
The All Blacks may still be the most famous team in world rugby, but in the professional era they have faded.
The strategies revealed yesterday have been formulated after a year-long review conducted by the NZRFU board and senior management, who talked to the 27 unions and ran 25 club forums.
The research work was done by the Boston Consulting Group.
Whether the NZRFU win or lose the battle to snare more money from the power of the All Blacks, they will still pump more money into, and give greater freedom to, the domestic game.
Among budget proposals considered at the next board meeting will be funding all NPC coaching and support staff, and giving "equalisation subsidies" to lower NPC first-division unions.
They also want to increase the amount of money, at present about $11 million a year, distributed to provincial unions.
However they intend to keep tabs on where the money goes.
And among the more radical proposals they hope clubs and unions will consider is playing club rugby throughout the week, where touch rugby has had so much success.
Union poised to loosen the reins
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