Rugby: Self-seeking men shafted Rowlands

By Murray Deaker

Jed Rowlands was shafted.

Shafted by the board of the Auckland Rugby Union who appointed him before a ball was kicked in the NPC. Shafted by Blues players too gutless to tell Rowlands to his face that they believed he couldn't coach but were prepared to meet behind closed doors to write a damning report after the season was lost.

Rowlands should not have been appointed to coach the Blues ahead of more reputable coaches like Trapp, Boe and McCallion. That is no excuse for the appalling treatment the man has received.

Gutted by the media, lied to by his employers, snitched on by his players, Jed Rowlands has been the personification of the naive, honest, country lad cleaned out and tarnished for ever by urbane, self-seeking rugby politicians anxious to save their own butts.

Certainly, a proportion of the blame for the Blues' dreadful season should be attributed to Rowlands as coach, but no way should he be made to carry the entire can.

What about the panel that appointed him? Not one member of the six has even coached a senior rugby side. Without question Messrs Moffett, Crawford, Wallace, Purdy, Hipkins and O'Neill did not have the expertise nor the experience to judge the coaching records of the candidates.

Moffett, Crawford and Wallace have no affliations with Auckland, do not live in the city, don't understand how Aucklanders think and in reality have lesser commitment or accountability than those having to face the mess daily.

However, for ARU chief executives Geoff Hipkins to suggest not only that Rowlands' appointment was not unanimous but also that he and a couple of others voted against it is unprofessional, unacceptable and unbelievable. Mr Hipkins would have us believe that the NZRFU influence forced the ARU members of the panel to prefer Rowlands ahead of Trapp.

How can he possibly expect us to believe that when his Auckland board immediately went ahead on its own and appointed Rowlands to coach the Auckland NPC team as well?

With the advent of professionalism and the corporatisation of rugby, two key factors have been totally overlooked: how do the shareholders, in this case the loyal Blues and Auckland fans, get the chance to vote out a board they have lost confidence in? We don't.

There is nothing in the structure that enables us legitimately to challenge this board. Conceivably they could run Auckland rugby into liquidation, into even worse turmoil than they have taken it now, even as low as division two and there is little, if anything, the average fan can do.

In any public company the board is accountable. The only way this board can be brought to account is for fans to contact individual members with their complaints. The ARU board consists of Reuben O'Neill (chairman), Colin Wise, Iain Abercrombie, Neil Wolfgram, Ken Baguley, Rodger Fisher, Maurice Trapp, John Baird and Graeme Hawkins. The president of the union is Keith Nelson.

Finally, the Auckland Blues players should be ashamed of themselves. Not one went to Rowlands to say "there is trouble in the team" or "the boys want to talk to you about your coaching methods." Instead one or some of them leaked it to the media, while later, all of them concocted a litany of complaints about Rowlands for the NZRFU. Where is their accountability in all of this?

Rugby used to be about honesty and directness. Now it has become corporate, it appears to at times take on the worse elements of the business world. It is time rugby went back to its roots, to the days of telling people to their face what the truth is.

Jed Rowlands may not be a great coach but he is a good and honest man. He deserved better.