Sports Insider: Time to draw a line under this Silver Lake shambles

Craig Fenton, Sir Ben Ainslie, Gayle Broughton and Jordan Riki. Photo / Getty Images / Photosport

The abrupt departure of New Zealand Rugby’s highly touted commercial boss after less than a year in the job puts the questionable deal with American private equity back in the spotlight; And is Sir Ben Ainslie about to get the knife after failing to deliver the America’s Cup for his boss?

OPINION

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

New Zealand Rugby’s deal with the devil is officially a dud.

Silver Lake is the worst thing to happen to our national game in decades and it beggars belief that seven directors involved in inflicting this disaster upon us are considering standing again for a newly constituted New Zealand Rugby (NZR) board.

So here’s the upshot of the “bold new era” Silver Lake and an NZR board living in la-la land promised us almost three years ago. Since then ...

• NZR has lost almost $60 million in the past two years. Annual revenue has not increased since 2021 (which was before Silver Lake were brought in as the so-called geniuses of professional sport).
• The $260m investment from the American private equity company has largely been squandered on bribes to provincial unions to persuade them to support the deal, and ill-considered digital media ventures like NZR+ are on life support.
• Provincial unions now face major funding cuts with a reduction of $1.8m this year and more than $3m next year.
• Professional players will be next as their 36.5% of NZR’s annual revenue takes a hit, raising the prospect of losing more stars to overseas clubs.
• In the meantime, Silver Lake will start taking an annual $20m plus dividend from next year. In perpetuity.

And then the coup de grâce this week?

The new boss of the commercial company created by Silver Lake and NZR walks away after less than a year in the job.

What a shambles.

There is no doubt Craig Fenton’s appointment as head of NZR Commercial (NZRC) was influenced by Silver Lake, who love to talk up their ability to provide governance advice (really?!!) as well as money.

Sports Insider heard varying reports on Fenton during his brief tenure. He was in equal parts described to this columnist by people who had encountered him as “super smart” but also that he had some “daft ideas”.

Clearly, Fenton and hyper-sensitive executives at NZR HQ didn’t get along, as evidenced by the press release announcing his departure.

“Craig and NZRC have agreed that Craig’s vision of change and approach to driving it are not fully aligned with the organisation,” it stated.

So does that mean the former leading Google executive hadn’t left that company’s monopolist attitude back in the UK when he shifted back to his native New Zealand?

Or does it mean over-protective NZR executives (and possibly a bunch of board directors) don’t want to face the prospect of executing the major surgery so obviously needed on the game here to prevent a terminal decline?

Probably a bit of both, I would suggest.

NZR board members need to be held to account

While all this nonsense is going down, those out battling in rugby’s heartlands watch with growing despair.

Was there ever a more poignant and passionate plea for sanity delivered than the one made by long-serving Taranaki NPC coach Neil Barnes in expressing his dismay to the Herald’s Liam Napier earlier this week?

The straight-shooting Barnes stated the obvious in his broadside at NZR, including that rugby fans have fallen in love again with the provincial championship – but the national union’s bosses don’t give a toss about that.

“In my mind, the NPC is an inconvenience to the people at the top level,” Barnes told Napier.

“When Silver Lake came along, there was funding put out there for people in the communities to grow our game and help facilitate it. Now all that funding has been taken away.”

“Our funding was cut by over $100,000 this year and they’re cutting another $250,000 off it next year. That’s on the back of [NZR boss] Mark Robinson sitting in my office, and I was challenging him over funding for our game at this level. He said there’s not a shortage of funds in New Zealand, it’s where you spend it.

“If that’s the case, it shows they don’t respect the importance of grassroots rugby.”

Barnes then pointed to the All Blacks, with 23 support staff, and All Blacks XV teams collectively sending more than 100 people to Japan and Europe this month.

Not that Silver Lake seem to care. It has been absent since day one, seemingly happy to have the All Blacks on its investment resume to impress others while largely doing nothing.

Fenton’s strategy seems to have been to simply create more teams using the All Blacks moniker and sending them on as many overseas promo trips as possible.

All of this, of course, has happened under the watch of an NZR board hopelessly out of its depth, excoriated by the Pilkington Report but with a clutch of directors grimly attempting to hold on to their blazers.

The current chair Dame Patsy Reddy has been a let-down and is not standing again. Provincial unions believe she has done them over but is still trying to influence who makes up the newly constituted board.

Several directors she has worked closely with and who helped enforce the Silver Lake deal on a suspicious rugby public are angling to keep their jobs and securing the vacant chair role.

That alone will be enough to scare worthy candidates away from nominating themselves for consideration.

The rot seems set to continue.

Does Sir Ben Ainslie need to watch his back?

Should Sir Ben Ainslie be worried about his job after failing to topple Peter Burling and Team New Zealand to win the America’s Cup?

Maybe Sir Ben should have a chat to another sporting knight in Sir Alex Ferguson, who seems to have been ostracised from Manchester United now that Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is an influential owner of the storied English Premier League (EPL) club.

Ratcliffe, whose company is one of the world’s worst polluters (and also sponsors the All Blacks), is a renowned tight arse who has embarked on a ruthless cost-cutting exercise since buying into United last year.

The club’s popular and long-time historian has been sacked, free lunches for staff and players were cut and now Ratcliffe has come after “Fergie”, a Man United icon.

After previously banning the legendary manager from visiting the United changing rooms after matches, Ratcliffe has now cut Ferguson’s £2m ($4.4m) a year ambassador role for the club.

That prompted a savage tweet from another former United golden boy, Rio Ferdinand.

“If Sir Alex can be taken out, then NO ONE IS SAFE at @ManUtd – anyone in can get it now. Ineos sending a message to ANYONE at the club?!?”

Watch your back, Ben.

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand makes his feelings known regarding his former manager's removal from his role at the club. Photo / Twitter @rioferdy5

Man City is a soulless club of shaggers

While on Manchester and the EPL, regular readers of Sports Insider will know this writer is no fan of United’s bitter cross-town rivals.

The Middle East ownership, along with its other owners Silver Lake (yep, them again) and the decades-long cheating of financial fair play rules makes Manchester City a club to scorn, not admire.

Now it seems the massively overpaid players themselves are adding a bunch more reasons to loathe City.

Former leading player Ben Mendy is laying bare the complete lack of morals at City during an employment tribunal process, in which he is suing the club for £11m of unpaid wages.

Mendy was sacked for alleged sexual offences but was later acquitted and is now going after the club. His argument? He says he was unfairly singled out in a squad of serial shaggers.

“Several Manchester City first-team players, including the club captain, were all present at parties that I attended and hosted. We all drank alcohol. We all had casual relations with women,” he told the tribunal.

That went down like a cup of cold sick with his former teammates and Kyle Walker, the captain. Raheem Sterling, named during the trial, has loaned Mendy the money to help clear pay his legal fees.

As for Walker, his wife filed for divorce last week, although that may have as much to do with her finding out about his mistress and their two secret love children. The mistress is now suing him.

The judgment on that sideshow is damning right down to the mistress threatening to move into a house next door to Walker and his wife if he didn’t buy her a £2m house and some £48,000 wardrobes.

His neighbour compared the affair to the film Fatal Attraction, claiming she was asked by the mistress to lean over the garden fence and record Walker’s conversations with his wife.

Like I said, it’s a classy club!

Can celebrities save us from cynicism?

Ed Sheeran’s sponsorship of newly-promoted EPL club Ipswich Town is being compared to the Ryan Reynolds-Rob McElhenney custodianship of Welsh club Wrexham, who also harbour EPL ambitions.

It raises the question of whether celebrities can save sport from shifty private equity types and ruthless owners like Ratcliffe.

We have our own little experiment about that going on Downunder with an Auckland FC ownership group that includes Ali Williams, Anna Mowbray, Steven Adams, Tim Brown, Winston Reid and Noah Hickey.

They’re off to a flyer after last Saturday and there’s no doubt the feel-good factor around the newly birthed A-League club is being helped by the big names attached to it. We will watch the rest of the season with increasing interest.

While on Auckland FC, there were shades of Joe Biden and his “Tan Blacks” gaffe when referring to the All Blacks and Ireland from our Prime Minister in the lead-up.

Christopher Luxon was a guest at the club’s pre-match function and talked up the impending all-Kiwi clash with the Wellington Phoenix, telling guests there were many great local derbies in world football including “the Rangers against the Celtics”.

We think he meant the Scottish Old Firm derby between Glasgow Rangers and Celtic.

NRL needs to show it’s serious about Christchurch

Another big league match in the Garden City, and another sellout.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s the Warriors or the Kiwis, South Islanders seemingly can’t get enough of the 13-player code.

Among the 17,000 fans packing into Apollo Stadium on Sunday to watch the Kiwis play Australia for the first time in Christchurch in 35 years will be thousands making the trek from West Coast strongholds like Greymouth – and equally as many from Dunedin.

It comes at a time when Christchurch school St Thomas picked up the national title two years running over favoured Auckland schools and when five players with South Island heritage have been included in the squad to face the Kangaroos.

Add in the Crusaders being in the doldrums and, for the first time since 1995, the South Island not holding a single rugby championship of note, and the message is starkly clear.

There has never been more momentum for a South Island franchise in the Australian club competition.

But is the National Rugby League (NRL) listening?

This column has regularly suggested the NRL is merely paying lip service to Christchurch’s two bids and doesn’t really get the opportunity here due to their Aussie blinders being permanently wedged on.

One way to demonstrate that’s not the case will be to see if Australian Rugby League chairman Peter V’landys and his NRL CEO Andrew Abdo turn up at Apollo Stadium this weekend.

Pete and Andy talk a good game about international league but their failure to actually show up for anything outside Australia is a growing talking point among some league pundits.

Both say they will be there, hopefully to witness first-hand the snowballing enthusiasm for league in the south.

Let’s see, shall we?

Team of the Week

New Zealand: Has there ever been a weekend in Kiwi sport like the last one? Will there ever be another one like it again? Celebrate New Zealand, for that was special.

Liam Lawson: Added the cherry to the top on Monday morning with a top-10 finish in his reintroduction to F1. Is that Sergio Perez’s knees we can hear knocking?

Gayle Broughton: The Olympic rugby sevens gold medallist makes her league test debut for the Kiwi Ferns against the Australian Jillaroos in Christchurch on Sunday in the crucial five-eighth role, after a stellar maiden NRLW debut season with the Brisbane Broncos.