End in sight for NZ Rugby governance reform, December target for new board - Gregor Paul

Agreement has been reached on how to rescope the way New Zealand Rugby board members are appointed. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

The governance stand-off, after going into hiatus in mid-July to give all stakeholders a chance to agree on a way forward, will shortly end after agreement was reached about how to rescope the way New Zealand Rugby (NZR) board members are appointed.

It is expected that another special general meeting will soon be called to ask the voting members to once again amend the constitution – with a view to having a new NZR board appointed under the new system by December this year.

The breakthrough changes that have been agreed will see the Governance Appointments Panel (GAP) that was proposed and voted for by the provincial unions, renamed the Stakeholder Panel and expanded from eight members to 10.

Under the unions’ proposal – known as Proposal 2 and approved at an SGM in May – the GAP would have consisted of three provincial representatives, and one representative each from Pasifika Advisory Council (PAC), New Zealand Māori Rugby Board (NZMRB), New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association (NZRPA) and Super Rugby Clubs (SRC), with an independent chair.

The newly agreed Stakeholder Panel will include all these representatives, plus one from the New Zealand Schools Rugby Union and one from the New Zealand Rugby Foundation.

The increase in numbers and bodies represented comes with an additional requirement for all decisions to be approved by a 75% majority vote – meaning that no one group can dominate.

This shift is significant, as it was the make-up of the GAP that ultimately led to the breakdown of Proposal 2 as none of the NZRPA, SRC or NZMRB agreed to nominate a representative, rendering the whole process stuck.

The Stakeholder Panel has also been given a tighter and better articulated remit to follow than the GAP.

It retains its core function of appointing three members to the Appointments and Remuneration Panel – the body that will effectively vet and recommend NZR board candidates – but it will have a clearly defined consultative and collaborative role in helping determine the skills and competencies framework and needs and priorities statement of the NZR board.

Under Proposal 2 it appeared as if the GAP would effectively govern the NZR board.

But in a document produced by a working party consisting of representatives from PAC, NZMRB, NZRPA, SRC and provincial unions and entitled NZ Rugby stakeholder memorandum of understanding, it is made clear, that:

“Stakeholders will encourage / instruct their panel members to adopt a consultative approach when reviewing and signing off the skills and competencies framework and the needs and priorities statement proposed by the NZR board.

“In exercising its power to approve and sign-off these documents, the panel should not substitute its views for those of the NZR board without NZR board agreement, other than in exceptional circumstances.”

Other changes that have been agreed are an amendment to the Proposal 2 demand that at least three members of the NZR board must have previously served on the board of a provincial union.

That criteria has been expanded to include people who have held executive positions at provincial unions – broadly defined as individuals who held jobs that required them to have regular contact with their board of directors.

And according to the NZ Rugby stakeholder memorandum, the NZR board will require at all times for at least one board member to have whakapapa Māori; knowledge, understanding and lived experience of Te Ao Māori in a complex organisational context; and a desire to advance Te Ao Māori in rugby acknowledging the strong connection of tangata whenua to rugby.

At least one board member must identify and have lived experience as Pasifika with ancestral and authentic cultural connections and an ability to apply a Pasifika world view in a complex organisational context.

And the board must collectively have sufficient rugby knowledge and expertise relating to rugby at all levels of the game in New Zealand, including specific knowledge relating to the governance of community/provincial rugby.

The current board will continue in its entirety until December 11 to allow a full scheduled board meeting on December 4, and for the relevant NZR directors to attend the New Zealand Rugby Commercial board meeting on December 10.

Existing board members will be able to reapply through the new process.