For many years the provinces have been calling for proper representation. We now have a report that says what many of us have long known - change is inevitable. Grassroots rugby must now be heard and represented.
Just look at how the release of the Eichelbaum report was managed. The NZRFU board had the report and took decisions on Friday, July 19. None of the provinces found out about those.
The board called the provincial chairmen to Wellington the following Tuesday but did not start the meeting until 4pm. Some from the provincial men were flying home just after 6pm. They got no advance copy of the report and no summary of it. They were addressed by board members.
The provincial chairmen were put in an impossible position. But not as impossible as the media. They were given the report 60 seconds before they had to conduct interviews on it. That is appalling. The release of the report was stage-managed so that no one could ask the proper questions.
What was the point anyway of the provincial chairmen's meeting? About 60 people were summoned to Wellington. The cost was at least $30,000, or 25 per cent of the annual grant of most provincial unions. What a waste of money, and further evidence that the board has lost the plot.
But now we have the report and can ask the proper questions. I hope the provincial chairmen call a special meeting and ask all NZRFU board members, probably with the exception of Rob Fisher and perhaps the two new members, to resign.
Some of those board members have been there too long. They must go. The provinces must have the chance to put in new people.
And what of Rob Fisher? I have always held him in high regard. He is an experienced lawyer and a rugby man through and through. He has guided our ship for many years, and we seem to have overlooked his sense of honour.
He said that if the All Blacks did not win the World Cup in 1999, he would resign. He did - and was not given enough credit for it. The Eichelbaum report vindicates him.
The media and others have tried to tar him with the same brush as other board members. But he was in a difficult position. He had a fiduciary duty, a duty of trust to his role as a director of RWC Ltd.
Despite that, he warned the New Zealand union several times. It did not listen. Regrettably, he is tainted now by all this.
As early as July 10 last year the board knew it had to provide clean stadiums. This was reinforced several times, yet it did not seize upon any of those signals, and seemed to believe it was bullet-proof.
The inference is that it could not care whether New Zealand held the World Cup. This was arrogance at its worst. There are none so blind as those who do not want to see. There are none so deaf as those who do not want to hear. The NZRFU board members exhibited those characteristics.
How can we have faith in them for the future? The board has let us down badly. It will be very upset at what has occurred. That doesn't matter; it must go. There are many, many good people who would love the opportunity to represent the provincial unions. They should be given the chance.
Rugby people, reading the Eichelbaum report with disbelief, found that all executive actions had been authorised by the board; that the board knew from August 2000 that it needed 100 per cent of stadium boxes and that it did not do a thing about it.
Further, the board made crucial decisions without having anything in writing from RWC Ltd. The Australian union, the Rugby World Cup board and the International Rugby Board all no longer wish to work with the NZRFU. They have lost confidence in it.
On March 8, when it refused to sign the sub-hosting agreement, the NZRFU did not have a suitable strategy in place. Its decisions were ill-judged. It had no hope of regaining the cup once it had turned down the opportunity, especially after key figures were attacked in public.
The NZRFU had known since October that the Rugby World Cup committee was thinking of removing the sub-hosting rights from New Zealand because of the union's behaviour. It had taken no steps to obtain access to the boxes when that was a critical component of what was required.
It put virtually no resources into the World Cup, whereas Australia had many people working full-time. There was inadequate governance and a flawed operational approach. Both John O'Neill, of Australia, and Vernon Pugh, of the IRB, tried several times to help New Zealand and received only criticism in return.
At one point the NZRFU board had apparently decided it would be better off not to host the tournament at all. That completely overlooked what rugby people wanted and the huge benefit of such a tournament to New Zealand.
The NZRFU was only ever a sub-host yet it regarded itself as a co-host. As Sir Thomas Eichelbaum says: "Over time, it [the NZRFU] found out that the tail could not wag the dog."
The initial arrangements made by the union were sloppy. It is described by Sir Thomas as having an approach that was naive. On March 8, when the sub-hosting agreement was turned down, only 28 of the 248 stadium boxes were available. Yet after the public outcry, it managed to secure 204 of the 248 boxes within 20 days.
That is an appalling indictment of the lack of effort, and a graphic example of why we lost the World Cup.
We need grassroots rugby people back on the board. We need people who can see things coming, and who have vision.
We suffered the Boston report several years ago. We were told it would usher in better administration. It has not. We were promised a review. That has not happened, either - it is high time it did.
It is time the provinces took back New Zealand rugby. We must be the laughing stock of the rugby world - we are certainly the laughing stock of New Zealand sport.
I have confidence that Rob Fisher, the new chairman, can guide us. But he needs good new people around him to take us to that next level.
As a coroner, I preside over many inquests. We start with a dead body - there are many parallels to that here. The NZRFU board is the dead body. The cause of death has been its arrogance and incompetence. This has been brought about by a move away from grassroots rugby control to the corporate model.
The coronial recommendation would be to get rid of the corporate style and get back to grassroots rugby. Then maybe the dead body called the NZRFU board could gain new life from new personnel and soar to new heights, so the shame visited upon us by the present board will never recur.
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's full report
