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Home , 2007 All Golds Tour, ANZAC Test, Auckland Rugby League, Bartercard Cup, Brent Todd, Frank Endacott

TO: NZRL Staff, Districts and Affiliates and Board

FROM: Cushla Dawson

DATE: 23 February 2009

RE: Media Summary Tuesday 17 February to Monday 23 February 2009

Hewitt now heads Academy: A man who survived three days in the sea off the is warming to a new challenge. Waatea News reports Rob Hewitt has taken over the reins of the Taranaki Rugby League Academy. The former navy diver says is a way to get students thinking about their futures and to learn how to be successful on and off the field. However, he says, he was nervous at the start and "wanted out" two weeks ago. But now he's settled in. Hewitt will also continue his work as an ambassador for Water Safety . Source: Radio New Zealand, 23 February 2009

Mannering keeps captain ambitions private: is refusing to buy into suggestions linking him to the future captaincy of the Warriors. Mannering's decision as revealed in last week's Sunday News to re-sign with the club despite the likelihood of making more money overseas, has prompted speculation that the loyal utility is a "captain in the making". His leadership potential is clear with Kiwis coach just last week heaping praise on him.

Where did all the NZRL's money go?: Like any gambler, rugby league played the pokies, and at first, they got a few decent payouts. Encouraged, they hit the button one more time, and lost the lot. The unholy pairing of pubs and poker machines is the big reason rugby league found itself in such deep trouble that Sparc thumped in and demanded last week's damning Anderson Report, which called those sordid dealings a "sorry chapter" in the game's history, and declared: "This matter should now be regarded as a lesson learnt, and the sport should move on."

Bennett tipped to return as Kangaroos coach after leaving Kiwis: WAYNE BENNETT'S odds of taking over as Kangaroos coach have been slashed after he stepped down yesterday from his role with New Zealand. Bennett, the mastermind behind the Kiwis' World Cup triumph, quit as assistant to coach Stephen Kearney. Former international was named as his replacement.

Iro to replace Bennett as Kiwis assistant: Former New Zealand international Tony Iro was on Saturday confirmed as the Kiwis' new assistant coach after Stephen Kearney's World Cup coaching partner Wayne Bennett announced his unavailability. Former Australian coach Bennett (59) worked alongside Kearney as a coaching and management adviser throughout 2008, culminating in New Zealand beating the Kangaroos to win the World Cup for the first time in its 54-year history.

Only league can sort out its problems: Between 2002 and 2007, and Recreation New Zealand invested $895,000 in rugby league. This was akin to tossing money down the drain, according to an independent review instigated by the government funding agency and chaired by Sir John Anderson. It found a "broken" game thanks to a culture at the League that neither respected, valued nor pursued excellence and high standards. For Sparc, enough was enough.

Haffenden reflects on a tough report: Life goes on for the 's board. Bills and wages have to be paid, competitions must be organised. There is receipt of the spreadsheet from last year's World Cup to deal with and payment of the players' win bonuses. There are registration and transfer issues with players. But for chairman Ray Haffenden - addressing the mess at the NZRL and dealing with the consequences of Sparc's damning report - it's been as if his private life has stood still, the fishing rods have gathered dust.

No longer in a league of their own: New Zealand rugby league will never die. But it is on oxygen-support and does deserve the high shot served by a government agency review panel. However, let's not kid ourselves. It will take more than rugby league people to reverse the financial fortunes of a sport which is riding high after the Kiwis' first World Cup win.

Pre- Training Made Easy On Activesmart And New Leaguesmart Websites: With pre-season training for New Zealand's winter sports codes already underway, ACC is reminding players to take care their season isn't over before it's even begun. While sportspeople will be keen to lace themselves back into their rugby boots or shoes, it's important they don't try to do too much too fast said ACC's injury prevention programme manager for sport, Joe Harawira.

Can league bounce back?: IT'S hard to believe that the New Zealand sporting code that was the subject of such a damning review this week is also the one whose representative team produced a huge upset late last year to win its first World Cup.

Franks keen to reach out to regions: Rugby League chairman Stephen Franks has embraced the recommendations of the Anderson Report and says the region is capable of reaching out to Hawke's Bay and Gisborne. The WRL meets tomorrow to formulate a view based on the Sparc-funded report's recommendations and Franks, who was consulted during the review process, said he would be very surprised if other board members didn't share his enthusiasm.

Tasman wait and see over NZRL revamp: Tasman chairman Chris Lawton says it's a case of wait-and-see as to what effect a restructure of New Zealand Rugby League's administration will do for the district. A damning report released this week into the state of the sport in the country said "by and large, the districts have been left to wither on the vine", with Tasman and Otago not having any teams.

PNG kicks off bid for NRL team: has kicked off their bid to enter a team into the Australian NRL competition. Rugby league is officially PNG's national sport and the NRL is considered a sporting Nirvana. But entering the NRL has wider implication than simply sporting success - it provides a unifying direction for millions of die-hard fans who often play all year round, barefoot, in searing heat and on rock-hard surfaces.

Liddell lukewarm on report: The 100 plus-page Sparc review of New Zealand Rugby League hasn't filled Bay of Plenty District Rugby League chairman Bill Liddell with warm fuzzies. In fact the report, released publicly in on Monday to provide a way forward for the 13-a-side code, doesn't provide much new for the region, which is placed alongside Waikato and Coastline (Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty) in the new Upper Central Zone - one of seven outlined in the report.

It's the fans who have kept league alive: A government agency waved its magic $450,000 wand at league this week, but unfortunately it failed to produce a magician. Then again, even Merlin would have his work cut out with New Zealand league.

Damning report can revitalise the code, says ARL boss: Key rugby league figures have supported Sir John Anderson's decision not to name names or pursue a witchhunt over allegations made in the Sparc report into mismanagement of the sport. "The Department of Internal Affairs and the Serious Fraud Office have been through the place and they didn't take anyone to court," the chairman Cameron McGregor said of the national governing body.

NZRL to look to schools to boost numbers: One aspect of the Anderson report in particular has earned praise from former Kiwis coach . The report on the management of the New Zealand Rugby League has recommended sweeping changes to the sport's governance. Endacott is delighted the report has identified the NZRL needs to redevelop a competition in schools nationwide.

Finally, a backroom plan to match the on-field successes: Rugby league took giant strides in expanding into a in 1994 and the following year the Warriors played their first game. Opportunity aplenty for healthy growth. But instead the game went backwards, lurching from one crisis to the next with poor management and poor decision-making scarring the history of the New Zealand Rugby League and the Auckland-based club.

This is a step in right direction – Endacott: Former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott has backed the findings in the damning report on the state of New Zealand Rugby League but would like to see current chairman Ray Haffenden stay on. An independent review, initiated by Sparc boss Peter Miskimmin and headed by Sir John Anderson, unravelled a long trail of problems in rugby league presented in a lengthy document.

Saving a broken game: As Kiwi skipper hoisted the trophy in the air after last year's glorious 34-20 World Cup final victory over the Kangaroos, few would have imagined the sorry state into which New Zealand league had fallen. League is a "broken" sport after $2.2 million was lost in 2006-07 through mismanagement and financial immaturity or incompetence. NZRL to look to schools to boost numbers: One aspect of the Anderson report in particular has earned praise from former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott. The report on the management of the New Zealand Rugby League has recommended sweeping changes to the sport's governance. Endacott is delighted the report has identified the NZRL needs to redevelop a competition in schools nationwide.

Sir John: I had no choice or league could die: Sir John Anderson said his damning report into the perilous state of rugby league in New Zealand wasn't a witch hunt but was essential because the sport was broken and had the potential to wither and die. At the request of government sport funding agency Sparc, Anderson headed an independent review - at a cost of $120,000 - into league and made its 133-page findings public yesterday.

NZRL looks to close failed pub investments: The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) hopes to close what has been labelled a "sorry chapter" of failed investments in pubs. "It's almost history," chairman Ray Haffenden said today of ventures that lost the NZRL $2 million between 2000 and 2008. "We have one property we have been trying to relinquish for a couple of months. That's on the agenda all of this year and we hope to finalise that in the next couple of months.

More Pakeha players tipped as a result of league's restructuring: The New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden says better structures and competitions as well as getting former greats involved will help increase participation among Pakeha children. The game's governing body has agreed to implement a SPARC report which has recommended a new governance structure for the cash-strapped code.

NZ league must get its house in order: New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden says the early signs point to a general acceptance to the changes ordered by the damning independent review of his sport. The review, initiated by Sparc and headed by sporting troubleshooter Sir John Anderson, has revealed a horrific list of problems in rugby league as published in its 133-page report. A new governance system and a redrawing of the traditional boundaries of the Kiwi game into seven zones are seen as the way forward.

SPARC welcomes landmark report for future of league: SPARC congratulates the Independent Review Committee for completing a thorough and robust review which provides rugby league in New Zealand with a blueprint to be a sustainable, vibrant and growing sport. SPARC also applauds the vision and courage of the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) Board for unanimously endorsing the Review recommendations.

NZRL Keen to work with SPARC in new era of Rugby League: New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden today welcomed the chance to work alongside SPARC to establish a new era for the game. He said both the NZRL board and the district leagues throughout the country had enthusiastically embraced the recommendations made by the Independent Review Committee as a result of its review of rugby league in New Zealand.

NZRL board agrees to report changes: The New Zealand Rugby League has fallen into line and agreed to implement the sweeping changes recommended in the damning Anderson Report into the code. In return, the code will get a $452,000 cash bail-out this year and potential six-figure funding annually into the future.

Anderson Report - questions and answers: The intervention of governed sports-funding organisation SPARC into the administration of a major code such as rugby league is almost unprecedented in our sporting history. In this Q and A, SPARC management justify their position:

NZRL agrees to wide-ranging changes: Chairman Ray Haffenden today said the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) looked forward to working with government funding agency Sparc to make wide-ranging changes to the sport. Haffenden said both the NZRL board and district leagues had embraced the recommendations released today from an independent review. "The board was unanimous in endorsing the resolutions the committee reached," he said.

Rugby league must change to survive, review finds: A report into New Zealand Rugby League has found there must be change if the sport is to survive. An independent review ordered by Sport and Recreation New Zealand issued is findings on Monday. The report found that there was no shared vision for the game nationally and no meaningful strategic plan. Source: Radio New Zealand, 16 February 2009

Mannering keeps captain ambitions private SIMON Mannering is refusing to buy into suggestions linking him to the future captaincy of the Warriors.

Mannering's decision as revealed in last week's Sunday News to re-sign with the club despite the likelihood of making more money overseas, has prompted speculation that the loyal utility is a "captain in the making".

His leadership potential is clear with Kiwis coach Stephen Kearney just last week heaping praise on him.

"Simon Mannering I certainly feel he's a future leader in the sense that he commands a real respect now in our game," Kearney said.

But at just 22 years old, Mannering believes the talk of him wearing the armband for either the Kiwis or Warriors in the near future is premature.

"I've heard a few people talking about me as a future captain of the club but I'm not too sure where that's coming from," Mannering told Sunday News.

"I'm not too sure I'm captaincy material at the moment.

"Who knows what might happen down the track but for the time being, I'm quite happy just to be one of the boys."

After weeks of negotiating, Mannering penned his name to a new three-year contract last Saturday.

The money he will earn from 2010 is considerably higher than his current contract but many pundits expect he could have made even more in the , especially given wealthy club St Helens were reportedly interested in signing him.

Mannering says his preference was always to stay in Auckland but laughed off suggestions club bosses had talked about his potential as a captain to try and sweeten the deal.

"There was no talk during my contract negotiations about whether the club sees me as a future captain," he said. "I've still got a few more years to go before I think anyone would consider me captain material.

"Hey, if I start doing things within the team that show leadership, so be it. But I still see myself as one of the boys who has a lot of improving to do."

Since making his first-grade debut in 2005, Mannering has quickly gone from talented youngster to international star.

With 18-tests already under his belt, there's no doubting Warriors bosses should be commended for keeping him in Auckland.

"The plan was always to try and get the contract stuff out of the way before the start of the season," Mannering said. "I am pleased it's all done and dusted.

"It's not an easy time just before the season to have everybody asking you what you are going to do with your future. I'm happy with my decision and it's good to have some stability."

While his team-mates were back sweating through training sessions in November, Mannering didn't return to action until early January and will have his first hit-out of 2009 in today's trial against the Cowboys at .

(Source: Aaron Lawton, Sunday News, 22 February 2009)

Where did all the NZRL's money go? Like any gambler, rugby league played the pokies, and at first, they got a few decent payouts. Encouraged, they hit the button one more time, and lost the lot.

The unholy pairing of pubs and poker machines is the big reason rugby league found itself in such deep trouble that Sparc thumped in and demanded last week's damning Anderson Report, which called those sordid dealings a "sorry chapter" in the game's history, and declared: "This matter should now be regarded as a lesson learnt, and the sport should move on."

For some, that's simply not enough. They want the villains named, and a guarantee that it can never happen again. But one thing you learn from rugby league is that history tends to repeat itself.

For that, you need only look back to 1997, when a report by Andersen Consulting found the NZRL's systems so bad they were paying some bills twice and the lawyer for the Australian Super League, Mike Fitzgerald, turned up at the NZRL and found it with no accountability, poor communications, incompetent executives and "grossly mismanaged".

Sound familiar?

Yet shortly after that, league was given the chance to set itself up for a rosy future. The vicious ended and suddenly this blue-collar sport was awash with cash. Given a $6.4 million payout, they cleared their historic debts and were left with $3.4m to spend. Happy the sport was finally on a firm footing, the former prime minister David Lange, who had been vice-president, resigned although not without a parting warning: "You have to keep your hand in your wallet in rugby league and you have to keep your rear-vision mirror cleaned."

The problems were actually only just beginning.

By September 2001, league had squandered almost all that money in foolish gaming investments, with chairman Selwyn Pearson declaring: "Our beautiful Super League nest egg started off the size of an emu egg but now there is a budgie sitting on it keeping it warm."

Having left themselves with nearly nothing, a month later they embarked on a scheme to leave themselves with minus nothing, a substantial pub-purchasing programme which proved just as disastrous.

League's first bright idea was its own pokie trust, the All Golds Foundation. They would put pokie machines in pubs, and use the proceeds for their everyday expenses. It never worked. They had a dispute with their first consultant, whom the league suspected was selling them old machines as new, yet the league vice-chair, Dunedin doctor Wayne Morris, still predicted to the board it would be "a very profitable exercise".

All Golds got machines into pubs in Whangarei and Dunedin, but there were problems with the publicans, poor returns, in-fighting, and eventually Morris' resignation.

In a report by NZRL financial controller Brian Mills to the board in February 2002, he admitted the All Golds was underperforming, costs were too high, and site owners wanted the grants to go where the NZRL didn't.

A concerned Department of Internal Affairs refused to renew All Golds' licence in 2002 and it's thought the episode may have cost the NZRL half their original investment of nearly $1m.

Then the league decided it would be easier simply to own the pubs, although it is illegal under the Gaming Act for publicans to influence where gaming machine money from their venues actually ends up.

In 2001, the NZRL was introduced to Ramesh Dayal, a Wellington businessman with a string of bars, and soon struck a deal to buy two of them, yet leave Dayal to run them and keep the profits. There were even plans to pay Dayal $70,000 a year to consult on All Golds affairs.

One of those was Eddy's Bar: an old furniture shop Dayal had bought for $205,000. It had only had a liquor licence for six months when he sold it to the league, in a remarkable deal where they paid $1.02m and received $120,000 a year rent, with Dayal having the right to buy the pub back for $1 after five years. They later extricated themselves from that part of the deal, but the Anderson Report says total rent received on all pubs has been only $380,000, a significant shortfall on budget. The league accounts listed Eddy's Bar which it still owns at a value of just $400,000.

The other $600,000 was written off as "goodwill".

Goodwill for what you might wonder?

In May 2001, it appeared there was an answer in NZRL financial controller Brian Mills' report to the board, which said Dayal was "of the understanding that the agreement, with regard to the value of grant applications that we are able to make to his bars, is $700,000 in the first year and $250,000 per site (total $500,000) per annum after that ... Ramesh has said that he will likely allow us to apply for more."

In August 2001, another Mills report declared: "We continue to exceed our original expectations with regard to poker machine trust grants."

Remember, the law explicitly states publicans cannot direct pokie money. Yet in November 2002, two board members added up all the pokie grants for rugby league awarded in the region and found 58% of grants in Wellington went to the national body in Auckland. It was a clear signal of how the NZRL's relationship with Dayal was manifesting itself in huge jackpots.

Internal Affairs was aware of this deal since at least 2003, and even had a senior investigator compile a report, but never mounted a prosecution.

Despite the flow of pokie cash, Pearson was, at this stage, saying the Super League money had gone. It was easy to see how much of it had been spent: $1.3m on the Wellington pubs and $971,000 loaned to the All Golds.

Pearson told the NZRL annual meeting in 2003 that the All Golds had been a "disaster", and he had sold it off. Ironically, some of the sale was to Morris, who had set up his own trust, the Caversham Foundation, which has since had a major run-in with Internal Affairs. Pearson also told the meeting the league would now "concentrate on its core business of rugby league".

They did turn closer to home. Much closer. They bought a pub from one of their own board members.

Despite net deficits of $1.4m over the preceding two years, the NZRL stumped up a third-share of $1.3m to buy the Duke of Wellington, an Auckland hotel owned by recently-elected NZRL director Sel Bennett and his wife Ivy. The NZRL went into partnership with the Auckland Rugby League (where Bennett had formerly been a director) and local league identity and publican Mark Barrack.

A director of the company formed by the three parties, Quidditch Holdings, was Auckland RL chairman Cameron McGregor. Documents show McGregor's accountancy firm, McGregor Bailey, also acted as accountants for the parties on either side of the deal. It's understood the Duke was later sold for around $900,000. McGregor, four years later, said one reason why it was bought was because it housed gaming machines owned by the Lion Foundation, a big supporter of rugby league. He said the deal might "galvanise" that relationship.

The ARL and NZRL also combined to buy the And Black Dog, a Kingsland pub owned by former Kiwis prop Terry Hermansson, who had also worked at one time for the ARL. Losses on that pub were written off.

While McGregor said the Auckland league got out of the pub business when they realised publicans could not direct grants, the ARL currently own the land and buildings but not the business of thriving south Auckland pub Playaz Sports Bar in Manurewa. That pub was once owned by Tim Connolly, who owns kit supply company SAS, which makes the ARL's kit. In February 2002, had Pearson sent a memo to NZRL board members that he had met Connolly, who then owned two big pokie sites, and "hit him up for $150,000 for our 16s and 18s NJC competition and he didn't flinch".

In other deals, the ARL and NZRL advanced a total of $500,000 between them to another former Kiwis star, and his business partner, Malik Wijeratyne, only a fraction of which was repaid; and loaned $100,000 to a North Shore publican, Allen Vaughan, a deal they never explained.

League has a complex web of relationships with the drink industry. But the net result was, at first, very successful. By 2006, pokie money made up half of the NZRL's income an unusual dependency which had grown over the preceding five years as pokie income climbed from $1.4m in 2002 to $2.3m in 2006.

It was the charismatic Pearson who was renowned as an expert in securing pokie money, and he got on so well with one trust boss, Dean Agnew of Trillian, he even rented a flat from him. When he left the NZRL in 2007 after a bitter power struggle with incoming chair Andrew Chalmers, the trusts lost confidence in the organisation and the flood of pokie money weakened, dropping from $2.6m in 2006 to $1.8m in 2007, $800,000 below the league's own projections for the year.

The gap left in the national body's budget sheet exposed an uncomfortable truth, hidden for some years: their programme of regional Alliance competitions and the national cost a lot of money. The only way to boost income was from international , and there was a jump of nearly $1m a year from 2005 to 2007 thanks to the Tri-Nations tournament against Britain and .

So it was a telling blow that year when the one-off centenary test against Australia in Wellington fell $400,000 under budget due to a poor crowd and sponsorship. The All Golds tour that year did not record the loss that has been widely claimed, but given its extravagance, neither did it return the huge profits that were needed.

The league was headed for a $700,000 loss, which then inflated to $1.8m, when they quietly washed their hands of their dreadful pub investment record, writing off $1m lost on pub purchases.

(Source: Steve Kilgallon, Sunday Star-Times, 22 February 2009)

Bennett tipped to return as Kangaroos coach after leaving Kiwis WAYNE BENNETT'S odds of taking over as Kangaroos coach have been slashed after he stepped down yesterday from his role with New Zealand.

Bennett, the mastermind behind the Kiwis' World Cup triumph, quit as assistant to coach Stephen Kearney. Former international Tony Iro was named as his replacement.

Kearney wants Bennett to stay on as a Kiwis selector, declaring: "I don't think it means the end of the relationship between the NZRL and Wayne."

Bennett's announcement has sparked speculation he could again coach the Kangaroos, as the ARL board will meet on Tuesday with a view to appointing a successor to .

Betting agency Sportingbet Australia responded to the news by slashing Bennett's odds of becoming Kangaroos coach from $23 to $11. ($2) remains favourite ahead of ($3), ($3.75) and John Cartwright ($4).

ARL chief executive said he hadn't spoken to Bennett to gauge his interest but that didn't preclude the new Dragons coach from being considered.

"The board has purposely not put together a shortlist because of the variety and number of good coaches available to us," Carr said yesterday. "So there's nothing to say Wayne's name won't come up.

"But if you're asking me if I've spoken to him about it, I certainly haven't.

"The board will consider people they wish to invite - if Wayne's name comes up in discussion, that's possible. I'm not ruling anything in or out."

An NZRL statement said Bennett would step down from the Kiwis to concentrate on the Dragons. However, it didn't stop bookmakers from reeling in his price.

Bennett has yet to indicate whether he wants to be involved with the Kangaroos - or the Kiwis, for that matter.

"[Bennett] has indicated he will certainly be available for advice at any time and hopefully we might convince him to remain on the selectors' panel," Kearney said.

(Source: Adrian Proszenko and Steve Kilgallon, League HQ, 22 February 2009)

Iro to replace Bennett as Kiwis assistant Former New Zealand international Tony Iro was on Saturday confirmed as the Kiwis' new assistant coach after Stephen Kearney's World Cup coaching partner Wayne Bennett announced his unavailability.

Former Australian coach Bennett (59) worked alongside Kearney as a coaching and management adviser throughout 2008, culminating in New Zealand beating the Kangaroos to win the World Cup for the first time in its 54-year history.

Bennett has told the NZRL he won't be able to continue in the role this year as he concentrates on his new job as St George 's NRL coach after ending his 21-year association with . For Iro (41), a 25-test Kiwi from 1988-98, it's a case of back to the future.

Now counting down to his second season as the Vodafone Warriors' NYC (National Youth Competition) coach, he had the assistant's role with the Kiwis in 2006-07 and was also the New Zealand A coach in 2005-06.

New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden said Bennett's decision was totally understandable, adding the board was delighted Iro could take up the job.

"Wayne said one of his objectives was to assist us in winning the World Cup," he said.

"He has achieved that and he said he was very grateful he had the opportunity to be involved. His focus now is on coaching the Dragons and that will take up all his time.

"We're forever grateful for the fantastic contribution Wayne made to the team and to the game as a whole while working with Stephen last year. We'll mark that appropriately at a later date.

"At the same time, we're thrilled to have someone of Tony's calibre coming on board and we're especially thankful to the Warriors for their support in making this possible."

Kearney echoed Haffenden's comments about Bennett's contribution.

"I don't think you can really say enough about Wayne's gesture in making himself available to work with us last year," he said.

"He was a tremendous help to me personally and to everyone else in our squad. I know he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we all felt the same way about having him involved with us.

"I fully understand Wayne's reasons but it's also exciting to have Tony coming into the group.

"We have strong links from when we played test football together in the 1990s and I've also watched with great interest since he moved into coaching.

"He did a brilliant job with the Warriors' NYC side last year and he'll bring a lot of benefits to the side."

Iro, who has been associated with the Warriors in a coaching capacity since 2004, said he was honoured to rejoin the Pirtek Kiwis.

"It's an exciting time to be a part of the New Zealand team after what happened last year," he said.

"Stephen has shown what a great coach he is already but, like him, I want to see New Zealand perform consistently well against Australia.

"I also appreciate the Vodafone Warriors giving me the chance to further myself as a coach by having this role."

Iro's first assignment will be this year's Anzac Test against the Kangaroos at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the scene of the Kiwis' World Cup triumph on May 8.

That will be followed by the Four Nations tournament in England and in October-November.

(Source: One Sport, TVNZ, 21 February 2009)

Only league can sort out its problems Between 2002 and 2007, Sports and Recreation New Zealand invested $895,000 in rugby league.

This was akin to tossing money down the drain, according to an independent review instigated by the government funding agency and chaired by Sir John Anderson. It found a "broken" game thanks to a culture at the New Zealand Rugby League that neither respected, valued nor pursued excellence and high standards. For Sparc, enough was enough.

It has moved to ensure the governance, management, financial sustainability and planning shortcomings identified by the review are addressed. But in doing so, it has overstepped the mark. Effectively, Sparc has taken over the running of rugby league. The directors who will hold sway on the new seven-member NZRL board will be appointed at its behest.

This will be achieved by the agency appointing two people (including a chairman with the casting vote) to a four-strong appointment committee, whose job is to identify suitable candidates and invite them to join the board. The new board chair will also be appointed by that committee for a two-year period.

Sparc says it has taken this power because of its expertise in sports governance. Obviously, it also wants to protect the $425,000 bailout that it will provide to the NZRL this year and potential six-figure funding into the future.

In certain circumstances, where taxpayer funding is at risk, this may be a sensible approach. Commissioners are appointed to schools that the Education Review Office deems not to be running well.

But there is some distance between that and a privately run sport.

This intrusiveness also creates the danger of an unwanted homogeneity pervading the running of sport in this country. Sparc should, by all means, act as an adviser to sporting bodies and be prepared to withdraw funding if bad practices continue. But league's problems should have been left to league to sort out.

This is especially so because there is a desire within the game for an abandonment of the old culture.

The independent review notes "a strong mood for change and a strong desire for the review to provide the mandate for this, and for the rugby league community to embrace the necessary change". League has seen the writing on the wall.

Already, the NZRL has lost the support of key funders and sponsors, who have made it clear they will not reinvest in the game until there is clarity of direction and robust sustainable governance in place.

If there is no change, says the review, league will ultimately be reduced to a regional participation sport with dwindling numbers.

Even now, just 16,700 play the game, fewer than half the number playing hockey.

The league community understands the many problems, whether it be the poor representation in schools, the lack of a national competition structure, or the absence of a pathway from the juniors to a test jersey.

The board appointed last year has, according to the review, "made significant progress in starting to stabilise the position and reputation of the game".

With the aid of this review, it should have been left to make further progress in both culture and structure.

For further guidance, it need only look across the Tasman to see what can be achieved by a professionally run league organisation boasting strong management and a unanimity of vision.

Only dramatic change will deliver a local equivalent of the .

Both the NZRL and the league community accept as much.

There is a willingness to strive for a culture that is the norm in other sports.

This will come with a special league signature. Heavy-handed intervention must not undermine that uniqueness.

(Source: Weekend Herald, 21 February 2009)

Haffenden reflects on a tough report Life goes on for the New Zealand Rugby League's board.

Bills and wages have to be paid, competitions must be organised. There is receipt of the spreadsheet from last year's World Cup to deal with and payment of the players' win bonuses. There are registration and transfer issues with players. But for chairman Ray Haffenden - addressing the mess at the NZRL and dealing with the consequences of Sparc's damning report - it's been as if his private life has stood still, the fishing rods have gathered dust.

From a lifetime in league, these have been the toughest weeks for Haffenden.

"I'm extremely proud of this board, we took over at a very tough time with the chairman and three independent members leaving," he says.

And still there is more to do.

The league has yet to appoint a full-time chief executive, with stand-in Murray McCaw working two to three days a week and the role yet to be subject to job description and advertising.

The Sparc report into all the business of the NZRL will take some time to digest and its proposals some time to implement. Sparc wants new people on the NZRL board. But both it and current board members realise there has to be some rugby league expertise.

The chairman Ray Haffenden made it clear this week that he would put his name forward for a role in the newly revamped organisation, whether it be as board member or in higher office, as he wanted to "see the project through".

"New practices and procedures have been put in place. I think that the image of the game has already improved and that's the feedback I'm getting from our partners."

There had been many "work-in-progress" meetings to sort out problems and determine the future course of the game and the board had done a good job in the reduction of spending.

But the review was necessary, he said, to clear out bad blood and clear the decks for a better-planned and sustainable future. "I don't think any board would have gotten to the depth that the Sparc review has. I have total confidence in the process that Sparc has put in place."

That process involves the current board winding up its business at the annual meeting at the end of March and voting to accept the Sparc report and recommendations. The board will carry on until May 1 to allow new appointments to be made and then will resign en masse at a meeting on May 1, when a new board will take over with independent members appointed by a Sparc-appointed committee, along with three members voted on.

He thought all the current board members were capable and hoped all might put their names forward for selection or election.

Haffenden had a long history in the liquor industry before buying his own business, one that allowed him time flexibility to work a second job as NZRL chairman. He played the game through the grades to age 32 at the Linwood Keas club in , then coached from club to South Island level. He took the , managed the senior side under Bob Bailey and Frank Endacott and has had two separate stints on the NZRL board. But he's taken feedback from all quarters.

"I've had dozens of cups of coffee with people I've never met. I had some good things come through - some of the things people want you just can't do, but it always opens up ideas."

And he has regular advice from a circle of close, long-term friends in the game. "I shouldn't call them the mafia but there are a lot of blokes around the country always ringing me." He likes the feel that gives him for the game, for what the provinces and clubs are thinking and talking about.

Haffenden sees many positives. The World Cup would show a slight profit. Though player numbers are low, the top levels of league can still grab the public's imagination.

"The hard part is that you can't tell people everything, you have to keep your own head on your shoulders."

Ultimately, he sees the game coming back into league hands. "It's going to take time and money but this has given us the impetus we needed. The game should now be able to expand, in Auckland and elsewhere. It was probably long overdue."

And when the game is back on an even keel, he might find time to brush the dust off those fishing rods. SPARC'S TOUGH LOVE

Key points of the Sparc review:

* The NZRL has no cash reserves after losing lost $2.2 million in 2006 and 2007. * Backers and sponsors have withdrawn, citing long-term management problems. * Player numbers have dropped from a mid-1990s high of 40,000 to 16,000. * Sparc's review cost $120,000. * The nine-member NZRL board will resign to be replaced by a seven-member board, four of whom will be appointed by a Sparc-governed committee, which will also appoint the chairman. * The 15 districts will be condensed into seven zones and a new constitution and voting structure will be imposed. * Sparc will invest $450,000 this year and promises more annually, plus it will help attract money from trusts if it is satisfied with the changes. * The review looked at the NZRL's investment in bars in the interests of transparency. The Department of Internal Affairs and the Serious Fraud Office have conducted investigations in the past. * The review said that "for the game to move forward it is important that this episode of NZRL's history is documented and communicated to stakeholders so that the door can be closed on the past and the game can move on and focus on the future".

(Source: Peter Jessup, Weekend Herald, 21 February 2009)

No longer in a league of their own New Zealand rugby league will never die. But it is on oxygen-support and does deserve the high shot served by a government agency review panel.

However, let's not kid ourselves. It will take more than rugby league people to reverse the financial fortunes of a sport which is riding high after the Kiwis' first World Cup win.

Sir John Anderson and his six fellow panellists are entitled to point the finger at past administrative incompetence and excesses by successive New Zealand Rugby League boards.

Let's not beat around the bush. Former prime minister and one-time NZRL board member David Lange wasn't wrong when he quit as vice- president in 1999, saying league was run "more like a hobby than a business". In his 2005 autobiography My Life, Lange alleged how he had forced the resignation of a senior league official by threatening to expose his improper financial arrangements. He claimed he had once complained to police about misappropriation by a provincial league official "only to be asked by the police to hold back as the man in question was one of their informers".

The comprehensive and irrefutable Sir John Anderson-led report is also right to suggest the sport has been blighted by a "clipping the ticket" culture. It is an already well-documented fact that the NZRL lost $2.2 million in 2006 and 2007 and has no cash reserves. But that happened on the former board's watch.

We all know the failings of former officials like ex-NZRL chairman Graham Carden during the Super League war of the mid-1990s and more recently Andrew Chalmers.

But the current board can't be faulted. The vast bulk of rugby league people are salt-of- the-earth souls who sizzle sausages and sell raffles to keep their clubs solvent. They ooze a passion for their game which I have yet to see matched in any other New Zealand sporting code.

Leaguies are, predominantly, working class folk. In many cases, they do not have the administrative and financial experience required to run a 21st century professional sport.

So it is encouraging to hear Sparc talk of funding to pay administrators at district grassroots level.

But it will take more than rugby league people to rescue a proud code from the mire.

New Zealand's corporate, government sector and media elites will have to give rugby league a fair go.

They will have to ask themselves a few searching questions about why rugby league, a fabulous sporting product, has struggled for sponsorship and coverage. For instance, I can't recall the ANZ-National Bank, in Sir John Anderson's time as chief executive, bankrolling the Kiwis or New Zealand's national rugby league competition. I can recall it supporting New Zealand , a code which culture of success did not extend to the playing arena.

The easy answer is to focus, as the Anderson report has done, on the inept dealings of the last eight years or so. But it has not always been so. The NZRL, under chairmen like George Rainey and Ron McGregor, was as well-run as any national sporting body, and better than some. Both were leaguies to the core but also had the business backgrounds to balance the books.

Yet the sport failed to gain sponsor support beyond its brewery backer even in 1988 when the World Cup final was played at a sold-out .

The reality is rugby league has always been behind the ball in New Zealand and a lot of that has to do with public attitudes.

If the sporting community is to give the game a hand-up, many of us will have to confront issues of classism and, dare I say it, racism, which has unfairly tainted the sport's image. Softball has suffered similarly. Funny that we're world champions in the two working class codes and World Cup also- rans in cricket and rugby.

We've all heard the anti- league sneers. , prior to 1995, was described as "sport for amateurs run by professionals" while league was "a game for professionals run by amateurs".

We all know parents loath to let their lads play league, ostensibly out of fear of them being physically intimidated by their Maori and Pacific Island peers.

We all went to schools which refused (and some still do) to form rugby league teams lest they weaken the rugby first XV. I went to one sited next to a prominent rugby league club which each year produced schoolboy and senior internationals. They couldn't play league for their school which still claims just one All Black.

We all remember when rugby league couldn't get onto major rugby union grounds like .

And we all know people like the prominent rugby media type who privately rubbishes rugby league as "state house rugby".

The reality is there is little demographic difference in the origins of the All Blacks or the Kiwis. Both are successful because, not in spite of, their preponderance of Polynesian and white working-class players.

Sparc is right to fire a warning shot across rugby league's bows and threaten to withdraw $452,000 of government funding. But will the Government also pull funding to schools which do not allow rugby league as a sporting choice?

The NZRL has made a hash of the books. But a sport's health cannot be solely measured by profit-and-loss figures.

Rugby league has been one of New Zealand's more successful sporting export "industries". Each year dozens, if not hundreds, of players head for Australia to take up contracts at NRL clubs or bush league outfits where they get a job which pays a good weekly wage and hefty appearance fee and bonus payments.

Many of these are men who the New Zealand educational and social systems have failed yet who have pulled themselves up, by their boot straps, and made better lives for their families and themselves.

Ironically, the exodus has only compounded league's perennial problem - a lack of administrators and coaches. Those who go to Australia rarely come back to put something back into the game here.

Rugby league people do have to live in the real world. Many have been resistant to change. The few remaining dinosaurs will have to shed their reverse snobbery about rugby union. The "war" ended when the 15-man game went pro. Others will have to set aside selfish club tribalism for the game's greater good.

They will need to make changes to their traditional structures, perhaps introducing weight-grades to minimise size disparities and mis-matches. They might even need to consider a short-season summer or mid-week age- group seasons to accommodate the many kids and young adults who want to play both rugby codes.

The sport will have to continue to stamp out bad behaviour on the field, and on the sidelines too. Leadership must come from the top. The Anderson report highlights the clear need for outside aid. There must be input from professional administrators and governors. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is still a place for league- steeped stalwarts like former Canterbury coach and Kiwis manager Ray Haffenden and the West Coaster Peter Kerridge at the game's top table.

(Source: Tony Smith, The Press, 20 February 2009)

Pre-season Training Made Easy On Activesmart And New Leaguesmart Websites With pre-season training for New Zealand's winter sports codes already underway, ACC is reminding players to take care their season isn't over before it's even begun.

While sportspeople will be keen to lace themselves back into their rugby boots or netball shoes, it's important they don't try to do too much too fast said ACC's injury prevention programme manager for sport, Joe Harawira.

``Even if you're an experienced player you need to take it easy when getting back into your sport,'' he said. ``The right pre-season training programme gradually builds you up to give you a long and injury-free season. That's where ActiveSmart can help.''

ActiveSmart, ACC's free fitness and nutrition website, will tailor-make programmes to each individual's needs. Whether pre-season, in-season or off-season, ActiveSmart will instantly make up a full and personalised programme. It includes detailed instructions with diagrams, photography and video to demonstrate techniques.

ActiveSmart is primarily focused on walking, running or cycling programmes, along with general fitness and health tips. However its sister sites, NetballSmart, SoccerSmart and RugbySmart, have programmes specific to these popular sports.

``We also have a new website in association with New Zealand Rugby League, called LeagueSmart. Hosted on the NZRL website, it gives players league-specific information about fitness, training, technique and protective gear,'' Mr Harawira said.

``What's also very important but is often over-looked is warming up and cooling down safely. Even top sportspeople sometimes neglect to do this properly and can end up with a nasty - and embarrassing - injury! Warming up prepares your body and your mind for the physical demands of the sport. Cooling down stretches the muscles you've used and assists in the removal of lactic acid.

``Good nutrition is also very important, so LeagueSmart has a section on the right food and drink. Depending on the conditions, players can lose several kilos of fluid during a game so it's critical they remain well-hydrated, with the right food onboard as fuel. Low energy levels are related to concentration lapses and the early onset of fatigue, which in turn increases the risk of injury,'' Joe Harawira said.

``LeagueSmart is a great tool for anyone thinking about taking up League or players wanting to get back into it, while ActiveSmart has something for everyone.''

(Source: www.voxy.co.nz 19 February 2009)

Can league bounce back? IT'S hard to believe that the New Zealand sporting code that was the subject of such a damning review this week is also the one whose representative team produced a huge upset late last year to win its first World Cup.

Yet that is the situation in New Zealand rugby league, which leads one inevitably to the conclusion that the World Cup win is absolutely no indicator of a sport in rude health. Plainly, New Zealand has been blessed with some outstanding league talent and that top echelon of players has been developed through the involvement of virtually all this country's top players in Australia's National Rugby League, either with the Auckland-based Warriors or one of the Australian franchises, and Britain's Super League. But the report following Sir John Anderson's independent review of the sport, initiated by Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc), points to a real struggle to keep producing Kiwi players of the calibre of those currently plying their trade at the highest level.

Initial media reports following the release of Sir John's report on Monday made much of the fact that the whole NZRL board would have to resign as a first step in the proposed recovery plan. Understandably, some board members have taken umbrage at the inference that they are responsible for the sport's parlous state, but that is not what this requirement necessarily implies. It's a constitutional process which requires the nine-member board to resign so a seven-member replacement board can be chosen to replace it.

Current members are eligible to put their names forward and NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden has clearly indicated he wants to be a part of that. What is significant, however, is that Sparc, which is to provide cash to keep the organisation running, will have a key role in vetting candidates, four of whom are to be appointed, while the other three will be elected.

The bottom line out of all this is that, in the words of Sir John, league is "a sport that has become broken but has the potential to be a vibrant sport".

A drop in playing numbers from 30,000 a few years ago to just 17,000 speaks volumes about the state of the sport, but if league is seen to take on board a number of common sense recommendations, there is certainly the potential to turn that trend around.

It makes no sense that a sporting code in which New Zealand has been a world leader for many years, and still is, should be in such a dysfunctional state, not even boasting a national competition. Hopefully the report's recommendations will be followed through to put New Zealand league back into a position where its development programmes are such that it turns out top players in large numbers.

(Source: The Timaru Herald, 19 February 2009)

Franks keen to reach out to regions Wellington Rugby League chairman Stephen Franks has embraced the recommendations of the Anderson Report and says the region is capable of reaching out to Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.

The WRL meets tomorrow to formulate a view based on the Sparc-funded report's recommendations and Franks, who was consulted during the review process, said he would be very surprised if other board members didn't share his enthusiasm.

The report, released on Monday, is scathing of the current state of New Zealand Rugby League, describing the game as in crisis.

It has called for the entire board to stand down.

It recommends a new-look board appoint a chief executive, who would oversee seven new zones to encompass the present 15 districts.

Wellington's proposed zone takes in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, and Franks said the practicality of those arrangements would be "very much a focus for us".

The WRL has whittled down to a shortlist 23 applicants for its vacant general manager position and hoped to make an appointment after tomorrow's board meeting.

Previous general manager Mark O'Connor resigned last year but Franks said finding his replacement had been put on hold because of the impending report.

"If this [report's recommendations] is likely to go ahead, it changes the nature of that job and makes it quite a lot harder in a way because under the report, the general managers are supposed to report to the CEO of NZRL as well as to their local district league," Franks said.

"But matrix management always means more than one master and you need a special kind of person that enjoys that." Wellington would clearly be the dominant partner in a marriage with Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, and Franks said creative thinking would be needed to overcome logistical problems, and floated travelling development officers to work in the regions.

"That might be better than actually leaving the game in those areas to feel like the underloved cousin or forgotten younger brother or sister in an organisation where quite clearly Wellington is where all the weight is."

Franks, a lawyer and former MP, said he had no ambitions to stand for a new NZRL board.

"No, I really think you need someone who's played," he said.

"There's plenty you can do to be useful without having been a player but there's a point at which it just needs someone who knows exactly what it's like.

"Not having been involved can be an advantage in that you're neutral and people trust you not to have separate agendas. But I think over the long run it should be someone who's just a product of the game."

Franks agreed with the report's decision not to "name and shame" those who had made financial misjudgments, but called for the Department of Internal Affairs, Serious Fraud Office or police to investigate the past. "Just in the interests of hygiene and showing that cheats don't prosper," he said.

(Source: Sam Worthington, The Dominion Post, 19 February 2009)

Tasman wait and see over NZRL revamp Tasman chairman Chris Lawton says it's a case of wait-and-see as to what effect a restructure of New Zealand Rugby League's administration will do for the district.

A damning report released this week into the state of the sport in the country said "by and large, the districts have been left to wither on the vine", with Tasman and Otago not having any teams.

The report, the result of an independent review initiated by government funding agency Sparc, has recommended sweeping changes to the way rugby league is run.

They include the resignation of the present NZRL board and the establishment of a new board structure, and the splitting of the country into seven new zones to encompass the present 15 districts.

Tasman is included in the proposed Southern zone, which would take in all the South Island districts.

Lawton said today that he wasn't yet sure exactly what that would mean for Tasman.

"Whether that's good or bad, I'm uncertain at the moment until we meet with someone," he said.

"It might put some structure into this area, which is what we need."

Lawton said the loss of a Nelson-based development officer about five years ago because of lack of funding was a huge blow for league in the district.

The last senior club competition was back in 2004 and the Tasman board hadn't met for about three years.

Lawton, sports director at Nelson College, where Kiwis and Warrior second rower Simon Mannering went to school, said Tasman was not alone in its predicament.

"It's not just us, it's also people like Southland and Otago," he said.

"We're all small players in rugby league. To get in with some of the bigger player could be quite good."

The zone structure would see the Auckland district divided in three -- Auckland, Counties Manukau and Northern (which would also include Northland).

Auckland Rugby League chairman Cameron McGregor believed the new structure would mean the Auckland region's strength being spread around.

"I'm looking forward to Auckland being able to help Northland," he said. "They've had their factions over the years. If we can put the right help, governance and resources into Northland, we believe we can build a really strong zone for rugby league in New Zealand."

McGregor said the ARL's role in the new environment was something the ARL board would have to establish.

His personal view was for the ARL to exist above the three new zones.

"Everywhere else, the zones will be over the districts, but in Auckland I see the reverse and that will be something our board will have to work through," he said.

"I would like to see representatives from the three zones form a new Auckland Rugby League board and the existing administration and systems would remain the same."

(Source: NZPA, 18 February 2009)

PNG kicks off bid for NRL team Papua New Guinea has kicked off their bid to enter a team into the Australian NRL competition.

Rugby league is officially PNG's national sport and the NRL is considered a sporting Nirvana.

But entering the NRL has wider implication than simply sporting success - it provides a unifying direction for millions of die-hard fans who often play all year round, barefoot, in searing heat and on rock-hard surfaces.

PNG political elite know the potential and on Tuesday Prime Minister Michael Somare gave 500,000 kina (A$250,000) of government money towards an official team to develop a NRL proposal.

Gold Coast Titans chairman Paul Broughton and coach Mal Meninga are also part of PNG's 'bid team'.

PNG's deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu said the government is now approaching private enterprise to help achieve the necessary criteria for entry into the competition.

"Imagine a PNG team in the NRL competition, imagine the opportunities, and imagine the strengthening of the PNG and Australia relationship," he said.

"To have our very own NRL team would unite the whole country," he said.

PNG rugby league president Danny Holmes told AAP an estimated third of PNG's six million population plays league.

"We can have more influence than the government, that's how important and big this is," he said.

"The implications are greater than just having a footy side in the NRL, it gives a big time goal to every kid who puts a boot on.

"We've been using league as a way for kids to learn to be part of a team and a community with a common goal, to learn life skills and confidence," he said.

Holmes admits its not going to be an easy journey to the NRL.

"The government has researched and there is corporate interest.

"The time frame is eight years but there is also talk about 2012, when Somare may retire, so we see," he said.

(Source: The Age, 18 February 2009)

Liddell lukewarm on report The 100 plus-page Sparc review of New Zealand Rugby League hasn't filled Bay of Plenty District Rugby League chairman Bill Liddell with warm fuzzies.

In fact the report, released publicly in Auckland on Monday to provide a way forward for the 13-a-side code, doesn't provide much new for the region, which is placed alongside Waikato and Coastline (Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty) in the new Upper Central Zone - one of seven outlined in the report.

The three districts were involved in a combined club competition, the Waicoa Bay, until the end of 2007. They were also involved as feeders to the WaiCoa Bay Stallions, who played in New Zealand's old Bartercard Cup.

"It's just giving us back what we've just had," Liddell said. "This is just WaiCoa Bay - we've been there, we've played a competition, now we've all gone our separate ways and now they want us to go back to it."

The report has made some major recommendations at national level, asking the current board resign en- masse and demanding better administration and structures be used to grow the game. Liddell said it made "interesting reading" but he was a bit disappointed the $125,000 Sparc-commissioned review had recommended returning to the past.

The report, now with district boards and clubs, is due to be discussed at the national annual meeting in March. If the report is adopted, the Upper Central zone would need to appoint a general manager and an establishment board, which would in turn establish an appointments board to put a Zone board in place. Most of this needs to happen by December 2009 - and Sparc has pledged some $450,000 to the national body to make it wor nationwide.

Liddell expressed his concerns in Auckland, when the districts were presented with the review on Sunday - a day before it was made public.

His biggest concern is who will run the zones. He said there were a limited number of qualified people interested in being involved. "If it's done properly it can work, but that's the thing, they've got to find eight new general managers and boards."

Liddell said BoP had been disadvantaged in its previous alliance, with personalities and agendas getting in the way of running the game.

"We've been there, we've had a combined board, Bay of Plenty always came off second best - the other two just ganged up on us."

While concerned the same people will become involved in the new administration, Liddell believes it could work if done properly - although the onus will fall on those appointing the establishing board.

"We've got to get past the past ... If the zone can put up a decent sort of board - and that'll require people putting up CVs - that might chop a few off at the knees," he said.

If the recommendations are accepted there would be no changes this year, with both Bay of Plenty and Waikato playing their separate club competitions.

Bay of Plenty premier club football is expected to kick off on March 14, with two rounds of the Ces Mountford competition and then the major championship.

Seven premier sides are expected to take part - Central, Pikiao, Ngongotaha, Pacific, Forestland, Taupo and newly-promoted Turangi.

(Source: Craig Tiriana, The Daily Post, 18 February 2009)

It's the fans who have kept league alive A government agency waved its magic $450,000 wand at league this week, but unfortunately it failed to produce a magician.

Then again, even Merlin would have his work cut out with New Zealand league.

A merlin they should try to find of course, a charismatic and driven character who will probably have to take a wage cut for the privilege of trying to get our league out of a mess. Good luck to those trying to find this miracle man. And good luck to the man himself. But I fear that a bunch of grey-suited men will end up in charge of this grey world.

It will take much more than good intentions, a 133-page report, a couple of hundred grand and a state- appointed board to lift the sport above where it is now.

Anyway, someone had to step in to stop the league rot and it turned out to be Sparc and its special investigation unit headed by Sir John Anderson.

Cutting out the bad bits is going to be a lot easier than the next bit however. The die has been cast for league.

Stated intentions, such as sweeping the game through the school system, are much easier said than done. High participation in the traditional codes is being tested in a changing society anyway, and league is already on the back foot.

Good luck fellas, but I wouldn't be counting any chickens just yet.

A few of league's problems have been its own fault. But some important ones are largely beyond the control of the sport and its administrators.

Still, someone should have torn through the NZRL offices a lot sooner than this, because this writing has been on the wall ever since Graham Carden, later a convicted fraudster, got hold of the game in the mid-1990s.

At a lunch that will live in the memory for anyone who was there, Carden - the boss of the ill-fated national competition - was adorned by grateful sponsors in a Hawaiian shirt that was supposed to represent the holiday he deserved for having got the Lion Red Cup off the ground. He got a holiday all right, a few years later, courtesy of the justice system after playing jiggery-pokery with poker machines.

Carden, who coached Glenora to Auckland and national club runner-up positions in 1988, had the gift of the gab. He worked himself into a position of firstly becoming the NZRL's sponsorship manager through his private company and then became the NZRL chairman on a shonky election involving a switched Auckland vote.

After a blitzkrieg operation in which Carden led the NZRL into Super League's cash-stuffed bed in 1995, cutting ties with the Australian Rugby League in the process, he charged a hefty fee. That was when the national administration turned bad. Carden clipped the ticket - to use a phrase of Sir John's - and according to this report, has not been the only one.

Carden's league crimes also included foistering unrealistic champagne dreams on a beer-budget sport, with nary a nod to economic good sense. He was a trailblazer in this and the trail has hopefully ended at Sir John's door.

Normally, this column would feel inclined to rage against such a weighty report that will create its own too-hard basket. Reports are like elections, when anticipation runs into a brief euphoria, followed by a long and large dose of reality.

There isn't actually a lot to manage in New Zealand league, which makes the scale of its mismanagement even more grotesque. There is no national club competition and never will be again, nor things such as Olympic qualification to deal with, and few opportunities to arrange test matches and virtually none for international tours.

The NZRL job description has become increasingly light. An old league mate likes to tell me that there's an old bloke operating out of a cupboard at with more to do than the NZRL.

The national administration used to be a bit busier, when league ran a decent international schedule and New Zealand still had big-name players based here.

Not since the days that the old nurseryman George Rainey ran league in this land has it been done with the necessary order, integrity and dignity. There were some grand old men around in those days, like Rainey's Glenora comrade Gus Malam. They had their critics but they were straight and true.

There have been honest and well-intentioned men nestled among the scallywags since, and - I have to say - a couple of the craziest sports administrators you could ever meet.

And yet, would anyone have made a huge difference? League never had a major hold on the country anyway. What Rainey knew, and what has come to pass, is that league would inevitably slide once the country's best players flooded into the English and Australian professional ranks. Rainey made a vain and futile attempt to stem the tide. What we are left with now is a development game.

There were honest mistakes made, for sure, including the mid-1990 amalgamation of Auckland clubs for the Lion Red Cup. Many clubs were extremely sceptical about the concept, and with good reason. The spirit went out of the game as manufactured teams like the Vulcans came into being, and the Otahuhus and Mt Alberts of this world were relegated to second place.

And yet, once again, you have to ask whether this failed course of action has had much of an effect in the long run. Club crowds were dropping before Carden and his national club mess arrived, along with signs of problems in the international arena.

There is an irony to what is being portrayed as a league disaster, however.

For most of us, the game seems in decent shape, because we can watch the Warriors and turn on the NRL every weekend. For most New Zealand league fans, it doesn't matter whether 17,000 or 40,000 play league here. There is still a high-class competition to watch, including a very competitive New Zealand side and Aussie clubs with Kiwi players. More New Zealanders would have watched league during what have been troubled domestic times than ever before.

Scouts will still find the raw talent, and the raw talent will be keen to join the Warriors or Australian clubs.

In this regard, league is in a better position than every other New Zealand sport bar rugby.

The new regime should at least give people confidence in the game's integrity, but I doubt whether they will achieve much that the general public will notice beyond what we have already been left with. In all honesty, the NZRL is largely a bystander.

Onwards and upwards, and the NRL season is almost upon us. is back, and the Warriors look well capable of mounting a title challenge. The Warriors are embedded in the national sporting culture and a fascinating season awaits.

Can tennis or golf or soccer or cricket or athletics or hockey or any other sport offer up anything to compare? Not even close.

The Anderson report found plenty of gloom, as it had to, but in many ways the present and the future for league is fairly bright.

(Source: Chris Rattue, NZ Herald, 18 February 2009)

Damning report can revitalise the code, says ARL boss Key rugby league figures have supported Sir John Anderson's decision not to name names or pursue a witchhunt over allegations made in the Sparc report into mismanagement of the sport.

"The Department of Internal Affairs and the Serious Fraud Office have been through the place and they didn't take anyone to court," the Auckland Rugby League chairman Cameron McGregor said of the national governing body.

"There is no question we needed accountability and credibility back in the game. But it is all in the past now and we have to look forward."

Sir John Anderson had said when releasing the report that he had found no evidence of criminality - rather financial mismanagement and financial incompetence.

Former chairman Gerald Ryan also backed the approach of Sparc and NZRL. "The game has been tearing itself apart for years," he said.

"Let's hope this is a new beginning."

But league's ambassador and former Kiwis manager Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch said he did not agree with the decision not to pursue the allegations. "I'm disappointed they didn't point the finger more because it leaves everyone under a cloud of suspicion."

Leitch said the urgent need now was for a dynamic chief executive. "The game is big business now. It has to be run more smartly."

Leitch said he was disappointed that little has been done to lever the Kiwis and Kiwi Ferns World Cup triumphs into the public arena. "We've had a great opportunity and not enough has been done to promote the game."

Little effort had been made to market replica jerseys and while the Cup is touring Auckland schools this week, it was barely promoted.

Former Kiwis could be used to tour the Cup around the country and promote the NZRLs competitions and help player recruitment.

Leitch said he loved the game and would always continue to support it and would display the Cup at the Mangere East club's junior muster on Saturday morning.

One daunting factor will remain unchanged for the NZRL and its ability to extend the game: unlike rugby, netball and cricket, where the national body contracts national team players, the bulk of league's talent earn their money overseas.

And while it would appear obvious that the world champions could attract top opposition to play here, crowd numbers to Kiwi-Kangaroos tests in Auckland and Wellington have failed to get near the 50,000-plus tickets sold in Brisbane for recent games between the two nations.

(Source: Peter Jessup, NZ Herald, 18 February 2009)

NZRL to look to schools to boost numbers One aspect of the Anderson report in particular has earned praise from former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott.

The report on the management of the New Zealand Rugby League has recommended sweeping changes to the sport's governance.

Endacott is delighted the report has identified the NZRL needs to redevelop a competition in schools nationwide. He says league has gone well in schools in the past but it always seems to fall down because of a lack of coaches so there needs to be significant investment in that area.

Endacott is hopeful the Anderson report results in more school kids getting the opportunity to play rugby league, with the key being to get teachers to buy into the sport.

Rugby league has traditionally been a poor second cousin to union at most schools but Endacott believes league can exist in New Zealand's rugby-dominated schools. The sport is struggling at grassroots level with fewer than 17 thousand New Zealanders playing the sport.

(Source: Newstalk ZB, 17 February 2009)

Finally, a backroom plan to match the on-field successes Rugby league took giant strides in expanding into a national competition in 1994 and the following year the Warriors played their first game. Opportunity aplenty for healthy growth.

But instead the game went backwards, lurching from one crisis to the next with poor management and poor decision-making scarring the history of the New Zealand Rugby League and the Auckland-based National Rugby League club.

The Warriors have sorted their front office and now the NZRL is doing the same in a long-overdue clear-out of hangers-on and bad practices.

The first and most obvious sign of improvement after Government agency Sparc yesterday delivered its damning report on the history of games played in the board room was the thumbs-up from Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah. He was one of six members of the Sparc-appointed review committee and said afterwards the club and the NZRL would in future work more closely together. The NZRL's aim was to improve development of juniors to international level and the club would benefit by picking up some of that talent, Scurrah said.

Past chairman and current president, former District Court judge Trevor Maxwell, said he had been gratified by the review after working for some years in an environment of "negativity and darkness - there was never a feeling of progress".

NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden, who picked up the reins when three directors and the previous chairman, Andrew Chalmers, resigned last year, said the Sparc report had "revealed a lot of problems within rugby league over a long period". But it was not the time to dwell on the past or point the finger at anyone, he said.

Maxwell agreed. "The skeletons are all out of the closet now, the ghosts have been laid to rest."

Sparc CEO Peter Miskimmin said the report offered league a "circuit-breaker to arrest financial decline, low playing numbers and a loss of confidence from key funding and sponsorship partners".

There will be hope aplenty at grassroots level that this will be the case.

After the excesses of the Lion Red Cup and at the Warriors when they were owned by the Auckland clubs and then Tainui, an unhealthy attitude grew in the game of "take what you can get". There was also grumbling that little support was being felt at the bottom level.

League in general will not find it easy to recover support from sponsors, trusts and other backers as well as volunteers and supporters disaffected after news of gaming frauds by big names connected with the game, plus the mismanagement and lack of direction within the NZRL that led to jobs for the boys and overspending.

Sparc hopes the political and financial problems will evaporate once proper management is in place. There will be financial requirements and structures regarding gaming money "that people can't work around".

Haffenden said the existing NZRL board would move quickly to implement Sparc's demands.

"We can't afford to take our time. Continuing to do what we have been doing is not an option."

Haffenden has provided safe and steady hands at the wheel of a ship floundering under debt accumulated by predecessors.

After the extremes of Captain Bligh of Bounty fame and then the conservative Starbuck from Moby Dick, what's needed now is bold but controlled sailing into new waters.

In a game where confidence on the field is everything in the search for victory, it is confidence in what is going on off the field that is the primary requirement for rugby league's success in 2009.

(Source: Peter Jessup, NZ Herald, 17 February 2009)

This is a step in right direction - Endacott Former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott has backed the findings in the damning report on the state of New Zealand Rugby League but would like to see current chairman Ray Haffenden stay on.

An independent review, initiated by Sparc boss Peter Miskimmin and headed by Sir John Anderson, unravelled a long trail of problems in rugby league presented in a lengthy document.

The first phase of the recovery plan is a constitutional process which requires the current board to resign and a new, streamlined board to be put in place.

That new board will be initially strongly vetted by Sparc and will reflect a governance system based around seven new zones rather than the traditional 15 districts.

Current board members are eligible to put their names forward for re-election and Haffenden clearly wants to be part of the new dawn. "I've been around this game for a long, long time and like some of our board members who like to finish off projects I would like to think that I'm part of the future project that we are involved in now," he said.

Haffenden said his current board had accepted their fate and he was not sure how many would join him in seeking roles in the new system.

As the review findings were revealed, a constant theme was that most of the problems were rooted well before Haffenden took charge in 2007.

Anderson praised Haffenden for the stabilising work that was being done during the review period of the past six months where the NZRL appeared to be in break-even position after losing over $2 million in 2006.

Miskimmin also said Haffenden had been a steadying influence at a time of crisis.

Endacott said last night that Haffenden should stay "either as chairman or on the board, whatever he's comfortable with".

"I think there's a place for Ray Haffenden. The one thing about Ray is he's honest and has the game at heart. It might not happen quickly with Ray, but it will happen. I think he's been a breath of fresh air, but he's got to be supported by good, business-minded people around him."

Endacott said a top chief executive was required to run the game professionally. "They need to make the right appointment there."

The former Warriors and Wigan coach hailed the Anderson report as "excellent and overdue".

Endacott, who was the NZRL national coaching director in the mid-1990s, believed the game's decline could be traced to 2001.

"We were not so long ago the best for the development of our players, coaches, managers and referees, through the national camps at Hopuhopu," Endacott said. "But once the funding was taken away from that, the decline started immediately."

He believed rugby league could become a "number one" sport "because we've got a great product". However the sport had always lacked funding.

It would be "a long path" but he supported the pathway outlined by Anderson in the executive summary of the 131-page report.

Endacott said if the changes were supported rugby league could prosper with strong leadership, better funding, quality coaching, proper national competitions for players at all levels and "no discrimination in schools".

"Kids should be allowed to play whatever sport they choose at school."

Haffenden said it was now onwards and upwards with transparency and accountability key ingredients.

"We have put a stake in the ground and we have to put our past behind us," said Haffenden who admitted to a mix of embarrassment, surprise and delight with the way the report unfolded.

"We needed a change and this is a definite step in the right direction for our game.

"There have been a lot of things put in place this year to stop a lot of things happening that did happen in the past.

"This will take us that step further in terms of governance."

(Source: Tony Smith and Duncan Johnstone, The Press, 18 February 2009)

Saving a broken game As Kiwi skipper Nathan Cayless hoisted the trophy in the air after last year's glorious 34-20 World Cup final victory over the Kangaroos, few would have imagined the sorry state into which New Zealand league had fallen.

League is a "broken" sport after $2.2 million was lost in 2006-07 through mismanagement and financial immaturity or incompetence.

Player numbers had dropped from a high of 40,000 to 16,000, districts outside Auckland were struggling, national competitions were in disarray and the game had lost the confidence of stakeholders from clubs through to sponsors, says a report from the government sporting agency Sparc.

After a six-month review by a committee headed by Sir John Anderson, who had previously dissected , the New Zealand Rugby League Board has accepted it must resign and be restructured at Sparc's expense for the good of the sport.

From 2001-06 the NZRL, under the direction of Gerald Ryan and then Selwyn Person, lost $133,000, which was a write-off of loans to districts that remained unpaid.

In 2007 the deficit was $1.708 million.

The losses sustained under the chairmanship of Sel Bennett, who resigned after he erred in endorsing 's qualifications for the Kiwis in what became known as "Grannygate", and then Andrew Chalmers - who took over in November 2006 and resigned in December 2007 - have wiped out all gains made from the Super League deal secured by former chairman Ryan and David Lange in 1998.

The Sparc report identified "bullying" within the NZRL and retribution taken against those who asked awkward questions about the finances.

But no further investigation will go on into the mismanagement of the past and no scapegoats will be hung out, as Sparc and the sport hold hands and move towards what both hope will be a brighter and better-organised future.

The board voted unanimously to accept all of the recommendations in Sir John's report, which involves it resigning en masse. The existing nine members can put themselves forward for three elected positions on the new seven-person board, while four new members will be named by a Sparc-appointed committee. The new chair will be appointed by that committee for a two-year period, after which the board will vote for its chairman.

A new constitution will remove the power of the board to put provinces "in review", which has been used in the past to deny them a vote.

The 15 districts which have themselves stymied development while pursuing self-interest have been shunted into seven new "zones" each with one equal vote - the South Island, Lower Central (Wellington, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay), Mid-Central (Taranaki, Wanganui and Manawatu), Upper Central (Bay of Plenty and Waikato), Counties-Manukau (including Otahuhu), Auckland and Northern (the North Shore and Northland).

Associates including women, Maori and universities will no longer have voting rights.

The NZRL is broke, but once the current board resigns at a special general meeting to follow the March AGM, Sparc will hand over $450,000 to pay for the restructure.

"Sparc would then consider entering into a multi-year investment," said chief executive Peter Miskimmin.

He said Sparc now had to provide league with funding to match that of similar-sized sports.

"Sparc looks forward to increasing our investment should all the recommendations be voted in."

NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden had aided the review greatly, Sir John said, and such transparency had to be continued. Sir John had found no criminality in the financial dealings.

But the Sparc report mentions a culture of "clipping the ticket" at most levels from the top down and found that parties involved with the NZRL and their associates were involved in transactions regarding property or supply of goods with potential for significant personal gain.

Gaming and other trusts and sponsors had withdrawn funding. The was described by one trust's submission to the review as an "extravaganza" and the $1.2 million loss as unacceptable. In 2007 the NZRL wrote off $1.045 million in loans to subsidiary Rugby League New Zealand, money which was put into pubs with gaming machines. All save "Eddy's Bar" in Wainuiomata have now been sold and that bar is on the market, owing $400,000 to the NZRL as break-even.

All this will be laid to rest, Sparc and the NZRL have agreed. "It is a sport that has become broken but it is a vibrant sport with huge potential," Sir John said.

Haffenden said: "This is a time for major surgery and we will do everything to ensure that happens for the betterment of rugby league."

The issues in the past distracted from planning and progress and it was time to put those to rest and move on, said Sparc's review manager, Sue Suckling. Surveys put league in the top-three sports for interest so there was the opportunity to grow player numbers and produce sustained excellence at Kiwis level.

What was required was better governance, better standards of management, better structures from national competitions down and better pathways for players, coaches and referees.

Haffenden said he had enthusiastic responses from clubs when explaining Sparc's proposals. .

Last night the Auckland Rugby League chairman Cameron McGregor was selling the break-up of Auckland to his board and club members.

(Source: Peter Jessup, NZ Herald, 17 February 2009)

NZRL to look to schools to boost numbers One aspect of the Anderson report in particular has earned praise from former Kiwis coach Frank Endacott.

The report on the management of the New Zealand Rugby League has recommended sweeping changes to the sport's governance.

Endacott is delighted the report has identified the NZRL needs to redevelop a competition in schools nationwide. He says league has gone well in schools in the past but it always seems to fall down because of a lack of coaches so there needs to be significant investment in that area.

Endacott is hopeful the Anderson report results in more school kids getting the opportunity to play rugby league, with the key being to get teachers to buy into the sport.

Rugby league has traditionally been a poor second cousin to union at most schools but Endacott believes league can exist in New Zealand's rugby-dominated schools. The sport is struggling at grassroots level with fewer than 17 thousand New Zealanders playing the sport.

(Source: Newstalk ZB, 17 February 2009)

Sir John: I had no choice or league could die Sir John Anderson said his damning report into the perilous state of rugby league in New Zealand wasn't a witch hunt but was essential because the sport was broken and had the potential to wither and die.

At the request of government sport funding agency Sparc, Anderson headed an independent review - at a cost of $120,000 - into league and made its 133-page findings public yesterday.

The highly critical dosier, titled "Things Must Change", chronicled a drastic decline in rugby league over the last eight years, highlighted by a trail of woeful management.

But it also offered a rescue plan featuring a new-look New Zealand Rugby League Board and a seven-zone system to run the game which it believes can solve the problems and make rugby league a "vibrant sport".

The all important Sparc funding of league is dependent on the changes being adopted. The current NZRL board has already rubber-stamped them and they will go before the next annual meeting where government funding of $452,000 to implement the new structures over a transition period through to October hangs in the balance. Having had good airings to league people in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland over the weekend, it would appear that the sport's faithful realise this is a final lifeline they cannot ignore.

With questionable dealings and investments in bars, plunging player numbers and a failure to acknowledge four other reviews since 2002 in any form of proper strategic plan, Anderson could have been even more pointed in his appraisals and criticisms.

But he chose not to point fingers.

"Those in the sport know who is involved. I'm not saying any of that was criminal. It was just that they didn't have the skills necessary," said Anderson of the incompetence he encountered and uncovered.

"Our thing was not to have a witch hunt on that. Ours was to say: `here's what happened and now it's there and let's move on'.

"There was an awful lot of information available that we could have brought out.

"But what actually happened in the investments for example was a fine line between financial mismanagement and financial incompetence. But what was worse was retribution."

On the subject of retribution, the report noted that there were numerous examples of bullying by people holding governance positions both within the sport and externally.

"Everyone in NZRL over the past years (and some management) has the oil on each other so the status quo continues," said one submission to the committee. Another noted that people who speak up are "exited" from the game.

The report's summary of submissions also noted that rugby league has a culture of "clipping the ticket" at most levels from the top down over the past decade.

Numerous examples were given (and evidence provided) of parties involved in governance roles at NZRL and district levels, being associated parties in transactions with the potential for significant personal gain.

Anderson, Sparc and current NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden say the new governance structure can help eradicate these sorts of problems through accountability and transparency.

"With good governance the political problems should go," said Anderson, adding that the financial problems were "solvable" moving forward.

Haffenden said just one of controversial pubs remained on the NZRL's books and that was in the process of being sold.

Anderson, a corporate and sporting heavyweight who has become something of a sporting troubleshooter, described the past six months as fascinating.

He said rugby league had a lot of problems, not one problem.

"It's a sport that has become broken but has the potential to be a vibrant sport.

"Not to do this would be a huge loss of investment to New Zealand. Its unthinkable to think this sport could wither and die."

Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin said that after ongoing problems in the 13-man code initiating the report was part of their duty of care and league had responded.

"To hold a mirror up to one's sport is never easy and at times you don't like what you see. But the board have shown tremendous courage and guts in doing this and they have put personal agendas aside.

"This is a turning point for rugby league - a real circuit breaker for the sport. It's not many times you get a chance to start again and we genuinely think this is a start-again situation."

If the recommendations are implemented then the chance to up rugby leagues funding was there. "It's fair to say that our investment in rugby league up to date has been quite modest and certainly the amount we provide rugby league does not match similar sports.

"But the level of our involvement and investment has been constrained by major concerns over governance, structure and the lack of strategy."

(Source: Duncan Johnstone, , 17 February 2009)

NZRL looks to close failed pub investments The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) hopes to close what has been labelled a "sorry chapter" of failed investments in pubs.

"It's almost history," chairman Ray Haffenden said today of ventures that lost the NZRL $2 million between 2000 and 2008.

"We have one property we have been trying to relinquish for a couple of months. That's on the agenda all of this year and we hope to finalise that in the next couple of months.

Haffenden, who took over as chairman in late 2007, was speaking after the release of a report calling for wide- ranging changes in the administration of rugby league in New Zealand.

The report was produced as part of an independent review instigated by government funding agency Sparc, which described the game as being in crisis.

One section of the 135-page report documents a "sorry chapter" of investments in bar and gaming activities.

The amount lost essentially wiped out the payout the NZRL got at the end of Super League in 1998 to keep it afloat.

The report said the actions of those involved in the investments in not following good governance practices added to a culture of mistrust.

"Retribution, with districts being put in review, or individuals under attack for asking valid questions as to the use of funds, and the financial outcome of the investments, were actions that many consider brought the game into disrepute and tarnished its reputation," it said.

"The matter should now be regarded as a lesson learnt and the sport should move on."

Explaining why the report did not name names, review head Sir John Anderson said the aim was not have a witch hunt, but to present what happened and to move forward.

"What happened in the investments was a fine line between financial mismanagement and financial incompetence," he told journalists.

"By making it transparent, saying what happened, showing the the losses, questions that were asked, it really cleared up the information flow."

Meanwhile, Haffenden said the NZRL board had unanimously endorsed the report's 10 recommendations.

He also said there had been "a totally positive response" from district leagues during presentations over the past three days.

Sparc's position is that the recommendations have to be implemented for it to have confidence in making significant investment in the sport in future.

The agency proposed the review after raising concerns about rugby league's governance, management, financial sustainability and lack of a strategic plan.

The report's recommendations include a new constitution, and the resignation of the present board on May 1 followed by the creation of a new board structure with a "robust appointment process".

The new board would have seven members, four appointed and three elected, with equal voting rights. The appointment committee of four would have two Sparc appointees.

The board would adopt processes that included transparency, commitment to excellence and a strategy of development and delivery.

The country would be divided into seven zones, with only the zones having voting rights in the NZRL.

Each zone would have its own constitution and board, and be responsible for co-ordinating programmes, running competitions, sponsorship and grass roots activities.

The report said Sparc had agreed to provide transition funding of $450,000 to support the first stage of the implementation of the recommendations through to September 30.

It said the new NZRL board would have to secure ongoing funding to support the zone structure and the adoption of a strategic plan.

In outlining the rationale for the review, the report said the NZRL had losses of $2.2m for the 2006 and 2007 periods and no cash reserves.

Registered playing numbers had fallen to fewer than 17,000, compared with 30,000 to 40,000 in the 1990s.

There was no national competition and the majority of district competitions were struggling, with no teams in the Otago and Tasman districts.

The support of key funding partners and sponsors had been lost and there was no strategic plan.

Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin applauded the NZRL board for unanimously endorsing the recommendations, which he said were far-reaching and extensive.

"However, rugby league -- a bedrock sport in this country -- is in crisis and can't be allowed to fail," he said.

"The independent review committee says major changes, and not just tweaking, are required and Sparc agrees with the position."

Sparc, which spent $120,000 on the review process, provides about $140,000 annually to rugby league, a figure Miskimmin described as "quite modest".

However, Sparc had been constrained by its concerns about the sport's administration.

He said the agency looked forward to increasing its investment once a strategy and business plan were in place.

(Source: Yahoo Xtra Sport 16 February 2009)

More Pakeha players tipped as a result of league's restructuring The New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden says better structures and competitions as well as getting former greats involved will help increase participation among Pakeha children.

The game's governing body has agreed to implement a SPARC report which has recommended a new governance structure for the cash-strapped code.

Over 450-thousand dollars of interim funding until October depends on the adoption of the recommendations and SPARC's looking at extra funding after that.

And Haffenden says widening the player base beyond the current Maori and Pacific Island dominance is one aspect that should flow on from the restructuring....

The NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden says he will resign after a Special General Meeting next month along with the rest of the NZRL board but he wants to be involved beyond March and continue to put his 55 years in the game to use.

(Source: Radio New Zealand, 16 February 2009)

NZ league must get its house in order New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden says the early signs point to a general acceptance to the changes ordered by the damning independent review of his sport.

The review, initiated by Sparc and headed by sporting troubleshooter Sir John Anderson, has revealed a horrific list of problems in rugby league as published in its 133-page report.

A new governance system and a redrawing of the traditional boundaries of the Kiwi game into seven zones are seen as the way forward.

The current NZRL board is set to resign in the first step towards taking on the recommendations that will bring a $452,000 grant from Sparc to oversee the transition.

It's money from heaven for a game in financial disarray and any further grants from Sparc are now totally dependent on league getting its house in order.

Getting a new chief executive and seven worthy board members will now be paramount among a list of 10 recommendations - demands may be a better term given the necessity of them being implemented.

Heffenden has already taken the review document out to key league areas with meetings in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland over the weekend.

"There was not one negative comment," said Heffenden. To him, that said it all.

"We have got to clean out our closet. We needed a change," said Haffenden who has already taken some prudent measures since heading the NZRL in 2007.

He is adamant the new seven-person board will reflect the zone system and give equal voting rights all round.

He believed the old structure meant little accountability.

The NZRL had accepted the need for change and the system recommended in the report mean everyone "would be singing off the same song sheet".

"The new constitution won't allow some the things that have happened in the past."

And clearly some of "those things" have been alarming.

"There is a climate of fear here as if you don't accept the deal then you have to pay for your own gear with the small funds," one submission told the review committee.

"The problem with rugby league is nearly everyone wants to ‘clip the ticket'. At a national level votes have been obtained by promises of money for a district or promotion or demotion for a district," said another.

Here is Anderson's frightening summary: "The review committee found a sport in total disarray with the national body having lost the confidence of its members, funders, investors and sponsors.

"There was no history of sustained development, performance or success within the sport, nor the capacity to fully leverage the recent World Cup success.

"Members openly stated that they have no trust or confidence in the governance and executive leadership of NZRL and readily shared stories of behaviours such as manipulation, retribution and "tick-clipping" as well as the lack of leadership and direction from the administrators of the game."

The seven zones are:

Zone 1 - Southern (including Tasman, West Coast, Otago, Southland, Canterbury Districts)

Zone 2 - Lower Central ((including Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Wellington districts)

Zone 3 - Mid Central (incouding Taranaki, Manawatu and Wanganui districts)

Zone 4 - Upper Central (Incoluding Bay of Plenty, Coastline and Waikato districts) Zone 5 - Counties Manukau (up to and including Otahuhu - a subsection of the existing Auckland district)

Zone 6 - Auckland (a subsection of the existing Auckland district comprising west, central, Howick and eastern Auckland)

Zone 7 - Northern (a subsection of the Auckland district comprising North Harbour combined with Whangarei district)

(Source: Duncan Johnstone, Fairfax Media, 16 February 2009)

SPARC welcomes landmark report for future of league SPARC congratulates the Independent Review Committee for completing a thorough and robust review which provides rugby league in New Zealand with a blueprint to be a sustainable, vibrant and growing sport.

SPARC also applauds the vision and courage of the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) Board for unanimously endorsing the Review recommendations.

“The Independent Review Committee has asked the hard questions, canvassing all major rugby league stakeholders. These have included grassroots supporters, communities, administration, funding partners, major sponsors, and international partners,” said SPARC CEO Peter Miskimmin.

“The recommendations are far reaching and extensive. However rugby league – a bedrock sport in this country – is in crisis and can’t be allowed to fail. The Independent Review Committee says major changes and not just tweaking are required and SPARC agrees with that position.

“This review contains practical, realistic, achievable actions to be taken to make a difference to league from the grass roots through to the international stage.

“Chairman Ray Haffenden and the rest of the NZRL Board have been cooperative and open, assisting the Independent Review Committee to produce a document of the highest quality. The Review findings examine governance and management structures, and are not about individuals.

“Sir John Anderson and the other members of the Independent Review Committee have done a tremendous job compiling the report in a short space of time. This review can be the circuit breaker for rugby league to arrest financial decline, low playing numbers and a loss of confidence from key funding and sponsorship partners,” Miskimmin said.

Should the NZRL vote to adopt the recommendations at next month’s AGM, SPARC is proposing to invest $452,500 to cover NZRL costs during a transitional phase through to October 2009. SPARC would then consider entering into a multi-year investment subject to a robust value proposition from the NZRL.

(Source: www.sparc.org.nz 16 February 2009)

NZRL Keen to work with SPARC in new era of Rugby League New Zealand Rugby League chairman Ray Haffenden today welcomed the chance to work alongside SPARC to establish a new era for the game.

He said both the NZRL board and the district leagues throughout the country had enthusiastically embraced the recommendations made by the Independent Review Committee as a result of its review of rugby league in New Zealand.

“The board was unanimous in endorsing the resolutions the committee reached,” said Haffenden.

“There was also a totally positive reaction at presentations made to the district leagues and affiliated bodies up and down the country over the last three days.

“We’re excited about the game’s future as we look to implement the changes needed to give rugby league a sound future. “As we expected, the review committee’s findings established that there are major issues with our governance and structures at all levels – from the top through to the grass roots.

“The game can not go on the way it has been. It is obvious dramatic change is needed if we are to again become a viable concern on New Zealand’s sporting landscape.”

Haffenden stressed all stakeholders needed to focus on the future rather than the past now the committee’s findings had been released.

“I can’t say enough about the process the review committee has been through,” he said.

“This is the most thorough review the game has experienced and the final report produced is a very impressive body of work.

“But, while it has revealed a lot of problems within rugby league over a long period, now is not the time to dwell on the past or to point fingers at anyone.

“What we all need to do is move past that, look ahead to what is in front of us and do all we can to implement the recommended changes as quickly and efficiently as we can. The board is committed to moving on quickly. We can’t afford to take our time. If we do rugby league in this country will stagnate and we’ll lose the momentum generated by this review.

“This is not about self interests; this is about everyone with an interest in rugby league being focused on the good of the game.”

Haffenden said the Pirtek Kiwis’ World Cup victory had provided the blueprint for on-field success at the highest level but this was not being matched elsewhere.

“The Pirtek Kiwis’ fantastic World Cup victory has shown that we have so much to be proud of but we need a game that has far more robust governance and management structures in place at all levels if we are to not only survive but also develop,” he said.

“In short, the Kiwis have shown they can perform on the field and, if they’re to be consistently successful, we have to prove we can perform off the field as well.

“That can be achieved only through sustainable funding and sustainable growth in numbers participating in the game.

“Continuing to do what we have been doing is not an option. If we do we’ll make no progress at all.

“This is a time for major surgery and we will do everything to ensure that happens for the betterment of rugby league. We know SPARC shares the same view.”

Haffenden said the board and key stakeholders appreciated the expertise and resources SPARC could provide in guiding the NZRL through a major transitional phase and onto a bright new era for the game.

Background information on Independent Review of the New Zealand Rugby League and rugby league in New Zealand

1.Rationale for the review 2.Review timeline 3.Independent Review Committee members 4.Summary of recommendations 5.Implementation plan

1.Rationale for the review

SPARC contacted the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) in December 2007 registering concerns about the health of the sport in New Zealand. Issues relating to governance, management, financial sustainability and the lack of a strategic plan were raised. Among the concerns raised were;

NZRL accumulated losses of $2.2 million for the 2006 and 2007 periods and no cash reserves. Registered playing numbers falling to fewer than 17,000 (down from 30,000 – 40,000 registered players in the 1990’s). No national competition and the majority of the district competitions struggling (with no teams in the Otago and Tasman districts). Loss of support of key funding partners and sponsors. No strategic plan for the sport.

In May 2008, SPARC proposed an independent review would be a positive step in exploring ways to address the significant challenges which faced rugby league in New Zealand. SPARC’s position was that the independent committee’s recommendations would be binding and would need to be implemented for SPARC to have confidence in significant investment in the sport in future.

2.Review timeline

May 1, 2008; SPARC Chairman John Wells wrote to NZLR Chair Ray Haffenden with a proposal for an independent review of NZRL and rugby league in New Zealand. May 23, 2008; NZRL met with SPARC to discuss the review proposal and terms of reference. June 18, 2008; NZRL Board gave unanimous support for an independent review to proceed. July 18, 2008; NZRL and SPARC announced the review committee and terms of reference. August 2008; Review committee commenced work. February 3, 2009; Draft review was presented to NZRL Board. February 12, 2009; NZRL Board endorsed the Independent Review report. February 13-15; Workshops presenting review recommendations to NZRL District CEOs/Chairs/Associates/Life Members. February 16; Public release of the report.

3.Independent Review Committee members Sir John Anderson KBE (Chair) – Company Director. Elizabeth Coutts – Company director, former SPARC board member. Don Mackinnon – Partner Swarbrick Beck Mackinnon Solicitors, Chair (2004-07). Cameron McGregor – Chairman Auckland Rugby League Board of Directors. Wayne Scurrah – CEO . Graeme Sole – General Manager. – CEO Sport Taranaki, Convenor Selectors NZRL, former Kiwis captain and coach. Peter Wilson – Chartered accountant, consultant MGI Auckland.

4.Summary of Recommendations in the Review The Review Committee identified eight components that would underpin the long term success for the sport as illustrated below:

Governance capability and appointment process Constitutional voting arrangements Governance leadership including the development of Vision for the sport, strategic planning, culture development, effective administration, and image change Governance disciplines District re‐organisation to address capability needs and player needs National competition structure

Recommendations The Review Committee then identified the changes necessary to achieve the success that the Rugby League community demands. This led to the following recommendations.

RECOMMENDATION 1: The Board of NZRL acknowledges the need for Rugby League to make the changes identified by the Review Committee and resolves to fully support the actions needed to achieve these changes.

RECOMMENDATION 2: The Board of NZRL agrees to call an SGM to be held immediately after the 2009 AGM to adopt the new Constitution and Transition Regulations (see Recommendation 4). The Board agrees to refer the new Constitution prepared by the Review Committee for legal review, and to organise the drafting of appropriate Transition Regulations, and to ensure both are fully aligned with the Review Recommendations. These must be completed in time for distribution with SGM papers. RECOMMENDATION 3: The Board of NZRL endorses the new Board governance structure and robust appointment process detailed by the Review Committee including: • 7 Board members with equal voting rights • 4 appointed and 3 elected Board members • A minimum of 3 independent members and 3 members who come from the sport (the 7th member could be either independent or from the sport) • An Appointment Committee of 4, comprising 2 persons experienced in governance appointed by SPARC (1 of whom SPARC appoints as the Chair), 1 appointed by the Board and 1 appointed by the Zones. The Appointment Committee will select appointed members and recommend elected members. The Chair will have the casting vote • Non‐executive roles for all Directors, including the Chair • The inaugural Chair to be appointed by the Appointment Committee. After the first 2 years the Chair is elected by the Board post the AGM and is the “best person for the job” • The positions of President and Patron remain

RECOMMENDATION 4: The Board of NZRL resolves that transitional regulations will cover the period between the adoption of the new Constitution and the commencement of the new Board. The transitional regulations will include the requirement for the existing Board to resign following the selection of the new Board. Existing Board members can, however, put themselves forward for consideration as candidates for the new Board.

RECOMMENDATION 5: The Board notes that the new Constitutional voting rights will include: • All Directors have the same voting rights • Only the newly established 7 Zones have voting rights and these cannot be constrained or removed by NZRL • Each Zone will have one vote, and they must execute these independently of each other • Districts will remain members of NZRL but will not have any voting rights • Associates and Life Members will remain members of NZRL but will not have any voting rights • NZRL will be obligated to enter into an annual operational Heads of Agreement with each Associate

RECOMMENDATION 6: The Board resolves and recommends that the new Board adopt the processes and modus operandi identified by the Review Committee including: • Transparency • Commitment to excellence • Strategy development and delivery • Critical policies, processes and practices • The appointment and performance management of a Chief Executive • A professional induction programme and an annual development programme for Directors Following the appointment of the Chief Executive and the finalisation of the Strategic Plan, a full Review of NZRL corporate resources and corporate costs needs to be undertaken. NZRL costs will be determined by the outcomes of the Strategic Plan and the business model undertaken to manage the game in the future.

RECOMMENDATION 7: The Board supports the establishment of the new seven‐Zone structure as detailed in the body of the Review Committee Report noting: • Only Zones will have voting rights in NZRL • Zones will be responsible for coordinating programmes, running competitions, sponsorship, trust fund applications and supporting grass roots activities and Districts and Clubs in their geographic area • Each Zone to have a Constitution and their own Board (including governance processes and practices) that mirrors the structure and intent of that found in the new NZRL structure • Each Zone will be resourced and include a general manager and appropriate administration and development capability (all paid positions with KPIs and performance management arrangements) • The Zone structure will underpin the annual national competition structure, however Zone 3 will include Hawkes Bay and Gisborne representatives for national competitions • The establishment processes to be used for the new Zones will vary between the Zones, recognising the existing strength within existing Districts and the functionality between existing Districts • The names given to the new Zones may be changed if desired • The new Zone structure will enhance the existing District structure, not duplicate it RECOMMENDATION 8: The Board agrees to release the Ineson Report to all Districts at a similar time to the Review Committee Report being made public.

RECOMMENDATION 9: The Board notes that SPARC has agreed to provide the transition funding required ($450,000) to support the first stage of implementation of the Review Recommendations through to 30 September 2009 providing the Review Recommendations are implemented in full. It will be the responsibility of the new Board to secure and lock in the ongoing funding required to support the new Zone structure and resourcing, and to implement the Strategic Plan. The Review Committee identified this funding will come from sponsors, trusts, national and international broadcast arrangements, other funding agencies with interest in the games participants (such as some local authorities) and SPARC.

RECOMMENDATION 10: That the Board adopts the transition implementation plan and timetable prepared by the Review Committee and facilitate implementation with urgency.

5.Implementation plan

12 February 2009: Existing Board adopts Recommendations from Review Committee and formally calls SGM to change the Constitution and agree transitional regulations to enable the necessary changes to be made to support the recommendations

Existing AGM March 28/29 2009: NZRL supports the Recommendations of the Review Committee for adoption at the AGM

Special General Meeting March 28/29 2009: New Constitution and Transitional regulations adopted

1 April 2009: Existing Board establishes Appointment Committee and election process as detailed in the transition regulations. Existing Board formally arranges the $452,500 Phase One implementation funding from SPARC through until Oct 2009

1 May 2009: Existing Board resigns and new Board in place

1 May – 1 August 2009 New Board – Specifies requirements and commences appointment process for new Chief Executive – Undertakes transparent consultative process and develops 5 year Strategic Plan and presents this to sport for adoption (using external resource as needed) – Works with new Zones to get Establishment Committees up and running (as detailed in the report) – Undertakes the necessary work to implement the new Zone structure, including finalising draft Constitutions and assisting Establishment Boards to get new Boards in place by Dec 2009 – Develops resourcing solution with the new Zone Boards to support new Zone structure for both administration and “on the ground support” – Develops 3 year work plan and budget to support Strategic Plan – Develops a governance development plan to ensure best practice processes and policies underpin its modus operandi – Ensures an executive working group is in place to implement successful Zone based national competition for 2010

1 Aug – 30 Sept 2009: New Chief Executive – Develops work programme and budget for approval by Board to support implementation of Review Recommendations and Strategic Plan to present to phase two funders – Reviews organisation structure in view of the new Strategic Plan and restructures if necessary – Undertakes a full Review of corporate resources and corporate costs New Board – Negotiates support from SPARC and other funders/ investors/sponsors for implementation of Strategic Plan for next 3 years from 1 October 2009 – Continues to implement new Zone structure and work plan developed to drive generic activities for first 12 months based on Strategic Plan

30 Sept – 31 Oct 2009: Chief Executive commences Review of internal processes and systems and develops an implementation plan to address inadequacies both in NZRL and in transition to the new Zone/District responsibilities. (Source: www.leagueunlimited.com 16 February 2009)

NZRL board agrees to report changes The New Zealand Rugby League has fallen into line and agreed to implement the sweeping changes recommended in the damning Anderson Report into the code.

In return, the code will get a $452,000 cash bail-out this year and potential six-figure funding annually into the future.

NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden appeared alongside the report's author, corporate and international sporting heavyweight, Sir John Anderson, at a press conference in Auckland this morning and confirmed his board had unaminously endorsed its recommendations.

He said his board had agreed to the conditions set by the report for ongoing funding from government agency, SPARC.

"There was also a totally positive reaction at presentations made to the district leagues and affiliated bodies up and down the country over the last three days.

"As we expected, the review committee's findings established that there are major issues with our governance and structures at all levels – from the top through to the grass roots.

"The game can not go on the way it has been. It is obvious dramatic change is needed if we are to again become a viable concern on New Zealand’s sporting landscape."

"This is a time for major surgery and we will do everything to ensure that happens for the betterment of rugby league. We know SPARC shares the same view."

Haffenden's statement was welcomed by SPARC chief executive Peter Miskimmin who said it paved the way for the $452,000 "investment" into the code during a "transitional phase" through to October.

Miskimmin added SPARC would then "consider entering into a multi-year investment subject to a robust value proposition from the NZRL".

Miskimmin congratulated the independent review committee headed by Anderson "for completing a thorough and robust review which provides rugby league in New Zealand with a blueprint to be a sustainable, vibrant and growing sport".

He added that the NZRL Board should be "applauded for its vision and courage in unanimously endorsing the review recommendations.

The Anderson Report is one of the most damning assessments into the administration of a major sport in recent times and its recommendations, which will now be implemented, include:

* Amending the constitution.

* A new board structure to be implemented. The board to adopt processes of transparency and a commitment to excellence.

* Establishment of a seven-zone structure to revitalise player numbers and create development pathways.

For the report to be completed adopted, a special meeting of the NZRL's 15 districts and seven affiliates on March 28 must give 75 percent support.

The NZRL has given its backing to restructuring of its board from nine members to seven, at least three of them to be independent. A SPARC-dominated appointments committee will also vet candidates and a new chairman, giving the government-funded organisation a huge say in the code's direction.

SPARC also wants a permanent chief executive, new board behaviour standards, full review of staff and a "proper" strategic plan. The report – headlined "Things Must Change" – described the last eight years of NZRL administration "a sorry chapter in the history of league" and is relentlessly critical of the sport's management since 2000.

It says the league has lacked vision, sound management and any sense of direction.

The report highlighted the parlous state of the code in New Zealand despite the Kiwis being current world champions and commented that:

* The NZRL accumulated losses of $2.2 million for the 2006 and 2007 periods and has no cash reserves.

* Registered playing numbers have fallen to fewer than 17,000 (down from 30,000-–40,000 registered players in the 1990s).

* There is no national competition and the majority of the district competitions struggling (with no teams in the Otago and Tasman districts).

* There is a loss of support of key funding partners and sponsors.

* The sport has no strategic plan.

Miskimmin said the review committee had "had asked the hard questions" and had canvassed all major rugby league stakeholders including grassroots supporters, communities, administration, funding partners, major sponsors, and international partners.

"The recommendations are far reaching and extensive," he said.

The SPARC boss said league was "a bedrock sport in this country (but) is in crisis and can't be allowed to fail".

"The independent review committee says major changes and not just tweaking are required and SPARC agrees with that position. This review contains practical, realistic, achievable actions to be taken to make a difference to league from the grass roots through to the international stage."

"The review findings examine governance and management structures, and are not about individuals.

"Sir John Anderson and the other members have done a tremendous job compiling the report in a short space of time. This review can be the circuit breaker for rugby league to arrest financial decline, low playing numbers and a loss of confidence from key funding and sponsorship partners."

Alongside Sir John, other review members included ex-SPARC board member Elizabeth Coutts, former NZ Netball chairman Don Mackinnon, Warriors boss Wayne Scurrah, Auckland Rugby League chairman Cameron McGregor, Canterbury Rugby League General Manager Graeme Sole and ex-Kiwis coach Howie Tamati.

(Source: www.stuff.co.nz 16 February 2009)

Anderson Report - questions and answers The intervention of governed sports-funding organisation SPARC into the administration of a major code such as rugby league is almost unprecedented in our sporting history.

In this Q and A, SPARC management justify their position:

How much has the review cost? SPARC has invested $120,000 in the review process. This has covered expenses of the Independent Review Committee over the six months to complete the review; travel and costs associated with interviewing 44 organisations/individuals; printing and project management etc.

How much is SPARC committing to invest if the recommendations are accepted? There are two funding phases to be considered – transition and post transition. The transition phase encompasses the period between the NZRL AGM (March 28/29) and October 2009. SPARC is committing to invest $452,500 to support the NZRL in this transitional phase. This would help cover core costs, the board appointment process, executive recruitment, strategic plan development, legal advice, and zone board and general management establishment. The second funding phase would be post October 2009. At this point the NZRL would have a strategic plan and a sustainable budget. It would be SPARC’s intent to enter into a multi-year investment to enhance NZRL’s ability to plan ahead. The investment would be a ‘whole of sport’ model rather than having several separate investments. The investment will be based on the value proposition NZRL provides relative to other SPARC partners. Subject to the strength of the proposition SPARC would consider substantially increasing its investment in NZRL.

How much has SPARC invested in Rugby League in the past? SPARC has invested $895,000 in NZRL over 2002-2007. The typical amount invested per annum in recent years has been $140,000. SPARC has invested approximately $130,000 from November 2008 to March 2009 to support basic NZRL operations.

What will SPARC’s position be if the recommendations are not adopted? SPARC shares the Independent Review Committee’s concerns that if the recommendations are not implemented that the sport will not be financially sustainable, player numbers will dwindle and there will be limited potential for high performance development generated by the NZRL.

SPARC must have confidence in the NZRL to invest in it. With investment comes responsibility and accountability. Taxpayer money cannot be invested into organisations which are not sustainable or viable. Failure to implement the recommendations would severely limit SPARC’s ability to invest in NZRL in the future.

The Kiwis are world champions – doesn't that show the NZRL is working well? The Kiwis World Cup campaign was a magnificent achievement by a special group of players with inspired leadership and planning. The challenge is to be the best consistently. However rugby league in New Zealand has inherent problems with governance, infrastructure and financial management. There is the potential for sustained success on the world stage if supported by a high performance strategy which addresses the current talent recruitment and retention issues.

Are the findings of the Independent Review Committee a judgment on the current board? No judgment is being made of the current board. The key issue is that the current governance structure does not enable the NZRL to operate robust enough systems which are in the best interests of the game in New Zealand. The focus of the review is not on specific members of the board but on structural/governance issues.

It is important that the NZRL working with key stakeholders look to the future and what processes can be put in place that will make rugby league a strong and sustainable sport for all New Zealanders.

Under the Review recommendations the current board would be required to resign by May 1 as part of the establishment of a new governance structure. Existing board members would be able to put their names forward for appointment to the new board.

Why is it being proposed that SPARC appoint two persons for the appointments committee? SPARC has strong expertise in sports governance. It has invested heavily in sports governance programmes across several sports.

Why has the review not recommended any action on the investment in bars and gaming activities saga? The issues around the investment in bars were raised in the review in the interests of transparency and looking at the entire picture. The Department of Internal Affairs and the Serious Fraud Office have conducted investigations in the past.

SPARC concurs with the Independent Review Committee’s view that ‘for the game to move forward it is important that this episode of NZRL's history is documented and communicated to stakeholders so that the door can be closed on the past and the game can move on and focus on the future.

(Source: www.stuff.co.nz 16 February 2009)

NZRL agrees to wide-ranging changes Chairman Ray Haffenden today said the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) looked forward to working with government funding agency Sparc to make wide-ranging changes to the sport. Haffenden said both the NZRL board and district leagues had embraced the recommendations released today from an independent review.

"The board was unanimous in endorsing the resolutions the committee reached," he said.

"There was a totally positive reaction at presentations made to the district leagues and affiliated bodies up and down the country over the last three days."

The review was headed by businessman and former New Zealand Cricket chairman Sir John Anderson and came after concerns Sparc expressed about the health of rugby league.

Sparc's concerns related to governance, management, financial sustainability and the lack of a strategic plan.

The review's 10 recommendations include a new constitution and a new board structure with a "robust appointment process".

The new structure would have seven board members, four appointed and three elected, with equal voting rights.

The appointment committee of four would have two Sparc appointees.

The board would adopt processes that included transparency, commitment to excellence and a strategy of development and delivery.

There would also be a seven-zone set-up, with the zones having voting rights in the NZRL.

Each zone would have its own constitution and board, and be responsible for co-ordinating programmes, running competitions, sponsorship and grass roots activities.

The review's report said Sparc had agreed to provide transition funding of $450,000 to support the first stage of the implementation of the recommendations through to September 30.

It said the new NZRL board would have to secure ongoing funding to support the new zone structure and the adoption of a strategic plan.

In outlining the rationale for the review, the report said the NZRL had losses of $2.2 million for the 2006 and 2007 periods and no cash reserves.

Registered playing number had fallen to fewer than 17,000, compared with 30,000 to 40,000 in the 1990s.

There was no national competition and the majority of district competitions were struggling, with no teams in the Otago and Tasman districts.

There had been the loss of support of key funding partners and sponsors and there was no strategic plan.

Last May, Sparc proposed the review, and its position is that the recommendations have to be implemented for it to have confidence in making significant investment in the sport in future.

Haffenden said that, as expected, the review committee's findings established that there were major issues with rugby league's governance and structures at all levels.

"The game cannot go on the way it has been," he said.

"It is obvious dramatic change is needed if we are to again become a viable concern on New Zealand's sporting landscape."

Haffenden said all stakeholders needed to focus on the future rather than the past now the committee's findings had been released.

Spar chief executive Peter Miskimmin applauded the NZRL board for unanimously endorsing the recommendations.

"The recommendations are far-reaching and extensive," he said.

"However, rugby league -- a bedrock sport in this country -- is in crisis and can't be allowed to fail." "The independent review committee says major changes, and not just tweaking, are required and Sparc agrees with the position."

(Source: TV3 News, 16 February 2009)

Rugby league must change to survive, review finds A report into New Zealand Rugby League has found there must be change if the sport is to survive.

An independent review ordered by Sport and Recreation New Zealand issued is findings on Monday.

The report found that there was no shared vision for the game nationally and no meaningful strategic plan.

New Zealand Rugby League has accumulated losses of $2.2 million and has no cash reserves. It has also lost support from key funding and sponsorship partners.

The review committee, chaired by Sir John Anderson, also found that four reviews undertaken since 2002 identified that significant changes were required, but that many of the recommendations were apparently not implemented by the board responsible at the time.

The review committee says that with significant governance and structural changes, the sport will be reduced to a localised social game.

(Source: Radio New Zealand, 16 February 2009)