Australian rugby buried its own Cricket Australia-style tell-all cultural review three years ago.
Michael Hawker, the then-chairman of the then-Australian Rugby Union, commissioned Simon Longstaff of the Ethics Centre to undertake a cultural review of the organisation in May 2015, six months after Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie quit amid the biggest crisis in the sport's recent history.
Fairfax Media understands the report was finished and sent to the ARU (now Rugby Australia) but was never made public.
Commissioned: Michael Hawker asked Simon Longstaff to conduct an 'independent cultural review' into the then-Australian Rugby Union. Credit:AFP
Over the next three years, Hawker and then-chief executive Bill Pulver, half the board, plus the entire senior management of the organisation, bar high performance manager Ben Whitaker, resigned or moved on.
Advertisement
Those people included chief operating officer Rob Clarke, general manager of commercial, John Nicholl, chief financial officer, Todd Day, general counsel Richard Hawkins, community general manager Andrew Larratt and general manager media and corporate communications Rachel Hickey.
On the board, Cameron Clyne took over from Hawker as chairmain, while John Eales, Geoff Stooke and Elizabeth Broderick moved on, leaving Brett Robinson, Ann Sherry and Pip Marlow still serving terms. Phil Waugh replaced Eales, Hayden Rorke replaced Stooke and John Wilson replaced Broderick. Tony Shaw also joined and is currently president, a largely ceremonial role.
Dark days: the Longstaff review was commissioned in the aftermath of Ewen McKenzie's resignation in late 2014. Credit:Daniel Munoz
Pulver, who was a non-executive director, quit at the end of last year. He was replaced by Raelene Castle, who started in January.
Hawker could not remember the review when contacted by Fairfax Media.
A spokesperson confirmed the report had been received but was always intended to be confidential. Its findings were fed into the larger ARU five-year strategic review, which had been announced at the same time and was unveiled 10 months later in April 2016.
Other stakeholders told Fairfax Media they were lined up to interview with Longstaff but had their appointments cancelled. The feedback from the ARU legal department at the time was that the review had been shelved.
A media release from May 2015 quoted Hawker on the review and said the Ethics Centre would talk to "around 400 people involved in professional rugby in Australia" through one-to-one interviews and an online survey.
All smiles: Pulver and Michael Cheika at the announcement of Cheika as new Wallabies coach in October 2014. Credit:AP
"This cultural review will examine the extent to which the values of Rugby Union in Australia are
aligned and being applied by both players and administrators in the professional game. In other
words, we want to know, if what we do and what we say are aligned," Hawker said.
The announcement was made after the McKenzie resignation split the sport and revealed cost-cutting and an absence of high performance structure at the heart of the Wallabies' slow implosion over 2013 and 2014.
McKenzie was appointed by Pulver as the successor to Robbie Deans at the same time as Pulver and the board authorised the dismantling of the role of an overarching high performance manager (David Nucifora at the time). McKenzie, who had coached the Reds to a Super Rugby title in 2011, brought in an adminsitrative assistant from Queensland, Di Patston, to help him run the Wallabies program. The pair presided over a team environment that became dysfunctional over the next two years, before the matter exploded into the open when Test playmaker Kurtley Beale sent an offensive text message about Patston to teammates in June 2014. McKenzie resigned in October that year, while Beale was hauled before a Code of Conduct tribunal and fined $45,000, and Patston left the ARU and settled out of court with the organisation.
New regime: Chairman Cameron Clyne and new chief executive Raelene Castle in December 2017.Credit:AAP
A Rugby Australia spokesman told Fairfax Media that Longstaff submitted his review in July 2015. The overall tone was that the sport was not aligned with what it purported it was trying to achieve. He said the findings appeared to have been fed into the strategic review, which put values and the spirit of rugby at the heart of its purpose when it was unveiled by Pulver the following April.
Cricket Australia is still reeling from the fallout from Longstaff's review of the organisation in the wake of the ball tampering scandal.
'Australian Cricket: A Matter of Balance' was originally held back by the Cricket Australia board but was released publicly late last month after sustained urging from the Ethics Centre.
CA chairman David Peever, who was re-elected to the role just days before the review was made public, resigned last week – three days after the report was released. Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor resigned from the board on Monday.
Georgina Robinson is a Sports Reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald
