The Growden Report
Pulver and his cohorts must go now
Greg Growden
October 27, 2014
Bill Pulver should go, Greg Growden believes © Getty Images
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For the sake of rugby, Australian Rugby Union chief executive and self-proclaimed "custodian of the game" Bill Pulver must go NOW.

And the woefully under-performing ARU board must not choose as Pulver's replacement someone with whom as kids they shared smoked salmon sandwiches in a private school playground, anyone from the old boy's network, or someone who lives in the next door mansion; they must choose someone with sporting administration credibility.

Mates picking mates as a form of protection has to stop, as does the born-to-rule elitism that exists at the top echelon of Australian rugby.

As well, several on the ARU board, in particular chairman Michael Hawker and John Eales, must take a reality check and seriously ponder whether they have achieved anything in recent years to improve the mess that is Australian rugby.

The blame game has to stop, as numerous ARU board members have for many years been well aware of the body's multitude of problems - in particular its financial plight - and even been advised on what was required to avoid the ARU becoming insolvent by 2015. Instead they have sat on their hands.

The supposedly independent ARU board, which instead is still chock-full of the old guard and close business or personal friends, needs a major shakeup. It will not be treated seriously until that happens.

The first to depart has to be Pulver. How many more fumbles and stumbles can one sporting CEO make? I'm running out of fingers, hands, toes, and feet.

Pulver is the ARU's shopfront window, and his never-ending bungling of major issues - the latest involving the Ewen McKenzie-Di Patston-Kurtley Beale fiasco - has turned Australian rugby into a laughing stock.

Australia's Kurtley Beale arrives for his disciplinary hearing, Sydney, October 24, 2014
Kurtley Beale faced a code-of-conduct tribunal © Getty Images
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The lowlight - and there is a substantial list to choose from - came when Pulver was involved in the most mind-boggling media conference ever involving an ARU official. It came shortly after McKenzie resigned as Wallabies coach. Pulver decided to blame the Australian media and the Australian public for McKenzie's demise.

Gee that was really smart. Telling off the public; the same hard-working, supportive public who basically pay his wage through their backing of the game. It was a dreadful, unnecessary and misguided backslap, because the ARU should never, ever treat the punters as mugs. And it was wrong.

The punters know. They know who is to blame.

As for the Australian media, they pursued the McKenzie issue vigorously but in certain sections were very soft, and even deliberately used as a puppet by the ARU.

The Australian media to blame? Absolute rubbish.

After that brain explosion, one Sydney newspaper provided odds of $1.04 for Pulver being the "worst sporting administrator in the country". They were being generous. More like $1.01.

Then came a hilarious quote over the weekend, where in a prepared statement Pulver said: "We pride ourselves on living the values of rugby - passion, integrity, discipline, respect and teamwork."

Passion … to tell the truth? Welllll.

Integrity. Hardly.

Discipline. Don't think so.

Respect. Zilch.

Teamwork. The Wallabies have been a divided camp, in conflict with their former coach, for at least a year.

Whoever is writing Pulver's lines - and he has in recent weeks employed yet another media propagandist - has clearly been reading too many Superman comics and JFK speeches.

This brings us to the lunacy of the Kurtley Beale trial over offensive text messages involving former Wallabies business manager Di Patston.

Sources have confirmed to ESPN that during Friday night's hearing, a belligerent ARU was pushing hard for Beale's contract being terminated. But due to confusion over who actually sent certain messages and images, the ARU was sent back to their corner to sulk. ESPN has been told this devastated Pulver on Friday night, who for weeks on end had vehemently defended Patston, McKenzie and co.

Ewen McKenzie faces the media to announce his resignation, Australia v New Zealand, Bledisloe Cup, Suncorp Stadium, October 18, 2014
Ewen McKenzie resigned from the Wallabies due to the Beale scandal © Getty Images
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Pulver would have also been jittery after the new Wallabies coach Michael Cheika confronted him during the John Eales Medal function the previous night. According to observers, they had an 'animated' conversation. Cheika was also sighted in a long exchange with Hawker that night. It is widely known that Cheika has major reservations about both Pulver and Hawker, and on Friday night was "forthright" with both officials.

The ARU version of 'Red Faces' continued when Pulver was asked by the press on Friday night after the Beale hearing to provide details on who sent certain text messages and images. Not for the first time in his withering two-year reign, Pulver was clueless. Replying to the question if the ARU knew the identity of who sent it, he said: 'No… we don't."

Then when pressed on how it was linked to Beale, Pulver did the jumping on hot coals routine with a gobbledygook reply of: "Again, I can't provide details of the findings of the finding of the tribunal other than to give you the outcome. The outcome was that the evidence was inconclusive in terms of the second text message."

Just another ARU swamp job.

As for Pulver's baby, the National Rugby Championship appears doomed.

The concept has some merit, but was rushed and badly organised. Talk to the NRC clubs, and they constantly complain about the lack of direction or any form of support from the ARU. The NRC provinces, which have taken on a huge financial risk, have been sold a dud, and due to terrible viewing figures, the word is strong that Fox Sports has already wiped it off their schedule for next year. So goodbye NRC.

But Pulver is not the only member of the ARU hierarchy whose position has to be placed under scrutiny.

As appalling was how two members of the ARU board deliberately leaked information to a newspaper just days before the Brisbane All Blacks Test, suggesting that Wallabies captain Michael Hooper was under pressure of losing his position and required counseling after publicly supporting Beale.

This was an attempt to destabilise Hooper, and is unforgivable. Those two manipulative ARU board members should depart because their campaign was unnecessarily divisive at a time when the game demanded solidarity.

As lamentable was the performance of Eales during the Fox Sports coverage of the final Bledisloe Cup match. As an ARU board member, Eales would have known of McKenzie's resignation for many hours, but while sitting on the commentary panel he left the Fox Sports viewers, who pay a fair sum for the service, in the dark. The viewers were deceived. This was pay TV at its worst.

Also badly misled has been the media. Not surprisingly from an ARU and Wallabies media department that comprises of inexperienced lightweights, one Sydney newspaper was duped when leaked the Patston-Beale text messages. There was one big problem with that mischievous leak: the newspaper wasn't provided with the full story by the ARU. The same newspaper had to admit some days later that text exchanges "had been manipulated".' Newspaper executives don't take kindly to being set-up.

The media is understandably irritated for being treated as fools by the ARU media spin-doctors; several of whom also deserve to be shown the door.

So much so, when the media were sitting outside the Beale hearing at St Leonards on Friday night, and heard that the ARU would provide them with food, one crusty scribe muttered: "Oh no, they're going to provide us with lemons to suck on."

Good administrations look for answers.

Bad administration look for scapegoats.

The ARU is a bad administration.

Come in Mr Pulver and your cohorts, your time is up.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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