ARU cracks down on dissent from NSW Junior Official

[wolverine]

Does this seem like an overly strogn response from the ARU to the NSW junior official?

Junior official under intense fire after his head-high verbal shot

Greg Growden
April 4, 2011
THE Australian Rugby Union has challenged a junior official to justify his scathing criticism of its chief executive John O'Neill.

The NSW Junior Rugby Union president, Paul Taylor, told the Herald on Saturday that the ARU appeared to spend ''every spare cent'' on the professional game, that O'Neill was ''out of touch with his constituents'' and the ARU executive had an ''adversarial management style''.

An ARU spokesman said at the weekend that Taylor was not aware that ''there are more development officers on the ground since the ARU took responsibility for Community Rugby programs in NSW in February 2009''.

''Does he know junior numbers across the country were at an all-time high and continued to grow in 2009 and 2010, and that participation overall is at an unprecedented level, with the 200,000 players barrier smashed for the first time last year?'' the ARU spokesman said.

''We also hope a man in his position would know that more than $2 million of ARU funding will go towards development in NSW alone this year, around double what the state body will provide.''

The ARU also argued that Taylor had ''never met O'Neill or 90 per cent of the ARU management committee''. ''Can he therefore tell us - who is adversarial?''

 

[Novocastrian]

Hmm, a Jabba the Hutt article. Let me guess, it has one small quote and then plenty of unsubstantiated paraphrasing of 'unnamed high ranking officials'?

 

[barbarian]

I think he has made some pretty strong allegations about JON's style having never met him or most of his management team. So I am not sure what to make of his comments.

As we saw on a couple of previous threads all arguments are based on statistics- be it player numbers, total funding etc. They can be manipulated in so many ways that I end up confused and unsure who is doing what for whom. So I take no sides in the matter.

 

[The Mayor of Perth]

Hmm, a Jabba the Hutt article. Let me guess, it has one small quote and then plenty of unsubstantiated paraphrasing of 'unnamed high ranking officials'?

Read the one by Wayne Smith in the Oz then - forget Growden.

 

[Set piece magic]

Barbarians got this one i reckon.. So many positions to argue from and so much bullshit exaggeration spin and politics that we might as well say fuck it and let the man do his job, haters are going to hate

 

[I like to watch]

The ARU dude says the ARU spends over $2M in development in NSW which is double what the state body will provide.
$3M in funding??? does that buy a tackle bag, a set of cones or a football for anyone?
Or is this all administration funding?

 

[Gnostic]

All here should know that I have always been a supporter of JON and welcomed his return after the financial debacle of the Flowers administration. BUT, how the hell does a CEO get re-appointed without any public/shareholder examination of his successes and failures during his tenure. Lets forget about the successes of his first tenure he needs to be judged on the success or otherwise of his performance in this contract period. This sort of bitter outburst tends to crop up when administrators are perceived as being unaccountable and autocratic. The way in which JON was re-appointed doesn't speak well for the ARU, regardless of the complete veracity of the claims from this official, and hence his claims will receive much more credence than perhaps they deserve.

As for the continued personal attacks on Growden not just on this thread but any time anything of his is quoted, you people may not like but show me where he has been sued for defamation or forced to retract statements or assertions in his articles. He is a journo like most others and works for his crust. Don't like him don't read........... simple. I just wish for a more thorough analysis of play and tactics one day, not just from the journos but "fans" as well.

 

[Bowside]

I thought Wayne Smith made some good points in his article.

 

[Ruggo]

I think he has made some pretty strong allegations about JON's style having never met him or most of his management team. So I am not sure what to make of his comments.

As we saw on a couple of previous threads all arguments are based on statistics- be it player numbers, total funding etc. They can be manipulated in so many ways that I end up confused and unsure who is doing what for whom. So I take no sides in the matter.

You got to love the old money and resources debate. Never is it mentioned how it is deployed.