NRL clubs will decide a battle for control of the Blues’ State of Origin team between the ARLC and the NSWRL at a game-changing vote ahead of next year’s series.
The NSWRL will remain in charge of the Blues for the time being after the NSW Court of Appeal dismissed an ARLC appeal relating to a Supreme Court ruling on the contentious February board elections.
The ARLC challenged the NSWRL’s decision not to allow Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta to run for a director’s spot in the Supreme Court, which ruled in May that a fresh election was not needed despite the Cronulla chief executive being improperly excluded.
It prompted the NRL, on behalf of disgruntled clubs, to pursue the matter further, which could ultimately lead to the slashing of funding to the states and result in the governing body overseeing the Blues.
On Tuesday the NSW Court of Appeal upheld the original decision of Justice Michael Ball, dismissing the ARLC appeal and ordering it to pay costs.
The development comes at a difficult time for the NRL, which is at loggerheads with the Rugby League Players’ Association over collective bargaining agreement negotiations, while the clubs are also agitating for more funding from head office.
The battle to control the Blues is about to heat up.Credit:Getty
However, the battle between the ARLC and the NSWRL will come to a head next year. In order for the ARLC to take control of the Blues, it would need 75 per cent of members – comprising the 17 clubs and two state bodies – to vote in favour of the move at a special meeting.
Such a vote requires giving the parties 12 months’ notice, with that period set to expire before the next series between NSW and Queensland. The NRL is privately confident it will have the numbers to succeed, pointing to the fact metropolitan directors – those aligned with NRL clubs – voted in favour of a push to remove several NSWRL directors at an emergency meeting on Friday.
Ultimately, the move was unsuccessful due to the support of country directors for those on the chopping block.
“All the NRL clubs and the ARLC have always wanted is a fresh election because the original election is infected,” ARLC chairman Peter V’landys said.
“The court found that Dino should never have been disqualified, that decision stands. The only change is that in the appeal, it didn’t constitute enough to terminate the agreement because it didn’t affect them providing the service.
“It should also be remembered that they took the legal action against us, not us against them.
“In the Supreme Court they lost two of their four requests, which still stand. One, that the election was infected by [not including] Dino, and that the funding was at the discretion of the Australian Rugby League Commission.
“This appeal was on the points we didn’t win. However, I still find it disturbing that the NRL clubs, [through] the metropolitan members who voted last week, have been treated so appallingly with no respect whatsoever shown to them.
“Any corporation whose election was infected would surely, under proper corporate governance, run a fresh election. That has all that has been requested, nothing more.
“The outcome now is that there is no elected director of the NRL clubs, there’s not a proper election for the NRL clubs to have two directors.
“They can spin it all they like, but the court found there was a corporate governance deficiency and if they were to do the right thing, they should have run a fresh election.”
In a letter to its members, NSWRL acting chairman John Anderson said Tuesday’s Court of Appeal decision confirmed the “correctness” of the original Supreme Court judgement.
“It remains a matter of regret for us that we were forced to go to court to resolve the issue in the first instance, but such an important component of our existence was under direct threat,” Anderson wrote.
“The Supreme Court ruled in our favour earlier this year, and we are pleased that decision has been upheld today, with the Court of Appeal confirming that we have not breached the agreement relating to our State of Origin obligations.
“We hope that we will finally be able to put this behind us and work together with all stakeholders for the benefit of rugby league across the state.”
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