Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The NRL would be “crazy” not to make Peter V’landys the game’s executive chairman, Australian Rugby League Commission member Peter Beattie says, as the game’s bosses prepare to install the ARLC chair as the most powerful official in its history without a vote of clubs and state associations.
V’landys is widely expected to take up the position and complete a full-time switch to rugby league from Racing NSW, where he has been chief executive for 22 years.
The influential administrator, who has chaired the ARLC since 2019, is yet to say whether he will do the job but has committed to giving his fellow commissioners an answer by the midway point of his four-month stint at NRL interim CEO.
That comes up next week, meaning the code is on the verge of one of the most significant appointments in its history.
“While he is yet to decide whether to accept the executive chair’s position long term, he has my full support, and I am encouraging him to accept the role,” Beattie, the former Queensland premier, said on Tuesday. “The game needs him. I will do everything I can to persuade him to take the role.
“Anyone who has the best interests of rugby league at heart knows Peter becoming executive chair long term is in the best interests of the game.”
While rugby league and racing officials are awaiting a decision from V’landys, all signs point to him remaining at NRL headquarters at Moore Park on a permanent basis.
He has been acting CEO there since mid-July, when Andrew Abdo packed up his desk to become Tennis Australia chief executive, and the customary “worldwide search” for a successor to the South Africa-born former NRL chief has not begun.
V’landys has also been weighing up his future as the state government considers a secret report by former health minister Brad Hazzard that could potentially diminish Racing NSW’s powers.
He is also suing a racing news website for defamation after it questioned whether his duties in rugby league had distracted him from racing.
After delivering a record seven-year $5.3 billion broadcast rights deal in July, handing the keys to V’landys is a no-brainer, according to Beattie.
“The NRL would be crazy to pass up on the opportunity of Peter V’landys becoming executive chair of the NRL, especially at this time; with, one, the NRL grand final in October; two, [the] Rugby League World Cup in 2026; three, the Bears and Chiefs about to enter the competition in 2027 and 2028; and, four, expansion on the agenda etc.
“Peter has led a positive transformation of the game. His list of achievements are long and distinguished from the biggest media deal in history to the highest ratings in the game’s history.”
The new role would effectively make V’landys CEO and chairman, removing the separation of powers between the commission and executive.
It is likely to be rubber-stamped without an amendment to the commission’s constitution, which prevents a commissioner from being employed by the NRL in any capacity including as CEO or from being an employee of “any related body corporate”.
That would require the approval of both the NSWRL and Queensland Rugby League as well as 16 of the 17 NRL clubs.
But there are no plans at this stage for a secret ballot.
The commission has instead had legal advice that V’landys can be appointed directly via another section in the constitution that states that it can “from time to time … create any other position”, which can be filled by one of its own.
Whether that would hold up before a judge is unknown, but one of the states or clubs would have to mount a legal challenge to test it.
Despite broad support from club powerbrokers for V’landys to be executive chairman, there has been hesitation among some league figures on corporate governance grounds, given how much authority would be invested in a single person.
They are watching closely to see if the commission presses ahead without a vote of clubs and states and bypasses constitutional change.
But whether any would be prepared to stick their necks out and head to court remains to be seen.
Counting in V’landys’ favour is the code’s financial prosperity, which, after the completion of the broadcast deal, will bring a huge rise in club funding.
Club CEOs have also appreciated his candour in their fortnightly phone hook-ups with him and his assurance last week that the PNG Chiefs would have to pay market value for players helped appease their concerns about the new team’s ability to offer tax-free wages.
Beattie, who stood down as commission chair seven years ago to make way for V’landys, lavished praise on him, saying: “I have worked with him closely … and I have never worked with such an energetic, visionary and consultative leader”.
“If Peter decides to take the executive chair’s role, I encourage everyone in the game to get behind him and the ARLC to work to expand the game even further,” he said.
“On a more sober note, the world of sport is more cutthroat than ever before, particularly with the changing media landscape. Now is a time for stability, not instability and uncertainty.”
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Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
