Diversity? ‘We’re kind of getting there’

Diversity and commercial nous have been hailed by New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey as the key aspects of the reconstituted board charged with charting a course through the coronavirus crisis.

Impey welcomed three new faces to his board at Thursday’s 128th annual meeting of New Zealand Rugby – the first to be held in an online capacity because of the restrictions around the Covid-19 pandemic – and a fourth in an apprentice type role.

Experienced senior executive Jennifer Kerr (a director of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Counties Manukau union) and Left Field Live sports agency chief executive Bart Campbell were confirmed as new appointed board members, while broadcaster and Pango Productions founder Bailey Mackey nudged out Auckland businesswoman Kate Daly for the elected position.

It was also decided to appoint Nicola O’Rourke, chair of the New Zealand Food Basket coalition, as an ‘‘aspiring director’’ that seems set to transition her into a fully fledged role in the future.

New Zealand Rugby needs strong hands at the helm as it attempts to negotiate the turbulent waters created by the Covid-19 pandemic and Impey is adamant he has an adept group at his disposal to make the tough calls that will be needed over coming months.

It was a point he happily reinforced when comparing the governance changes being mooted by both of World Rugby’s candidates for the chairman’s position in incumbent Bill Beaumont and change campaigner Agustin Pichot.

‘‘If you look at New Zealand Rugby over the last six or seven years, whatever your view of it might be, I would hope we would be given credit for the fact we’ve made constitutional changes to enable the organisation to be far more modern than it was,’’ Impey told media after the board meeting.

‘‘I reflect today: we’ve got three Ma¯ori out of nine, three women out of 10 with the emerging director, we’ve got Pasifika . . . we’re kind of getting there. As well as that we’ve strengthened our commercial skills. World Rugby simply doesn’t represent anything like that.’’

Impey said it was pleasing to see unions put forward the calibre of people they did ‘‘to inject a diverse range of backgrounds and ideas into the game.

‘‘At NZR we view diversity in a

wider sense than just gender, but we are also committed to creating opportunities for women at all levels of our game, including governance.

‘‘We feel as though we have really added to our board skills.’’

Kerr doubles the female representation on the board, alongside Dr Farah Palmer.

Impey also provided some guidance on how deep the board would be prepared to dig to get NZ Rugby through a year where it is predicted their revenue could be slashed by as much as 70 per cent.

With cash reserves of $93 million, Impey confirmed there was firm guidance around how much of that they could tap into.

‘‘Boards generally have a policy, and ours has been broadly 40 per cent of our fixed operating costs . . . with a [potential] two-thirds drop in revenue, we’ve also had to bring costs down. We’re looking at a multi-million dollar loss this year, but we’ve got ourselves into a position where we’re able to come forward into next year.’’

Asked how big the loss for 2020 could be, Impey replied: ‘‘I can’t tell you a figure . . . I will say it’s in the tens of millions of dollars, but a heck of a lot less than the 93 which would take us out.’’

‘‘At NZR we view diversity in a wider sense than just gender.’’

Brent Impey

New Zealand Rugby chairman