Did rugby drop the ball?
Another sex-related scandal threatens to engulf New Zealand Rugby, an organisation beleaguered by a string of unsavoury off-field incidents involving players.
Another sex scandal threatens to engulf New Zealand Rugby. This time, it’s a manager in the spotlight.
Amanager employed by New Zealand Rugby was identified by police as a potential source of anonymous, sexually charged texts sent to two women. The man is still employed by the rugby union amid allegations that chief executive Steve Tew had further inquiries by a private investigator shut down before they were completed. One of the women who complained she was the victim of a phone “stalker” is appalled at the way the matter was handled, saying she felt Tew treated her like “a naughty schoolgirl” and appeared not to believe her. He told her the allegations against the manager were not substantiated. She claims Tew said she had no right to mention the man’s name.
“It’s an awful situation, to be honest,” says the woman, a Wellington real estate agent. “I was disgusted with their whole attitude towards it.”
The texts mentioned her “gorgeous and incredible eyes and body” and said the sender wanted to find a “single cougar” as beautiful as her. They began arriving soon after she had shown the rugby manager a Wellington property for lease. The other woman was an employee of Rugby New Zealand 2011 – an organisation set up to manage hosting of the Rugby World Cup that year.
The explosive revelations come just days after NZ Rugby commissioned an independent review into “respect and responsibility in our professional environment” following a series of scandals involving inappropriate or criminal behaviour by a number of players. In September, in the wake of the Chiefs stripper affair, Tew announced NZ Rugby would work with anti-sexual violence advocate Louise Nicholas, saying the organisation could do better in terms of the culture of its players, particularly regarding attitudes towards women.
ONLY SUSPECT
The Listener has learnt a police report in 2011 into the source of the sex texts said a manager employed by NZ Rugby had been the only nominated suspect. But the investigation was bungled when officers obtained critical call data from the cellphone number without a warrant. Police intended to explore “other avenues” but apparently did not do so – possibly because the lack of a warrant meant the inquiry was fatally flawed.
The Rugby New Zealand employee who received the texts decided not to proceed with a police complaint, although the estate agent persevered.
In a statement to the Listener, NZ Rugby chair Brent Impey said the organisation took seriously the allegations of “inappropriate texts” allegedly sent by its employee. It took independent legal advice as to its responsibilities and obligations, and acted on it. The advice was that there was “no evidence” its employee was involved.
That stance is at odds with information the Listener has received, in which police described the evidence against the man as “not 100% conclusive”.
Impey says NZ Rugby had no knowledge of the incident when it happened in 2011 – Rugby New Zealand was a separate entity to NZ Rugby and was not under Steve Tew’s management. Companies Office records show Tew was a director of Rugby New Zealand 2011.
In late December 2013, a NZ Rugby staff member – who the Listener understands was general manager of professional rugby Neil Sorensen – became aware of the estate agent’s complaint at a “non-NZ Rugby social event”. This was later confirmed as a formal complaint to the organisation. “An investigation was initiated and external investigator engaged,” says Impey.
The Listener has been told Sorensen and NZ Rugby lawyer Keith Binnie hired Auckland-based private eye Tim McKinnel to investigate, without advising Tew. McKinnel is well-known for helping to exonerate Teina Pora after he served 20 years in prison for murder.
Impey says the matter was brought to Tew’s attention in February 2014.
“Because of the nature of the allegations, the chief executive immediately sought independent legal advice.” The advice concluded that, “based on the information gathered by NZR, there was no evidence that an NZR employee had been involved in the matters complained of”.
“After reviewing the facts and getting independent legal advice, the chief
“Police regret the error and apologise to the two women involved.” “I was disgusted with their whole attitude towards it.”
executive arranged to meet personally with the complainant to outline the steps taken by NZR and the outcome.”
McKinnel did not complete his inquiry after the lawyers intervened. The Listener has been told his preliminary findings supported the police view as to the possible culprit. McKinnel declined to comment.
The female Rugby New Zealand staffer, who has since left, complained to her bosses in August 2011 after receiving a text from a number she did not recognise saying, “I’ve been looking at your long legs all afternoon and it is lucky you are not my team services manager.”
The woman had spent the day at a meeting for staff involved in the Rugby World Cup. Fewer than 50 people were there. The woman notified Rugby New Zealand, which began an investigation.
CALLS UNANSWERED
A search of the mobile numbers of those at the meeting failed to identify the sender. Calls to the number by Rugby New Zealand staff went unanswered, and a message was not returned.
The following day, the complainant received another text, but this time of apology. “I was drunk, I was stupid, I was out of line. I am sorry 1000 times over. I don’t want to lose my role or my Mrs. Please forgive me I know it won’t happen again.”
A rugby team services manager sent the matter to Rugby World Cup security co-ordinator Andrea Jopling, asking if she could find out the texter’s identity. “I want to know who this person is – saying they are drunk and stupid does not bode well for a role which demands responsibility and good judgment, of which this person has demonstrated neither of [sic].”
Wellington police were then asked to step in.
They discovered the phone was a prepaid mobile, not linked to any registered subscriber. Telco provider 2degrees supplied the last two numbers called on the phone, one of which was the Wellington real estate agent.
When police called and asked her if she recognised the number, she responded, “Yes, that’s my stalker.” She told them the texts were “very inappropriate”.
The police national planning co-ordinator for the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Detective Sergeant Max Taylor, told the Listener the suspect wasn’t interviewed. When asked why the investigation went nowhere, he said he thought it was because a warrant “wasn’t able to be obtained”.
Taylor told the Listener police had “unfortunately made an error in failing to obtain this information via the standard practice of obtaining a search warrant.
“Police regret the error and apologise to the two women involved.”
He added that the phone data obtained at the time was “inconclusive” and highly unlikely to have been enough to “progress the matter to a personof-interest interview or a criminal charge”.
The Listener understands the police investigation was further flawed when an officer told the real estate agent they were looking into a complaint from the rugby union.
The agent then recalled she had picked up a man from the rugby union in December 2010 to take him to see a rental property. She identified that man to police.
“INCREDIBLE BODY”
She told them that in mid-January 2011, just over a month after showing him the property, she received a text from a number she didn’t recognise. “We met briefly the other day and I just wanted to say you are gorgeous and have incredible eyes and body. Your hubby lucky man!”
When she asked who’d sent the text, she received a reply, “An admirer, if you weren’t married I might have told you. Random act of flattery. Have a great night.” Later that night, she received another text, “But if you have a twin sis let me know,” followed by a “wink” emoji.
The woman told police that because she often made work appointments on her own, she was very uncomfortable about the texts and asked her husband to accompany her whenever she met men. Her boss and husband called the number but no one answered.
She then received another text from the number saying, “I know it’s you trying to ring coz no one else has nmbr. It’s a new sim. Feel flattered. I
am not a nutter or a stalker. Enjoy the compliment. Smile and really truly enjoy day.”
She had no further texts until April, when she received another. “Still think about you from time to time,” it said, and then in July, “Leaving NZ tom night so u won’t hear from me again. I hope to find a single cougar as beaut as you [overseas]. Stay sexy.”
It was the last text she received from the number.
INVITED TO MEETING
The real estate agent says she and her husband were invited to a meeting with Tew. “I felt that I was basically treated like I was a naughty little schoolgirl and told I should keep my mouth shut; that there was no substantiated evidence.” She says Tew offered no apology and in her opinion “was pretty harsh”.
She says she made the statement to police initially in good faith, after they asked her to, but she was alarmed when the investigation began to be controlled by police involved with Rugby World
When police called and asked her if she recognised the number, she responded, “Yes, that’s my stalker.”
Cup security, and later when McKinnel’s inquiries were cut short. “I didn’t instigate anything.”
The manager was called to a meeting with Tew in which he denied the allegations, she says.
“I’m pretty disgusted with what [has happened]; it’s not right and it’s not fair that there is someone out there like him in the public arena who is allowed to … or is managing to get away with what he’s doing.” She says the texts were “creepy”.
She says while she is a “big girl” who can look after herself, she would be horrified if someone younger and more vulnerable were caught in the same situation.
Human Resources Institute chief executive Chris Till says it would be a “very serious” HR matter if a manager sent texts with such a tone. “The higher the level, the more alarming it becomes. [That’s] not to say that it isn’t concerning at any level. The language used is very demeaning to women or anybody in an organisation.”
It would be important for an organisation to act quickly, not to pre-judge the outcome, and weigh both the evidence and common law on recent cases.
“WE NEED TO RESPECT WOMEN”
In September, high-profile advocates including Louise Nicholas, Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Jackie Blue and Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy sent an open letter to NZ Rugby’s management and board, saying thousands of New Zealanders were questioning the culture in the sport and those in charge of it.
“As much as New Zealanders love rugby – we need New Zealanders to respect women.
“Rugby is like a religion in New Zealand, with players worshipped by young Kiwis throughout the country. NZ Rugby could not operate without thousands of women volunteers and players in clubs and towns across the country: we must address the culture that exists from the top down and set the right example, particularly for our young New Zealanders.”