Beaumont needs to heed call for change
After such a close-run election for the chairmanship of World Rugby, there will inevitably be a feeling of concern among southern hemisphere nations. They voted for Argentina’s Agustin Pichot.
They voted for change. Pichot did not win. The worry will be whether it is going to be same old, same old.
I do not think it will. World Rugby’s leadership contest was not about age. What matters is knowing how to listen. Sir Bill Beaumont is a very good listener, and I think he heard loud and clear the desire for change across the rugby world.
I was struck by his words this week after voting had closed, when he acknowledged ‘‘the positive and passionate debate’’ that Pichot had brought to the contest and said that it had ‘‘ignited constructive discussion about priorities that will strengthen the global game’’.
Beaumont has to act on that now. He has to be collegiate. He has to reach across the divide and unite everyone. He may have been voted in by the northern hemisphere unions, but his priority must be to spend time with the southern hemisphere clubs and unions and players. Listen to them, reassure them. And he must not be afraid to act.
I do not think there has ever been a better opportunity for change. The coronavirus pandemic has provided an unprecedented opportunity to step back and analyse the game as it stands. We have all put forward ideas; now Beaumont has to bring everyone together and deliver.
First on the agenda? A truly integrated global season. Everything is linked to that; the need to play fewer games, the tensions over competitions, over payments, the club vs country tug of war, the huge financial disparity between tier one and tier two and tier three.
If World Rugby can introduce a well-structured, global calendar, then club and international windows can be aligned, and tier-two and tierthree get regular opportunities. We all have an opinion on how that might work – clear windows of competition.
It will take time. With this season yet to be completed, next season is going to be a transition year whatever happens, so any changes are unlikely to be able to take place before the 2021-2022 season.
If it takes any longer than that it will have to happen after the next World Cup in France in 2023, as you could not hope to implement such global structural change in the same season as the game’s biggest tournament. But I very much hope they stick at it.
There may need to be structural change within World Rugby, so that it becomes more representative of the global game we all want to develop. There are 12 departments at World Rugby. Perhaps it is time to reorganise them; to look again at councils and committees, at staffing. The department for development and international relations, for instance. Make sure they are representative.
People such as Dan Leo, whose organisation fights for the interests of Pacific Island players around the world and who highlighted the Francis Kean situation in Fiji, should be playing a part, even in a non-exec capacity.
Recently retired players, current players, professional clubs who are major drivers of the modern game. It is not all about the unions.
I very much hope that Pichot will be part of delivering the new vision. As Beaumont said, Pichot brought energy and freshness to this election.
This is not the time to be selfish; that is what got us into the state we are in. It is time to listen, and to change. I think Beaumont will. I have known him for over 40 years and I have a huge amount of respect for him. The attributes of the natural leader he has proved to be have never been more needed than they will be over the coming months and years.
Sir Ian McGeechan was a former British and Irish Lions player and coach.