WR boss promises shake-up
WORLD Rugby (WR) chairman Bill Beaumont has laid out his platform for re-election in a manifesto promising a major review of the global governing body to transform it into a voice for all rugby nations, not just the traditional powers of the sport.
The former England captain is facing a challenge from Argentina’s WR vice-chairman Agustin Pichot, who has staked his bid on a modern, more inclusive global game that gives emerging nations a greater say.
With French rugby chief Bernard Laporte as his running mate, Beaumont will be favourite to win another four-year term when the election results are announced next month.
In a manifesto entitled “A Game For All”, Beaumont and Laporte say they believe they are the “best team” to lead rugby out of the coronavirus crisis – “undoubtedly the greatest challenge rugby has faced in recent years”.
Their priorities will be a review of the global season and financial policy, player welfare, the development of women’s rugby and a root-and-branch review of how World Rugby is run currently.
“To achieve our aim of a strong international federation with a clear vision, we are proposing a wide-ranging governance review led by two independently appointed people,” the manifesto said.
“All major rugby stakeholders will be consulted, as will experts from outside the game, to help bring in fresh ideas and perspective.
“Our aim is to have a more representative and diverse international federation that better serves the game, not one that is seen to only support the ‘old guard’.”
Reform is also at the heart of Pichot’s agenda as he bids to become the first leader of rugby’s global governing body from outside the traditional heartlands of the sport.
Plans for a 12-team Test championship, which would have incorporated the Six Nations and Rugby Championship as well as offering a pathway to second tier nations, floundered last year.
Beaumont said he wanted to develop a global season that eliminated any overlap between the competing demands of club and country, a reform long demanded by those concerned about player welfare.
“We will bring the tier one and two unions together to devise a plan for a global competition structure that better supports unions at the top and those aspiring to get there,” he said.
“We will consider plans that support international competition between countries and ... consider concepts that could support an international club competition after the 2023 World Cup.”
Meanwhile, former England coach Clive Woodward is backing
Pichot’s bid for the top job, saying the Argentine can help steer the sport out of its current financial straits.
Woodward, who coached England to World Cup glory in 2003, said rugby, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, would benefit from having a younger leader.
“Gus is the right man at the right time to lead this charge,” Woodward wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.
“Rugby is very lucky to have such a visionary throwing his hat into the ring at such a crucial time.”
Pichot said in his election manifesto that the crisis should be viewed as an opportunity for the global realignment of the sport, and Woodward shares a similar vision.
“We need equality, diversity, better player-welfare, better thought-out salary caps and rugby needs to establish a wider cultural relevance to engage younger audiences,” Woodward said.
The problem, he added, stemmed from an imbalance of power between tier one and two countries.
The greater voting power of tier one countries has led to “massive inertia and lack of collective will” with regard to equitable revenue and profit sharing, as well as widespread poaching of talent, Woodward said.
“Before Covid-19, rugby was ruled by the ‘haves’ with the ‘have nots’ making up the numbers,” he added. “The old powers need to release their stranglehold on the game which has nearly suffocated it.
“We need to reboot with much more co-operation and more equable sharing of the World Cup profits and all revenue streams.”