Mark Reason is a Stuff sports columnist

OPINION: Mark Robinson, the CEO of New Zealand Rugby, has his challenges in the months ahead. The recent damning Governance Review said that the game in this country was underpinned by a financially unsustainable old boys network. It raised flags around diversity, fan satisfaction, grassroots rugby, egotistical schools and many, many other issues and called the constitution and governance structure of NZR ‘unfit for purpose’.

The current leadership of NZR, which inherited the mess from previous administrations, accepts some of these criticisms and Dame Patsy Reddy, the chair of the board, is close to pushing through change. But there is opposition, not least from some of the turkeys who rule the provincial roost.

Robinson says: “Building a more accessible, engaging and inclusive sport that is safe and underpinned by a strong sustainable financial model are key focus areas for NZR. We have made some incredibly positive steps in key areas like safety, diversity and inclusion and fan experience that will position the sport incredibly well. Often this work flies under the radar, and it does take time, however we are excited about the future.”

What then does Robinson wish to see happen in 2024? Here are his Super Six hopes.

Improved player safety

Robinson. “We want to continue to focus on player safety in the game, particularly with the work we are doing in concussion research. We are incredibly proud to be world leading in this space and will consolidate our focus on game innovations in the community game, including the reduced tackle height which has just had a successful first season across community rugby. We are particularly pleased that the tackle height changes have had the most positive impact at secondary school level based on the analysis of the first year of these trials.”

Reason. “NZR has been culpable for 25 years in not ensuring that referees consistently sanction dangerous tackles at all levels. It would be particularly helpful if the schools could come under NZR’s remit, because there are still far too many unsanctioned high tackles at schoolboy level. It is an appalling example when the captain of the All Blacks has to be sent off in a World Cup final because he still hasn’t learned to lower his tackle height.

Better fan experience

Robinson: “We will continue to lead a more fan-centric approach to the game, including the innovations we are driving through DHL Super Rugby Pacific and Sky Super Rugby Aupiki, as well as our other domestic competitions. In parallel we are looking forward to the opportunities to engage with other national unions, World Rugby, Six Nations and Sanzaar early in the New Year, before meetings in London in late February / early March. Off the field, we are looking forward to continuing to grow our fan engagement platform NZR+ and there are many cool ideas emerging in this area for fans to be excited about. Although it took time, we have agreed on a Super Rugby Pacific Commission that will also drive a far greater focus on fan experience in the competition.”

Reason:“We need these cool ideas and we need them fast. The Governance Review noted that Super Rugby was described to us as a dog’s breakfast. Fans are unclear on when the competition will start, which players are available and how they should relate to both Super Rugby and NPC. Super Rugby is in danger of becoming a television-only experience because the fans have not been put front and centre.’ Fans are also fed up with paying through the nose for oversized stadia with bad catering.

Teams in Black success

Robinson: “The performance of our Sevens teams at the Paris Olympics is a massive focus and opportunity for NZR that we’re excited about next year. Alongside that we have an unprecedented amount of games with up to nine test matches for the Black Ferns as Allan (Bunting) continues to grow his squad and management before the women’s RWC in 2025. It’s fantastic to see the Māori All Blacks playing international rugby with two matches in Japan in July and the All Blacks XV will have an exciting end of year tour that we are soon to finalise in the US, UK and Europe. Finally, we also have 14 test matches for the All Blacks all around the world under Scott (Robertson) and his team which is incredibly exciting. We’ll be making sure all of our Team in Black environments are really well supported and connected.”

Reason: “The key will be how the men’s sevens team go at the Paris Olympics. They have twice bombed on the big stage, losing to Fiji in the quarter-finals in 2016 and then being hammered 27-12 by Fiji in the final in Tokyo five years later. Not good enough. Double gold for men and women is the only measure of success given New Zealand’s sevens superiority over the years. The All Blacks have a brutal schedule of 14 tests, with five of them away to South Africa (twice), England, France and Ireland.

Community rugby growth

Robinson: “We have a number of initiatives we will continue to work on with our Provincial Union partners. We have just concluded a significant piece of work in assessing what the future of our rugby club environments will look like, and we are excited to be investing more time into some of the opportunities highlighted with this. We also want to build on the growth of women and girls playing the game in 2023 and have a renewed approach to keep more teenage boys in the game.”

Reason: “The enormous pachyderm in this particular room is the NPC. The Governance Review said that there were ‘too many teams’. The fans aren’t interested and the players are being paid money that they haven’t earned at the box office. The same is true of both the men’s and women’s game. It is a fool’s paradise. If the provinces are leaking money at the top, how can the grassroots be funded properly?”

More inclusive and accessible

Robinson: “Making the game more diverse, inclusive and accessible is an area we are continuing to build on. We will be into the second year of our women and girls’ strategy in 2024 and have made some great strides in this area over the last couple of years. Our Māori regional rugby development programme continues to go from strength to strength and we have also just launched our Pasifika Strategy which we are looking forward to implementing. We are also building on work that enhances more opportunities in diversity of gender and ethnicity for roles off the field, in management and governance.”

Reason: “The Governance Review was heavily critical of the lack of diversity in management and coaching positions from the club game all the way through to the All Blacks and Black Ferns. It reported; ‘some submissions to this review have characterised the NZR approach to partnering with Māori as a little more than ‘box ticking’…Māori and Pasifika players are strongly represented in the player base (43%) –a level of participation not yet reflected in the leadership of the sport.” The review said representation had to start at club level. It observed a similar lack of representation in women’s rugby. The Review noted that ‘48.2% of volunteer administrators are female, only 9.3% of rugby coaches and 5.7% of referees are female…the game needs more women in leadership roles.’”

Better global engagement

Robinson: “It would be fantastic if World Rugby initiated a programme that consulted with the best rugby brains in the world, from coaches, players and performance staff to match officials to media to fans, in order to give the fans the sort of sport that they would like to see more consistently. It would further develop our sport as an entertainment spectacle that has a greater chance of globalising the game – making a more material impact in more emerging markets such as the US and Asia. This in turn would allow imminent calendar and competition changes to drive more value for the game to re-invest at all levels.”

Reason: “John Jeffrey is the favourite to take over as chairman of World Rugby from Bill Beaumont and has promised change, but that sounds more like an empty campaign promise than a reflection of his previous deeds. The game needs other more innovative and entrepreneurial people to put their names forward in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, the new chair won’t come in until later in the year, which means several more months of stasis. Beaumont has been accused of delaying the election process so he can go to the Olympics. World Rugby with, heaven help us, three Americans on its committee, continues to ignore the wider game.”