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Dear John, what on earth are you doing?
Adrian Proszenko | March 30, 2008
John O'Neill has been sent a scathing "please explain" letter by former Wallaby Dick Marks, demanding the ARU boss justify his stance on a number of controversial issues.
Marks, a Queensland Rugby Union board member, has a raft of topics he wants to grill O'Neill on, ranging from abolition of the Australian Rugby Championship to his criticism of English rugby before the Wallabies' World Cup loss to the old enemy.
Unable to attend a meeting between O'Neill and the QRU board last week, Marks fired off a strongly worded letter, obtained by The Sun-Herald. In it he raised 15 concerns about ARU management he wanted O'Neill to respond to.
"A lot of things have been discussed at board level for a long time and I put them on paper in the hope he'd address them when he arrived here," Marks said.
"He's a pretty persuasive bloke and he can sidetrack you. These were pretty difficult questions involving a lot of heartache that's come Queensland's way and I just wanted to make sure the information was out in the open.
"I will certainly be requesting feedback [from the board meeting]."
Some of the questions in the letter include:
■ After being reinstated as Australia's top official, what drove you to then publish a book in which you denigrated people who had served the game over a long period?
■ Do you think that your second job of NSW events chairman involves a conflict of interest with the ARU's allocation of major rugby fixtures, and how do you propose to [ensure] the principle of justice appears to have been done?
■ How did the ARU come to write to the Howard Government requesting a $25 million grant for the Ballymore project when Queensland had arranged with Senator [George] Brandis to apply for $42 million?
■ Do you regret having handed England the perfect motivational material before the Rugby World Cup quarter-final by unleashing that embarrassing two-day attack on English rugby, and do you think that improves our influence on the IRB?
■ Since the ARU has decided it doesn't have any coaches worthy of the Wallabies job, what is it doing about rectifying the situation and providing pathways for aspiring coaches?
Marks, a respected administrator who served for 22 years as national coaching director, said he was concerned about the amount of "spin and propaganda" coming out of ARU headquarters.
The ARU is expected to this week announce a $7-$8 million loss for the financial year, which is an expected outcome in a World Cup year.
"If you want to summarise it, I'm genuinely concerned the game and the [state] unions are underfunded," Marks said.
"We've been losing a million dollars a year here for the last few years - how long can you sustain that?
"I'm concerned we don't have pathways in place for our up-and-coming talent, and that applies to referees and coaches.
"I'm concerned about how we conduct some of our international affairs. I thought it was a disgraceful performance in France.
"Two days before a quarter-final in England, the No.1 Australian official occupied the British papers for two days explaining why everyone hates the English.
"The last thing you do before a big game is give the opposition coach something to hang on the dressing room door.
"And in his book … he had a giant free kick against anyone he didn't like or crossed him. That's no way for the head of an operation to run.
"There's a lot of questions I believe need answering."
Finally John O'Neill is going to be asked to explain for all the stuff he has been up to. Plus the boldened bit about being the NSW's event director, well that just says it all doesn't it....
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