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Volatile times as L'Estrange resigns
GREG GROWDEN CHIEF RUGBY CORRESPONDENT
June 5, 2010
DRAMATIC changes at NSW Rugby Union board level and within the Waratahs ranks are expected to occur this month after the resignation of chief executive Jim L'Estrange.
At a NSWRU board meeting on Thursday night, which sources described as volatile at times, L'Estrange tendered his resignation. He will leave at the end of August and an agency has been appointed to find his replacement.
Several rugby identities, including at least one from within the NSWRU ranks, are interested in the job.
The Herald has been told the board debated intensely about who should become the next NSWRU chairman.
Edwin Zemancheff has moved across to chair the separate Waratahs Rugby board, which has the function of running the professional side of the game, particularly the NSW team.
Will Jephcott was expected to become NSWRU chairman until a late bid from another director with club affiliations thwarted that move, and the situation was not resolved.
L'Estrange said yesterday he was leaving the NSWRU with ''mixed emotions'' after a testing three years in the job.
Although the Waratahs had been able to make the Super 14 finals twice, there had been numerous off-field problems, he said.
In April, a major drop in Waratahs home crowds and a sponsorship slump led to the NSWRU reporting a loss of close to half a million dollars for last year.
The NSWRU's annual general meeting heard it had recorded a loss for the second year running, as the $459,248 loss for 2009 follows a $295,304 deficit in 2008.
In 2005 the NSWRU made a $3 million profit, followed by a $1.595 million profit in 2006 and a $201,110 profit in 2007.
''With the expansion of Super Rugby in 2011, these are exciting times for rugby in Australia so there are some mixed emotions in leaving,'' L'Estrange said.
''However after going through the process of creating the Waratahs board, the next step was always going to be the change to management structures across both entities. This is the right time for those changes to take place, so it is the right time to step aside.''
Zemancheff yesterday paid tribute to L'Estrange's ''diligence and passion for rugby''. ''Whilst we are sorry to see Jim go, we respect his reasons to do so, and wish to express our appreciation for the great work and results he achieved in running Australia's oldest and most successful rugby organisation,'' Zemancheff said.
L'Estrange told the NSWRU staff he was leaving in an email shortly after 9am yesterday. The email read in part: ''We have just finished a NSW rugby board meet in which I tended [sic] my resignation.
''I will certainly still be around for a few weeks helping the transition and looking to involve myself where I can add value but after three years I have decided to move on.
''It's the right time with a new and bigger Super comp in 2011 and with the continued change to a NSW board and separate management team and a Waratahs board and separate management team. Thank you for all your help and effort.''
Earlier in the week, L'Estrange tried to rally the NSWRU staff, explaining that despite a ''disappointing headline and article'' in The Sun-Herald, the organisation was doing a good job.
He closed an email message to staff with this statement: ''We need to get our membership up/our crowds continuing to grow and ultimately the audiences on TV tuned into Waratah games, but in a tough market we did a good job. And don't let anyone tell you different!!!!!''
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