? Judge Blackett to head review of chief executive's departure
? The RFU's governance system can be improved says Vaughan
As the terms of a wide-ranging review into John Steele's chaotic departure from the Rugby Football Union were published, a senior executive at the organisation has admitted its governance needs to be overhauled.
The RFU's business operations director, Paul Vaughan, who is also chief executive of the 2015 World Cup board, said that the relationship between the management board, the executive and council could be improved.
"It is not necessarily broken but there are better ways of doing it," said Vaughan. "It is a matter of 'is it balanced right?' We had a constitutional review not so long ago."
He added: "It should work pretty well. Inevitably, depending on the people involved, you are always going to get clashes. That will change over a period of time."
A five-strong panel with two independent members that will be headed by Judge Jeff Blackett, will examine everything from the process that led to Steele's appointment as chief executive to the flawed recruitment of a performance director and his disputed departure.
Vaughan denied that his contribution to last week's four-and-a-half-hour emergency board meeting was pivotal in Steele's dismissal. The RFU chairman, Martyn Thomas, claimed last Friday that Steele's relationship with sponsors and other stakeholders had broken down.
With the former chief executive Francis Baron, Vaughan had helped grow revenues at the RFU to �119m a year, and was asked to present to the board on relations with sponsors.
"Everyone likes John, he's a great guy. The staff like him, all the clubs like him. He went down very well in terms of the face of the game," said Vaughan, speaking at the Nolan Partners Sport Industry Breakfast Club. "Inevitably, the board made a decision that it wasn't going to last much longer so concluded that it was time to part ways. It wasn't just what I said but a combination of things."
He said his contribution to the board meeting would remain confidential but confirmed he abstained from the vote on Steele's future.
Blackett said it was "vital" that his review, due to report by 10 July, was concluded swiftly. Blackett has sought agreement from Steele's lawyers that members of the board may disclose the reason for their decision to the panel. The terms of Steele's departure are otherwise covered by a confidentiality clause.
A separate review by Peter Baines, chairman of the RFU's governance committee, is ongoing but its interim verdict cleared Steele and raised issues of confidentiality with regard to the rest of the board. His findings will be subsumed into the new Blackett review.
Yet another review ? being undertaken by Rob Andrew, John Spencer, Richard Hill, Bill Beaumont and Jason Leonard ? is looking at the terms of the performance director role that was at the heart of the breakdown in relations between Steele and Thomas.
Sir Clive Woodward, the British Olympic Association director of elite performance who has been heavily linked with a return to the RFU in the role, is to lead Team GB as chef de mission at the first winter Youth Olympics in January.
The announcement will be seen as a strong indication that Woodward is unlikely to rejoin the RFU until at least the new year. Thomas has insisted that it would be impossible to combine both roles.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/15/paul-vaughan-john-steele-rfu
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