Independent commission on track: Carr

ARL chief executive Geoff Carr claims a November 1 start date for the independent
commission is still the goal despite Queensland and NSW officials failing to come to
an agreement at a high-powered meeting in Brisbane on Friday.
The ARL board gathering at the QRL's Milton headquarters was supposed to be a
significant step in the move towards the implementation of an independent body to
run rugby league, but it instead only proved to extend the stalemate.
NRL club chief executives are desperate to have the commission up and running by the
commencement of the next rugby league financial year, which begins on November 1.
Carr said that was still on the cards, despite the QRL having issues with structure
of the new commission on which they have only one of 26 votes.
"That's always been the goal, so I can't see any reason why to say we're not," Carr
said of the November 1 goal.
"There's certainly legal issues and you can never guarantee anything but that's
definitely the goal and that's definitely what we're working towards."
Asked what was the sticking point, Carr said: "There's a whole lot of issues around
the constitution.
"There was progress (made on Friday) because there was no rescission motion, the
agreed model is still the agreed model so we're trying to resolve issues and move
forward."
The ARL will now head back to the table for talks with News Limited - with whom they
currently share ownership of the game.
The QRL are deeply concerned they will not have a voice on the commission under the
model already agreed to by the ARL, News and the NRL clubs, and have not ruled out
legal action against the ARL board's original decision to support the model.
One concession the QRL want is to have the right to be able to appoint one of the
eight independent commissioners to protect the grass roots of the game.
Under the ARL's model, both the QRL and NSWRL would have one vote each while the 16
NRL clubs, including those funded by News Ltd, and the eight commissioners would
also have a vote.
QRL managing director Ross Livermore, who along with chairman John McDonald is
reportedly under fire from Queensland Cup clubs angling to dump them, seemed to
contradict Carr's view that progress had been made.
"They had (legal) advice on our proposal but there was technically no decision made
on which way we're going to go," Livermore said after the meeting.
"The composition of how the commission will be structured is still to be worked out.
"They want to get some more legal advice and opinion from News and go back to the
steering committee and take it from there.
"There was no outcome other than we were all unanimous to get the commission going
by the end of the season."
Livermore said the QRL had made it very clear why they were pushing their model
rather than the one being pedalled by NSW.
"There's a resolution on the books that we don't agree with in its current format,"
he said.
"We could take a legal challenge if we wanted to, but we're waiting to see what
happens.
"We have challenged the way the original resolution (for the independent commission)
went through the ARL (in March).
"We still reckon we're right about that. We put together an alternative model and
we're debating that new model."



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