Ribot's ARL nod "no forgone conclusion" - QRL

AAP | 02/12/08 | 0

As the NSW Rugby League prepared to go to war over ex-Super League boss John Ribot's mooted ARL board appointment, QRL boss Ross Livermore wondered what all the fuss was about.
   
Ribot's surprise emergence from the rugby league wilderness 11 years after the Super League war cost the ARL $500 million has re-opened old wounds south of the Tweed.
   
But Livermore said Ribot's nomination as an ARL director was "no forgone conclusion".
   
Ribot will be voted on to the QRL board at Brisbane on Friday.
   
The QRL will then appoint four members to the ARL board.
   
Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald has led a chorus of disapproval over Ribot's imminent QRL appointment and will gather support at Friday's NSWRL AGM to block any chance of the ex-Super League CEO joining the ARL hierarchy.
   
But Livermore said too much had been made of Ribot's QRL appointment.
   
"Whether Denis Fitzgerald or NSW express a view, that's their view and it doesn't affect or influence what we decide to do," Livermore told AAP.
   
"But there are other people on our board who may be interested on being on the ARL board as well.
   
"It's no forgone conclusion that John's going to be there (on the ARL board)."
   
QRL independent director and ex-Queensland Deputy Premier Terry Mackenroth is tipped to be appointed to the ARL board ahead of Ribot.
   
And QRL chairman John McDonald suggested on Tuesday that the board's central division rep Bert Borland was better placed to receive an ARL nod than Ribot.
   
"It's not just a choice between Terry Mackenroth and John Ribot (for an ARL board nomination)," McDonald told AAP.
   
"Bert Borland has been on there (QRL board) for a number of years and he's been a great asset to the game.
   
"But Terry has certainly been there and done that. He's been a player, a great administrator in the game, as well as his role as a parliamentarian - that's significant."
   
Livermore said the Queensland Cup clubs had voted Ribot on to the QRL board, but the appointment was not taken lightly.
   
"He has been nominated by the clubs and we have gone through his credentials and interviewed him and so forth and John has no conflict that will rule him ineligible for our board," he said.
   
"He meets the criteria and he will be appointed to our board no dramas.
   
"But whether he is considered further, that is up to our board."
   
Fitzgerald had earlier claimed that ARL-aligned clubs still had a "deep hatred" for Ribot over the Super League split of 1995-97.
   
Master of understatement McDonald said there had been "differing reactions" to Ribot's QRL appointment.
   
But he asked for ARL-aligned clubs to let bygones be bygones.
   
"How the Super League war started and what it was about is finished - we are getting ready for 2009 now," he said.

He will be appointed to our board no dramas...but whether he is considered further, that is up to our board QRL chairman John McDonald