Rugby union CEO resigns

APIA – The Samoa Rugby Union is numbed over the resignation of its chief executive officer, Fred Amoa and the head of the High Performance Unit, Tuala Mathew Vaea, this week.

The Samoa Rugby Union Board met on Tuesday to discuss the resignations which had been expected in the aftermath of recent damaging events to the union’s image that included an aborted players strike ahead of a test with England in Twickenham late last year.

The resignations ahead of the historic international between Samoa and the All Blacks in July coincide with an obvious backward slide on the national teams’ performances both in 15s and the IRB Sevens circuit.

Talamua News was told that the meeting this week was to determine who would “hold the fort” until a new CEO is appointed.

A talk-back show on New Zealand’s TV3 this week following the Manu Samoa Sevens poor performance in Wellington once again had callers demanding the resignation of those running the Samoa union.

One caller cited differences between the players “which can be told by their body language and their individualistic style of play on the field”.

The cash-strapped union is struggling to secure sponsors for its major campaigns including the World Cup in England.

Resigned CEO Amoa – a lawyer by profession who was appointed by the Samoa Rugby Union when he returned to Samoa after working for the Forum Fisheries Agency in Honiara – inherited a bad legacy from the former administration that was only partly cleaned up after the 2011 World Cup.

SRU’s financial reporting systems have not helped and the fallout from the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand remains strong in the public’s memory as some of the funds raised for the players were never recorded and acknowledged, Talamua News reports.