SACA’s succession plan as McLachlan era closes
When the Ashes Test match is played at Adelaide Oval in December the man who has driven the ground’s $535 million redevelopment will be “just a member” of the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA).
Ian McLachlan ends his 14-year run as SACA president at this year’s AGM in September, a few days before his 77th birthday.
His replacement will almost certainly be commercial lawyer Andrew Sinclair in a carefully managed succession that began last December.
It signals a substantial transformation for the SACA as its older board members retire. Ex-Premier John Bannon and long-time vice president Rex Sellers are not expected to stand for re-election.
“The SACA will be a cricket association that focuses on cricket rather than being a stadium manager or concert promoter,” board member Andrew Sincock told Indaily this week.
“As well as the change in focus for the SACA, we are seeing a changing of the guard after being guided through some dynamic times.
Sincock, a former Shield cricketer and coach, has been on the board since 2000 and paid tribute to McLachlan.
“Watching Ian McLachlan carry the Adelaide Oval redevelopment through has been amazing.
“When no-one else thought it remotely feasible, he began a series of discussions with the AFL in 2007 that will see the return of football to Adelaide Oval in March next year.
“He kept the board fully briefed in that time and it shows the respect we had for him that not one single detail ever leaked out.
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“While Ian will no longer be the SACA president come September, he will continue his role as chairman of the Stadium Management Authority which oversees the Oval’s joint tenancy arrangements between football and cricket.
“Once it’s bedded down, Ian will probably then step down, having achieved the unachievable.
"“It’s hard to imagine; Ian will chair the September AGM and then the next morning, he’ll be just a member.”"
Such is the respect for McLachlan, none of the SACA board members approached by InDaily wanted to discuss the succession plan.
“It would be presumptive of the board’s role in appointing its president immediately after the September AGM,” one explained.
Joining the dots, however, makes it clear what will happen, other than in unforeseen circumstances.
Last December, McLachlan’s most likely successor – Rex Sellers – stepped down from the role of vice-president, which he had held throughout McLachlan’s time as president.
In a brief statement on 19 December, the board announced: “Andrew Sinclair has been elected as the new Vice President of the South Australian Cricket Association following the retirement of Rex Sellers from the role during the SACA Board of Management meeting held at Adelaide Oval on Monday evening”.
Sinclair was unanimously elected to the role.
It suggests the board is locked into the transition and the older guard is making way.
Sinclair is a partner in law firm Cowell Clarke and came onto the board to fill the casual vacancy caused by the 2009 retirement of Alan Hill.
His initiation into board activity was swift, asked to take part in the clandestine two day meeting held in mid-November 2009 where the Heads of Agreement between football and cricket was nutted out in the AFL’s Melbourne offices.
Sinclair told InDaily the new Adelaide Oval will be an enormous legacy of Ian McLachlan’s contribution.
“We’ll be the envy of other States,” he said.
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“It will make a major contribution to the city’s economy and will reverse the trend of people leaving here to go to the MCG for a football experience.
“We can expect visitors to come here for the footy or cricket and stay longer to experience what SA has to offer.
“It will be wonderful.”
"The flamboyant Sincock is the likely next vice-president, which will cause some headaches for those who have a poor memory for names."
The two Andrews – Sinclair and Sincock – have already been referred to as the Twin Towers of Sin.
McLachlan has carefully managed the transition from his presidency.
His experience with the problems caused by an agreed leadership deal between Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello may have taught him a salient lesson.
McLachlan made a written record of a 1995 deal between Howard and Costello, arranging a handover of power after one and a half terms if Howard was allowed to become Opposition Leader without challenge, and then won office from the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
Howard later reneged on the deal.
In 2006, journalist Glenn Milne revealed that McLachlan still carried the written note in his wallet.
Howard later said in The Howard Years documentary that he had decided to hand over the Prime Ministership to Costello in 2006 but changed his mind as a result of the revelation of the deal.
By contrast, the SACA transition has been marked by its silence, its professionalism and its seamlessness.
It also allows McLachlan the exit he deserves.
In 57 years he has been a State cricketer, board member, president and agent of enormous change, leaving the SACA in the best possible shape.
It’s been achieved in tandem with a remarkable life that has included being managing director of the family’s pastoral company Nangwarry Pastoral Company Pty Ltd, deputy chairman of SA Brewing Pty Ltd, director of Elders IXL Ltd and president of the National Farmers Federation.
He also spent eight years in federal politics as the member for Barker and was Federal Minister for Defence from 1996 to 1998.
Pity the person who has to come up with an appropriate retirement gift.
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