Rugby League: Walker hangs on by one vote as hostilities continue with Super League

The chairman of the Rugby League, Sir Rodney Walker, has survived by a single vote an attempt to unseat him from the game's international board as hostilities flared again between him and Super League.

The ideological split between the two camps opened wide again last night at the meeting of the Rugby League Council in Leeds when Super League clubs staged what their lower division counterparts termed "an ambush".

Sir Rodney, who ousted Maurice Lindsay from his position as chief executive of the Rugby League earlier this month, called the effort "an unnecessary and disgraceful attempt to humiliate me".

He said: "It is the first time in the history of the game that there has been any suggestion that the chairman of the Rugby League should not be this country's representative in the international arena.

"I think people will be shocked that such an attempt should have been made today."

Sir Rodney described the move as "orchestrated" in that it came after two clubs had left the meeting. The vote went 15-14 in favour of a motion from Gary Hetherington of Leeds, seconded by Chris Caisley of Bradford, that Super League should nominate the international board representative, falling one vote short of the 16 needed to make the change.

"If it was an attempt to drive me out of the game, it has failed," he said.

The row with which the meeting ended will only deepen the perception of a game divided.

"The game is not capable of withstanding much more of this conflict and division," said Sir Rodney, whilst the First and Second Division Association, whose clubs, with three exceptions, supported him, called for a judicial review of what it's general manager, Bob Scott, called "the way in which the game is being manipulated.

"There is a sinister and insidious campaign being waged against the Chairman of the League," said Scott. "Things that have gone on in that meeting today are nothing short of disgraceful."

Hetherington, who is also a member of the Super League board of directors, denied any personal motive. "International board business is closely linked with Super League business and our rationale was simply that Britain's one representative should be someone with day-to-day involvement with Super League," he said.

- Dave Hadfield