The Friday Interview:He might have been no great shakes as a player but Philip Browne's recruitment in 1992 as assistant secretary by the Irish Rugby Football Union gave the affable Dubliner a small place in the history of the sport here.
"I was the first middle manager brought in by the IRFU," he explains. "At that time there were only eight people employed full-time by the union and a couple in the provinces."
By his own admission, Browne was an average second row forward and never graduated in the sport beyond his time in school.
He was later to make a name for himself as a rower, winning a clutch of national titles and representing Ireland in two world championships in the mid-1980s.
After stints with Andersen Consulting and the Institute of Pharmacology and having completed an MBA, Browne was recruited by the IRFU. It was a time when the sport was still very much an amateur one on this island. Fifteen years on and Browne presides over an organisation that employs 300 full-time staff, including about 130 players.
It controls four professional sides - Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster - and when its accounts are signed off at the end of this month, they will show a profit of about €3 million from turnover of €50 million.
It's a war chest that could come in handy in 2008 if the leading clubs in France and England follow through on their threat to boycott next season's Heineken Cup unless they are given a bigger slice of the action.
This would cost the IRFU more than €4 million in lost revenues, while Leinster, Munster and Ulster between them would be hit in the pocket to the tune of €3-4 million.
Browne is blunt in his assessment of the impasse. "The owners of professional rugby clubs only have one agenda - to make as much money as possible and to recoup their investments. The concern is that the ambitions of the owners of rugby clubs in France and England revolve around trying to grab a significant amount of revenues for themselves. That would be to the detriment of the wider game."
Browne's said the IRFU's €10 million-a-year investment in the grassroots level of the sport here would be placed in jeopardy. "We would suddenly run into problems," he says. "Hopefully, common sense will prevail. Either way, the English and French unions have told us that they will be putting teams [ possibly second-tier clubs] in to the competition next season."
The Heineken Cup row is an unwelcome distraction for Browne at a time when he is trying to press ahead with the revamp of Lansdowne Road.
An Bord Pleanála recently gave the €365 million project the thumbs up, albeit with certain conditions attached, but two big hurdles remain to be cleared.
A strip of land along the banks of the Dodder river, which is owned by Dublin City Council, is required by the stadium development company to aid access to the ground. This is currently under negotiation, with a number of local residents seeking to block the sale and so frustrate the development. Browne is confident a deal can be worked out.
Separately, Wanderers, one of the tenant clubs at Lansdowne, is seeking to prevent the demolition of its quaint cottage-style clubhouse at the south west corner of the pitch until a compensation package is worked out.
The matter was due to be listed for a court hearing this week. "They [ Wanderers] are looking for a package of benefits that far exceeds the value of their site."
Lansdowne's redevelopment is already a couple of months behind schedule. Demolition work is due to start at the beginning of May and if all goes to plan the new stadium should be ready by the end of 2009 with it open to the public early the following year.
It's a project that requires the IRFU to kick in just under €100 million. To fund this, the union is selling 5,000, 10-year premium seats for €15,000 each. This will yield €75 million. It is also selling corporate boxes.
Browne said the IRFU is oversubscribed with interest in these tickets. "The clubs will get the first crack of the whip."
A "manageable" level of debt will also be incurred. "This will be washed out in a reasonable space of time."
The IRFU is one of the few sporting bodies in Ireland in a robust financial position. Its 2006 annual report show that it closed the year with a cash balance of €25.4 million.
It also owns 95 acres at Newlands Cross in south Dublin that was bought for a relative pittance in 1994 as a fallback for a new stadium in the event that Lansdowne could not be redeveloped. The Newlands site is currently zoned as open space but a change in designation would make it a hugely valuable for the union. About 12 months ago, An Post got €7.4 million an acre by selling its former SDS warehouse just down the road.
Browne said the IRFU will eventually use part of the land but not until the new Lansdowne Road is completed. "At the moment it's being farmed," Browne said. "We're looking at how we might use it in terms of a community development in Tallaght, which we very much want to do. We've about 3,000 kids playing rugby in Tallaght regularly and we're keen to build on that. The [ long-term] aim would be to use a significant portion of the land.
Browne is also planning for the development of a state-of-the-art training and accommodation facilities at the sports campus being built by the State at Abbotstown. "This would be a world class facility and put us on a par with France and New Zealand."
By the time Lansdowne Road opens its doors again for business, Browne will be pushing 50 and have spent 18 years with the union. Any thoughts on a change of career at that point? "There'll come a time when a fresh approach is needed but that won't be until after we bring through this particular project [ Lansdowne]."
On the Record
Name:Philip Browne.
Born:1961.
Position:Chief executive with the Irish Rugby Football Union since 1998.
Family:Married with two sons.
Career:Previously worked for Andersen Consulting and the Institute of Pharmacology. Completed an MBA before joining IRFU in 1992.
Something that might surprise:Represented Ireland at rowing world championships in the 1980s before having to quit due to a back injury.
Something you might expect:Chairman of the Lansdowne Road Development Company.
Outside interests:Hill walking, swimming and sailing.
Why in the news?A threatened boycott of the Heineken Cup by leading clubs in France and England jeopardises the €8 million in annual revenues earned by the IRFU and the provinces.
