Following Terminator's suggestion I had a look at the NZF rules. For those that can't be arsed reading it, here are some edited highlights (and to those in the know, please correct me if I'm wrong):
- there are 3 'Part A' board members, one of whom is eligible to be voted in as Chairperson by the board itself.
- the Part A board members are elected by the 7 federations for a 4-year term (I assume each fed gets one vote).
- the board ultimately consists of the 3 Part A members, 7 Part B members, and up to 2 additional co-opted members.
- the Part B members themselves are selected by a three-person Board Appointments Panel, one of whom is the NZF president, with the others being the Chairman of Sport NZ (currently rugby/cricket man, Paul Collins), and a nominee of the Federation Chairs.
- the co-opted members can be brought in by the board at their discretion to provide expertise for a 1-year term, and have full voting rights. What are the chances Ricki could land one of these spots in the near future?
- the current Chairman, Frank van Hattum, was up for re-election as a board member at the annual congress in 2011, which means his 4-year term will end in 2015.
The bottom line is that, as Boro4eva said, angsting on the forums will not achieve anything. And as ForteanTimes suggested, perhaps the best bet is to get in the ear of your fed reps.
Edit1: Forgot to mention, the Part B members are also elected for 4-year term.
Edit2: I see I've effectively repeated info copied and pasted (from the NZF website) onto page 1 of this thread by Terminator. My apologies, but in my defence I am making an effort to become more informed.