Nigel Wood's RFL return complete as clubs seek Robert Hicks return

[ian.birchall]

Christ on a bike

Have they never heard the phrase 'Never go back '. It refers to management as well as staff.

[josie andrews]

Joint Statement from Derek Beaumont (Leigh Leopards) and Gary Hetherington (Leeds Rhinos)

In November amid a growing amount of unrest over the direction of, and some decision-making of the Rugby Football League (RFL), the Super League owners met and resolved unanimously to ask the RFL to embrace some change.

This was brought about after clubs had previously suggested a Club Advisory Board in 2023 to improve connectivity between the clubs and the RFL and further when this was again suggested by Leigh Leopards at a Council meeting in the latter part of 2024 with nothing materialising.

Unfortunately, the request to embrace change did not happen as quickly as had been anticipated and weeks rolled into months leading to resolutions being proposed by Leigh Leopards and Batley Bulldogs which have already been widely reported.

The majority of clubs, including clubs from all levels of the professional game, were clear that they wanted a “club led strategic review” of policy and direction. To achieve this, it was necessary that the chair and next in line at the RFL were replaced on an interim basis by the person who would chair the strategic review. The clubs overwhelmingly supported the proposal of Nigel Wood OBE, who served with distinction at the RFL for 17 years, to chair a committee to undertake this work, addressing the challenges we all recognise the sport is facing, and demonstrated that support by way of completing proxy votes to be presented to the RFL.

Having listened to the clubs’ views RFL chair Simon Johnson respectfully accepted the resignation of Sandy Lindsay MBE, who had tendered her resignation prior to any proposed resolutions by the clubs. We would like to place on record our recognition of the fine service and results that Sandy achieved during her time at the RFL, particularly with the community board and the significant growth of Our League Active. Simon then himself, having ensured that he had negotiated that the RFL was involved in the review and being satisfied that correct transparent processes would be followed, implemented resolutions based upon the proxy votes received before resigning his position. This enabled constructive discussions to effect change to take place quickly in line with his ethos of always putting Rugby League first.

We would like to thank Simon for the professional manner that he did this, preventing a need for any meeting and affording more time to the process that would follow. We would like to place on record on behalf of all clubs our recognition of the fine commitment of Simon above and beyond expectations of the position of chair, across not only the RFL but Rugby League Commercial (RLC) and the International Rugby League (IRL) where he served with distinction, earning the utmost respect from his peers and club owners.

During Simon’s six years of leadership the sport has come to the fore as the most inclusive sport in the country, clearly demonstrated by the most inclusive World Cup, seeing not only a vibrant men’s tournament but a thrilling women’s tournament and a vibrant and explosive wheelchair tournament, culminating in a fantastic spectacle of a final. Simon has led the game with strong governance through arguably its most difficult periods, navigating the brain health issues and the horrendously difficult period of the pandemic, securing government funding without which it could be argued the sport would not have survived, given it is a business that depends upon public attendance. We would like to wish Simon well in his future ventures and would hope that he does not become a stranger to the game and is present at the Ashes series that he has been pivotal in securing.

As per the resolution we have implemented Nigel Wood OBE as the chair of the strategic review panel and by right he therefore takes the interim position as chair of the RFL. We will now meet with Nigel in the coming days to form the remainder of that committee to undertake the strategic review.

The review will encompass the “whole of the game” and will solicit views from as wide a cross section as possible, engaging the views of all clubs, and to include those of our biggest assets, our partners and supporters.

The sport has numerous talented people around the clubs and the centre, across different fields and disciplines and the committee will be looking to engage fully with these colleagues to exploit those skill sets.

It is aimed to have this work undertaken, for presentation to the RFL Council at the next scheduled meeting in July, when members will have their say on the best way forward. This is not intended to be a long drawn-out process but a prompt, transparent and effective one that delivers outcomes that will produce results the game needs to achieve.

For the avoidance of doubt, it should be stated that Nigel has agreed to step down from the Bradford Bulls club board throughout this period.

Furthermore, and to negate damaging speculation, we would like to make it clear, Nigel has never sought, nor has he been offered any remuneration for this project. He is considered without doubt by those who have proposed him to be the best and most experienced person for the job given his extensive knowledge of all aspects of the game which can only have been further reinforced having also gained experience of running a club.

We will update with details of the full committee once concluded.

https://www.rugby-league.com/article/63 ... s-rhinos)-

[fozzie58]

So where does this leave us?

Baffling move by the usual suspects just when the sport seemed to be in a fairly stable place the snakes move to protect their self interests in despair of this sport at time I really do

[the pieman]

So where does this leave us?

Baffling move by the usual suspects just when the sport seemed to be in a fairly stable place the snakes move to protect their self interests in despair of this sport at time I really do

i dont think there will be anyone happy with this apart from Beaumont, Hetherington and Wood

seen a couple of facebook posts, and not one positive comment about the change and / or the way it has been forced through

I think we can all be pretty sure that Hetherington and Wood will be fighting to keep the game as it is, and bring Wigan, Saints, Wire or any club that has any ambition to move it forward back to earth with a bump

[fozzie58]

So where does this leave us?

Baffling move by the usual suspects just when the sport seemed to be in a fairly stable place the snakes move to protect their self interests in despair of this sport at time I really do

i dont think there will be anyone happy with this apart from Beaumont, Hetherington and Wood

seen a couple of facebook posts, and not one positive comment about the change and / or the way it has been forced through

I think we can all be pretty sure that Hetherington and Wood will be fighting to keep the game as it is, and bring Wigan, Saints, Wire or any club that has any ambition to move it forward back to earth with a bump

The way I understand it (at least when this story was first mooted)the silver fox from st Helen’s was also in favour of this move,he has form of course if you recall when super league split away from the Rfl he back Lenegan and co till it was time not to back him and it all cost a lot of money to to come back together.

I said it the other week though how has derke become such a powerful figure in the sport?

[the pieman]

So where does this leave us?

Baffling move by the usual suspects just when the sport seemed to be in a fairly stable place the snakes move to protect their self interests in despair of this sport at time I really do

i dont think there will be anyone happy with this apart from Beaumont, Hetherington and Wood

seen a couple of facebook posts, and not one positive comment about the change and / or the way it has been forced through

I think we can all be pretty sure that Hetherington and Wood will be fighting to keep the game as it is, and bring Wigan, Saints, Wire or any club that has any ambition to move it forward back to earth with a bump

The way I understand it (at least when this story was first mooted)the silver fox from st Helen’s was also in favour of this move,he has form of course if you recall when super league split away from the Rfl he back Lenegan and co till it was time not to back him and it all cost a lot of money to to come back together.

I said it the other week though how has derke become such a powerful figure in the sport?

yeah, i'd forgotten about that

re Beaumont, yes, its a strange one. Ok, he's got Leigh going well, but it was only a couple of seasons back he refused to pay players and was chucking his toys out the pram and pulling his funding of the club

[Mike]

He's just after binning IMG. That's all. The "club-led" review's conclusions will be that the club's TV revenues have dropped and IMG haven't raised them back, so we should cancel the contract. (Oh and also get rid of the french teams and bring back PR which is probably what got the championship onside.)

[fozzie58]

He's just after binning IMG. That's all. The "club-led" review's conclusions will be that the club's TV revenues have dropped and IMG haven't raised them back, so we should cancel the contract. (Oh and also get rid of the french teams and bring back PR which is probably what got the championship onside.)

Well I’ve not been impressed with IMG and have made no secret of that Mike but theee are small signs I could be wrong so I wasn’t going to post pretty much what you’ve posted this is,I’m sure about getting rid of them like you say club led means it’s costing brass and we don’t like it (add whippet,whippet and an ay up for our chums across the divide)

[Mike]

He's just after binning IMG. That's all. The "club-led" review's conclusions will be that the club's TV revenues have dropped and IMG haven't raised them back, so we should cancel the contract. (Oh and also get rid of the french teams and bring back PR which is probably what got the championship onside.)

Well I’ve not been impressed with IMG and have made no secret of that Mike but theee are small signs I could be wrong so I wasn’t going to post pretty much what you’ve posted this is,I’m sure about getting rid of them like you say club led means it’s costing brass and we don’t like it (add whippet,whippet and an ay up for our chums across the divide)

I have no particular way of knowing how the IMG deal is going to go. However I do know that they have absolutely no chance of making significant changes to the finances of the sport in less than 2 seasons. Its just crazy to expect that. Its a 10 year plan, you have to give it more than 5 years to even begin to be able to see the eventual end state and judge if we're on track to meet expectations. We lurch from 10 year plan to 10 year plan, giving it 18months to double our income or crowds or something stupid like that and then given up and do something opposite - abandoning that 2 years later as well. Its infuriating.

[thegimble]

The review should have been done by Matty John's in Vegas

Simple get Peter V'landys in for a year on secondment to bring in a plan for the future. Unless this is something more than keep shitty Yorkshire teams competitive in SL then it's another waste

peter v'landys according to John's is the reason for the growth of the NRL.