Connacht announce new CEO

Posted on May 1, 2012 in Connacht, Irish Rugby

A new chapter in the development of Connacht Rugby begins today with the announcement that the IRFU and Connacht Rugby have appointed Mr. Tom Sears as the next Chief Executive of the western province.

Sears, 43, steps into the role from his current position as CEO of Cricket Kenya and replaces the highly respected Gerry Kelly, who is retiring having served as the Chief Executive of Connacht Rugby since 1999.

Sears has impressive experience across the professional sports environment, with Rugby at the heart of his early career. A former journalist during the 1990’s, he previously held roles in the communications and commercial areas for both the RFU and Northampton Saints, before moving to the sport of Cricket in 2000, where he was the commercial director for Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

During his time there he helped to significantly grow revenues and sponsorship across both the professional and community levels of the game in the county, before moving on to become the Chief Executive of Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 2005. He oversaw radical restructuring of the organisation and its finances, redevelopment of its grounds and returning it to profitability.

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Thomas steps down as RFU CEO

Posted on Nov 30, 2011 in English Rugby, RFU

Stephen Brown took over the role of Acting CEO from Martyn Thomas as of yesterday, Tuesday, November 29.

As previously stated, Martyn Thomas will also on December 16 relinquish the chairmanship of England Rugby 2015 , the directorship of European Rugby Cup Ltd and step down from the International Rugby Board Council and the Six Nations Committee.

Martyn Thomas said: “Stephen has increasingly taken over the day to day running of the RFU since I announced on November 2 that I would not be renewing my contract after December 16. He has demonstrated in the time that he has been at the RFU that he is immensely capable and this has been underlined once again in the last few weeks. It is therefore entirely logical that he takes on the role of acting CEO as soon as possible. He is highly respected by the staff and I have every confidence that he will provide the stability and leadership needed until a new permanent CEO takes office.

“It has been an honour to serve the Union, most recently as Acting CEO where I have been lucky enough to get to know the staff who continue to work so hard for the good of the game. They are led by a superb Executive. The RFU has much to look forward to, not least hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and I wish them well.”

RFU Chairman Paul Murphy said: “Our thanks go to Martyn for all the time and effort he has invested on behalf of the RFU in England over the years. Much credit in particular must go to him for the decision to award England the hosting of the Rugby World Cup in 2015.  I have said before that Stephen Brown is a great asset to the Union and we have every confidence that he will have a positive influence during this transitional period until the new CEO takes office.”

Professional game in “good shape” says Premiership rugby clubs CEO

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

The Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs held their Pre-Season Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th July. The Conference involved leading commercial partners and was attended by Chairmen, Chief Executives and Directors of Rugby from the clubs, as well as Referees and Players. The 2010/11 season was reviewed from both a rugby as well as a commercial perspective.

Playing statistics for 2010/11 confirmed that the attraction and quality of the matches in Aviva Premiership Rugby continued to improve following the priority given at the end of the previous season to the refereeing of the breakdown and the scrum. Highlights included an increase in passes (+10%), a decrease in kicking in open play (-21%) and a increase in average tries per match (+19%). The average number of scrums needing to be reset (33%) decreased for the second successive season. These trends are reflected in our supporter base with results from the most recent Fan Survey indicating that 90% of supporters think the quality of rugby in Aviva Premiership Rugby is excellent or good and 61% stating it has further improved.

On the commercial side, very positive feedback was received from new title sponsor, Aviva, and TV partner, ESPN, both of whom enjoyed a very successful first season. With ESPN, Sky Sports and ITV, there is a strong mix of TV platforms for the supporter base and Aviva has now joined a family of sponsors of the Club game comprising some of the world’s leading consumer and commercial brands.

Ahead of the new season, the 2011/12 priorities were confirmed and include close cooperation with the referees to improve further the quality and consistency of this season’s Aviva Premiership Rugby competition, as well as commercial plans to increase development of content for the internet and other new media channels.

Quentin Smith, Premiership Rugby Chairman, said “The range of rugby and commercial issues covered during the conference underlines the continued rapid evolution of Premiership Rugby and its clubs. We are working closely and efficiently with our commercial partners and we have a clear vision of how we shall continue to develop the club game in close association with them. The club Chairmen and CEOs have expressed significant concern with the recent events at the RFU and trust that issues arising out of the Blackett inquiry will be addressed with urgency for the good of the whole Game. The clubs are well-organised and are ready to help, especially given the substantial business experience on their own Boards. We would expect prospective candidates for the RFU Chairman position to meet with us to discuss the issues for the professional game. We shall now channel this through the Professional Game Board at the earliest opportunity”.

Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive, added “The professional game is in good shape and we’re making strong progress on and off the field. We’ve had an excellent exchange of ideas over the last two days with our commercial partners, our clubs and the players, as well as with the RFU Elite Rugby team which continues to work very effectively in partnership with us. We’re all looking forward to a strong performance by England in New Zealand and another great season of Aviva Premiership Rugby. It is now essential that the RFU concentrates on the future, recognises the success which is being achieved through the Professional Game Board, where all stakeholders are represented, and empowers it fully to continue with this success”.

Martyn Thomas confirmed as RFU acting CEO

Posted on Jun 30, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) Board of Directors met yesterday for its regular monthly meeting. Key agenda items included appointing an Acting CEO, hiring a new CEO and appointing an Independent Non-Executive Director.

The Board agreed as follows:

• Martyn Thomas was confirmed as Acting CEO of the RFU until such time as a new CEO is appointed
• Given the Governance issues arising from Thomas’ joint role as Chairman and CEO, Peter Baines, as Senior Non-Executive, will chair Board meetings and monitor Thomas’ tenure as CEO
• The Board agreed to form a small panel to lead the search for the new CEO and that panel will choose whether to use external advisors and if so whom. The chairman of that panel will be confirmed in the next 48 hours
• The Board unanimously committed to accelerate the appointment of an Independent Non-Executive Director and will take proposals for doing so to the RFU Council meeting on 10^th July

In addition the Board took an important step forward in agreeing the long term shape and vision for the RFU field force. It committed to confirm the contracts for all its 132 Community Rugby Coaches (CRCs), many of which are partnership funded, for the financial year starting 1 July 2011 and also agreed to fully fund 120 CRC roles for the financial year starting 1 July 2012.

Peter Baines, Senior Non-Executive Director, commented, “The Board felt it was important, at the current time, to maintain stability in the Union in challenging times. Martyn has done an excellent job in taking over the day-to-day running of the Union since John Steele’s departure and it was felt he was the best person to continue until a new CEO is chosen. In addition we have taken important decisions around other key issues of governance and around securing the futures of key staff. It was a positive and productive meeting.”

Martyn Thomas, Acting CEO, added, “It is important to remember that the RFU itself is in a good position despite recent events. We are set to end the year by beating our budget targets and performances on the field this season by our senior team, Saxons, U20s and Women’s team have all been strong. Finally we have just announced our new Choose Rugby initiative to drive recruitment and retention in our clubs with the O2 Touch programme as the first element of that. So while we accept recent weeks have been challenging there are many good things happening and I am greatly excited by the privilege of leading the RFU as Acting CEO.”

Thomas and Baines take up their roles immediately and will revert to their previous positions on the day the new CEO takes up office.

The Performance Director review group has not met yet so no discussion was had on that topic

Sharks appoint new commercial director

Posted on Jan 28, 2011 in Rugby News

Sale Sharks today announced that Gary Tasker will join the club as Commercial Director in early February. Tasker joins the Sharks having previously worked as Director of Community & Marketing at the Rugby Football League, General manager of Superleague Europe Ltd and CEO of Bradford Bulls RL Club. He will be responsible for the commercial strategy at the club with specific emphasis on sponsorship, corporate sales, business development and developing non match day events.

Speaking about the appointment CEO Mick Hogan said, “Gary’s appointment will be key to a lot of aspects of our off field development and growth. I’m delighted that he has accepted the offer to join the club as his experience and success over the past 25 years in professional sport is second to none. I know he will bring vision, excellent organisation and a great work ethos to our existing commercial programmes. We are looking forward to him having an immediate positive impact as we continue our job of re-building this club on and off the field.”

Gary Tasker commented, “I am tremendously excited by the challenge ahead at Sale Sharks. From speaking to Brian Kennedy and other Board Members the ambition and desire for success is evident throughout the club. I now look forward to playing my part in providing a strong commercial programme that will enable the playing department recruit the best players, coaches and support staff.”