RFL chairman Richard Lewis appointed Wimbledon chief exec
Richard Lewis, the chairman of the Rugby Football League, has been appointed chief executive at Wimbledon.
Lewis will leave the RFL at the end of April after a decade in charge, to take over at the All England Tennis Club.
Senior non-executive director Maurice Watkins will act as interim chairman at the RFL until a successor is found.
Lewis replaces Ian Ritchie, who left the All England Club in February after six years to become chief executive of the Rugby Football Union.
Lewis, 57, said: "I leave the RFL after 10 fulfilling years during which the sport has grown and prospered.
"I leave with a mixture of sadness but also excitement at taking up another wonderful opportunity."
Watkins, one of the most prominent lawyers in British sport, is a director at Manchester United and is recognised as having played a key role in the establishment of the Premier League.
He will help identify Lewis's permanent successor.
"This is a great moment for someone to come in and help shape the future of a very successful sport," Watkins said.
"The sport has grown and prospered".....Where?
Started by
Eagletarian
, avril 10 2012 12:41
7 replies to this topic
#1
Eagletarian
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Posté 10 avril 2012 - 12:41
Rugby League should be the opiate of the people (Marks not in Las Palmas)
#2
Eagleraider
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Posté 16 avril 2012 - 02:21
It has expanded to areas which deserve to be given a chance such as Northampton and Hemel and Coventry, but has stripped the coffers dry with regards (for example) to Crusaders (you can have a licence even though you broke visa laws, payment of pensions, moved from South to North so you're closer to other SL teams and not a development area... etc etc), Bulls (buy our ground from us RFL so our debt is not so huge), Harlequins, London Crusaders, Fulham, London Broncos, Broncos or whatever you're called, can go t*** up finacially but keep the licence, give licences to clubs whose financial affairs are dubious to the point of bankruptcy (ignore salary caps or exploit payment loopholes which aren't there), have sponsors of SL who pay nothing to sponsor the league, give no incentive to development areas such as Gateshead, Sheffield and Skolars (who in my humble opinion are doing more for RL Development than 75% of the so called 'big' clubs and promote the Challenge Cup by holding the draw on a mickey mouse local radio station that hardly anyone listens to(sorry Radio Cumbria but not a huge listening audience and not accessible elsewhere unless you can tune in via the internet, which is not possible in a car on a train etc, and show games on a tv channel that folks dont watch as it costs even more to subscribe to, even if you can afford SKY Sport, let the BBC cut from very little to minimalistic coverage on terrestrial tv, and certain areas not even getting radio coverage, and the huge (sic) publicity machine of the RFL making the national press aware of the game. A cup competition which has its sponsors (Northern Rail) not even providing trains to venues on Sundays and so on................
Yes Richard Lewis, you have done more to kill the sport, where is the incentive for the developing successful teams, eg Sheffield which operates at a profit, runs 1st, U23s, U18s, U16s, U15s, an academy, a scholarship, coaches in goodness knows how many schools(for nowt), promotes the anti-homophobic banner, sponsors the Autism Awareness etc etc............... and what has the RFL done towards that ?
Take the rose-tinted specs off, get back to your over-rated money grabbing lawn tennis and croquet set in London, from whence you came, you have failed rugby league.............miserably.
Rant over
Yes Richard Lewis, you have done more to kill the sport, where is the incentive for the developing successful teams, eg Sheffield which operates at a profit, runs 1st, U23s, U18s, U16s, U15s, an academy, a scholarship, coaches in goodness knows how many schools(for nowt), promotes the anti-homophobic banner, sponsors the Autism Awareness etc etc............... and what has the RFL done towards that ?
Take the rose-tinted specs off, get back to your over-rated money grabbing lawn tennis and croquet set in London, from whence you came, you have failed rugby league.............miserably.
Rant over
Semper In Facaebus Summus Sole Profundum Veriat
#3
shawxdog
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Posté 17 avril 2012 - 08:04
I'll second all of the above.
Great post.
Great post.
#5
Eagletarian
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Posté 18 avril 2012 - 02:57
Even the Sheffield Star Reporter is with us on this one........
Published on Wednesday 18 April 2012 11:18
WHEN the Challenge Cup fifth-round draw was made I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Sheffield Eagles had done all the hard yards - away wins over an amateur team and York City Knights, where despite not hitting the high spots they came away with a 50-18 victory.
After that you deserve a good draw - a home tie with one of the Super League glamour clubs. In the past two seasons there’s been a repeat of the 1998 final against Wigan and a trip to face St Helens. But the omens weren’t good when in this week’s draw the Eagles were given number 13.
It’s great to get a top Super League team - but the South-west of France is quite an away day. The big winner is Ryanair. I’d have taken a trip to Oldham.
Hopefully the Catalan game will attract a good crowd and the Eagles will have a nice cheque at the end.
It’s got to be better than the £2.19 share of the take following the third-round game and the 551 who turned up at York won’t excite the bank manager.
But you can’t beat the Challenge Cup - a competition that always produces drama - and it’s time the BBC realised that.
In last weekend’s games Featherstone Rovers, who a week before had been slammed 60-40 by the Eagles, beat Castleford Tigers from the Super League 23-16. Rovers reward for the win is a visit from Wigan in the fifth round.
The Fev game was on Sky, who this season are sharing the live TV coverage with the BBC. They took a chance on the magic of the Challenge Cup and won. The BBC opted for the ‘safer’ clash of Widnes against St Helens.
The Challenge Cup is the one time live games are shown on free-to-air TV - it used to be two games a round now it’s one and shows that the BBC just don’t want rugby league.
The BBC is obviously happier enjoying a Pimms at Twickers or strawberries and cream at Wimbledon. At least national BBC TV turn up at some games - don’t hold your breath if you’re waiting for Radio Sheffield to spend a bit of our licence fee covering an Eagles game.
The chairman of the RFL Richard Lewis is leaving at the end of the month - he won’t be missed.
A former Davis Cup player, Mr Lewis is going back to his spiritual home as chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis club at Wimbledon.
His legacy - the bungled Welsh experiment, professional clubs struggling to survive, question marks over Super League licensing and did you know there was a World Cup in 2013?
The Eagles had little to do with Mr Lewis – I don’t remember in his 11 years in charge he visited Don Valley.
Given British tennis’ dismal record Mr Lewis looks just right for the job.
Published on Wednesday 18 April 2012 11:18
WHEN the Challenge Cup fifth-round draw was made I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Sheffield Eagles had done all the hard yards - away wins over an amateur team and York City Knights, where despite not hitting the high spots they came away with a 50-18 victory.
After that you deserve a good draw - a home tie with one of the Super League glamour clubs. In the past two seasons there’s been a repeat of the 1998 final against Wigan and a trip to face St Helens. But the omens weren’t good when in this week’s draw the Eagles were given number 13.
It’s great to get a top Super League team - but the South-west of France is quite an away day. The big winner is Ryanair. I’d have taken a trip to Oldham.
Hopefully the Catalan game will attract a good crowd and the Eagles will have a nice cheque at the end.
It’s got to be better than the £2.19 share of the take following the third-round game and the 551 who turned up at York won’t excite the bank manager.
But you can’t beat the Challenge Cup - a competition that always produces drama - and it’s time the BBC realised that.
In last weekend’s games Featherstone Rovers, who a week before had been slammed 60-40 by the Eagles, beat Castleford Tigers from the Super League 23-16. Rovers reward for the win is a visit from Wigan in the fifth round.
The Fev game was on Sky, who this season are sharing the live TV coverage with the BBC. They took a chance on the magic of the Challenge Cup and won. The BBC opted for the ‘safer’ clash of Widnes against St Helens.
The Challenge Cup is the one time live games are shown on free-to-air TV - it used to be two games a round now it’s one and shows that the BBC just don’t want rugby league.
The BBC is obviously happier enjoying a Pimms at Twickers or strawberries and cream at Wimbledon. At least national BBC TV turn up at some games - don’t hold your breath if you’re waiting for Radio Sheffield to spend a bit of our licence fee covering an Eagles game.
The chairman of the RFL Richard Lewis is leaving at the end of the month - he won’t be missed.
A former Davis Cup player, Mr Lewis is going back to his spiritual home as chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis club at Wimbledon.
His legacy - the bungled Welsh experiment, professional clubs struggling to survive, question marks over Super League licensing and did you know there was a World Cup in 2013?
The Eagles had little to do with Mr Lewis – I don’t remember in his 11 years in charge he visited Don Valley.
Given British tennis’ dismal record Mr Lewis looks just right for the job.
Rugby League should be the opiate of the people (Marks not in Las Palmas)
#6
Phil Stone
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Posté 21 avril 2012 - 08:16
I agree with everything on here probably with the exception at the Northern Rail comment.
They are trying to improve brand awareness as anyone who sponsors any competition are trying to do. Running trains to matches isn't as easy as it sounds so unless another sponsor came in offering more money we need to be grateful that Northern Rail are involved in the sport
Like you we run all the teams without the funding and you are a club that newcomers should model themselves on because your progression year on year has been impressive
They are trying to improve brand awareness as anyone who sponsors any competition are trying to do. Running trains to matches isn't as easy as it sounds so unless another sponsor came in offering more money we need to be grateful that Northern Rail are involved in the sport
Like you we run all the teams without the funding and you are a club that newcomers should model themselves on because your progression year on year has been impressive
#8
blackhawk
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boxer boy
Posté 01 mai 2012 - 12:32
be glad to see the back of him,sorry woods isnt going too the tub of lard ,seconded
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