Nigel Wood appointed permanent chairman of the RFL

   24/03/2026

NIGEL WOOD has been appointed permanent chairman of the RFL, with four independent non-executive directors also appointed.

All the candidates had been selected by the RFL Nominations Committee last month and Council members voted them in at a meeting in Salford on Tuesday.

Dermot Power and Lord Jonathan Caine will serve for a four-year period while Sara Symington has been appointed for three years and Emma Rosewarne will sit until March 2028.

Power, Rosewarne and Caine already sat on the board of directors while Symington is a former professional cyclist who has held leadership roles at several sports bodies including UK Sport and UK Athletics.

Wood, who was RFL chief executive from 2011 to 2018, will serve until March 2027 with the option for the new, independent and permanent RFL Board to extend his stint by a further fixed term of 12 months.

He returned to the RFL Board as senior executive director last spring and has been interim chairman since July.

Wood has also been the chairman of Rugby League Commercial since last June.

The RFL chairmanship was advertised in December with the intention for one chair to run the RFL, RL Commercial and Super League in an alignment of the sport’s leadership.

Wood said: “I am honoured and grateful that members have voted for me to chair the RFL Board as we undertake important work in our bid to grow the sport.

“There is much to be enthused about as Super League celebrates its 30th birthday and we continue to implement the important findings of our Strategic Review.

“With the rest of the Board also now confirmed, I’m looking forward to working together with all of Rugby League’s stakeholders as we formulate a strategic plan of delivery and change.”

Also at the meeting, the new Salford club was admitted as an RFL member, following the liquidation of the old Red Devils club.

However, it is understood that Halifax Panthers’ new ownership was established too late to be voted on, and will have to wait until the next council meeting in the summer to have RFL membership officially restored.