International Rugby League (IRL) has revealed it is “saddened” and “concerned” by the news of the resignation of the Rugby Football League Chair and Deputy Chair of the International Rugby League, Simon Johnson.
IRL Chairman Troy Grant hailed Johnson’s contribution to the governing body, with the latter serving on the IRL Board for five years.
In a tribute to Johnson, Grant outlined the “selfish amateur administration” that the former inherited when he was part of the IRL rebuild.
And in doing so, Grant took a swipe at former IRL chief Nigel Wood who was Johnson’s predecessor and who is being widely touted as taking over from Johnson at the RFL.
Grant said: “Simon has been a wonderful contributor to the rebuilding of International Rugby League as part of the new board who inherited an organisation that suffered a telling period of selfish amateur administration, lack of vision and strategy and poor governance. With his fellow Directors, he helped guide and navigate the organisation through the pandemic period and made a meaningful contribution to the organisation’s rebuild structurally, operationally, and financially.”
Johnson has been a member of the RFL Board since 2014 and served as RFL Chair for nearly six years, playing a key role in England’s hosting of the Rugby League World Cup in 2022.
Grant continued: “Simon has been instrumental in building the strong relationships that now exist between the Australian Rugby League Commission and Rugby Football League fostering a close personal and working relationship with ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys. This relationship has seen record investment back into the international game, regular tours of southern hemisphere teams in Tonga and Samoa to England in recent years and the historic return of the Kangaroos tour to England in the Autumn of 2025.
“Simon is deeply admired and respected by his fellow IRL Board Directors, and my friend will be greatly missed. He has been a wonderful Deputy Chair to me, who was always fully supportive with the highest integrity, decency, and has always acted in the game’s best interests. I will miss him dearly as sound counsel and only wish him every success in the future.”
