NIGEL WOOD has been brought into the RFL to drive the game forward after the events of the recent past, which has seen the resignation of the Chairman and several directors. Here he sets out his priorities when taking up his new role.
In the roles I have accepted this week – Chair of the Strategic Review panel set up by the RFL’s shareholders under the member resolutions carried before last week’s Council meeting, and therefore becoming interim Chair of the Rugby Football League – I’m pleased to accept this opportunity from League Express to introduce and explain the position, and my priorities for the sport.
Most of the work will be done in the background – the major narrative around the sport should always concentrate on the action and excitement on the field. The work streams of the Strategic Review will be finalised over the next week or so. We will look to publish these, together with details of the other contributors who have agreed to assist with the process.
Our sport is blessed with talented professionals, in clubs, at the RFL and Rugby League Commercial and indeed everyone, who will happily offer their skills, expertise and energy to move us forward.
We also need to communicate much better – with clubs and other key stakeholders, and most of all with fans.
It has been a successful and enjoyable start to the 2025 season, which is credit to all concerned.
Las Vegas was the obvious highlight, but don’t forget the record-breaking opening round of the Betfred Super League, or the much-improved early rounds of the Challenge Cup and AB Sundecks 1895 Cup.
But behind the scenes, it should be obvious that there are structural problems. The ongoing position at Salford is merely the most serious and obvious evidence of that.
I’ve been around the sport for a while, but I can’t remember there being a group of club owners, at all levels, with as much desire to drive its development, and the resources to make that a reality.
Every month they demonstrate that commitment. But for those owners, we simply must start the process of re-setting the financial landscapes in which we are asking clubs to operate. This is what the Review Process is intended to address.
It’s not just a Rugby League issue – you only must look at what’s happened in the other rugby code, with the loss of three Premiership clubs and another from their Championship, to see the position.
So far in Rugby League, our competitions have survived intact. But the message coming to me, and now through me, loud and clear from our club owners is that they continue to confront tough realities such as Covid loan repayments and recent changes to taxation thresholds. We can’t be complacent about our position – we need to act, with urgency.
In a nutshell, what can we do to address those business fundamentals, of income generation and cost control – and what are the best central support services that give well-run clubs at least the prospect of breaking even?
That will cover issues such as player supply, production of young talent and central overheads control. Are these game-wide functions as efficient as they now need to be, given the financial landscape that we face? Frankly we need to look at everything and test whether we’ve got it quite right in the current financial landscape.
And of course, underpinning all this is whether we have the right governance structure and central support, benchmarking and market intelligence to ensure the delivery of the right services to the clubs, who week in and week out bust a gut to provide our entertainment.
The task is to set up the sport for the next ten years, to provide an exciting and compelling narrative, for growth.
The sport’s attack brand is the Super League, which is the wealth generator – and putting that back onto an upward income trajectory for growth is essential for the health of all the sport.
There is some great stuff going on right now around the clubs, some great case studies, some positive examples. How good would it be to get more of those, league deep and wide? What is our vision for our best competition over the next decade?
A similar exercise will be undertaken for the Community, Women’s and Wheelchair games.
Grading has lifted standards and who can seriously object to that? We should not apologise for continuing to seek to raise those standards. Similarly, international rugby, both the national side and club internationals, can deliver more high-quality Rugby League events, all as part of a balanced calendar with the right flow and peaks.
There are numerous external challenges that can blow us off course. The media and digital landscape are changing, as are viewing habits. Social habits are changing, and active participation patterns are varying. Again, these aren’t just issues for Rugby League – like every sport in a crowded marketplace, we must refresh, innovate and re-challenge ourselves to be even better, all the time.
If history teaches us anything, our sport makes most progress when we are all working collaboratively towards strong common objectives, with a clear sense of direction and a clear vision. That’s another immediate priority for me – working with all clubs, the RFL executive, staff and a reshaped Board, as well as Rugby League Commercial and other stakeholders, to ensure we are pushing as effectively as possible in the same direction.
To that end, the work has already started and will pick up pace this week. We will add three or four members to the Implementation Committee, which I have been charged to lead. We must remain compliant with Sport England’s Code of Good Governance.
By the time we report to the July Council meeting, we need to have laid the foundations for the necessary reset. It won’t be easy – but nothing worthwhile ever is.
