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The Australian Rugby Union have announced former Brumbies CEO Andrew Fagan will take over as General Manager of National Teams and Competitions.
Fagan left the Brumbies in late 2013, after 12 years in charge of the ACT-based club.
When announcing his departure last year, Fagan said that he was “presented with a number of opportunities” that he had been unable to explore with his tenure at the Brumbies.
The move had been rumoured earlier this week, with ABC radio in Canberra reporting that Fagan was set to join the ARU.
The newly created role would see Fagan overseeing the national teams including the Wallabies, Wallaroos, men’s and women’s sevens and under-20s teams, with a heavy emphasis on returning the Wallabies to the top of the rugby tree.
ANNOUNCEMENT: ARU have announced that former @BrumbiesRugby CEO Andrew Fagan has been appointed General Manager -National Teams & Competitions
— Qantas Wallabies (@QantasWallabies) March 5, 2014
ARU CEO Bill Pulver hailed the announcement as an opportunity to grow the profile of the game nationally, including the expansion of sevens rugby.
“Andrew Fagan has extensive experience in sports administration, including 12 years leading the Brumbies and will bring a strong commercial focus to ensure our national teams, sevens programs and national competitions are successful,” said Mr Pulver.
“He will be responsible for identifying additional commercial opportunities for the terrific assets we have in Australian Rugby including the Qantas Wallabies and sevens.
“He will also be accountable for further expanding sevens domestically and developing the new National Rugby Championship as a competitive and profitable development competition for Australian Rugby.
“This appointment recognises that we need to throw more effort behind our sevens program to ensure we can maximise on opportunities through the inclusion of Rugby sevens at this year’s Commonwealth Games for men and at the 2016 Olympic Games for men and women.”
Fagan said the prospect of growing sevens rugby as well as the new National Rugby Championship were two focuses:
“I’m really excited at the prospect of helping sevens become a truly iconic Summer sport and to work with Australian Rugby’s commercial and non-commercial partners including Government agencies to maximise the opportunities for rugby and enhance the success of our national teams, including the highly-regarded Wallabies brand,” said Mr Fagan.
“The National Rugby Championship is an important way of creating a better pathway for players to move from club competitions to Super Rugby and I’m looking forward to ensuring this new competition flourishes through commercial opportunities.”
The role will assume some of the functions performed by former ARU high-performance manager David Nucifora.
The Brumbies are yet to replace Fagan.
Andrew Fagan:
– 2002-2013: Held the positions of General Manager from 2002-2005, and Chief Executive from 2005-December 2013 at Brumbies Rugby/ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union.– 1993-2002: Held a number of roles at the Australian Sports Commission, including policy development; working to develop national sports programs in Asia-Pacific; and working with national sporting organisations to improve productivity.
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