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CONFIRMED: Rugby Australia appoints Raelene Castle as new CEO

12th December, 2017
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Raelene Castle is just one of the many women who make the rugby league world turn. (Image: Photosport)
Expert
12th December, 2017
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Rugby Australia have unveiled Raelene Castle as their new Chief Executive on Tuesday afternoon, with Castle taking over from Bill Pulver and making history in the process.

It’s understood Castle was picked from a pool of 100 applicants, which was whittled down to just three in recent weeks. Former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns was believed to be the other frontrunner for the position.

Rugby Australia Chairman, Cameron Clyne said Castle was a standout from the list of candidates.

“Raelene is an extremely impressive executive who covered every base as far as what the Board was looking for in a Chief Executive Officer to lead our game into an important new chapter, said Clyne.

“She offers an incredible wealth of experience in sports administration and business, with an outstanding track record in commercial, marketing and communications roles.”

Castle becomes the first female boss of any Australian national football code, completing the move after spending four years as CEO of the Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL. She resigned from that role in May of this year, stepping down at the end of the NRL season.

She made history in that role as well, becoming the first woman to run a football club in Australia.

Castle had a bitter end at the Bulldogs though, the club crashing to miss the finals and coach Des Hasler being re-signed for two years before being fired later at the end of the season, leading to legal proceedings.

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Before her time at the Bulldogs, Castle spent six years in charge of Netball New Zealand. The crowning legacy from her run in charge across the ditch was the Trans-Tasman Netball competition which gathered heavy support, although the competition is now defunct.

Clyne said Castle could bring a fresh vision to Rugby Australia and new what would be required.

“Through her most recent roles as CEO of the Bulldogs and Netball New Zealand, Raelene has led sporting organisations at both a national and club level, giving her an in-depth understanding of what it takes to run a national sporting body as well as the unique challenges for clubs and the importance of building strong relationships and a unity of purpose within a sporting code,” said Clyne.

“Raelene impressed the board with her vision for Rugby and her clear understanding of what needs to be done to strengthen and unite the code at all levels. In talking to Raelene, and those who have worked with her over her successful sports administration career, it is clear that she fosters environments of collaboration and high performance, always leading by example.”

Castle said she was looking forward to the road ahead.

“I am honoured to be joining Rugby Australia and bringing to it my commercial and sports management and marketing experience,” said Castle.

“Having followed Rugby closely for over 30 years and having worked in the New Zealand and Australian sporting environments for the past 10 years, there is no doubt Australian rugby has a clear international and domestic offering for both male and female athletes that can be further developed and strengthened.”

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With changes to the format of Super Rugby next season, Rugby Australia (or the ARU as they were known at the time) faced the difficult decision of cutting one team from the competition.

The Western Force ended up losing their place in the competition, sparking outrage. Pulver copped most of the blame and announced at the time he would be standing down from the role of Rugby Australia CEO once a suitable replacement was found.

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