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Despite former Wallabies hooker and now Fox Sports commentator and successful businessman Phil Kearns being heavily favoured a fortnight ago, former Canterbury Bulldogs chief executive Raelene Castle has been unveiled as Bill Pulver’s replacement as Rugby Australia CEO.
In terms of background, Castle comes into the job with an impressive mix of business and sports administration experience. She worked in marketing and corporate communications in the banking and communications industries in New Zealand for nearly fifteen years, before serving as the CEO of Netball New Zealand for six years.
Undoubtedly, the biggest success during this tenure was the formation of the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, pushing elite netball to semi-professionalism in both Australia and New Zealand for the nine seasons it ran. Castle also found success lifting participation rates for netball within New Zealand Schools.
With RA just this morning announcing a significant uplift in the participation rates of its Game On program for primary school students aged six to twelve – “a 112 per cent increase in just 24 months,” according to the statement – Castle’s appointment would come right at the time where rugby is experiencing growth in the number of government schools signing up to the program.
This is not a bad thing at all.
Castle also recently finished up a four-year term as CEO of rugby league club Canterbury after resigning in May, where she had been the first female club boss in the NRL. The Bulldogs played in three finals series during Castle’s time at the club, including the 2014 grand final loss to South Sydney.
I genuinely wish Raelene Castle well, and there’s no doubt that rugby in Australia will receive plenty of goodwill from her appointment. Not just for the fact that she will become the first female CEO of one of the four football codes in the country, but because the perception will be there that, finally, the ARU/Rugby Australia has got away from its Shore School-Mosman cookie-cutter methods of recruitment of years past.
(AAP Image/Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs)
But the perception will also be there that Castle’s appointment is a case of RA being seen to be doing the right thing. Until Castle physically gets her feet under the desk and achieves success as CEO in her own right, that perception will linger.
Until as recently as a week ago, it seemed all but a foregone conclusion that Kearns had won the role.
Was his name ‘put out there’ during the application and interview process to test public opinion? Were people in key decision-making positions spooked by the inevitable public reaction to Kearns’ likely appointment? Were their worst fears confirmed, or was it a calculated move to smooth the waters for Castle’s ascent to the role?
Only those on the selection panel will ever know.
I had a conversation a few weeks back around the process, and the possible candidates, and it was clear that Castle and Kearns were really the only two in the frame. Football Federation Australia boss David Gallop’s name had been thrown up, but the feeling was that he was effectively playing the role of Jake White whenever an international coaching job comes up. He’s a candidate in theory, but not interested enough to actually apply.
The support for Kearns in this conversation was also clear, and when his credentials were listed against Castle’s, it was hard to disagree with it.
His rugby credentials are well known as both a former Wallabies captain and current and long-term Fox Sports commentator. He’s remained in touch with the game at most levels since retirement, and has had a successful business career to boot, where he’s currently managing director of insurance company InterRISK Australia. Before that, he was CEO at private equity firm Centric Wealth, and he’s heavily involved in charities, too.
He was the perfect candidate for the role, they argued. No-one could compete with him.
This might be true, but there was just one nagging little problem. Kearns could be the absolute standout applicant, I said in response, the one the consultants unanimously recommend, and even the one who might be inclined to take on the role for a bit less than others just because he wants to give back to the game that’s given him so much.
But his appointment will look like another job for the boys. Last week’s reaction proved that.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
And I feel sorry for Kearns, in many respects. I don’t claim to know him at all, but I know him enough to say g’day in the commentary boxes, and that he’s a very different guy to how he comes across over the microphone. He’s still clearly passionate about the game, and I’ve no doubt he would’ve served rugby well as CEO.
But I equally feel sorry for Castle now. She may also have been the standout candidate in her own right, and her mix of business marketing experience and sports administration might have had Kearns and the still-unnamed third candidate well covered.
Yet the perception of this being something of the token appointment will be there. You can already see it in social media and online comments, including right here on The Roar.
I hope she has better luck running rugby in Australia than she ultimately did running Canterbury, where she eventually grew tired of dealing with the Bulldogs board. I hope she has a better time of it than Tracey Gaudry did at AFL club Hawthorn, who was sacked after just five months in the role for reasons that still aren’t totally clear.
Australian rugby can be a beast at times, and that’s without even bringing petty state politics into it. It’s a somewhat unpopular opinion to suggest that Bill Pulver did a pretty reasonable job as CEO until this last year, but even he, with all his business smarts, found the beast and the politics difficult to deal with at times.
I hope Raelene Castle is ready to deal with all of that.
Above all else, though, I truly hope that Raelene Castle is the right person to lift the game out of its current mire, and isn’t just a case of the game wanting to be seen to be doing the right thing.