Reports are coming in this morning via Twitter that the CEO of the NRL Dave Smith has quit his position. As yet the reports have not been confirmed and there has been no official announcement.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that there will be an official announcement some time this morning and NRL chairman John Grant will take over Smith’s responsibilities as interim CEO.
Smith was elevated to the position in November 2012 after incumbent David Gallop quit to join Football Australia.
Smith immediately divided the league community as he didn’t have a sporting background and the Englishman reportedly new little of the game in Australia and initially struggled to name teams and star players. In fact, his background was as a banker having held senior roles at Lloyds International, UBS and Deutsche Bank.
In August he famously sold the NRL rights to Channel Nine for close to $1 billion from season 2018-2022, excluding both News and Foxtel from the deal. During his tenure as boss he has been widely criticised for rule changes, the quality of the referring and sitting on his hands when it came to the game’s expansion.
More to come…
