Ralph Rimmer

Ralph Rimmer OBE
Born	Ralph William James Rimmer October 1965 Cumbria, England
Nationality	British
Education	Ulverstone Victoria High School
Alma mater	University of Liverpool
Occupation	Former CEO of the RFL

Ralph William James Rimmer OBE is a rugby league administrator who was the Chief Executive Officer of the Rugby Football League from 2018 to 2022. He was appointed the full-time chief executive after a period of being the interim CEO. ^{[1] [2]} He held the post of Chief Operating Officer for the RFL before being appointed CEO. He was appointed to the role of COO in 2010. ^[3]

Administration

Sheffield-Huddersfield

Rimmers first sports administrative role was in 1997 when he was appointed chief executive of Sheffield Eagles during the early days of the Super League. He enjoyed success with the club winning the Challenge Cup Final in 1998, however as financial pressures developed he then became one of the key players in the 1999 merger with Huddersfield Giants. After the merge Rimmer subsequently became chief executive of the new club and held that position until 2004, when he was succeeded by the incumbent, Richard Thewlis.

During this time until 2002 Rimmer took the part time position of managing the Ireland rugby league team as they appeared at the 2000 World Cup.

Stadium management and Huddersfield Town

After leaving the Giants in 2004 Timmer was appointed Managing Director of the Kirklees Stadium whilst also a member of the Board of Huddersfield Town AFC. Rimmer spent six years as Managing Director of the stadium until he took up a post at the Rugby Football League.

Rugby Football League

Rimmer was appointed Chief Operations Officer of the RFL in 2010 and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2018 following the departure of his predecessor Nigel Wood. Rimmer announced he would leave the RFL at the end of 2022.

Rimmer was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to rugby league football. ^[4]

Independent rugby union advisor

In June 2023 Rimmer was appointed as an independent advisor by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to work with the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby and assist in stabilising the professional future of English rugby union. ^[5]

Controversy

Academy debacle

In May 2021 under Rimmers leadership of the RFL, the governing body stripped four Super League clubs, Castleford, Hull KR, Leigh and Salford as well as Championship club Bradford of elite academy status. The announcement was met with outrage and Rimmer was forced to reverse the decision after an interview with Sky Sports and backlash from the rest of the sport.

Racism allegations

'In September 2022 at the RFL annual awards night at Headingley, Rimmer was discussing Fiji's World Cup preparations ahead of a warm up game with England during a speech and said: "Fiji have already arrived. We don’t think anybody has been arrested yet, do we? No, we’re all right, so we are going pretty well then".

The comments were met with immediate backlash and calls for him to quit his post as RFL CEO early (as he was standing down at the end of the year). Rimmer apologised unreservedly and an investigation is underway. ^[6]

References

1. "Ralph Rimmer: Rugby Football League name Cumbrian as new chief executive". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
2. Davidson, John (27 July 2018). "Crisis-hit Rugby Football League must have lost its marbles to select Ralph Rimmer as CEO". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
3. RFL appoint Ralph Rimmer as Chief Operating Officer Archived 2010-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
4. "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N15.
5. Meagher, Gerard (2 June 2023). "London Irish crisis deepens after HMRC issue winding-up petition against club". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
6. Bower, Aaron (1 October 2022). "RFL CEO Ralph Rimmer facing calls to quit over controversial Fiji comments". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2023.