David Gallop stands down as CEO

[Babyface O'reilly]

4 months into a 4 year contract, of course he was pushed out.

I hope he was pushed out. Why would a CEO voluntarily quit on the eve of the biggest TV deal in the game's history? Unless of course, it looks like being a dud and doesn't want to get tainted with it. So I really hope he did get pushed.

 

[coolumsharkie]

Yeah great you love Dave, anyone with a brain can see him for what he was. A news Lackey who served his masters well, a weak leader who at times talked up our major competitor as to why they are a better TV product than us. Never stood up to Nein or News once for the betterment of the game, and terrible with a microphone is his face.

Thats pretty much how I saw him.

 

[blukablu]

I hope he was pushed out. Why would a CEO voluntarily quit on the eve of the biggest TV deal in the game's history? Unless of course, it looks like being a dud and doesn't want to get tainted with it. So I really hope he did get pushed.

The ALC/NRL hired two (or three?) separate independent consultant groups to help over see the TV rights negotiations. That tells me they tried to keep him as least involved as possible.

 

[Brutus]

Gallop's "reactive" style was summed up during the Wagga Wagga thingy.

On a plane as soon as he found out that rugby league was missing out...or until rugby league fans and sections of the media started blowing up about it.

 

[Brutus]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/why-gallop-had-to-go-20120605-1zudx.html

Feel free to vote in the SMH poll of Gallop's performance.

24 percent of people think he's done a fantastic job. You've got to be kidding.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Anyone listen to the Rush Hour last night on Triple M? Rabs & Slothfield were guests and both of them, along with the host (think it's Dan Ginnane) basically fellated Gallop the whole time. In particular, they kep banging on about him being walked yesterday was so undignified - something that is an everyday occurrence in pretty much every white collar industry throughout the world.

On another note, have never heard Rothfield speak before. I now know why he's in newspapers.

 

[Frailty]

You could make a strong case they had nowhere to go but up when he took over.

People keep claiming this, but no one has actually made this strong case.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

So in other words 9 of his 10 years (not even including this year) were the best ever for crowd averages

Firstly, it is well established that crowd numbers are rubbish - clubs have been (and continue to be) caught fudging figures. Take out the Broncos 35,000 every 2 weeks - you have about 9-10,000 on average watching rubyleague, which is non-growth for a very long time.

Gallop was put in by News Limited to make sure their interests were covered. As a lawyer, he spent 10 years as NRL CEO doing nothing and mumblings inanities because that was his job. He is a News Limited nuff nuff. In 6 months, he will land a job as News Limited company secretary, as thanks for 10 years of Superleague servitude.

The game has gone nowhere in this 10 years. It always had a core support base that grows incrementally. There are now more people staying home to watch PayTV than go to games. The game's expansion in 10 years was to put in a pipedream house of cards that is now falling over whilst the CC Bears has waited 13 years for the most obvious licence in the world.

There is only one other position that would suit Gallop more - no accountability, overpaid, no qualifications, just bullshit on and achieve nothng - and that is politics.

Good riddance.

 

[Noa]

People keep claiming this, but no one has actually made this strong case.

Show me then the great things Gallop done to improve them, no-ones actually made that strong a case.

To me it was the increasing skill and athleticism of the players and the memory of SL fading that was due to the increase in crowds. Even obvious things like membership drives we're club driven.

 

[firechild]

Show me then the great things Gallop done to improve them, no-ones actually made that strong a case.

To me it was the increasing skill and athleticism of the players and the memory of SL fading that was due to the increase in crowds. Even obvious things like membership drives we're club driven.

This. Super League almost killed rugby league but the fact is the people still loved the game, even if they hated what the competition had become. The mergers between Wests and Balmain, Manly and Norths, Illawarra and St George as well as the casting out of Souths, Perth, Adelaide, Hunter, South QLD and the Gold Coast meant thousands of fans were lost. It's not surprising that almost 10 years after super league things started to get better. A new generation began to come through that had not been scarred by the events of the mid 90s, people became more accepting of the Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra Dragons. The Titans fudged some numbers which helped those using crowd numbers to defend Gallop.

 

[Frailty]

Show me then the great things Gallop done to improve them, no-ones actually made that strong a case.

To me it was the increasing skill and athleticism of the players and the memory of SL fading that was due to the increase in crowds. Even obvious things like membership drives we're club driven.

As previously mentioned, sponsorship and merchandise royalties skyrocketed (not just increased) under Gallop including a 40% jump between 2004-2005. For a game that you claim was naturally increasing incrementally, there would be no explanation for drastic jump that the game saw.

But then again what the Confederation of Sports Awards know, or the Australian Sports Commission, or the Business Review Weekly know...

 

[Dresden Dan]

Who is that reportor from Melbourne on Sky's Sportsline with Jimmy Smith? Just said the AFL should sign up Gallop to help conquer western Sydney. :lol::lol::lol:

 

[Silent Knight]

This. Super League almost killed rugby league but the fact is the people still loved the game, even if they hated what the competition had become. The mergers between Wests and Balmain, Manly and Norths, Illawarra and St George as well as the casting out of Souths, Perth, Adelaide, Hunter, South QLD and the Gold Coast meant thousands of fans were lost. It's not surprising that almost 10 years after super league things started to get better. A new generation began to come through that had not been scarred by the events of the mid 90s, people became more accepting of the Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra Dragons. The Titans fudged some numbers which helped those using crowd numbers to defend Gallop.

:lol: There was almost universal hatred for the Mariners in Newcastle. There were no tears shed when those merkins were shown the door. Support for the Knights after the '97 season was at an all time high.

 

[Perth Red]

yeh made me laugh about him becoming the figure head for GWS. Clearly they have no idea of how disliked he is by RL people!

In key factors of growth of the game, promotion of the game, $'s into the game, crowd growth, financial sustainability, public perception of the game etc etc he comes up short. I'll give him the first 5 years of his reign as wounds were still healing but the last 5 years no excuses. He has sold the game short on a large number of occasions and hopefully the ARLC will get someone in place who can take the game forward in these areas.

 

[Pierced Soul]

As a lawyer, he spent 10 years as NRL CEO doing nothing and mumblings inanities because that was his job. He is a News Limited nuff nuff. In 6 months, he will land a job as News Limited company secretary, as thanks for 10 years of Superleague servitude.

The game has gone nowhere in this 10 years. It always had a core support base that grows incrementally. There are now more people staying home to watch PayTV than go to games. The game's expansion in 10 years was to put in a pipedream house of cards that is now falling over whilst the CC Bears has waited 13 years for the most obvious licence in the world.

There is only one other position that would suit Gallop more - no accountability, overpaid, no qualifications, just bullshit on and achieve nothng - and that is politics.

Good riddance.

first time i've ever agreed with RR. I think Gallop always served 2 masters and he was way too reactive than proactive. yes i think he helped steer the game through troubled times but i dont think h'e overseen any major growth and development of the game. we've had a new (kinda) team on the GC but that wasnt done through the NRL pushing for expansion. we have several current bids who have no idea whether there will even be expansion cos gallop keeps umming and ahhing..... we''ve seen the AFL stroll into 2 areas reasonably easily without much of a murmur from gallop

rugby league to an extent is the easiest game to manage because it's got the best product, however we have the worst tv deals, crappy marketing and a ridiculous schedule which is governed by a broadcaster who favours certain clubs. whenever nein dont want to seem to honour their contract and show repeats of some other show instead of the footy we get some crap from gallop about reminding nein about their commitments

 

[firechild]

:lol: There was almost universal hatred for the Mariners in Newcastle. There were no tears shed when those merkins were shown the door. Support for the Knights after the '97 season was at an all time high.

That's probably true but I was simply listing the teams that were culled.

 

[Silent Knight]

That's probably true but I was simply listing the teams that were culled.

You still made a valid point about Super League, the forced mergers and dumping of teams driving away thousands of passionate rugby league fans. My brother was a Sharks fan (he hero-worshipped Peachey and Rogers) until they defected to Super League. Now he's anti-NRL and just follows EPL and A-League.

I just couldn't help myself with regards to the Mariners.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

first time i've ever agreed with RR. I think Gallop always served 2 masters and he was way too reactive than proactive. yes i think he helped steer the game through troubled times but i dont think h'e overseen any major growth and development of the game. we've had a new (kinda) team on the GC but that wasnt done through the NRL pushing for expansion. we have several current bids who have no idea whether there will even be expansion cos gallop keeps umming and ahhing..... we''ve seen the AFL stroll into 2 areas reasonably easily without much of a murmur from gallop

rugby league to an extent is the easiest game to manage because it's got the best product, however we have the worst tv deals, crappy marketing and a ridiculous schedule which is governed by a broadcaster who favours certain clubs. whenever nein dont want to seem to honour their contract and show repeats of some other show instead of the footy we get some crap from gallop about reminding nein about their commitments

If you were geuinely intelligent, you would agree with absolutely everything I say.

This, of course, excludes all Manly scum, who are by nature complete morons swimming at the low end of the gene pool.

 

[firechild]

he very end.

If you were geuinely intelligent, you would agree with absolutely everything I say.

This, of course, excludes all Manly scum, who are by nature complete morons swimming at the low end of the gene pool.

Bitter and twisted to the very end. It makes for good entertainment. :lol:

 

[docbrown]

I am definitely not supportive of News Limited - it was a happy day when we got them off our backs.

But at risk of being the target of lettuces and tomatoes, I'd suggest that the people claiming he achieved next to nothing or very little are looking at his era in a very negative manner either because they have a very rigid idea of what a CEO should be and as such have very high expectations - or - they have some kind of perceived personal grudge.

David Gallop was not a perfect CEO. He was reactive - but - of those major situations that came up outside of his sphere of anticipatory control (Canterbury Sex Scandal etc) he did actually handle those in a very professional way.

As for growth/expansion, well he was conservative but I guess this was born out of taking over the game as it was still teetering on the brink. I would suggest to you that the key indicators have actually risen over time. The main argument seems to be - "yeah, but not high enough" but nobody has actually said what "high enough" should've actually been, it's vague and I'd suggest it's just an excuse to justify their original viewpoint.

I'd suggest that if the commission had been formalised 2 to 3 years ago we'd already have a CEO in charge with 1 to 2 years experience and transition would have been a lot smoother.

However that was what it was, you can't really blame Gallop for that and they were never going to change CEOs before the commission was in place so it is what it is.

So no, he's not the best CEO ever or the worst. He took the right approach for the time in the first 5-7 or so years of his contract. The only thing I can really sting him for is bungling the previous rights deal - but he was only partly responsible for that, the main cause was the structure of the NRL itself. I'm not going to blame him for the commission mess but for the mood and required reaction of the time, he did a professional job.

B Minus maybe.