Rugby League is “not a sport that’s had a huge number of Jewish people involved with it. So maybe I’ll reverse that trend,” says Simon Johnson, the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, who has been appointed the new chair of the sport's professional body
He had served as interim chair of the Rugby Football League since April when his predecessor stepped down and is no stranger to senior sports positions having worked as a senior lawyer for the Premier League and then as director of corporate affairs at the Football Association.
But while there have been a number of high-profile Jewish individuals involved in football, there has been a relative scarcity in RFL — the only one who comes up in conversation is Jeffrey Walton, a board member at Leeds Rhinos.
Although serving as interim chair for the last half year, his selection as the new chair was far from a fait accompli. He describes how it was a “very thorough, independently conducted, selection and recruitment process conducted by an external agency.
“I was thrilled and honoured to come through the other end as the successful candidate.”
He will continue in his role at the JLC, and does not anticipate any issue with serving in both roles.
“With immense thanks to Sir Mick Davis [former JLC chair] and the trustees, when I joined they allowed me within my contract to have up to four days a month doing non-executive work, provided it had their approval. And they approved for me to join the [RFL] board in the first place.
“The role of RFL chair, as luck would have it, occupies four days a month.”
Although in practice there is extra work to be done around that, “I’m committed to do it, my [JLC] trustees have agreed that I can do it, for which I am immensely grateful, and I know that I can do it because I can manage my time.”
As he says, the Rugby League heartland has tended to be “the North of England, along the M62 corridor [from Liverpool in the North West to Hull in the North East].
“I’ve always enjoyed Rugby League, it’s one of the sports I’m keen on. If you grew up in the North, like me, you’ll have known a lot of Rugby League.”
He does add, however, that he didn’t play much of it: “The Jewish schools I went to up there didn’t really play Rugby League.”
It is set to be an interesting couple of years for the RFL. Next year marks the sport’s 125th anniversary, while 2021 will see the RFL World Cup held in England.
Fans, however, should not expect to see any changes to the RFL’s Shabbat-heavy match schedule.
“It’s traditionally a game played on a Friday night or a Saturday,” Mr Johnson says, although there are some Sunday games too.
He says that he never goes to Friday night games, and if there is a game on Shabbat afternoon — “many of the finals are, the Challenge Cup, the Super League Grand Final” — he will either “stay in a hotel right near the ground, or I will walk from somewhere. I don’t drive on Shabbat.
“So for example, this coming Shabbat is the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford. My Mum is in Manchester, so I’m going to go there and go to Shul in the morning, and then walk down to Old Trafford in the afternoon.”
One of his key aims is “to try and get Rugby League taken with the seriousness that I think it deserves, by the sports industry and by the government.
“I think with a better narrative about who we are and what we do — as we build to the Rugby League World Cup 2021 — I think we can start to turn that around.”
