Ralph Rimmer is a
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
administrator who is the Chief Executive Officer of the
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...
. He was appointed the full-time chief executive after a period of being the interim CEO. 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.
RFL appoint Ralph Rimmer as Chief Operating Officer
Administration
Sheffield-Huddersfield
Rimmers first sports administrative role was in 1997 when he was appointed chief executive of Sheffield Eagles
The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...
during the early days of the Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
. He enjoyed success with the club winnning the Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
Final in 1998, however as financial pressures developed he then became one of the key players in the 1999 merger with Huddersfield Giants
Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...
. 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
Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league si ...
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.
Controversy
Academy debacle
In May 2021 under Rimmers leadership of the RFL, the governing body stripped four Super League clubs, Catsleford, 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 Fijis 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.
References
Rugby league administrators
Living people
1965 births
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