Raelene Castle (born 30 September 1970) is a sports executive who has worked in Australia and New Zealand. She was chief executive officer of

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

from 2017 to 2020, before becoming chief executive officer of

Sport New Zealand Sport New Zealand (Sport NZ) (Māori: ''Ihi Aotearoa'') is a New Zealand Crown entity responsible for governing sport and recreation in New Zealand. Sport NZ believes sport is an integral part of New Zealand's culture and way of life. The org ...

Early life and family

Castle was born in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, on 30 September 1970, the daughter of

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...

and

Marlene Castle Marlene Robyn Castle (born 13 March 1944) is a lawn and indoor bowls international for New Zealand. Bowls career The veteran of four Commonwealth Games won her first medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, earning a silver in the women's fours. ...

. Both of her parents represented New Zealand internationally in sports: her father as 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 ...

footballer and her mother as a lawn bowler. The family returned to New Zealand when Castle was six months old.

Career

From 2007 to 2013, Castle was the chief executive officer (CEO) of

Netball New Zealand Netball New Zealand is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in New Zealand, including the Silver Ferns. In 2019, 137,713 players were registered with Netball New Zealand, the governing body for organised netball in the co ...

. In 2013, she was appointed CEO of

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

, becoming the first female CEO of a club in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. At the end of the 2017 season, she was replaced by Rugby League World Cup boss Andrew Hill. In December 2017, Castle was appointed as CEO of Rugby Australia, and served in that role until her resignation in April 2020. This acknowledged a great contribution to Australian Rugby notably changing the yellow shade on the Wallabies sports colours to improve the actual on field performance and outcomes. In December 2020, Castle took up a role as CEO of

following contract work on Sport New Zealand's ''Strengthen and Adapt'' project.

Honours

In the

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, Castle was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to sport and business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle, Raelene 1970 births Living people Australian sports executives and administrators New Zealand sports executives and administrators New Zealand rugby league administrators Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit People from Wagga Wagga Australian women chief executives New Zealand women chief executives New Zealand netball administrators