Ross Graham Oakley (born 30 September 1942) is an Australian businessman and former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er with St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). He is CEO of the

Victorian Rugby Union Rugby Victoria, formerly the Victorian Rugby Union, is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within the state of Victoria, it is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. Rugby Victoria manages competitions for males and femal ...

and was appointed CEO of the new the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

rugby union franchise in September 2010.

Playing career

Oakley attended

Wesley College, Melbourne , motto_translation = Dare To Be Wise , slogan = A ''True'' Education (2010 – Present) , established = 18 January 1866 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender ...

and began his senior VFL footballing career with the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

in 1962. He went on to score 38 goals in 62 games. His career was marred by unfortunate knee injuries; the first came in 1965 in St Kilda's semi-final victory, which meant Oakley missed the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. He suffered

déjà vu ''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...

in 1966, missing not only the Grand Final, but St Kilda's first VFL premiership. Following a further injury before the start of the 1967 season, Oakley retired at the age of 24.

Executive career

Oakley was appointed Chairman and CEO of the then troubled

in 1986, taking over the role from Jack Hamilton, remaining as Chairman until the role was separated in 1993, and remaining as CEO until the end of the 1996 season. He oversaw the transformation of the VFL into the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

, and under Oakley's guidance, five new clubs from outside Victoria:

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

(1986),

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

(1990),

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

(1994), and

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

(1996) all joined the more professional, national competition. In 1993, he oversaw the transfer of administrative control of the league from the clubs (via the AFL Board of Directors) to the

AFL Commission The AFL Commission is the official governing body of the Australian Football League Limited (AFL), its subsidiaries and controlled entities. Richard Goyder has been chairman since 4 April 2017, replacing Mike Fitzpatrick. It was formed in 1985 ...

, and the formal transfer of control of the code from the ANFC to the AFL Commission. During his time with the VFL/AFL, he was deeply involved in

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

s; his administration believed that eleven Victorian clubs, many of which were in a poor financial state, was unsustainable in a national competition. Victorian clubs were offered incentive packages of up to $6 million to merge during his tenure, but the only merger completed during his tenure was between and , with proposed mergers between Fitzroy and Footscray in 1989 and Melbourne and Hawthorn in 1996 coming very close to fruition. However, these merger attempts caused great off-field discord among clubs and fans, and the strategy was abandoned after Oakley was succeeded by Wayne Jackson as CEO at the end of 1996. In 2009, Oakley was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

as an administrator. His previous career included management of insurance companies (e.g.

AAMI Australian Associated Motor Insurers Limited (commonly referred to as AAMI) is an Australian general insurance provider offering car, home, CTP and business insurance. AAMI has vehicle assessment centres in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland ...

), and he was chief executive of

Royal Insurance Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group. History Formation and e ...

. Oakley's appointment as

' CEO was announced 9 September 2010, when the Rebels also said the franchise was to join forces with the

to build rugby union in Victoria, at both professional and amateur levels. Oakley became CEO to fill the gap left by the resignation of Rebels' founding CEO Brian Waldron who resigned in early 2010 in the wake of the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal. Oakley holds a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA) from the

Melbourne Business School Melbourne Business School (MBS) is the graduate business school of the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The School offers an MBA program, specialist Masters programs, a doctoral program, and executive education programs. The MBS Hea ...

. He is a former Adjunct Professor at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

's Faculty Business and Law, where he also lectured.

Board positions

Ross Oakley is a former Chairman of Royal Australian Holdings Ltd, Royal Life Insurance Australia Ltd, and the State Training Board of Victoria. He is listed as Chairman of the Get Going Sport Foundation, and he has served as director on the boards of AAMI Ltd and Tisdall Wines. Between 1997 and 2001 Oakley was a director of

Harris Scarfe Harris Scarfe is an Australian retailer that sells bed linen, kitchenware, homewares, electrical appliances and apparel. It has a e-commerce retail presence in Australia and is considered a multi-channel lifestyle and homewares store. Founded in ...

References

External links

*
Australian Football League profile

Get Going Sport Foundation biography

Sports Corp Elite biography

ICMI Leadership biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Ross 1942 births St Kilda Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club administrators VFL/AFL administrators Australian chief executives Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Living people People educated at Wesley College (Victoria) Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)