Peggy Yvonne O'Neal (born 19 April 1952) is an American-born Australian lawyer who, from 2013 to 2022, served as the president of the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). She is the first woman in AFL history to serve as a club president. Since January 2022, she has served as

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

Early life and education

Peggy Yvonne O'Neal was born on 19 April 1952 and raised in the now-abandoned small mining community of Killarney, West Virginia. She comes from the family of coal miner, and was the first in her family to go to university, studying law at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Career

Law

O'Neal moved to Australia in 1989, after falling in love with an Australian backpacker while on holiday in Greece. She settled in the suburb of

Richmond, Victoria Richmond is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Richmond recorded a population of 2 ...

, where she was introduced to football by friends. O'Neal worked as a lawyer with

Herbert Smith Freehills Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP (HSFK) is a global law firm with headquarters in London, England and Sydney, Australia. As of 2024, the firm was the 33rd largest by revenue. It was formed on 1 October 2012 by a merger between the United Kin ...

and later with Lander & Rogers, and served on the boards of MLC Limited and the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation. She was also chair of the Law Council of Australia's superannuation committee, and served as a consultant to the Rudd Government's review of the superannuation system.

Football administration

After moving to the suburb of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, O'Neal became a fan of the club due to sheer proximity, and later became financially supportive, acting as a player sponsor. In 2003, she worked on the establishment of a club supporters’ business networking group, the Tommy Hafey Club. In 2005, O'Neal was elected to the board of the Richmond Football Club. She chaired the board's risk and compliance committee and was a member of the governance committee, as well as being chair of the Tigers in Community Foundation. O'Neal was elected club president in October 2013, in place of the retiring Gary March. She defeated two other candidates, investment banker Maurice O'Shannassy and former

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

CEO Malcolm Speed, becoming the first woman elected president of any AFL club. As president, O'Neal oversaw Richmond's 2017 premiership win – the club's first since 1980 and Richmond’s 2019 and 2020 Grand final wins – as well as its successful bid for an

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

team, set to enter the competition in 2020. Following a disappointing 2016 season, she had been subject to an unsuccessful board challenge. In March 2022, O'Neal announced her intention to step down as club president by the end of the year. John O’Rourke succeeded O'Neal in December 2022.

University administration

O'Neal succeeded Ziggy Switkowski as Chancellor of RMIT University in January 2022.

Recognition and honours

In 2014, ''

The Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' named O'Neal in its list of "Top 100 Women of Influence". In 2019, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to Australian rules football, to superannuation and finance law, and to the advancement of women in leadership roles. She was appointed Chancellor of

in October 2021.

In the media

O'Neal features in the 2021 fly-on-the-wall documentary TV series '' Making Their Mark'', which showed the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on several AFL clubs, players, and staff. Players Nic Naitanui,

Eddie Betts Edward Robert Betts III (born 26 November 1986) is a former Australian rules football player who played as a forward for Carlton Football Club, Carlton and Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide in the Australian Football League between 2005 and 2021. ...

, Stephen Coniglio, and Rory Sloane, were featured, along with

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

football club coach Stuart Dew, and Richmond staff leaders O'Neal, Damien Hardwick, and

Brendon Gale Brendon Gale (born 18 July 1968) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). As a qualified lawyer, he practised law with a commercial law firm for some time after ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeal, Peggy Richmond Football Club administrators Living people American emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian lawyers People from Raleigh County, West Virginia Lawyers from Melbourne University of Virginia School of Law alumni Virginia Tech alumni 1952 births Officers of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian lawyers 21st-century Australian women lawyers 20th-century Australian women lawyers