NEW RugbyWA chief executive Simon Taylor plans to grow the sport’s presence in Western Australia ahead of what’s being called a golden decade for the code.
Mr Taylor’s appointment and return to state sport leadership comes after taking time to spend with his family following his departure from Netball WA in late 2020.
The Brisbane-born sports enthusiast spent the past two years consulting for Paralympics Australia and University Sport Australia.
At RugbyWA, Mr Taylor will replace former Wallabies and Western Force player Nathan Charles, who announced his resignation in November after less than two years in the role.
Returning to WA and rugby union represents a double homecoming for Mr Taylor.
“It’s exciting to get back involved in rugby in WA and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to help grow the sport and play my role as the sort of custodian of the game,” Mr Taylor told Business News.
Prior to his two-year stint as the boss of Swimming WA and eight-year tenure with Netball WA, Mr Taylor worked within Queensland’s rugby scene for more than a decade.
He held several roles while working with the Queensland Rugby Union, including partnerships general manager, community rugby general manager, project manager and country rugby manager.
RugbyWA chairman John Edwards said Mr Taylor’s significant sports administration experience across a range of major sports would be an asset.
“His experience in developing winning strategies to grow participation numbers and attracting important sponsorships will be invaluable to RugbyWA,” he said.
Mr Taylor said he grew up surrounded by rugby.
“My uncle was a referee and so I spent a lot of time down at Ballymore sitting on the bleachers watching him referee and getting involved through clubs,” he said.
“I moved to Rockhampton, as part of my first role out of a university, and the local rugby club took me in as part of their bigger community family, which has always been special, part of knowing that’s what rugby is about: it’s about creating these great communities that look after and support each other.
“Sport does that in general, but I think rugby does that really well.”
The Western Force shares its home with RugbyWA. Photo: Courtesy of Western Force
WA’s team in the Super Rugby Pacific competition, the Western Force, shares its training ground at the WA Rugby Centre in Floreat with RugbyWA.
The local team, backed by billionaire Andrew Forrest, was axed from Super Rugby in 2017 but was later invited to rejoin the competition.
Last year, the World Rugby Council announced Australia had been selected to host the men’s world cup in 2027, followed in 2029 by the women’s tournament.
With the locations yet to be confirmed, Perth is in the running to host one or more of the matches.
Mr Edwards said Mr Taylor’s appointment came ahead of what the national rugby body had coined as a “golden decade” for the sport.
“As Australian rugby looks forward to a golden decade, which includes hosting the men’s and women’s rugby world cups and the highly anticipated British and Irish Lions Tour [in 2025], RugbyWA is looking to capitalise on this exciting period and leverage off the events to promote and grow our game in WA,” he said.
“We will be working with Rugby Australia, the state government and the rugby community to create our own golden decade of events, activations and tour support.”
Mr Taylor said the major events also presented an opportunity to boost participation.
“The profile of those events and activities will enable us the opportunity to really get into the hearts and minds of all Australians and be able to engage through our participation programs in the schools and local clubs,” he said.
“It’ll be about getting more of the kids involved and being able to showcase how they can have a pathway through to each of those different major events.”
RugbyWA recorded a surplus around $350,000 for the year to December 2021, which was aided by several conditions, including the state government forgiving $1.1 million worth of debt.
Its net surplus was slightly down from about $370,000 in the year to December 2020.
In its 2021 annual report, RugbyWA said revenue from participation increased by 20 per cent, which was growth that “was not expected or budgeting for”.
RugbyWA did not disclose its 2021 participation figures in the report, or to Business News.
The smaller surplus coincides with a drop in RugbyWA’s ranking by revenue on Data & Insights among sporting organisations after being overtaken by Surfing WA.
The top four rankings remain unchanged, with Racing and Wagering Western Australia maintaining its top spot, followed by Western Australian Cricket Association, WA Football Commission and Surf Life Saving Western Australia.
Soccer’s peak body, Football West, overtook Netball WA to secure fifth position on the list.
Mr Taylor said it would be a challenge to amplify rugby’s presence within WA’s sporting landscape. “Like all sport, getting our voice heard and being able to reach the hearts and minds of the community is a challenge,” he said.
“WA is very much an AFL state, so [we aim to] provide that other opportunity for kids to firstly have a go and then hopefully get excited by the sport and want to engage further.
“The biggest challenge is around continuing to grow that participation base to be able to grow the sport in WA.”
Mr Taylor said he planned to use his leadership role to deliver against the historic organisation’s longstanding goals.
“With an organisation that’s got 130 years of history like RugbyWA, it’s about being able to draw on that [history] and really reach into the ethos of the organisation,” he said.
“[It’s about being able] to hone that purpose and bring that to the fore and ensure that we can then strive to achieve the ambitions of the organisation.
“I know for the organisation that’s around growth and participation, and around being financially sustainable and having performance outcomes around the athletes and the teams.”
Netball WA
In November 2020, administrators of Suncorp Super Netball became aware of salary irregularities in its competition, releasing a statement the following month, announcing sanctions against West Coast Fever over two salary cap breaches.
The netball commission’s investigation found the team had breached the salary cap by more than $127,000 in 2018, and $168,000 in 2019.
As a result, West Coast Fever was fined $300,000, half of which was suspended, and docked 12 premierships points for the 2021 season.
The investigation found no evidence that players were aware of the breaches and no evidence that coaches at the time were involved.
Mr Taylor resigned from the state’s governing body for netball, Netball WA, not long after.
Business News does not suggest Mr Taylor had any role in or even knowledge of the salary cap breaches.
He said that, at the end of 2020, he had an opportunity to take a break after his wife secured a new role on the eastern seaboard.
“It was a great opportunity for me to spend more time with her family,” Mr Taylor said.
“I then got into some consulting and worked alongside a number of national sports, which provided great avenue for me to further my experiences, but at the same time spend more time with my family, which I really enjoyed.”
“Now, it’s a great opportunity to get back into the role as a chief executive of a state sport association.”
He said his time at Netball WA had reinforced his belief in the importance of strong governance and risk processes.
“Like everything, having strong governance and being able to ensure that our risk processes are in place is critical,” Mr Taylor said.
“Being able to ensure you’ve got the right steps in place to monitor compliance and be able to ensure you’re able to get on top of those things quickly, is really important.
“Strong risk and governance committees, and the roles they play and the process they undertake, is really important.”
At Netball WA, and through its subsidiary Glass Jar Australia, Mr Taylor helped establish the popular Shooting Stars program, which is designed to empower Indigenous girls and women through their education.
26 Apr 2023
