Brendon Gale says a woman could be next AFL CEOSamantha Lane
The Age
April 04, 2014Having committed Richmond to a groundbreaking project aimed at rectifying gender imbalance in sporting hierarchies, Tigers boss Brendon Gale says there is no reason why the next AFL chief executive couldn’t be female.
Mooted by some as a potential candidate for the top AFL job himself – a topic Gale would not elaborate on – the Richmond chief said superior management skills and leadership qualities were the most important traits, and added that clearly neither were gender specific.
“What does that require, what does it mean to be an outstanding leader or manager? Well, it doesn’t mean you have to be a bloke,” Gale said.
“At the AFL, it’s less about the subject matter – and when I talk about subject matter, I mean footy. You don’t need to be a subject-matter expert, you need to be an outstanding leader.
“I’m also convinced a woman can be a CEO of a club. In my role, I think it helps to have a grasp of the subject matter [football] because you’re closer to it and it’s the biggest part of our business and it’s the biggest organisational risk. But I think about where you spend the most of your time, and it’s about giving people a sense of where we’re trying to take the club, it’s about managing people and systems and resources, it’s about communicating, it’s not about going out and having a kick.”
In a three-year project backed and jointly funded by the Australian Sports Commission and the AFL, as reported today by Fairfax Media, Richmond has committed to affirmative action to improve the representation of women in positions of leadership. Doctor Pippa Grange, formerly of the AFL Players Association, is directing the longitudinal study with sport and social justice expert Paul Oliver.
http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/brendon-gale-says-a-woman-could-be-next-afl-ceo-20140404-zqqzu.html
