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Ex-Six Nations and Lions boss Feehan lands role in another sport
Former Six Nations and Lions CEO John Feehan is back in sport after being appointed chief executive of Basketball Ireland three-and-a-half years after he stepped away from rugby in April 2018. The Dubliner had been in charge of two of rugby’s biggest properties for 16 years, but there was disquiet after the Six Nations only managed to secure a title partner for the 2018 season on a one-year deal.
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The appointment of Benjamin Morel as CEO was soon followed by a multi-year deal with Guinness to sponsor the Six Nations, while responsibility for the 2021 Lions tour to South Africa was given to managing director Ben Calveley.
It was last July when the CEO vacancy arose in Basketball Ireland after its boss Bernard O’Bryne, the former head of the Football Association of Ireland, courted controversy following a social media message he posted about England footballer Raheem Sterling during the Euro 2020 semi-final versus Denmark.
O’Bryne commented “Black Dives Matter” in reference to a penalty incident in the match and his subsequent resignation paved the way for Feehan to take over this week after upwards of 70 people applied for the CEO role. “That was a difficult situation for all concerned,” said Feehan, referencing the controversy that led to O’Byrne’s departure. “They reacted extremely well, extremely quickly and have dealt with it.”
Feehan, an ex-Leinster and Old Wesley front-rower, will now hope his rugby business acumen via Six Nations and the Lions will prove useful in a different sport. “Clearly at a commercial level, we can do a lot better than where we are today. That is not a criticism of anybody in the past, it’s simply the sport has so much more to give and the commercial partners will begin to appreciate that as we go forward.
We spoke to our newly appointed CEO John Feehan earlier today about his plans for the organisation, and his message for all the people involved in our sport throughout Ireland ??
Learn more ?? https://t.co/kNrvpybbaJ pic.twitter.com/WmZOXCzIP4
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) October 18, 2021
“I personally will be bringing a lot of passion into the sport, particularly in relation to the properties I have looked after in the past, the kind of order, the structure of administration, understanding how to put the whole programme together to make sure the whole thing works, to make sure the thing is funded properly because modern-day requires significant funding and we need to be at the forefront of making sure that happens for basketball in Ireland as well. There is a whole heap of different things we can bring to it.
“Basketball in Ireland is a fantastic sport, it’s a big sport. Sometimes you wouldn’t know that and that is one of the big challenges but I am really looking forward to helping develop the sport over the next number of years.”
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RugbyPass Offload EP 6 with Chris Robshaw ?
We are joined by the king of the MLR ?
We talk…
The brilliance of Marcus Smith ?
What's going on at Bath? ????
Will England win their matches? ??? – https://t.co/UA7G0Ucyrb pic.twitter.com/lcFP1iDD5l
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 20, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments