David Gallop
David Gallop | |
---|---|
FFA (2012–2019) | |
Height | 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) |
Spouse | Kathy Gallop |
Children | 2 |
David Gallop is an Australian sports administrator, lawyer and served as the chief executive of the
Biography
Gallop was born in
Football administration
Rugby league
During the summer of 1994–95, Gallop was working as an associate with the Sydney law firm Holman Webb Lawyers, and playing cricket on weekends with a University of NSW Cricket Club side. A UNSW teammate had set up a meeting with John Ribot, who had come up with the Super League idea, and Gallop first became involved in Rugby league as Legal Affairs Manager for Super League in 1995.[citation needed]
Having previously acted as the NRL's Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Gallop was closely involved in all key decisions involving the game since the NRL's inception in late 1997. He was voted the New South Wales Sports Administrator of the Year in 2002. In 2006, he was voted the Australian Sports Administrator of the year at the Confederation of Australian Sport Awards.[citation needed]
In 2008, he was appointed to the Board of the Australian Sports Commission. In 2010, he was named acting Chairman of the Australian Sports Commission.[2]
In April 2010, in the greatest sporting scandal in NRL history, he announced the stripping of two premierships and three minor premierships from the Melbourne Storm team. He further announced they would play out the remainder of the 2010 season for no points. Gallop was widely criticised by many for these heavy penalties with much of the criticism directed at the apparent conflict of interest. Gallop's employer - News Limited - was also the owner of the Melbourne Storm. Gallop was also close friends[3] with John Hartigan - the then Chairman of News Limited Australia. Hartigan identified Storm's ex-CEO Brian Waldron as the 'chief rat'. All penalties were handed down despite Gallop not seeking board approval prior to doing so, and were handed down before any investigation was conducted. In order to diffuse some of this criticism, the NRL Board finally came out a month later and backed Gallop's stance.[4] This was the second major salary cap scandal under Gallop's leadership. In 2002, the then table-topping Canterbury Bulldogs were stripped of all competition points and finished wooden spooners after being found cheating the salary cap. However, just two years later they won the premiership with largely the same playing roster.[5] Gallop also had to deal with the mid-season defection of Bulldogs star Sonny Bill Williams to French rugby union.[6][7]
In 2011, he again fell into hot water in his first visit to Melbourne after the Storm salary cap scandal of 2010, when he likened
In February 2012, co-inciding with the formation of the new NRL independent commission and the exit of News Limited from its control of the game, Gallop's contract as CEO was formally extended a further four years. His contract extension was a condition placed by News Limited with the ARL.[9] 2012 was Gallop's 10th year in charge of Rugby League in Australia; however, on Tuesday, 5 June 2012 Gallop's reign as NRL CEO came to an end when the new Independent Commission announced his immediate departure. This was mostly due to the fact that the ARL wanted to go 'in a different direction'.[citation needed]
Football
On 21 August 2012, David Gallop was announced as the new chief executive of the
Gallop would prove to become an unpopular administrator within Australian football, with fan boycotts of A-League games reducing crowds by 32% in late 2015, protesting his decision to not defend the Australian football community after an article by News Corp journalist Rebecca Wilson leaked the identity of 198 supporters who had been banned from matches by the FFA, as well as a lack of a transparent appeals process for bans.[11][12][13]
In July 2019, it was announced that Gallop would stand down from his role as FFA CEO in December 2019.[14]
References
- ^ "A man on top of his game". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 March 2007.
- ^ Farewell to Outgoing Chairman of the ASC Board Greg Hartung[dead link]
- ^ Grigg, Angus. "Hartigan profile". afr.com. Australian Financial Review.
- ^ "NRL board backs Gallop action". abc.net.au. AAP.
- ^ Paxinos, Stathi (16 August 2011). "Storm vindicates NRL, says Gallop". theage.com.au. Melbourne: The Age.
- ^ "David Gallop was a man who stood tall amid rugby league storms". The Australian. 6 June 2012.
- ^ "Crisis manager: Decade of drama that brought out the best in David Gallop". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ "NRL boss David Gallop apologises for Melbourne Storm fan slur". heraldsun.com.au. Herald Sun.
- ^ Walter, Brad. "New contract for Gallop as commission prepares to take the reins". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ "David Gallop to stand down as FFA chief executive".
- ^ A-League crowds well down as fans boycott in protest against Football Federation Australia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 7 Dec 2015, archived 21 May 2020
- Fox Sports, 1 Dec 2015, archived21 May 2020
- ^ Football in Australia is doomed to be a marginal sport unless its leaders show vision, Simon Hill, Guardian Australia, 14 July 2020
- ^ "David Gallop to stand down as FFA CEO on 31 December 2019". Hyundai A-League. Retrieved 17 September 2019.