
New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson to step down at year's end
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson will step down at the end of the year, creating a vacancy in one of the most powerful jobs in New Zealand sport.
Robinson led New Zealand's national sport for six years, through the difficult period of the pandemic when matches often took place in empty stadiums.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Billy Boston, Trailblazing Rugby Player, Is Knighted
Billy Boston, the retired Welsh rugby star who was a trailblazing figure for Black professional athletes in Britain, was knighted by King Charles III in a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. Boston, 90, is widely considered one of the best to ever play rugby league, the faster, more free-flowing version of the game, with 13 players on a side rather than 15, as in rugby union. He spent most of his career with Wigan Warriors, where he notched 488 appearances from 1953 to 1968, and finished his career with a British record of 571 tries, the rugby equivalent of touchdowns in American football. He was the first Black player to represent Britain on its rugby league national team, on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1954. He scored 24 tries in 31 international appearances for Britain and played a pivotal role in Britain's Rugby League World Cup championship in 1960, scoring against Australia in the final. Boston, who revealed in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia, did not make a public statement about the knighthood. The BBC reported on Tuesday that his wife, Joan, said that his family was 'excited that everything he's done for the sport and for our community is being recognized.' His son Stephen, appearing with his father after the ceremony, said the knighthood was 'a long time coming' and 'should have been a lot sooner,' noting that his father was the first player in the 130-year history of rugby league to be knighted. Boston collected several major honors at Wigan, the team said on its website, and won the Challenge Cup, the oldest rugby league cup in the world, three times. Mike Danson, Wigan's current owner, said on the team's website that Boston's knighthood was a 'richly deserved honor.' 'Without doubt, Billy was a player who was — and still is — the biggest crowd favorite in rugby league,' he said. In Wigan's 1959 Challenge Cup victory against Hull, Boston scored two tries in front of a crowd of nearly 80,000 at Wembley Stadium. He was the most prolific try-scorer in the history of rugby league and 'an iconic figure in the history of British sport,' Tony Sutton, the league's chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday. Politicians in Northern England, where rugby league is most popular, had expressed frustration for years that a rugby league player had not received a knighthood, particularly given that several rugby union players had been given the honor. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said on social media on Tuesday that it was 'a historic wrong' that it had taken so long for a rugby league player to receive a knighthood. Boston, he said, was 'a legend of the game who overcame prejudice to represent Great Britain and opened the door to a more diverse game.' 'The first knighthood in rugby league could not go to a more deserving player,' Starmer said.


Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
Fagerson becomes first injury casualty for Lions as Bealham called up for Australia rugby tour
DUBLIN — Scotland prop Zander Fagerson was ruled out of the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia because of injury on Monday, with Ireland international Finlay Bealham called up as a replacement. It adds to the growing concerns about the tighthead prop situation with the Lions, because Tadhg Furlong is nursing a calf injury and Will Stuart will only link up late with the squad as he is playing for Bath in the English Premiership final on Saturday.


Associated Press
2 days ago
- Associated Press
Fagerson becomes first injury casualty for Lions as Bealham called up for Australia rugby tour
DUBLIN (AP) — Scotland prop Zander Fagerson was ruled out of the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia because of injury on Monday, with Ireland international Finlay Bealham called up as a replacement. It adds to the growing concerns about the tighthead prop situation with the Lions, because Tadhg Furlong is nursing a calf injury and Will Stuart will only link up late with the squad as he is playing for Bath in the English Premiership final on Saturday. The players in the Lions squad who are not still involved in club duties have assembled in Dublin and will travel to Portugal on Tuesday for a six-day training camp. Fagerson will miss out because of a calf injury so Bealham becomes the 16th Ireland player in the 38-man group. 'It's tough on Zander to miss out so close to the tour,' Lions coach Andy Farrell said, 'but now Finlay gets an opportunity to come in and add to the group. This is unfortunately part and parcel of the game, so we always have to be prepared for that.' England players Jamie George — a hooker and two-time Lions tourist — and Asher Opoku-Fordjour — a 20-year-old prop with one international cap to his name — will travel to Portugal to train with the squad but haven't officially been added to the group. Before heading Down Under, the Lions will play Argentina in a match in Dublin on June 20. In Australia, the Lions will play three tests against the Wallabies, along with six more games — against Western Force, Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, an Invitational Australia and New Zealand XV, and a First Nations and Pasifika XV. ___ AP rugby: