BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Breaking: RFL board director Sandy Lindsay has departed the governing body.
Lindsay, along with RFL chairman, is one figure the clubs have been planning to oust from the organisation for several months, as reported in The i-Paper.
A large portion of Super League, Championship and League 1 clubs led by Derek Beaumont, Gary Hetherington and Eamonn McManus, have been trying to force change at the RFL.
It appears the clubs have succeeded with the RFL today announcing her resignation. Sources have suggested that Lindsay resigned before she was pushed.
The RFL’s press release reads:
The Board of the Rugby Football League have accepted the resignation of Sandy Lindsay MBE, the Senior Non-Executive Director.
Any search process to appoint a new independent Director of the RFL Board would be established after the spring Council meeting.
The RFL’s Senior Non-Executive Director since July 2022, Sandy joined the Board in October 2019 and has given more than five years of service to the sport.
Confirming her resignation, Simon Johnson, Chair of the Rugby League said:
“Sandy offered her resignation on 28 January, 2025, and this was accepted by the Board, reluctantly and with huge appreciation for her work, at the end of February. We understand and respect her decision.
“I would like to thank Sandy for her years of service to the sport, in particular, the support and guidance she has offered through her vitally important role chairing and updating the constitution and membership of the Community Board. Delivered in partnership with them and driven by Sandy, the Our League Active membership scheme now brings almost £¾ million pounds annually into the community game.
“Given the Resolutions on the agenda at the Council, a decision on the next steps for recruitment to the RFL Board will be taken after that meeting.”
Sandy Lindsay MBE added:
“I thought long and hard on my decision to resign at the end of January.
“Working within the Community Game, as Board Chair, was truly enjoyable and our achievements together, with wonderful people, bring huge pride.
“I’m also proud of achievements across so many areas of the sport in my five years serving the RFL Board. The changes are working and we’ve made these, in a complex world, through respecting the rules and the constitution that we must live by as a Governing Body.
“This is a breathtaking sport and it creates communities that are unparalleled. The only way to ensure the sport has the growth, impact and success it deserves is for all to work together, with common purpose. Now, more than ever, Rugby League needs stability.
“I wish the sport, and those who care about it so deeply, the very best future.”
Sandy Lindsay was awarded an MBE for services to business and young people in 2015. She is Chair of Tangerine, the creative communications agency she started in Manchester in 2002 and founder of The Juice Academy, the not-for-profit digital apprenticeship programme which created more than 600 roles for young people before it was sold in 2024. The proceeds of that sale were used to form The Bright Futures Fund with charity Forever Manchester, which gives more than £125,000 annually to community groups which support social mobility.
The RFL has been approached for comment.
