Rugby:The International Rugby Board has announced that its chief executive Mike Miller is to step down from his post after 10 years in the job. Miller will leave the Dublin-based organisation at the end of this month and will also quit as Rugby World Cup managing director.
In a statement, the IRB said: “Following discussions with recently re-elected chairman Bernard Lapasset, it was agreed that the beginning of a new four-year cycle following the acclaimed Rugby World Cup in New Zealand was a good time to end their successful partnership which has seen the IRB grow in stature and capability.”
Lapasset added: “Mike has achieved much during his 10 years at the IRB, which is a much stronger organisation than when he joined in 2002. The game is in great shape, and the IRB is ready to take on the challenges of continuing to grow rugby around the world.
“And in particular to ensure that the tier one countries are strong and secure, the tier two countries continue to improve and grow and the emerging major market countries become competitive as soon as possible.
“Mike will be a hard act to follow. But with my newly re-affirmed four-year mandate, a revamped IRB executive committee, a soon to be refreshed Rugby World Cup board and a vibrant council and staff, we have the tools in place to continue to drive the game forward.”
During his IRB and World Cup tenures, Miller oversaw three World Cups, reinclusion of rugby into the Olympics, an expansion of the HSBC world sevens series and creation of the IRB’s strategic investment programme.
“We have achieved a lot in the last decade,” Miller said. “Rugby is in a great place as it looks forward to World Cups in England and Japan, World Cup sevens in Moscow, women’s rugby World Cup in France and the Olympics in Rio in 2016.
“The game has grown around the world, and with its major events going to Asia and Eastern Europe for the first time the platform has been established for rugby to become a truly global sport.”
