Petrie excited by challenge with Ulster
ULSTER’S new CEO cannot wait to get started at Kingspan Stadium.
Former Scotland and Glasgow back-rower Jonny Petrie was confirmed as the province’s successor to Shane Logan yesterday, leaving a position as Edinburgh’s Managing Director.
“I am enormously privileged to have been offered this role with Ulster Rugby and am looking forward to joining the club at such an interesting and exciting time for rugby at all levels across the province,” he said.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Edinburgh and am grateful for the opportunities and challenges it has presented me with.
“I’d like to wish Richard Cockerill, the players and coaches the best of luck for the future and I’d also like to recognise the huge amount of work that goes in behind the scenes to help move Edinburgh forward as a club.”
Petrie will officially begin his new role in early 2019.
FOR the second time in six months, Ulster have looked across the North Channel to fill a key position.
Having lured Dan McFarland away from the SRU in the spring to become the province’s head coach, yesterday it was confirmed that former Scotland and Glasgow captain Jonny Petrie will leave a role with Edinburgh to become Chief Executive Officer at Kingspan Stadium.
The role was vacated by Shane Logan at the end of August, the now Bryson boss having revealed his intention to step down back in June after a complicated tenure that saw on-field improvement, a massive modernisation of the stadium, but also enduring controversy stemming from the handling of the acquittal of Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding on rape charges earlier this year.
In what was a relatively lengthy recruitment process, a final round of interviews were held last week with a focus believed to have been placed upon the ability to convey a long-term vision for the organisation.
In opting for Petrie, Ulster have chosen a figure with both a rugby and business background, as well as a man who, aged just 42, has time on his side.
A back-rower in his day, he is a native of Dundee where he played in a pack with Ulster’s European Cup winning number eight Tony McWhirter.
In the late 1990s, he was a Scottish Under-21 international while turning out for Colomiers in France, before turning pro with Glasgow for the 1998/1999 season.
He made over 150 appearances for the Warriors in almost a decade at the club, while he won 45 caps for Scotland after making his debut against the All Blacks of Jonah Lomu in 2000.
Injury forced him into retirement in 2007 and it was then that he turned his hand to the corporate world. He joined SSE, the energy company best known here as the named sponsor of the Belfast Giants’ home arena, in a Learning and Development role but returned to rugby with the SRU as Senior Corporate Affairs & Commercial Operations Manager in 2014 and, a year later, became Managing Director at Edinburgh.
“I am enormously privileged to have been offered this role with Ulster Rugby and am looking forward to joining the club at such an interesting and exciting time for rugby at all levels across the province,” he said.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Edinburgh and am grateful for the opportunities and challenges it has presented me with.
“I’d like to wish Richard Cockerill, the players and coaches the best of luck for the future and I’d also like to recognise the huge amount of work that goes in behind the scenes to help move Edinburgh forward as a club, and to realise its potential within a great rugby city.”
With Edinburgh he has been an important part of the club’s plans for a new home ground, to be constructed next to the national stadium and dubbed ‘mini-Murrayfield’.
Relations between the SRU and the IRFU — already strained by the former’s failure to support the latter’s bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup — were believed to be less than cordial during the prolonged negotiations to have McFarland released to start work in Belfast, but the official statement released from the Scottish capital yesterday wished Petrie well in his new role.
Scottish Rugby Chief Operating Officer Dominic McKay said: “Jonny can be proud of his achievements during his time with Scottish Rugby.
“He has helped to create a strong club identity at Edinburgh which is proving more successful on and off the pitch. We wish Jonny the best of luck and he leaves with our thanks for all his efforts.
“Edinburgh Rugby is in a great position just now and is an attractive proposition with an exciting period of development, including a new stadium project, ahead,” the SRU boss added.
Speaking recently in Belfast, the IRFU’s high performance manager David Nucifora stressed the need for stability in Ulster after such an extreme period of upheaval over the past 12 months. It was a theme touched upon again by the IRFU.
“We are pleased to welcome Jonny into the Irish Rugby family,” said their own CEO Philip Browne yesterday.
“With the recent appointment of a new Head Coach and now CEO, it is an exciting time for an ambitious province like Ulster, so we look forward to working with Jonny in the months and years ahead.”