Tweed Heads Seagulls Rugby League Football Club is entering a new era with the landmark appointment of the first female board member in the club's 110 year history.
Brigid Davey joined the Seagulls Board last month in a move that underpins the clubs vision for the future.
Ms Davey is the Marketing Manager for Chempro Chemists who have a proud association with Rugby League, notably as sponsors of Tweed Heads Seagulls and Gold Coast Titans.
"I'm honoured to have been approached by the board to become a member of this fantastic club," Ms Davey said.
"Growing up in Tweed, the Gulls were the talk of the town and I want to use my marketing, communications and sponsorship experience to help us to get back up there.
"We want to be the sporting club the Tweed community follow and want to be involved with - as a player, supporter, volunteer or partner.
"Delivering strong on-field performances is the best way to do this.
"A primary goal for us is to win (Queensland's) Intrust Super Cup and the club's five year Strategic Plan outlines the strategies we will employ to achieve this.
"They include developing Piggabeen Sports Complex into a high performance regional sports facility for Tweed and Northern NSW (NNSW) community with a focus on women's, community and Indigenous participation.
"Women's Rugby League is the fastest growing sector of the game and I will be working with the team to introduce a competitive women's rugby league program at Seagulls in 2019."
Seagulls Chairman Ian Paton is justifiably excited about Ms Davey's appointment.
"Our vision is to be a competitive and sustainable club that is successful and respected amongst the community and to achieve this we have to ensure that we engage better with the Tweed community," Mr Paton said.
"Our current board members have extensive football and business experience, but don't possess the marketing and communications skill set needed to achieve that.
"Brigid's marketing and sponsorship expertise and her vibrant personality and people skills are going to give our organisation an extra dimension at board level as we move into a new era and myself and the other board members are really excited to have her on join the club."
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Background
- Rugby league has been one of the leading sports in Australia encouraging women to join board of directors at high level.
- Katie Page was appointed to head the National Rugby League's Women In League initiative in 2004 and, in 2005, she became the first woman on the NRL board.
- The Gold Coast Titans were the first NRL club to have a female chairperson when Rebecca Frizelle stepped into the role in 2014 and continued in the role until last year.
- A few months later, Marina Go took the chair of Wests Tigers. They were joined last year by Lynne Anderson at the Canterbury Bulldogs, the club that had a female CEO in Raelene Castle who is now CEO of Australian Rugby.
- In 2017, the Queensland Rugby League appointed former Hockeyroos star Renita Garard as its first female board member in the organisation's 109-year history.
- The Australian Rugby League Commission appointed Catherine Harris as an original commissioner in 2012 and it has two women, Professor Megan Davis and Amanda Laing, currently standing as commissioners.
Main Photo: Brigid Davey with members of the Tweed Heads Seagulls. Photo: SMP Images
