Brendon Gale set to depart Richmond and take up Tasmania CEO role

UPDATE

Brendon Gale has signed on to be Tasmania Football Club’s inaugural CEO.

The club announced the news just hours after it was revealed that he’d depart Richmond at the end of the 2024 season.

Gale, 55, hails from Burnie in Tasmania and will begin his work with the club in 2025.

The CEO led Richmond to three premierships across 15 seasons in the role where the club was turned into a powerhouse of the competition off-field.

Tasmania Football Club Chair Grant O’Brien was thrilled to announce the important news.

“Not only have we got a highly successful and proven AFL Club CEO, we have also tempted home a proud son of Tasmania,” O’Brien said via a statement.

“Brendon grew up on the North West Coast of Tasmania, and before his incredible 244-game career at AFL level, he played his early football for Burnie Hawks and represented Tasmanian four times.

“This is an enormous vote of confidence in our Club.

“Brendon is fully committed to focussing on completing his role at the Richmond Football Club in the same professional manner that has been a feature of his leadership at the Club, and while we are excited, we respect the fact that he has a big job to complete before we can welcome him home to Tasmanian football.”

The Club CEO announcement follows the launch of the club name and identity, while over 190,000 have signed up as foundation members.

Channel Nine’s Caroline Wilson reported earlier this year that 2024 would be Gale’s final season at Richmond, adding that he will likely be CEO of the incoming Tasmanian club as early as 2025.

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EARLIER

Brendon Gale has announced he is set to step down as Richmond CEO.

Gale has confirmed that the 2024 season will be his 15th and final season in charge of the Tigers.

The former Tigers player, who has been the club’s chef executive since 2009, says the time is right for him to move on from Punt Road.

“I have spent half my life at this Club as an administrator and player. It is time for me to embark on a new challenge, and for the Club to write the next chapter,” he said.

“I’ll remain absolutely focused on the job at hand for the coming months. It is an exciting and challenging period for us on and off the field.

“The breadth and depth of our leadership is a real feature of our club, and we are all getting on with the job at hand and that is where my energies will be focused.”

President John O’Rourke confirmed that the club has “appointed recruiting firm Transearch International Australia to assist us in finding the Club’s next CEO”.

He insists that the Tigers will not rush to replace Gale.

Among his achievements, Gale oversaw Richmond’s successful era of three premierships in four years between 2017 and 2020.

He famously predicted in 2010 that the Tigers, within 10 years, would win three flags by 2020 while surpassing 75,000 members and erasing their debt.

The Tigers successfully achieved all three by the end of the 2020 campaign.