Melbourne Storm shareholder Matthew Tripp to replace outgoing chairman Bart Campbell in May
After seven years overseeing unprecedented success and growth off the field, Melbourne Storm chairman Bart Campbell will step down on May 22 as the club stays in experienced hands.
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Outgoing Melbourne Storm chairman Bart Campbell will step down on May 22 after seven years exactly at the helm.
Storm co-owner Matthew Tripp will replace the New Zealand expat and businessman, with Campbell to remain on the board.
In an exclusive Herald Sun interview, Campbell endorsed Tripp as the perfect candidate to take Storm into an important “growth phase”.
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“When I started seven years ago I started with a base knowledge of zero, Matt's been on the board for that entire period and knows the business inside and out,” Campbell said.
“He knows enough of the key people in the industry to hit the ground running which is really important for us to keep driving this business forward and the club forward.
“It's a period of opportunity and hope and I've got no doubt Matt will do a great job.
“He's an extremely good operator and been very successful … most importantly he's a good person and he's very passionate about the club and those are things that will serve him well.
“Undoubtedly, I think we have more opportunities than less (in the future), the first part of the journey has been about stabilising the business, making it long term sustainable and viable.”
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Campbell announced his board reshuffle at the official launch of the Melbourne Storm Executive Club — a business-to-business networking venture.
The ownership trilogy, which included Campbell, Tripp and caravan king Gerry Ryan, took control of the club from News Limited, publisher of the Herald Sun, with a vision to cement “an NRL club called the Melbourne Storm in perpetuity in Melbourne.”
“That wasn't a certainty back in those days and I really believe that it is a certainty now,” Campbell said.
Campbell had scant knowledge of rugby league, let alone Melbourne the city, after living in London, but attacked the post-salary cap scandal era headlong.
Storm has gone from haemorrhaging “the best part of $10m” to paying its way in seven years, off the back of tremendous success and nous on and off the field.
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“When we arrived as an ownership group, Matt, Gerry and myself, it was touch and go whether NRL was a sustainable proposition in Melbourne,” Campbell said.
“It's amazing what you can do with tunnel vision, with sweat and effort and rolling up your sleeves and ripping into it.
“I think the ignorance (survival in the AFL heartland) probably served us well because it removed from our minds some of the downsides.
“We very much focused on achieving what we thought could be done and it's been a journey, it's not over by any stretch of the imagination.
“We're a lot further down the road than when we started …. as a club and proposition in Melbourne we have our own momentum, our own place … we’re here for the long term.”
Originally published as Melbourne Storm shareholder Matthew Tripp to replace outgoing chairman Bart Campbell in May