Richard Barker given job of saving Queensland Rugby Union

Richard Barker has the job of ensuring the continued survival of the Queensland Rugby Union.

Incoming QRU CEO Richard Barker.

It’s not too much of an exaggeration to suggest there would not be a Norths Rugby Club in Brisbane without the contribution of the Barker brothers.

Now one of them, Richard Barker, has the job of ensuring the continued survival of the Queensland Rugby Union.

Were it not for Damien, Tom, John, Nick and Richard Barker, Norths — or as it then was, Teachers-Norths — would surely have struggled to make it past the 1980s.

Now Richard finds himself playing a similar role as newly appointed chief executive officer of the QRU, holding together the embattled organisation as it goes through one of the toughest periods in its history.

Barker will not start work at Ballymore for another eight weeks, by which time a redundancy program initiated by QRU chairman Damien Frawley will have run its course.

“We’re trying to cut our cloth to suit our circumstance,” Frawley said.

“There has been a significant drop in our revenue over the past couple of years, so we need to adjust our cost base accordingly.

“We’ve identified the areas where we can afford to make cuts and we’ve identified the areas that, frankly, are off limits. And clearly the football program is critical to the success of this business.”

Barker, who currently is general manager of radio company Southern Cross Austereo Brisbane, said yesterday he was going into the QRU with his eyes wide open.

“I’m fully aware there are a number of big challenges,” Barker said.

“I know there is a fairly good plan in play. But I know that as we move forward if we respect all the stakeholders and have the proper communication and seek the right alignment, I think we can look forward to some pretty positive times ahead.”

While he won’t be actually recruiting the Queensland Reds new coach, he will certainly have some input into the appointment, according to Frawley.

“It’s important that the CEO has some input into that as does the board,” Frawley said. “We’ll hopefully get to a landing on the coach within the next four to six weeks.

“I’m sure Richard would want to meet that person or the final two candidates.”

Given Barker’s long association with rugby — his brothers Tom and Damien both played for Queensland — there might now be cause for a restructure of the restructuring the Reds did last year, when Daniel Herbert was appointed head of rugby.

He was put in place there because the then chief executive, Jim Carmichael, was a non-rugby man but that certainly is not the case with Barker.

“We’ll have a discussion with Richard, Dan and (senior executive) David Hannam in the coming weeks to work out roles,” Frawley said.