Colin Love AM, (born 25 January 1945 in Australia) is the former chairman of the

Rugby League International Federation The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

(RLIF),

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

(NSWRL) and

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

(ARL). He was the seventh chairman of the ARL, and the eleventh of the NSWRL. Love, who acquired his law degree at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

after matriculating from

Sydney Boys High School , motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , p ...

, graduating in 1961, began his association with

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

when he was involved with contract negotiations for players in the late 1970s. He was retained as the league's solicitor soon afterwards; Love was an active participant as a solicitor for the ARL and

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

during the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

of the mid-1990s. Love was elected chairman of the ARL in 1999. On Saturday, 27 January 2007, Colin Love received an

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

medal for his contribution to both the sport of rugby league football and to

sports law "Unprintworthy" redirects are redirect pages on Wikipedia that aid online navigation, but would have little or no value as pointers to target articles in a hard-copy book. The name of a redirect may be unprintworthy for a number of reasons, incl ...

. Love was succeeded as RLIF chairman in June 2011 by Scott Carter.

2008 World Cup controversy

Colin Love came under attack in August 2007 from the '' Daily Telegraph'' with a piece written by Josh Massoud that claimed that he acted unscrupulously in regard to the position for organising the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

as well as acting with undue regard in relation to how Love executed his duties in football. Massoud claimed, "If Love's dual role as ARL chairman and solicitor – or RLIF director and World Cup organiser – doesn't sound conflict-of-interest alarm bells, his SCG Trusteeship should," in reference to Love's allocation of at least one World Cup game to the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

instead of

Telstra Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

. Daily Telegraph reporter Dean Ritchie later wrote, "Colin Love is today left with no option but to resign all official involvement with the 2008 World Cup." Ritchie summarised his view: "The public no longer tolerates the hollow cries of 'fair business', for instance, when a city councillor awards a rich contract to a company he owns shares in, and nor should it. Rugby league should be no different".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Colin Members of the Order of Australia Living people 1945 births Australian rugby league administrators People educated at Sydney Boys High School University of Sydney alumni