President Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy was the RFU Council member for Oxfordshire from 1995 to 2011 before taking his current position as Chairman of the RFU Board of Directors.
He is a former RFU representative on the Rugby Football for Women’s Board and is both a Trustee of the RFU’s Injured Players Foundation and the Chairman of the Foundation’s Finance Committee, as well as Chairman of the Players Safety Committee.
Paul was formerly Chairman of the RFU’s Finance & Funding Standing Committee and a Director of England Rugby Ltd, both for two years. For six years he was a member of the Union’s Governance Committee, four of them with responsibility for Players’ Safety and three as Chairman. He has also been one of the most active members of RFU Disciplinary Panels.
Involved with rugby for most of his life, first as a player and then as an administrator, Paul has fulfilled countless roles for his club, county and for the RFU. He played for Abingdon RFC for 20 years and has been their President for the past 11 years. He also played for Oxford RFC , Blue Boar RFC, Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire Clubs XV. He was Abingdon’s representative on the County Committee and Oxfordshire’s Assistant Match Secretary and County Selector, before serving as Oxfordshire President from 1993/95. He is a member of the Executive and an Officer of Oxfordshire RFU Ltd,as well as a member of the county’s Marketing & Promotions Committee. Paul was also Chairman of South West Counties in 2003/4.
Paul served on the RFU’s Ground and Marketing Committees and was a member of the RFU’s CB Finance Sub Committee. A number of RFU Task Groups benefitted from Paul’s input including: the Insurance, Community Rugby Medical and Insurance Task Groups, before he became a member of the RFU Management Board from 2003/09. Paul was Co-Sponsor of the RugbyFirst Project Group and a member of the Strategic Plan Steering Group for the 2006/07 review, as well as serving on the Nominations Panel.
In his professional life Paul is Senior Manager for Unipart Automotive Ltd. He has been supported in his rugby career by his wife, Rita and two daughters, Sara and Nicky. He also has three granddaughters.
