KAREN Thompson has created history at Saddleworth Rangers after being elected as the amateur rugby league club’s first woman to serve as chairman.
“There are one or two other amateur rugby league clubs who have a woman chairman, but I am the first one at Rangers,” she explained after being elected at the club’s annual meeting.
“It is a good thing as amateur rugby club promotes itself as an inclusive sport and to be recognised as a woman is something I am proud of.”
And Karen, who has been involved at the club for more than 40 years, is also keen to continue the work of her predecessors who have taken the chair.
“It is a great honour to follow in the footsteps of Ronnie Hardaker, Terry Flanagan and Shane ‘Jocky’ Wilson and continue their legacy,” she explained.
It was through her ex-husband, who was a coach at Rangers, that Karen became involved.
Karen’s father Ken Fisher was also a prominent figure at the club, elected to the committee 42 years ago and later served as president and treasurer.
She said: “It was probably about 20 years ago that I started helping him with the books and, as he gradually became frail, I took over.
“That was about 15 years ago and since then I have involved in the senior management side at the club as treasurer and serving on the committee while working with Ronnie, Terry and Shane.”
Following the death in December 2020 of Shane, the driving force behind the building of the new clubhouse, president Terry Flanagan became interim chairman.
And when it came to eventually appointing a new chairman, the club felt Karen was the ideal candidate given her experience and loyalty to the club.
Karen said: “When there was a five-year plan to build a new clubhouse, I was very much involved in that, and I want to be involved in the one for the next five years, whatever we decide to do.
“As a club, we are in a good place, We came out of Covid well financially whereas some clubs did not survive.
“Whereas it is a rugby league club first and foremost, if you want to survive it has to be run as a business.”
“We are well thought of in the rugby world, have a flagship clubhouse and a great junior section.”
Karen, whose son Super League referee Robert Hicks was first taken to Rangers in his pram, believes the club has always had strong family values.
She explained: “From my first involvement, there has always been a family environment.
“When kids get involved, they learn proper values and it keeps them out of trouble.
“Robert has always been involved and, though playing was not for him, he decided at the age of 13/14 he wanted to referee.”
Karen worked for Weightwatchers for 17 years until Covid-19 but most of her time in now spent running the club.
She has been replaced as treasurer by former player Brendan Fitzpatrick, a partner at James Scott, the accountancy firm which is the club’s main sponsor.
Meanwhile, Dave Tyrell jnr is stepping up to take on a key role after the committee agreed to create a new position of vice-chair.
The annual meeting was attended by around 40 people and heard a financial update which revealed the club made a healthy profit in the past year, despite the disruption of the pandemic.
The club is also now debt free after fully repaying the £75,000 borrowed from the ‘Friends of Saddleworth Rangers’ to help finance the build of the new clubhouse.
The full committee for this next year: president, Terry Flanagan; chairman, Karen Thompson; vice-chairman, Dave Tyrell; secretary, Peter Townsend; treasurer, Brendan Fitzpatrick; youth co-ordinators Rachel Wood and Karen Wilson; committee members Mark Thompson, Ian Wolstenhulme, Mark Taylor and Kevin Fitzpatrick.
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