John Eales signs on as columnist for The Australian
Former rugby union player John Eales has signed on with The Australia as a columnist writing about rugby union and business.
The announcement:
The editor-in-chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, has announced that John Eales will join the paper as a columnist for both rugby union and business, focussing on leadership.
The appointment expands Eales’ relationship with News Corp Australia. FOX SPORTS signed Eales in February 2014 as a rugby presenter, a regular panellist on the Rugby HQ Show (Thursday nights at 8:30pm), and a commentator on Wallabies and Super Rugby matches.
Chris Mitchell said: “I have been trying to lure John Eales to the Oz since 2002 and am delighted we have been able to do this deal with FOX SPORTS.”
John Eales said: “I am thrilled to combine my work with FOX SPORTS with a writing role at The Australian. I have always enjoyed the discipline of writing and it is an honour to join the team of Australia’s premier national newspaper and write on my two main interests, sport and business.”
FOX SPORTS CEO Patrick Delany said: “John is one of the most respected and successful figures in world rugby. We were delighted when he joined the FOX SPORTS Rugby team earlier this year and he has proven to be a huge hit with our fans. His expert opinion and analysis has been a great addition to FOX SPORTS and it’s fantastic that readers of The Australian will now get to enjoy the same insight following his appointment as a regular columnist for the paper.”
The Australian’s CEO Nicholas Gray said “FOX SPORTS content is an important part of The Australian’s offer, especially video highlights embedded in the new edition-based iPad App as well as web and mobile. We are thrilled to do a joint deal with someone as prominent, versatile and engaging as John. We hope to do more appointments across the two brands.”
John Eales is the fourth person (across editorial and commercial) to join The Australian from The Australian Financial Review in 2014.
Source: News Corp Australia press release.
