by Captain Tony Hallett, who died at the age of 79, had a successful naval career, after which he took the reins of union rugby football, leading the English game outside amateurism and in the professional era.
In 1995, when the captain of England Will Carling described the RFU committee as “57 old farts” with a hypocritical attitude towards professionalism, he could not mean Hallett, who was a dissident voice within organization. The hypocrisy came from “The Men in Blazers” which appreciated the important advantages of being members of the Committee while refusing to elite players the possibility of winning appropriate wages of the game.
The quarrel of Hallett with senior commissioners had started 10 years earlier when the captain of England of the time, Bill Beaumont, was accused of having violated the rules of the amateur game by earning money from an autobiography .
Hallett retired from the Navy in 1995 – although he remained, he could have made the admiral – to become secretary of the RFU, to which he helped shape modern game. The challenges included controversies surrounding the diffusion rights and disagreements within the organization.
His leadership was characterized by a commitment to modernize. His strategic vision – in particular by obtaining a broadcasting agreement of 60 million pounds sterling with Sky, as well as its efforts in the development of infrastructure, relations with players and the expansion of competition – were essential to throw the bases of professionalism.
He was also a key defender of the introduction of European club competitions – and remembered his fundraising to find money for the Italian team, who progressed to membership of the five nations championship (which they achieved in 2000, making it the six nations).
But after two turbulent years, Hallett resigned to maintain unity. As the Daily Telegraph reported: “Tony Hallett’s departure from Twickenham cannot be allowed to go unnoticed. His resignation as secretary of Rugby Football Union was the act of a man worthy ready to sacrifice his own future for the good of the game he loved and served with distinction. »»
Anthony Philip Hallett was born on February 11, 1945 in Bognor regis of a bank father and studied at the Ipswich school, where the great athletic boy was known as “Bellrope”. He joined Dartmouth as a cadet in 1963 and, for the next 20 years, combined his love for rugby with a promising naval career.
In 1966, he made his debut in Twickenham by playing for the Navy against the army, the first of his eight caps. In the navy, he specialized in logistics, or “pusher”, and continued to play in interservices sport for the Southern counties during his studies, the HMS Pembroke in Chatham and in the aircraft carriers Hermes.
In 1969, his natural capacity and his leadership saw him captain of the navy in a draw against the army and the victory of the following year. Appointed lieutenant of flag at the commodore in charge of Hong Kong, Hallett won a ceiling playing for the colony against a team of touring in England in 1971.
From 1973 to 1975, he was an officer of the supplier of the Esquimau frigate in the Antilles, sat on Dartmouth staff (1976-77) and was junior secretary in a board of the board of directors of the Admiralty ( 1978-79). He was a fun, gregarious and innovative officer, capable of delivering a spiritual and perceptive discourse without preparation or notes.
In 1981 and 1982, Hallett was assistant to the supply of the invincible carrier, where he proved to be a remarkable entrepreneur. Determined to finance the invincible well-being fund, he stored a line of memories that included lingerie. “Invincible Knickers” turned out to be a bestseller, and when Denis Thatcher heard the play of Libby Purves on the TODAY program on underwear, he acquired a pair for his wife.
During the Malouine War, Hallett was secretary of the chief of staff to the headquarters of the commander-in-chief in Northwood, before serving in 1984-1985 as an offender of the illustrious carrier. There, his influence was felt throughout the ship: he inspired energy and imagination throughout the world, he knew what was going on everywhere, his department was held in high esteem by the whole company of the ship, And his senior officers and notes respected him for his high standards and practical intuition and because he respected them and took care of them.
Between 1986 and 1990, when he was an office officer at the Ministry of Defense then a student on the Greenwich staff course, he became a selector for the Navy of the Navy, and in 1991, he succeeded In the Rear Admiral Douglas Dow as president of the president of the president of the president the Royal Navy Rugby Union.
While the navy reduced its financial support for sport, Hallett raised the sponsorship of the naval team and for inter-service rugby-allowing it, for example, to generate a team spirit on match weekends by putting Everyone in the same hotel rather than distributing them in the messages in London.
In 1991-1995, Hallett worked for the deputy chief of defense staff (logistics), then became secretary of the fleet support chief. However, RFU consumed more of its time. As a member and then president of the land development subcommittee since 1981, he was typical of Hallett that the development of the western stand should include projects “X”, “Y” and “Z”, including costs and objectives smuggled beyond the field committee.
The X project was the statues of the players that stand at the entrance to the western stand to Twickenham and would have cost £ 250,000. The project was a wine cellar costing £ 98,000 to store gifts received from rugby nations in violin such as Australia, France and New Zealand (it is now a place of reception for profit). Project Z was a humidor without an appointment – although it was never completed because Hallett was trying to abandon cigars. He was happy when the Duke of Edinburgh opened the new stand in 1995.
Subsequently, Hallett had a restaurant adventure with Pissarro’s, London, and played an essential role in the recovery of the Richmond Fc Rugby Club after his financial problems in the late 1990s. As president, he helped to stabilize and rebuild, by focusing on community commitment and financial prudence.
He was CEO of several companies and president of the COTSWOLD branch of the Royal British Legion. While living in Barnes, he transformed an ordinary garden into a work of art open to the public. Later, in Worcestershire, he took over the garden of his mother -in -law and also opened it to the public, transforming him into something adaptation for a majestic house and attracting American gardeners’ buses – a bit Dam of his wife, as she had to do the teas with cream.
Known as Tony in the Navy and Anthony in the family, he recently won the nickname “Lazarus” because he continued to recover from serious illnesses.
Tony Hallett met Faith Holland-Martin in Hong Kong, and they got married in 1972; She survives him with their three sons.
Captain Tony Hallett, born February 11, 1945, died January 21, 2025
