How rugby PR chief tackled racism scandal, financial crises and player exodus – PRWeek podcast

Beyond the Noise - the PRWeek podcast

A special edition of PRWeek's Beyond the Noise podcast, recorded live at the Crisis Communications Summit last week, looks at how Premiership Rugby has been overcoming its recent crises.

The session features Jonny Fordham, head of communications at Premiership Rugby, speaking to Lee Cain, the founder of Charlesbye and a former comms director at Downing Street.

Beyond the Noise, which is published on alternate weeks, looks at some of the biggest issues affecting comms and PR. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen in the browser above or on your favourite platform.

Fordham discussed how he and his colleagues coped with recent crises at the league, not least the administration of three clubs last year, alongside reports of racism in rugby, and some players leaving for a rival league in France.

The head of comms spoke about how Premiership Rugby "flipped the narrative" to "talk about the rebuild" of the league.

The importance of speaking with your critics and of countering misinformation were emphasised. And Fordham offered advice to anyone facing similar crises.

He added: "The more open and honest you were the better our coverage started to become."

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