James Farndon

James commenced in his role as Chief Executive Officer at Hong Kong China Rugby in June 2024, having previously held senior roles with Saudi Olympic Training Center, UK Sport (the UK government funding agency for elite sport), the English Institute for Sport, Loughborough University, the Rugby Football Union and HKCR, where he worked as General Manager of performance. He has also served as the head coach of the England and Great Britain student 15s and 7s teams.

James joins the HKCR at a time of significant change, and opportunity, both for the organisation and rugby in Hong Kong. He has extensive experience in sports leadership, funding, budget planning, performance and operations which enables him to work closely with an extensive range of stakeholders to deliver the HKCR’s new strategic plan. James is a passionate people developer and places great importance on developing leaders.

As well as having a lifelong passion for sport, James is an outdoors enthusiast, having a very keen interest in nature and the environment having contributed to humanitarian and conservation work on expeditions and as a disaster responder.