For greater good: how the west will be won
Phil Gould
August 14, 2011
The three months I have now spent as general manager of the Penrith Panthers has been without doubt one of the most stimulating periods of my sporting career. It has been one long mission of discovery. Internally, the hits just keep on coming. Our football club and licensed club have had to deal with the everyday roles, responsibilities and dramas of running a professional sporting and hospitality business. Panthers Group, which includes 14 licensed clubs around NSW, faces some serious challenges, not the least of which has been recovering from some extremely tough financial times over the past five years.
This won't happen overnight. But I have learned enough to know that if it wasn't for the current board of directors, the strong leadership of chairman Don Feltis and the expertise of group chief executive Ric Simpson, this club would've been gone long ago. Feltis in particular has been outstanding in this regard. He knows the club and the area so well. His passion for junior rugby league and his beloved Panthers can never be questioned. The club is not out of the woods but the bleeding has stopped and there aredefinite signs of recovery. This board has done an outstanding job and I am exceedingly confident in their ability to steer this club back to full capacity in the coming years.
If anything goes wrong with the Panthers in rugby league, blame me. It will not be the board's fault. They will get the licensed club side of things humming soon. I am equally confident the football program will also improve in time. This club urgently requires three solid years of intense development coaching. We will get there. I have to commend Steve Georgallis and the players for continuing to give their best every week even though the wins have been hard to come by. Injuries to key players have not helped. Neither have a few discipline issues. Better days are ahead. Our strategies for the football and marketing of the club are developing nicely. Again, it will take time and our aim is to continue to increase our support and visibility among our valuable junior league clubs. They are the lifeblood of the Panthers. Externally though, the challenges are enormous.
WESTERN SYDNEY
As I pointed out in my column last week, western Sydney is a lot bigger than just Penrith. Our area is growing faster than anywhere else in the entire country.The key demographics of western Sydney indicate:
❏ The population is above 1.96 million - or one in every 11 Australians;
❏ Population density by region is the largest in Australia;
❏ The region is larger than the cities of Brisbane and Perth by population.
❏ Western Sydney is predicted to be home to 2.9 million people by 2030;
❏ More than 600,000 of these people were born overseas, mainly Vietnam, the UK, the Middle East, Pacific Islands, China, India and New Zealand.
Our area has changed so much in the 17 years since I last lived and coached here. The development of housing in the strip from Blacktown out through new growth areas to Rouse Hill and beyond is staggering. In 10 years, the sleepy little town of Riverstone could be one of our biggest junior league nurseries - unless, of course, the AFL gets there first.
As I warned in my column last Sunday, at current rates, that is a distinct possibility given that the AFL has a specific strategy for this growing area and the NRL does not.
If league is to ensure its longevity and prosperity in its heartland, it must establish a much-needed platform that addresses the critical issues facing society. Many of Sydney's western parts are under privileged. Many kids never get the opportunity to participate, realise their potential and, most importantly, have fun in this great game. Equally, many kids in western Sydney aren't involved in rugby league due to cultural differences, physical size differences, and social or financial disadvantage. Western Sydney has the largest indigenous population of any area in Australia. Issues of education and job opportunities are obvious. Although the NRL has programs that touch on these issues on a broader scale, there needs to be a more concerted effort in western Sydney, where the numbers are greater. To really help the community, rugby league can assist in programs that:
❏ Enhance community participation in promoting healthy lifestyles;
❏ Support the fight against obesity among children in western Sydney;
❏ Identify and assist needy sections of the community that require support (financial, emotional or physical). Through the vehicle and profile of rugby league, we can implement programs that genuinely improve or enhance lives;
❏ Promote rugby league among people from non-traditional ethnic
backgrounds, and enhance community cultural integration;
❏ Create a path and progression plan for young talent in western Sydney to maximise their skills, their future and their value to society.
Again, the NRL scratches the surface on many of these issues. The brilliant Panthers on the Prowl initiative is a wonderful program and helps so many young kids. However, it is still not enough. We can and we need to do more.
We need to look at ways to:
❏ Pioneer a new school campaign designed specifically for the diversity of western Sydney;
❏ Establish a western Sydney centre of rugby league excellence;
❏ Establish a western Sydney community centre designed to promote well-being, rehabilitation, career directions, emotional support, plus a host of other key services;
❏ Establish a commercially viable self-funding business model;
❏ Establish a variety of attractive programs to secure significant corporate and government investment;
❏ Create and implement a modified game to encourage cultural diversity. Boys, girls, youth, women and older men - plus people with physical or emotional limitations - could participate.
In my meetings with current development groups such as ARL Development and the NSWRL Western Academy, they agreed that the good outcomes they strive for in these areas are severely restricted by lack of funding, lack of staff and the fact they operate under too many brand names unrecognisable to the kids they aim to serve. The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence at Redfern is one of the greatest sporting, educational and community assets I have ever seen. It is a credit to those who built it and who now implement the programs. It has completely changed life for the better in Redfern.
We desperately need a facility of this magnitude in western Sydney.
As I mentioned last weekend, the AFL has plans for a $32 million centre of excellence, built primarily with government funding, in this so-called heartland of rugby league :crazy:.
If the AFL can provide solutions to all the above issues, in a brand new and highly visible community facility, who do you think will eventually win the hearts and minds of the people of western Sydney? I think it is highly unfair if the AFL is permitted to own the only such community facility on its own. My information is only one such facility will be built in western Sydney for the time being. I also find it extremely confusing that the NRL has not been more proactive in trying to establish such an important link with the people of the rugby league heartland. At the very least, if the NRL cannot get funding to build a facility of its own, it should be looking to co-operate with all the major sports in Australia to build an even bigger version of the Redfern facility. Why sit back and allow the AFL to provide all this on its own?
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...will-be-won-20110813-1irxh.html#ixzz1V11v1nOm
Exactly.
