I joined up just to say that V'landys is one guy you don't want anywhere near rugby league. I can't believe he's being considered for the job, it's a scary proposition for anyone who wants rugby league to thrive. I've worked at the races in NSW for a while and he has been terrible for racing. The only thing he has done of note is the change implemented not long ago, which saw racing change from getting a percentage of corporate bookmaker profit, to getting a percentage of corporate bookmaker turnover. Other than that, crowds are down and continue to keep falling, the tracks are becoming decrepit and are falling into disrepair (anyone who has been to Warwick Farm can tell you how much of a joke that place is)- the work that is being done on Randwick also needs to be done at Rosehill, Warwick Farm and all the main Sydney tracks. The corporate bookmakers have also been allowed to run riot- they aren't governed by the same rules as on-track bookies, so they're allowed to ban punters, stop punters from getting on and basically change the rules at their whim, which isn't the case on track (thanks to rules implemented long before V'landys was around). And thanks to the continually falling crowd numbers, on-track bookies are becoming fewer and fewer in number. And in addition, the worse it gets, the more Racing NSW is seen as the poor cousin of Racing Victoria, which sees bigger crowds, better tracks etc.
To give you an example of how he can ruin a business, he used to be in charge of the trots. What used to be a thriving division of racing was eventually turned into a ghost town. I went a few times before Harold Park got shut down and sold off and there were about 30 people on the entire track, including the workers and the two bookies that were there.
I'd honestly support anyone other than V'landys getting the job.
Rush Hour Sydney ‏@RushHourSydney
