General News
10 January, 2025
HELP! — Action is needed now — By Brian Lennen
The essence of all sports is the volunteer.
Sometimes past players, but usually not. These people are generally selfless, anonymous, totally supportive and are inspired by the success of others.
In my lifetime I have encountered many such people all over the country and in many sports. I believe there is a direct correlation between the disappearance of these volunteers and the demise of many sporting clubs.
You could easily be in a state of shock if you started to list the number of teams, competitions and participants that no longer exist — 20 and still counting.
It is easy to understand that in this time people are preoccupied with their own interests and rarely have the time or inclination to volunteer.
Football and cricket are particularly responsible for their financial difficulties. Mercenary players from afar (both good and ordinary) are paid large sums of money at the expense of local talent. Raising such funds is often too great a challenge for the clubs and breeds disunity.
One would be staggered if you were to see the annual turnover of a minor country team. In many cases, the dollar can’t be spread far enough as the proliferation of sports betting and gaming enterprises expand.
This, combined with the apparent disinterest of the education department in both physical activities and competitive sport, is disastrous. Interschool matches seem to have disappeared, and I can’t remember the last clinic in schools.
The AFL and the Australian Cricket Board must become more aware of the grass roots needs. Both their energies are catered towards “the elite”, much to the demise of sports as a healthy lifestyle.
Litigation, once an American phenomenon, is taking hold in Australia. Rugby, soccer and VFL participation is threatened with a number of cases, and those outcomes may open the floodgates to further claims.
I believe the cost of such claims will be immense and threaten the costs of major league teams, let alone minor leagues.
If a player for the most minor sport suffers a debilitating injury, he is liable to the same compensation as a VFL superstar. The cost for insurance coverage would be astronomical.
Today the sources of revenue have dried up. My experience through the efforts of a willing band of volunteers such as Neil (Lou) Stewart, Ernie Johnson, Peter Ivey and Wacko Weekes, who were constantly finding ways of raising money.
Initially they started raffling “a chook as a bottle”. At first it was solely at the Railway Hotel and consisted of two raffles raising twenty dollars. Soon this was extended to five raffles.
Within a year the raffles were in almost all the hotels, with patrons clamouring to get a ticket (returning home with a chook was a sweetener). They averaged $200 on a Friday night.
In the 70s and 80s, Friday night was extremely busy in all the hotels. Today only two hotels remain and bar trade is minimal.
To complement this fundraising, beer tickets became the rage. Initiated by Bob Allison and printed at the Maldon Times, they were a huge fundraiser. The editor of the Times told me that they saved his business.
Sets of 1000 cards were sold for 20¢ each, with $100 being made on each set. Later they were sold through a dispensing machine. Their monthly cabaret at the Pipe Band Hall was booked out in advance.
All the money raised went into sporting facilities, equipment and guernseys. Player payment was modest and equal.
Royal Park (Bushy) went from perennial losers to a dominant side for two decades. They were responsible for much of the junior football development, especially the Mini League, which fostered a long list of VFL players.
We need to engineer ways of facilitating children, schools and government bodies to make our community conscious of this malaise.
In closing, it would be remiss of me not to mention two individuals (both teachers) who were responsible for some of Maryborough’s sporting successes — Don Ferguson, the dishevelled and outstanding mathematics teacher, and Bob Linton (the son of Harry), an outstanding primary teacher.
Both individuals will be long remembered for their service above and beyond the norm.