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In 1946-ish, George Orwell wrote an essay on his reasons for writing, sensibly titled “Why I write.”  It is an internally conflicted but fascinating little essay on a subject that vexes many writers.  He starts:  “Putting aside the need to make a living…[which is a slightly peculiar introduction for a penniless, failed Burmese policeman who believed in a socialist reorganisation of society] I think there are four great motives for writing[1]…They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are: 1. Sheer egotism.  Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc. etc.  It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen [I think unsuccessful ones as well] – in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.[2] 2.  Aesthetic enthusiasm.  Perception of beauty in the external world, and their right arrangement.[3]  Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story.  Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed… 3. Historical impulse.  Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.  [He can’t be talking about prose here!] 4. Political purpose – using the word political in the widest possible sense.  Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias.” As for George himself, he says that if he had lived in “a peaceful age” (not sure which age he is referring to here, I am still looking for a uniformly rosy period of history to which I can get transported if the opportunity arises) he would have been a writer of “ornate and merely descriptive” books.  He was, he said, mostly motivated by points 1 through 3 until the political and military actions of the 1930s crystalised European social injustice issues.  After which time he was motivated by reason 4 and he says that every line was written against the orthodoxy and for his preferred system. His italics. He concludes: “It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.” *             *             * I have spent a good part of this year thinking about why I write. From where I stand (mostly sitting), watching the far right rise again in Europe, the far left rise in China, and the once dominant middle crumble in America, we live in what George would call such “a period” where if you are going to write, produce, comment, blog, you cannot avoid writing against one orthodoxy and for another.  As it turned out, for most of this year, I ended up documenting the workers in a bicycle factory in rural France with my camera, overly concerned that I was simply indulging myself and working as an amateur bicycle pornographer.  But Orwell is correct, you can’t avoid joining the debate about what our society ought to strive for, and specifically, advocating a particular position. “It is a simply a question of what side you takes and what approach one follows.  And the more one is conscious of one’s political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one’s aesthetic and intellectual integrity.” What comes of what I have observed, what I am starting to write about, I have no idea, but I accept is more effective to be honest at the front end about one’s biases and be comfortable with the egotistical foundation. And so, now I have written all this, I must also be comfortable with the incredible time consumer writing can be, because I have spent an afternoon and part of a restless night thinking and then writing about thinking and writing.  Next month I might just write a piece on why I write about why I write. P PS.  Orwell comments that “serious writers are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalist, though less interested in money.”  Again, a lovely Orwellian compliment.  If you write you are either a vain and self-centered “serious” writer or a money hungry journalist.  Not sure where he would put well paid Fox News commentators and un-paid Huffington Post contributors. [1] He adds, almost dismissively, “at any rate for writing prose.” You can argue that what he was saying only has relevance for the motivations for writing “prose” but fuck, what Orwell calls prose reads like the political and social dissertations of the most determined writers.  [2] Orwell doesn’t believe the great mass of humans are acutely selfish.  Most, by the age of 30, have abandoned individual ambition or are buried under the drudgery of a capitalist system.  However, there is a “minority of gifted [read lucky bastards, not hard working or anything positive], wilful [the nicest thing he can say without saying selfish] people who are determined to live their own lives to the end” and writers belong in this group.” A backhanded compliment, which he knows lands squarely on himself, if I have every read one. [3] Correcting for asymmetry seems to me to fit here: in the sense that a symmetrical external world is beautiful, and only gets out of whack because of how people futz with it, and with some help, the right arrangement can be achieved. 

In 1946-ish, George Orwell wrote an essay on his reasons for writing, sensibly titled “Why I write.” 

It is an internally conflicted but fascinating little essay on a subject that vexes many writers. 

He starts:

 “Putting aside the need to make a living…[which is a slightly peculiar introduction for a penniless, failed Burmese policeman who believed in a socialist reorganisation of society] I think there are four great motives for writing[1]…They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living.

They are:

1. Sheer egotism.  Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc. etc.  It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen [I think unsuccessful ones as well] – in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.[2]

2.  Aesthetic enthusiasm.  Perception of beauty in the external world, and their right arrangement.[3]  Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story.  Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed…

3. Historical impulse.  Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.  [He can’t be talking about prose here!]

4. Political purpose – using the word political in the widest possible sense.  Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias.”

As for George himself, he says that if he had lived in “a peaceful age” (not sure which age he is referring to here, I am still looking for a uniformly rosy period of history to which I can get transported if the opportunity arises) he would have been a writer of “ornate and merely descriptive” books.  He was, he said, mostly motivated by points 1 through 3 until the political and military actions of the 1930s crystalised European social injustice issues.  After which time he was motivated by reason 4 and he says that every line was written against the orthodoxy and for his preferred system. His italics.

He concludes:

“It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.”

*             *             *

I have spent a good part of this year thinking about why I write.

From where I stand (mostly sitting), watching the far right rise again in Europe, the far left rise in China, and the once dominant middle crumble in America, we live in what George would call such “a period” where if you are going to write, produce, comment, blog, you cannot avoid writing against one orthodoxy and for another. 

As it turned out, for most of this year, I ended up documenting the workers in a bicycle factory in rural France with my camera, overly concerned that I was simply indulging myself and working as an amateur bicycle pornographer. 

But Orwell is correct, you can’t avoid joining the debate about what our society ought to strive for, and specifically, advocating a particular position.

“It is a simply a question of what side you takes and what approach one follows.  And the more one is conscious of one’s political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one’s aesthetic and intellectual integrity.”

What comes of what I have observed, what I am starting to write about, I have no idea, but I accept is more effective to be honest at the front end about one’s biases and be comfortable with the egotistical foundation.

And so, now I have written all this, I must also be comfortable with the incredible time consumer writing can be, because I have spent an afternoon and part of a restless night thinking and then writing about thinking and writing. 

Next month I might just write a piece on why I write about why I write.

P

PS.  Orwell comments that “serious writers are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalist, though less interested in money.”  Again, a lovely Orwellian compliment.  If you write you are either a vain and self-centered “serious” writer or a money hungry journalist.  Not sure where he would put well paid Fox News commentators and un-paid Huffington Post contributors.

[1] He adds, almost dismissively, “at any rate for writing prose.” You can argue that what he was saying only has relevance for the motivations for writing “prose” but fuck, what Orwell calls prose reads like the political and social dissertations of the most determined writers. 

[2] Orwell doesn’t believe the great mass of humans are acutely selfish.  Most, by the age of 30, have abandoned individual ambition or are buried under the drudgery of a capitalist system.  However, there is a “minority of gifted [read lucky bastards, not hard working or anything positive], wilful [the nicest thing he can say without saying selfish] people who are determined to live their own lives to the end” and writers belong in this group.” A backhanded compliment, which he knows lands squarely on himself, if I have every read one.

[3] Correcting for asymmetry seems to me to fit here: in the sense that a symmetrical external world is beautiful, and only gets out of whack because of how people futz with it, and with some help, the right arrangement can be achieved. 

9 months ago 

I shared my thoughts on young Chris Sandow’s departure from the Rabbitohs at the www.thepunch.com.au.  They are bound to make me unpopular with many, but they are honest.  The story of Chris Sandow is well known to those who follow even a little Rugby League: he’s bloody tiny, has a heart the size of Queensland, and when he does actually make contact with opposition players, they certainly know it.  He was the league’s top rookie in 2008, has won matches almost single handedly, divides critics and fans alike, and after 4 years, he is leaving the Souths Sydney Rabbitohs, the Club where he has made his professional debut, to join the Parramatta Eels. I first met Chris at the southern end of Erskineville Oval as the sun set on a hard training day for the prospective Rabbitohs under 20’s side. I had been asked to meet the new group of promising juniors, and had been well backgrounded on the squad, particularly “Chrissy” as he was already known.  He was a diminutive, bright-eyed young man with prestigious football talents, and a reputation for not completing all his obligations.   He had apparently skipped training a few times, with one famous incident involving him being seen on TV watching an NRL feeder side when he was supposed to be somewhere else.  For this and a few other adventures he was dropped by his then NRL team and might have easily slipped into the oblivion that engulfs too many talented kids.  Young people are known to stuff up, (I certainly did at that age) and athletes have the additional complication of a bright spotlight for which they have little preparation and often an insufficient safety net. Fortunately, the people that run the Rabbitohs took the view that with proper support and the right environment he could be helped to achieve his potential. We are a passionate football club, and our blood runs hot at times. And while the Club is rightly firm at the appropriate time, it is a kind and responsible employer.  This environment seemed to help Chris get back on track. Whether you love him or hate him, he has done some great things on the field.  And of course, some less great things. He’s also developed an ability to handle a hungry media pack, he can calm a school room of children and has a confidence that suggests he will bring great things to his growing family, whomever he plays for. He’s a product of a mission town in Queensland that has had more than its share of success stories.  There is no doubt he is a proud aboriginal man.  I am told he still shaking off a few habits that don’t help him, but many hundreds of thousands of Australians have similar habits.  He’s not alone in being a few steps from perfect.  And he takes big steps. But as an indigenous Australian of 22, his Mum is right to feel incredibly proud of him. Chris will have a great season in 2011 for the Rabbitohs, and he will lead us to the finals. (You can’t love your Club and think anything different.) Did Parramatta overpay for Chris? I think that is for Parramatta’s Members to judge. Something or someone is worth exactly what a buyer is prepared to pay for it.  But if you pay more than you can afford, that’s your problem, and that’s bad business.  Shakespeare tells the story of Richard III, knee deep in battle mud, offering to fork over his Kingdom for a horse. If you had been in the saddle in Bosworth Field that day in 1485, and Richard III had offered you his kingdom, you might have done very well.  Nobody could criticize you for taking most of what is now England in exchange for your steed.  Indeed, it would have been a very responsible thing to do if you had a young family to look after. Rugby League was founded on the principle that players have the right to demand whatever they believe is the market worth for their services.  No one has to pay it, but they have the unfettered right to ask for it. In 1895 the English Rugby Football Union prevented working class players receiving any money, even compensation for injuries that prevented them working in their regular employment.  The brave players (and administrators) who founded League in the UK and Australia left the “union” clubs they were playing for, were promptly ostracised and banned for life from the code they loved, merely because they wanted to receive what someone was prepared to pay them for their work.   Loyalty hasn’t died in professional sport: wherever I go, and in whatever sport I am involved in, I always find it inside the best players, riders, and athletes.  But no one should ask sportspeople to do something few would do themselves.   They have an implausibly short playing window, and have very limited options after their professional careers which last, if they are fortunate, as long as did King Richard III—whose ‘last game’ was in the fields of Bosworth at the age 32. Good luck to Chris, I will enjoy every second of watching him run with the Rabbitohs in 2011 as the team puts its season back on track. I wish him the best of luck for a long career and I hope he stays involved in the Indigenous community.  I have met hundred of indigenous kids of roughly his age, and few have the spark in their eye like he does. Many fall off the track and don’t get the support that Chris was availed, and perhaps he can pass some of his experience and good fortunate back to communities that need it.     Peter Holmes a Court is the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.  He is currently on sabbatical, somewhere in the middle of France.              

I shared my thoughts on young Chris Sandow’s departure from the Rabbitohs at the www.thepunch.com.au.  They are bound to make me unpopular with many, but they are honest. 

The story of Chris Sandow is well known to those who follow even a little Rugby League: he’s bloody tiny, has a heart the size of Queensland, and when he does actually make contact with opposition players, they certainly know it. 

He was the league’s top rookie in 2008, has won matches almost single handedly, divides critics and fans alike, and after 4 years, he is leaving the Souths Sydney Rabbitohs, the Club where he has made his professional debut, to join the Parramatta Eels.

I first met Chris at the southern end of Erskineville Oval as the sun set on a hard training day for the prospective Rabbitohs under 20’s side.

I had been asked to meet the new group of promising juniors, and had been well backgrounded on the squad, particularly “Chrissy” as he was already known. 

He was a diminutive, bright-eyed young man with prestigious football talents, and a reputation for not completing all his obligations.  

He had apparently skipped training a few times, with one famous incident involving him being seen on TV watching an NRL feeder side when he was supposed to be somewhere else. 

For this and a few other adventures he was dropped by his then NRL team and might have easily slipped into the oblivion that engulfs too many talented kids. 

Young people are known to stuff up, (I certainly did at that age) and athletes have the additional complication of a bright spotlight for which they have little preparation and often an insufficient safety net.

Fortunately, the people that run the Rabbitohs took the view that with proper support and the right environment he could be helped to achieve his potential.

We are a passionate football club, and our blood runs hot at times. And while the Club is rightly firm at the appropriate time, it is a kind and responsible employer.  This environment seemed to help Chris get back on track.

Whether you love him or hate him, he has done some great things on the field.  And of course, some less great things.

He’s also developed an ability to handle a hungry media pack, he can calm a school room of children and has a confidence that suggests he will bring great things to his growing family, whomever he plays for.

He’s a product of a mission town in Queensland that has had more than its share of success stories.  There is no doubt he is a proud aboriginal man.  I am told he still shaking off a few habits that don’t help him, but many hundreds of thousands of Australians have similar habits.  He’s not alone in being a few steps from perfect. 

And he takes big steps.

But as an indigenous Australian of 22, his Mum is right to feel incredibly proud of him.

Chris will have a great season in 2011 for the Rabbitohs, and he will lead us to the finals. (You can’t love your Club and think anything different.)

Did Parramatta overpay for Chris? I think that is for Parramatta’s Members to judge.

Something or someone is worth exactly what a buyer is prepared to pay for it.  But if you pay more than you can afford, that’s your problem, and that’s bad business. 

Shakespeare tells the story of Richard III, knee deep in battle mud, offering to fork over his Kingdom for a horse.

If you had been in the saddle in Bosworth Field that day in 1485, and Richard III had offered you his kingdom, you might have done very well.  Nobody could criticize you for taking most of what is now England in exchange for your steed.  Indeed, it would have been a very responsible thing to do if you had a young family to look after.

Rugby League was founded on the principle that players have the right to demand whatever they believe is the market worth for their services.  No one has to pay it, but they have the unfettered right to ask for it.

In 1895 the English Rugby Football Union prevented working class players receiving any money, even compensation for injuries that prevented them working in their regular employment.  The brave players (and administrators) who founded League in the UK and Australia left the “union” clubs they were playing for, were promptly ostracised and banned for life from the code they loved, merely because they wanted to receive what someone was prepared to pay them for their work.  

Loyalty hasn’t died in professional sport: wherever I go, and in whatever sport I am involved in, I always find it inside the best players, riders, and athletes.  But no one should ask sportspeople to do something few would do themselves.   They have an implausibly short playing window, and have very limited options after their professional careers which last, if they are fortunate, as long as did King Richard III—whose ‘last game’ was in the fields of Bosworth at the age 32.

Good luck to Chris, I will enjoy every second of watching him run with the Rabbitohs in 2011 as the team puts its season back on track.

I wish him the best of luck for a long career and I hope he stays involved in the Indigenous community.  I have met hundred of indigenous kids of roughly his age, and few have the spark in their eye like he does. Many fall off the track and don’t get the support that Chris was availed, and perhaps he can pass some of his experience and good fortunate back to communities that need it.

 

 

Peter Holmes a Court is the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.  He is currently on sabbatical, somewhere in the middle of France.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 year ago  View high resolution

I positioned my two girls on the metal railing to catch a glimpse of the sprint finish of the Tour de Romandie in Geneva.  They have never seen anything remotely like it.  Standing within reach of 70 cyclists travelling 50 km/h as they lunge for the finish line is like lying on a grass track while racehorses gallop around you. My 7 year old girls were transfixed with the motion, the sounds, and the cheers for-amongst the more vocal support for the many swiss riders- the Australian cyclist Cadel Evans. I had woken them early that morning, skipped their breakfast and driven 4 hours, for what I had promised them was a reasonable activity.  When I told them he had just won the entire five day race, they got it. They encouraged me to take them to the area in front of the podium and let them watch the awards ceremony from close up. I dashed down the road and stood in the middle of the building pack. I hoisted one of my girls onto my right shoulder, and a kind stranger lifted the other so she could perch on my left shoulder.  In the crush I noticed the sharp smell of Europen dog poop coming from nearby, and found the offending contribution on Madison’s shoe.  All shoes were thrown off to be collected later. Somehow I was able to extend a hand with a slipperly iphone to take this photo. (I assume the non-grip surface of the iphone is designed in, as repairs to the glass front (and now the back, ffs!) are going to cost me as much as the purchase price of other faster smart phones.) The resulting photo is average, but nothing else about the experience was. 

I positioned my two girls on the metal railing to catch a glimpse of the sprint finish of the Tour de Romandie in Geneva.  They have never seen anything remotely like it.  Standing within reach of 70 cyclists travelling 50 km/h as they lunge for the finish line is like lying on a grass track while racehorses gallop around you.

My 7 year old girls were transfixed with the motion, the sounds, and the cheers for-amongst the more vocal support for the many swiss riders- the Australian cyclist Cadel Evans.

I had woken them early that morning, skipped their breakfast and driven 4 hours, for what I had promised them was a reasonable activity.  When I told them he had just won the entire five day race, they got it. They encouraged me to take them to the area in front of the podium and let them watch the awards ceremony from close up.

I dashed down the road and stood in the middle of the building pack.

I hoisted one of my girls onto my right shoulder, and a kind stranger lifted the other so she could perch on my left shoulder.  In the crush I noticed the sharp smell of Europen dog poop coming from nearby, and found the offending contribution on Madison’s shoe.  All shoes were thrown off to be collected later.

Somehow I was able to extend a hand with a slipperly iphone to take this photo.

(I assume the non-grip surface of the iphone is designed in, as repairs to the glass front (and now the back, ffs!) are going to cost me as much as the purchase price of other faster smart phones.)

The resulting photo is average, but nothing else about the experience was. 

1 year ago  View high resolution

(click on the photo above to go to my photo set on a school making amazing progress.) This week in Aurukun I saw the most amazing development in the schooling of disadvantaged students I have ever witnessed. It is not a revolution—it isn’t that radical. It didn’t start with a student/parent uprising, the classes take places inside in an ordinary schoolroom, the teachers don’t outnumber the students and if a teacher is using an iPhone it is to keep the time. Most importantly, it’s a system that has been in use for over 40 years (and a spin-off of which taught me to read in Perth in 1974). And it is truly an evolution in the sense that it is a partnership between the Queensland education department and the Cape York Institute. But when you see impact, you know radically different results will come.  Perhaps it is a tiny sliver of hope for the future of remote indigenous towns.

(click on the photo above to go to my photo set on a school making amazing progress.)

This week in Aurukun I saw the most amazing development in the schooling of disadvantaged students I have ever witnessed.

It is not a revolution—it isn’t that radical.

It didn’t start with a student/parent uprising, the classes take places inside in an ordinary schoolroom, the teachers don’t outnumber the students and if a teacher is using an iPhone it is to keep the time.

Most importantly, it’s a system that has been in use for over 40 years (and a spin-off of which taught me to read in Perth in 1974).

And it is truly an evolution in the sense that it is a partnership between the Queensland education department and the Cape York Institute.

But when you see impact, you know radically different results will come. 

Perhaps it is a tiny sliver of hope for the future of remote indigenous towns.

1 year ago  View high resolution

Australia produced both the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Rupert Murdoch.  Not sure if there is causation. 

Australia produced both the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Rupert Murdoch.  Not sure if there is causation. 

1 year ago  View high resolution

I spoke to Julian Lee about our work at the Greater Sydney Partnership.   Nobody is suggesting Sydney becomes New York, but I have always thought if you have a problem you should go and ask the experts first.   Then work out how it fits for your situation.  Lots to learn from New York, and London, both good and bad.  http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/follow-new-york-example-city-told-20101126-18an6.html?from=smh_sb

I spoke to Julian Lee about our work at the Greater Sydney Partnership.  

Nobody is suggesting Sydney becomes New York, but I have always thought if you have a problem you should go and ask the experts first.  

Then work out how it fits for your situation.  Lots to learn from New York, and London, both good and bad. 

http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/follow-new-york-example-city-told-20101126-18an6.html?from=smh_sb

1 year ago  View high resolution

DEAN RITCHIE Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 11/24: IT has been one hell of a ride in the years since famous South Sydney were re-admitted to the NRL. And there to live and digest the epic journey from front-row seats has been the club’s two “originals” - forward stalwarts Scott Geddes and Luke Stuart. The pair are back in training for 2011, preparing for their 10th straight season in the cardinal red and myrtle green. Together, they have enjoyed delirious highs and heartbreaking lows, and witnessed rugby league history along the way. They were there when Souths won their legal fight to return to the NRL in 2002. They’ve seen club saviour George Piggins walk away vowing never to return, Hollywood actor and Souths tragic Russell Crowe arrive, and Shaun “Bomber” McRae come and go. They saw Jason Taylor get decked and then sacked, the club move its games to Homebush but re-open historic Redfern Oval as a training base and spiritual home.   They were there when Souths made the finals for the first time in 18 years, and have welcomed to Redfern big Englishman Sam Burgess and superstar Greg Inglis. “It’s been a rocky old road at times,” Geddes, 30, admitted yesterday. “But I have loved my time at Souths and wouldn’t change a thing.  “I have had some great times here. I have met some good people, played with some good players and had some good wins. I love the place and am happy to be here for another two years.” Asked to reveal his most memorable moments, Geddes said: “Round two 2002 when I made my first-grade debut against Canberra. Russell’s takeover was interesting and any time we have beaten the Roosters.” Stuart, 33, has played 230 first-grade games to be the heart and soul of South Sydney’s forward pack. Few wraps, few tries but plenty of admirers. Asked for his recollections, Stuart said: “I remember all the excitement when Souths came back into the competition, although we probably didn’t live up to expectations. “We got lost there for a couple of years, but it all turned around when Russell and Peter [Holmes-a-Court] arrived. Had they not taken over, I couldn’t see things changing here at the club. “Just the resources they have put in and the passion they have for Souths to be one of the top sides again.” Stuart said the club had “come the full circle”. “The Rabbitohs are on their way up and we are competitive again,” he said. “We won’t be kicked around any more. We have had three great signings over the past year - Sam Burgess, Dave Taylor and now Greg Inglis. But that is all on paper. We have failed to deliver before. We need to aim up.” Geddes and Stuart are both looking forward to playing alongside Inglis. “He has given everyone a boost in confidence,” Geddes said.

DEAN RITCHIE Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 11/24: IT has been one hell of a ride in the years since famous South Sydney were re-admitted to the NRL.

And there to live and digest the epic journey from front-row seats has been the club’s two “originals” - forward stalwarts Scott Geddes and Luke Stuart.

The pair are back in training for 2011, preparing for their 10th straight season in the cardinal red and myrtle green.

Together, they have enjoyed delirious highs and heartbreaking lows, and witnessed rugby league history along the way.

They were there when Souths won their legal fight to return to the NRL in 2002.

They’ve seen club saviour George Piggins walk away vowing never to return, Hollywood actor and Souths tragic Russell Crowe arrive, and Shaun “Bomber” McRae come and go.

They saw Jason Taylor get decked and then sacked, the club move its games to Homebush but re-open historic Redfern Oval as a training base and spiritual home.

 

They were there when Souths made the finals for the first time in 18 years, and have welcomed to Redfern big Englishman Sam Burgess and superstar Greg Inglis.

“It’s been a rocky old road at times,” Geddes, 30, admitted yesterday. “But I have loved my time at Souths and wouldn’t change a thing. 

“I have had some great times here. I have met some good people, played with some good players and had some good wins. I love the place and am happy to be here for another two years.”

Asked to reveal his most memorable moments, Geddes said: “Round two 2002 when I made my first-grade debut against Canberra. Russell’s takeover was interesting and any time we have beaten the Roosters.”

Stuart, 33, has played 230 first-grade games to be the heart and soul of South Sydney’s forward pack. Few wraps, few tries but plenty of admirers.

Asked for his recollections, Stuart said: “I remember all the excitement when Souths came back into the competition, although we probably didn’t live up to expectations.

“We got lost there for a couple of years, but it all turned around when Russell and Peter [Holmes-a-Court] arrived. Had they not taken over, I couldn’t see things changing here at the club.

“Just the resources they have put in and the passion they have for Souths to be one of the top sides again.”

Stuart said the club had “come the full circle”.

“The Rabbitohs are on their way up and we are competitive again,” he said.

“We won’t be kicked around any more. We have had three great signings over the past year - Sam Burgess, Dave Taylor and now Greg Inglis. But that is all on paper. We have failed to deliver before. We need to aim up.”

Geddes and Stuart are both looking forward to playing alongside Inglis. “He has given everyone a boost in confidence,” Geddes said.

rebirth of rabbitohs


1 year ago 

Rabbitohs training (in the background) while Rubin and Albert rehearse for a cultural festival this coming weekend. A great use of Redfern Park and Oval.  Proud Tiwi Island men, both very happy to see great indigenous players choosing Redfern. 

1 year ago 

An Editorial I wrote for the Newcastle Herald on my birthday, 11 11 10: When talking down the game of Rugby League many people say “sport is just a business.”  My response is that sport is not a business, it is much more important than that. Sporting teams provide the fabric of our communities, they provide examples of excellence, they can teach us the lessons of success and, equally importantly, failure. Sure winning is important. Bloody important, but despite what famous coaches have said, it isn’t everything. While the pursuit of excellence must be at the core of any self-respecting club, a club can do so much more for the community, for its members, for its juniors. Business people investing their money (and more importantly, their time, experience and contacts) into sporting clubs is a relatively new adventure in Australia. While private ownership is the norm internationally, we have been fortunate in Australia to have Leagues Clubs fund the establishment of great sporting clubs. This model is now highly questioned. The fastest declining revenue source for Rugby League clubs is that which flows from poker machine revenue, while the fastest growing income stream is membership. Membership has risen because the recent privatisations in League have ensured the key elements of a club remain in the hands of the Members: the colours, location of the team, team logo and so on. Sponsors have welcomed the introduction of new business people into the clubs. Players and coaching staff appreciated greater security and are more attracted to a club when its finances are in order and its board is drawn from a cross section of top business people. Investment in sporting teams will never be the best way to make money. If they make a little money - and they should - it is never massive, as everyone involved is more interested in winning the Premiership than receiving a big financial dividend. Plus, as an investor your dividends will always include a social component – the knowledge that by investing in your club you are helping fulfil the dreams of thousands, and helping the pride of your community. Privatisation has proved the key to rebuilding two Sydney clubs, Manly and the Rabbitohs, whose very existence was in question before private investment. The reason is that professional sport in Australia has changed and these clubs needed a new business model if they were going to survive. The new business model relies on a diversified revenue base from membership, sponsorship and game-day returns, supported by merchandise and corporate hospitality. This model is the same one the AFL has. When the new business model is implemented properly Leagues Club grants become less “must have to survive” and more akin to major sponsors - still important, but if one disappears or is reduced it doesn’t kill the club All of this is aimed at ensuring long-term success off the field but most importantly is aimed at delivering on-field success. Privatisation also brings new people with new ideas into the business.  There are many great people in footy clubs, and you never want to lose that knowledge and passion, but investors are usually smart people too - and they bring in other smart people to turn the off-field results around, ensure the viability of the club and let the footy people focus on what they do best - win games. I have been fortunate to spend time in Newcastle on business as a Director of Queensland Rail and to observe the quality of life in Newcastle with good friends (if you ever need some tiles, drop in to Earp Brothers tiles and demand to see Michael for a good deal). My experience has led me to believe that Newcastle is one of the best places to live in Australia.  Newcastle has everything it needs to be the base of a number of very powerful sporting franchises. I trust your great city will carefully consider the offer from Mr Tinkler and make the right decision. I don’t know Nathan, but I know his right hand man Ken Edwards to be a fair and honest businessman and passionate sports lover of all varieties and a huge asset for Rugby League. I have not seen the details of the offer and would never propose to tell Knight’s members what decision to make, but I would strongly suggest that all options are carefully reviewed and the opinions of the broadest community of supporters are considered. However the decision goes in Newcastle, I know it would be good for Rugby League to have a strong Newcastle Knights.  Just not when they play the Rabbitohs, please. Peter Holmes á Court is a joint owner with Russell Crowe and the Member’s Company of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He is Chairman of ISFM, a specialist sports industry consultancy, the Founding Chairman of the Greater Sydney Partnership and a Director of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. He was formerly the CEO of the ASX-listed Australian Agricultural Company and a Director of Queensland Rail, Queensland Performing Arts Trust, Stoll Moss Theatres (UK) and the founder of Back Row Production in New York.

An Editorial I wrote for the Newcastle Herald on my birthday, 11 11 10:

When talking down the game of Rugby League many people say “sport is just a business.”  My response is that sport is not a business, it is much more important than that.

Sporting teams provide the fabric of our communities, they provide examples of excellence, they can teach us the lessons of success and, equally importantly, failure.

Sure winning is important. Bloody important, but despite what famous coaches have said, it isn’t everything. While the pursuit of excellence must be at the core of any self-respecting club, a club can do so much more for the community, for its members, for its juniors.

Business people investing their money (and more importantly, their time, experience and contacts) into sporting clubs is a relatively new adventure in Australia.

While private ownership is the norm internationally, we have been fortunate in Australia to have Leagues Clubs fund the establishment of great sporting clubs.

This model is now highly questioned. The fastest declining revenue source for Rugby League clubs is that which flows from poker machine revenue, while the fastest growing income stream is membership.

Membership has risen because the recent privatisations in League have ensured the key elements of a club remain in the hands of the Members: the colours, location of the team, team logo and so on.

Sponsors have welcomed the introduction of new business people into the clubs.

Players and coaching staff appreciated greater security and are more attracted to a club when its finances are in order and its board is drawn from a cross section of top business people.

Investment in sporting teams will never be the best way to make money.

If they make a little money - and they should - it is never massive, as everyone involved is more interested in winning the Premiership than receiving a big financial dividend.

Plus, as an investor your dividends will always include a social component – the knowledge that by investing in your club you are helping fulfil the dreams of thousands, and helping the pride of your community.

Privatisation has proved the key to rebuilding two Sydney clubs, Manly and the Rabbitohs, whose very existence was in question before private investment.

The reason is that professional sport in Australia has changed and these clubs needed a new business model if they were going to survive.

The new business model relies on a diversified revenue base from membership, sponsorship and game-day returns, supported by merchandise and corporate hospitality.

This model is the same one the AFL has.

When the new business model is implemented properly Leagues Club grants become less “must have to survive” and more akin to major sponsors - still important, but if one disappears or is reduced it doesn’t kill the club

All of this is aimed at ensuring long-term success off the field but most importantly is aimed at delivering on-field success.

Privatisation also brings new people with new ideas into the business.  There are many great people in footy clubs, and you never want to lose that knowledge and passion, but investors are usually smart people too - and they bring in other smart people to turn the off-field results around, ensure the viability of the club and let the footy people focus on what they do best - win games.

I have been fortunate to spend time in Newcastle on business as a Director of Queensland Rail and to observe the quality of life in Newcastle with good friends (if you ever need some tiles, drop in to Earp Brothers tiles and demand to see Michael for a good deal).

My experience has led me to believe that Newcastle is one of the best places to live in Australia. 

Newcastle has everything it needs to be the base of a number of very powerful sporting franchises.

I trust your great city will carefully consider the offer from Mr Tinkler and make the right decision.

I don’t know Nathan, but I know his right hand man Ken Edwards to be a fair and honest businessman and passionate sports lover of all varieties and a huge asset for Rugby League.

I have not seen the details of the offer and would never propose to tell Knight’s members what decision to make, but I would strongly suggest that all options are carefully reviewed and the opinions of the broadest community of supporters are considered.

However the decision goes in Newcastle, I know it would be good for Rugby League to have a strong Newcastle Knights.  Just not when they play the Rabbitohs, please.

Peter Holmes á Court is a joint owner with Russell Crowe and the Member’s Company of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He is Chairman of ISFM, a specialist sports industry consultancy, the Founding Chairman of the Greater Sydney Partnership and a Director of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. He was formerly the CEO of the ASX-listed Australian Agricultural Company and a Director of Queensland Rail, Queensland Performing Arts Trust, Stoll Moss Theatres (UK) and the founder of Back Row Production in New York.

1 year ago 

I am fortunate to have been involved in a number of organisations with a long history of employing indigenous australians. I am proud to have known some wonderful aboriginal people and some bloody hard working individuals.  While I was CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company (founded 1824 and Australia’s oldest continuously operating company) I learned from the company’s detailed historical records (a handy summary of which I found in Bairstow Damaris book “A million pounds A million acres “) that in the Company’s first 50 years aboriginal workers were the most valued of all the companies employees. Hard working, well suited to the conditions and, compared to the other ethnic groups from which the company drew its workforce, with the “lowest rates of habitual drunkedness.”  As a result management tried to recruit as many indigenous workers as they could encourage to join the company. A great reminder that what is today has not always been. I will be sharing my personal perspective on Aboriginal employment as a guest of The Aboriginal Employment Strategy as part of NAIDOC Week 2010, Wednesday July 7 at 6pm. Here’s the open invitation: “Guests are invited to join The Aboriginal Employment Strategy for drinks, canapés and networking to find out how employers can support by helping to ensure Aboriginal people reach their full potential through training, skills development and work placement and play a part in bringing about positive social change. Wednesday, 7 July from 6pm to 8:30 at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, 26-32 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. “ If you would like to attend this event as a guest of The Greater Sydney Partnership, please send through an RSVP to cecilia.summer@greatersydneypartnership.com.au by latest July 6th. Come on time, leave in time to watch the State of Origin.

I am fortunate to have been involved in a number of organisations with a long history of employing indigenous australians.

I am proud to have known some wonderful aboriginal people and some bloody hard working individuals. 

While I was CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company (founded 1824 and Australia’s oldest continuously operating company) I learned from the company’s detailed historical records (a handy summary of which I found in Bairstow Damaris book “A million pounds A million acres “) that in the Company’s first 50 years aboriginal workers were the most valued of all the companies employees. Hard working, well suited to the conditions and, compared to the other ethnic groups from which the company drew its workforce, with the “lowest rates of habitual drunkedness.”  As a result management tried to recruit as many indigenous workers as they could encourage to join the company.

A great reminder that what is today has not always been.

I will be sharing my personal perspective on Aboriginal employment as a guest of The Aboriginal Employment Strategy as part of NAIDOC Week 2010, Wednesday July 7 at 6pm.

Here’s the open invitation:

“Guests are invited to join The Aboriginal Employment Strategy for drinks, canapés and networking to find out how employers can support by helping to ensure Aboriginal people reach their full potential through training, skills development and work placement and play a part in bringing about positive social change.

Wednesday, 7 July from 6pm to 8:30 at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, 26-32 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. “

If you would like to attend this event as a guest of The Greater Sydney Partnership, please send through an RSVP to cecilia.summer@greatersydneypartnership.com.au by latest July 6th.

Come on time, leave in time to watch the State of Origin.

1 year ago  View high resolution

  sponsor me in water, to help fight malaria whenever I swim in the sea, one thing keeps itself at the font of my head perhaps that is why I am swimming in doors with Rob this Saturday for his annual Malaria fund raiser.  the other reason is that I am in London.  Rob’s efforts have raised over $2million which, as 100% of the money goes to the most effective thing you can do to reduce malaria infection—supplying nets to stop mosquitos transmitting the disease—means he has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.   this year you can donate to here, click the image, or go to  http://www.WorldSwimAgainstMalaria.com/peterandrob

 

sponsor me in water, to help fight malaria

whenever I swim in the sea, one thing keeps itself at the font of my head

perhaps that is why I am swimming in doors with Rob this Saturday for his annual Malaria fund raiser.  the other reason is that I am in London. 

Rob’s efforts have raised over $2million which, as 100% of the money goes to the most effective thing you can do to reduce malaria infection—supplying nets to stop mosquitos transmitting the disease—means he has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.  

this year you can donate to here, click the image, or go to  http://www.WorldSwimAgainstMalaria.com/peterandrob

1 year ago  View high resolution

Photo: Frank Gehry’s concerty hall, homeless man’s bag. Wonderful news that UTS (the University of Technology Sydney) will be developing its newest building with the visionary architect Frank Gehry.  Highest praise for UTS and its board of Governors for their vision and thank you for their continued support of Sydney. The bag in this (out of focus, low res) photograph sat on a table with the finest view of the finest new concert hall in the world, the Disney Center in downtown LA. A reminder that we not only have to build great things, we also have to work on what happens around them. 

Photo: Frank Gehry’s concerty hall, homeless man’s bag.

Wonderful news that UTS (the University of Technology Sydney) will be developing its newest building with the visionary architect Frank Gehry. 

Highest praise for UTS and its board of Governors for their vision and thank you for their continued support of Sydney.

The bag in this (out of focus, low res) photograph sat on a table with the finest view of the finest new concert hall in the world, the Disney Center in downtown LA.

A reminder that we not only have to build great things, we also have to work on what happens around them. 

1 year ago  View high resolution

I am very fortunate to have been involved in the business transformation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.   most of the progress has, rightly, occurred below the surface. possibly the best article written about the off-field work untaken by many, many committed people at the Rabbitohs: click the photo above or go to http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/glory-beckons-as-south-sydney-marches-on-20100611-y3h1.html strong words from a strong CEO. sports teams are loved for what they do on the field, and most fans would rather not have to care about the off-field performance of their club.   but the reality is that the two are intrinsically linked, and it is virtually impossible to get on-field consistently without a sustained period of off-field organisation and stability.  so if you really love your team, love all parts of your club, including the less-loveable back office.   there are many very hard working people who make the incredible on-field performances possible, and that off-field team rarely gets the credit they are due. the future of the Rabbitohs is bright and, fortunately, no-one underestimates the work that has to be done.  (the guy in the cap plays soccer, rather well. seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE)

I am very fortunate to have been involved in the business transformation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.  

most of the progress has, rightly, occurred below the surface.

possibly the best article written about the off-field work untaken by many, many committed people at the Rabbitohs: click the photo above or go to http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/glory-beckons-as-south-sydney-marches-on-20100611-y3h1.html

strong words from a strong CEO.

sports teams are loved for what they do on the field, and most fans would rather not have to care about the off-field performance of their club.  

but the reality is that the two are intrinsically linked, and it is virtually impossible to get on-field consistently without a sustained period of off-field organisation and stability. 

so if you really love your team, love all parts of your club, including the less-loveable back office.  

there are many very hard working people who make the incredible on-field performances possible, and that off-field team rarely gets the credit they are due.

the future of the Rabbitohs is bright and, fortunately, no-one underestimates the work that has to be done. 

(the guy in the cap plays soccer, rather well. seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE)

1 year ago 

Outstanding event by SYDNEY HOMELESS CONNECT at Town Hall bringing essential services and homeless people of SYDNEY together.

And then the dancers arrived and took it to another level.

Well done to all involved. 

1 year ago 

I am not saying anything happened that shouldn’t have happened.   This is just an observation. 

I am not saying anything happened that shouldn’t have happened.  

This is just an observation. 

1 year ago 

In 1946-ish, George Orwell wrote an essay on his reasons for writing, sensibly titled “Why I write.”  It is an internally conflicted but fascinating little essay on a subject that vexes many writers.  He starts:  “Putting aside the need to make a living…[which is a slightly peculiar introduction for a penniless, failed Burmese policeman who believed in a socialist reorganisation of society] I think there are four great motives for writing[1]…They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are: 1. Sheer egotism.  Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc. etc.  It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen [I think unsuccessful ones as well] – in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.[2] 2.  Aesthetic enthusiasm.  Perception of beauty in the external world, and their right arrangement.[3]  Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story.  Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed… 3. Historical impulse.  Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.  [He can’t be talking about prose here!] 4. Political purpose – using the word political in the widest possible sense.  Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias.” As for George himself, he says that if he had lived in “a peaceful age” (not sure which age he is referring to here, I am still looking for a uniformly rosy period of history to which I can get transported if the opportunity arises) he would have been a writer of “ornate and merely descriptive” books.  He was, he said, mostly motivated by points 1 through 3 until the political and military actions of the 1930s crystalised European social injustice issues.  After which time he was motivated by reason 4 and he says that every line was written against the orthodoxy and for his preferred system. His italics. He concludes: “It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.” *             *             * I have spent a good part of this year thinking about why I write. From where I stand (mostly sitting), watching the far right rise again in Europe, the far left rise in China, and the once dominant middle crumble in America, we live in what George would call such “a period” where if you are going to write, produce, comment, blog, you cannot avoid writing against one orthodoxy and for another.  As it turned out, for most of this year, I ended up documenting the workers in a bicycle factory in rural France with my camera, overly concerned that I was simply indulging myself and working as an amateur bicycle pornographer.  But Orwell is correct, you can’t avoid joining the debate about what our society ought to strive for, and specifically, advocating a particular position. “It is a simply a question of what side you takes and what approach one follows.  And the more one is conscious of one’s political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one’s aesthetic and intellectual integrity.” What comes of what I have observed, what I am starting to write about, I have no idea, but I accept is more effective to be honest at the front end about one’s biases and be comfortable with the egotistical foundation. And so, now I have written all this, I must also be comfortable with the incredible time consumer writing can be, because I have spent an afternoon and part of a restless night thinking and then writing about thinking and writing.  Next month I might just write a piece on why I write about why I write. P PS.  Orwell comments that “serious writers are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalist, though less interested in money.”  Again, a lovely Orwellian compliment.  If you write you are either a vain and self-centered “serious” writer or a money hungry journalist.  Not sure where he would put well paid Fox News commentators and un-paid Huffington Post contributors. [1] He adds, almost dismissively, “at any rate for writing prose.” You can argue that what he was saying only has relevance for the motivations for writing “prose” but fuck, what Orwell calls prose reads like the political and social dissertations of the most determined writers.  [2] Orwell doesn’t believe the great mass of humans are acutely selfish.  Most, by the age of 30, have abandoned individual ambition or are buried under the drudgery of a capitalist system.  However, there is a “minority of gifted [read lucky bastards, not hard working or anything positive], wilful [the nicest thing he can say without saying selfish] people who are determined to live their own lives to the end” and writers belong in this group.” A backhanded compliment, which he knows lands squarely on himself, if I have every read one. [3] Correcting for asymmetry seems to me to fit here: in the sense that a symmetrical external world is beautiful, and only gets out of whack because of how people futz with it, and with some help, the right arrangement can be achieved. 

In 1946-ish, George Orwell wrote an essay on his reasons for writing, sensibly titled “Why I write.” 

It is an internally conflicted but fascinating little essay on a subject that vexes many writers. 

He starts:

 “Putting aside the need to make a living…[which is a slightly peculiar introduction for a penniless, failed Burmese policeman who believed in a socialist reorganisation of society] I think there are four great motives for writing[1]…They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living.

They are:

1. Sheer egotism.  Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc. etc.  It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen [I think unsuccessful ones as well] – in short, with the whole top crust of humanity.[2]

2.  Aesthetic enthusiasm.  Perception of beauty in the external world, and their right arrangement.[3]  Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story.  Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed…

3. Historical impulse.  Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.  [He can’t be talking about prose here!]

4. Political purpose – using the word political in the widest possible sense.  Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias.”

As for George himself, he says that if he had lived in “a peaceful age” (not sure which age he is referring to here, I am still looking for a uniformly rosy period of history to which I can get transported if the opportunity arises) he would have been a writer of “ornate and merely descriptive” books.  He was, he said, mostly motivated by points 1 through 3 until the political and military actions of the 1930s crystalised European social injustice issues.  After which time he was motivated by reason 4 and he says that every line was written against the orthodoxy and for his preferred system. His italics.

He concludes:

“It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.”

*             *             *

I have spent a good part of this year thinking about why I write.

From where I stand (mostly sitting), watching the far right rise again in Europe, the far left rise in China, and the once dominant middle crumble in America, we live in what George would call such “a period” where if you are going to write, produce, comment, blog, you cannot avoid writing against one orthodoxy and for another. 

As it turned out, for most of this year, I ended up documenting the workers in a bicycle factory in rural France with my camera, overly concerned that I was simply indulging myself and working as an amateur bicycle pornographer. 

But Orwell is correct, you can’t avoid joining the debate about what our society ought to strive for, and specifically, advocating a particular position.

“It is a simply a question of what side you takes and what approach one follows.  And the more one is conscious of one’s political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one’s aesthetic and intellectual integrity.”

What comes of what I have observed, what I am starting to write about, I have no idea, but I accept is more effective to be honest at the front end about one’s biases and be comfortable with the egotistical foundation.

And so, now I have written all this, I must also be comfortable with the incredible time consumer writing can be, because I have spent an afternoon and part of a restless night thinking and then writing about thinking and writing. 

Next month I might just write a piece on why I write about why I write.

P

PS.  Orwell comments that “serious writers are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalist, though less interested in money.”  Again, a lovely Orwellian compliment.  If you write you are either a vain and self-centered “serious” writer or a money hungry journalist.  Not sure where he would put well paid Fox News commentators and un-paid Huffington Post contributors.

[1] He adds, almost dismissively, “at any rate for writing prose.” You can argue that what he was saying only has relevance for the motivations for writing “prose” but fuck, what Orwell calls prose reads like the political and social dissertations of the most determined writers. 

[2] Orwell doesn’t believe the great mass of humans are acutely selfish.  Most, by the age of 30, have abandoned individual ambition or are buried under the drudgery of a capitalist system.  However, there is a “minority of gifted [read lucky bastards, not hard working or anything positive], wilful [the nicest thing he can say without saying selfish] people who are determined to live their own lives to the end” and writers belong in this group.” A backhanded compliment, which he knows lands squarely on himself, if I have every read one.

[3] Correcting for asymmetry seems to me to fit here: in the sense that a symmetrical external world is beautiful, and only gets out of whack because of how people futz with it, and with some help, the right arrangement can be achieved. 

I shared my thoughts on young Chris Sandow’s departure from the Rabbitohs at the www.thepunch.com.au.  They are bound to make me unpopular with many, but they are honest.  The story of Chris Sandow is well known to those who follow even a little Rugby League: he’s bloody tiny, has a heart the size of Queensland, and when he does actually make contact with opposition players, they certainly know it.  He was the league’s top rookie in 2008, has won matches almost single handedly, divides critics and fans alike, and after 4 years, he is leaving the Souths Sydney Rabbitohs, the Club where he has made his professional debut, to join the Parramatta Eels. I first met Chris at the southern end of Erskineville Oval as the sun set on a hard training day for the prospective Rabbitohs under 20’s side. I had been asked to meet the new group of promising juniors, and had been well backgrounded on the squad, particularly “Chrissy” as he was already known.  He was a diminutive, bright-eyed young man with prestigious football talents, and a reputation for not completing all his obligations.   He had apparently skipped training a few times, with one famous incident involving him being seen on TV watching an NRL feeder side when he was supposed to be somewhere else.  For this and a few other adventures he was dropped by his then NRL team and might have easily slipped into the oblivion that engulfs too many talented kids.  Young people are known to stuff up, (I certainly did at that age) and athletes have the additional complication of a bright spotlight for which they have little preparation and often an insufficient safety net. Fortunately, the people that run the Rabbitohs took the view that with proper support and the right environment he could be helped to achieve his potential. We are a passionate football club, and our blood runs hot at times. And while the Club is rightly firm at the appropriate time, it is a kind and responsible employer.  This environment seemed to help Chris get back on track. Whether you love him or hate him, he has done some great things on the field.  And of course, some less great things. He’s also developed an ability to handle a hungry media pack, he can calm a school room of children and has a confidence that suggests he will bring great things to his growing family, whomever he plays for. He’s a product of a mission town in Queensland that has had more than its share of success stories.  There is no doubt he is a proud aboriginal man.  I am told he still shaking off a few habits that don’t help him, but many hundreds of thousands of Australians have similar habits.  He’s not alone in being a few steps from perfect.  And he takes big steps. But as an indigenous Australian of 22, his Mum is right to feel incredibly proud of him. Chris will have a great season in 2011 for the Rabbitohs, and he will lead us to the finals. (You can’t love your Club and think anything different.) Did Parramatta overpay for Chris? I think that is for Parramatta’s Members to judge. Something or someone is worth exactly what a buyer is prepared to pay for it.  But if you pay more than you can afford, that’s your problem, and that’s bad business.  Shakespeare tells the story of Richard III, knee deep in battle mud, offering to fork over his Kingdom for a horse. If you had been in the saddle in Bosworth Field that day in 1485, and Richard III had offered you his kingdom, you might have done very well.  Nobody could criticize you for taking most of what is now England in exchange for your steed.  Indeed, it would have been a very responsible thing to do if you had a young family to look after. Rugby League was founded on the principle that players have the right to demand whatever they believe is the market worth for their services.  No one has to pay it, but they have the unfettered right to ask for it. In 1895 the English Rugby Football Union prevented working class players receiving any money, even compensation for injuries that prevented them working in their regular employment.  The brave players (and administrators) who founded League in the UK and Australia left the “union” clubs they were playing for, were promptly ostracised and banned for life from the code they loved, merely because they wanted to receive what someone was prepared to pay them for their work.   Loyalty hasn’t died in professional sport: wherever I go, and in whatever sport I am involved in, I always find it inside the best players, riders, and athletes.  But no one should ask sportspeople to do something few would do themselves.   They have an implausibly short playing window, and have very limited options after their professional careers which last, if they are fortunate, as long as did King Richard III—whose ‘last game’ was in the fields of Bosworth at the age 32. Good luck to Chris, I will enjoy every second of watching him run with the Rabbitohs in 2011 as the team puts its season back on track. I wish him the best of luck for a long career and I hope he stays involved in the Indigenous community.  I have met hundred of indigenous kids of roughly his age, and few have the spark in their eye like he does. Many fall off the track and don’t get the support that Chris was availed, and perhaps he can pass some of his experience and good fortunate back to communities that need it.     Peter Holmes a Court is the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.  He is currently on sabbatical, somewhere in the middle of France.              

I shared my thoughts on young Chris Sandow’s departure from the Rabbitohs at the www.thepunch.com.au.  They are bound to make me unpopular with many, but they are honest. 

The story of Chris Sandow is well known to those who follow even a little Rugby League: he’s bloody tiny, has a heart the size of Queensland, and when he does actually make contact with opposition players, they certainly know it. 

He was the league’s top rookie in 2008, has won matches almost single handedly, divides critics and fans alike, and after 4 years, he is leaving the Souths Sydney Rabbitohs, the Club where he has made his professional debut, to join the Parramatta Eels.

I first met Chris at the southern end of Erskineville Oval as the sun set on a hard training day for the prospective Rabbitohs under 20’s side.

I had been asked to meet the new group of promising juniors, and had been well backgrounded on the squad, particularly “Chrissy” as he was already known. 

He was a diminutive, bright-eyed young man with prestigious football talents, and a reputation for not completing all his obligations.  

He had apparently skipped training a few times, with one famous incident involving him being seen on TV watching an NRL feeder side when he was supposed to be somewhere else. 

For this and a few other adventures he was dropped by his then NRL team and might have easily slipped into the oblivion that engulfs too many talented kids. 

Young people are known to stuff up, (I certainly did at that age) and athletes have the additional complication of a bright spotlight for which they have little preparation and often an insufficient safety net.

Fortunately, the people that run the Rabbitohs took the view that with proper support and the right environment he could be helped to achieve his potential.

We are a passionate football club, and our blood runs hot at times. And while the Club is rightly firm at the appropriate time, it is a kind and responsible employer.  This environment seemed to help Chris get back on track.

Whether you love him or hate him, he has done some great things on the field.  And of course, some less great things.

He’s also developed an ability to handle a hungry media pack, he can calm a school room of children and has a confidence that suggests he will bring great things to his growing family, whomever he plays for.

He’s a product of a mission town in Queensland that has had more than its share of success stories.  There is no doubt he is a proud aboriginal man.  I am told he still shaking off a few habits that don’t help him, but many hundreds of thousands of Australians have similar habits.  He’s not alone in being a few steps from perfect. 

And he takes big steps.

But as an indigenous Australian of 22, his Mum is right to feel incredibly proud of him.

Chris will have a great season in 2011 for the Rabbitohs, and he will lead us to the finals. (You can’t love your Club and think anything different.)

Did Parramatta overpay for Chris? I think that is for Parramatta’s Members to judge.

Something or someone is worth exactly what a buyer is prepared to pay for it.  But if you pay more than you can afford, that’s your problem, and that’s bad business. 

Shakespeare tells the story of Richard III, knee deep in battle mud, offering to fork over his Kingdom for a horse.

If you had been in the saddle in Bosworth Field that day in 1485, and Richard III had offered you his kingdom, you might have done very well.  Nobody could criticize you for taking most of what is now England in exchange for your steed.  Indeed, it would have been a very responsible thing to do if you had a young family to look after.

Rugby League was founded on the principle that players have the right to demand whatever they believe is the market worth for their services.  No one has to pay it, but they have the unfettered right to ask for it.

In 1895 the English Rugby Football Union prevented working class players receiving any money, even compensation for injuries that prevented them working in their regular employment.  The brave players (and administrators) who founded League in the UK and Australia left the “union” clubs they were playing for, were promptly ostracised and banned for life from the code they loved, merely because they wanted to receive what someone was prepared to pay them for their work.  

Loyalty hasn’t died in professional sport: wherever I go, and in whatever sport I am involved in, I always find it inside the best players, riders, and athletes.  But no one should ask sportspeople to do something few would do themselves.   They have an implausibly short playing window, and have very limited options after their professional careers which last, if they are fortunate, as long as did King Richard III—whose ‘last game’ was in the fields of Bosworth at the age 32.

Good luck to Chris, I will enjoy every second of watching him run with the Rabbitohs in 2011 as the team puts its season back on track.

I wish him the best of luck for a long career and I hope he stays involved in the Indigenous community.  I have met hundred of indigenous kids of roughly his age, and few have the spark in their eye like he does. Many fall off the track and don’t get the support that Chris was availed, and perhaps he can pass some of his experience and good fortunate back to communities that need it.

 

 

Peter Holmes a Court is the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.  He is currently on sabbatical, somewhere in the middle of France.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I positioned my two girls on the metal railing to catch a glimpse of the sprint finish of the Tour de Romandie in Geneva.  They have never seen anything remotely like it.  Standing within reach of 70 cyclists travelling 50 km/h as they lunge for the finish line is like lying on a grass track while racehorses gallop around you. My 7 year old girls were transfixed with the motion, the sounds, and the cheers for-amongst the more vocal support for the many swiss riders- the Australian cyclist Cadel Evans. I had woken them early that morning, skipped their breakfast and driven 4 hours, for what I had promised them was a reasonable activity.  When I told them he had just won the entire five day race, they got it. They encouraged me to take them to the area in front of the podium and let them watch the awards ceremony from close up. I dashed down the road and stood in the middle of the building pack. I hoisted one of my girls onto my right shoulder, and a kind stranger lifted the other so she could perch on my left shoulder.  In the crush I noticed the sharp smell of Europen dog poop coming from nearby, and found the offending contribution on Madison’s shoe.  All shoes were thrown off to be collected later. Somehow I was able to extend a hand with a slipperly iphone to take this photo. (I assume the non-grip surface of the iphone is designed in, as repairs to the glass front (and now the back, ffs!) are going to cost me as much as the purchase price of other faster smart phones.) The resulting photo is average, but nothing else about the experience was. 

I positioned my two girls on the metal railing to catch a glimpse of the sprint finish of the Tour de Romandie in Geneva.  They have never seen anything remotely like it.  Standing within reach of 70 cyclists travelling 50 km/h as they lunge for the finish line is like lying on a grass track while racehorses gallop around you.

My 7 year old girls were transfixed with the motion, the sounds, and the cheers for-amongst the more vocal support for the many swiss riders- the Australian cyclist Cadel Evans.

I had woken them early that morning, skipped their breakfast and driven 4 hours, for what I had promised them was a reasonable activity.  When I told them he had just won the entire five day race, they got it. They encouraged me to take them to the area in front of the podium and let them watch the awards ceremony from close up.

I dashed down the road and stood in the middle of the building pack.

I hoisted one of my girls onto my right shoulder, and a kind stranger lifted the other so she could perch on my left shoulder.  In the crush I noticed the sharp smell of Europen dog poop coming from nearby, and found the offending contribution on Madison’s shoe.  All shoes were thrown off to be collected later.

Somehow I was able to extend a hand with a slipperly iphone to take this photo.

(I assume the non-grip surface of the iphone is designed in, as repairs to the glass front (and now the back, ffs!) are going to cost me as much as the purchase price of other faster smart phones.)

The resulting photo is average, but nothing else about the experience was. 

(click on the photo above to go to my photo set on a school making amazing progress.) This week in Aurukun I saw the most amazing development in the schooling of disadvantaged students I have ever witnessed. It is not a revolution—it isn’t that radical. It didn’t start with a student/parent uprising, the classes take places inside in an ordinary schoolroom, the teachers don’t outnumber the students and if a teacher is using an iPhone it is to keep the time. Most importantly, it’s a system that has been in use for over 40 years (and a spin-off of which taught me to read in Perth in 1974). And it is truly an evolution in the sense that it is a partnership between the Queensland education department and the Cape York Institute. But when you see impact, you know radically different results will come.  Perhaps it is a tiny sliver of hope for the future of remote indigenous towns.

(click on the photo above to go to my photo set on a school making amazing progress.)

This week in Aurukun I saw the most amazing development in the schooling of disadvantaged students I have ever witnessed.

It is not a revolution—it isn’t that radical.

It didn’t start with a student/parent uprising, the classes take places inside in an ordinary schoolroom, the teachers don’t outnumber the students and if a teacher is using an iPhone it is to keep the time.

Most importantly, it’s a system that has been in use for over 40 years (and a spin-off of which taught me to read in Perth in 1974).

And it is truly an evolution in the sense that it is a partnership between the Queensland education department and the Cape York Institute.

But when you see impact, you know radically different results will come. 

Perhaps it is a tiny sliver of hope for the future of remote indigenous towns.

Australia produced both the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Rupert Murdoch.  Not sure if there is causation. 

Australia produced both the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Rupert Murdoch.  Not sure if there is causation. 

I spoke to Julian Lee about our work at the Greater Sydney Partnership.   Nobody is suggesting Sydney becomes New York, but I have always thought if you have a problem you should go and ask the experts first.   Then work out how it fits for your situation.  Lots to learn from New York, and London, both good and bad.  http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/follow-new-york-example-city-told-20101126-18an6.html?from=smh_sb

I spoke to Julian Lee about our work at the Greater Sydney Partnership.  

Nobody is suggesting Sydney becomes New York, but I have always thought if you have a problem you should go and ask the experts first.  

Then work out how it fits for your situation.  Lots to learn from New York, and London, both good and bad. 

http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/follow-new-york-example-city-told-20101126-18an6.html?from=smh_sb

DEAN RITCHIE Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 11/24: IT has been one hell of a ride in the years since famous South Sydney were re-admitted to the NRL. And there to live and digest the epic journey from front-row seats has been the club’s two “originals” - forward stalwarts Scott Geddes and Luke Stuart. The pair are back in training for 2011, preparing for their 10th straight season in the cardinal red and myrtle green. Together, they have enjoyed delirious highs and heartbreaking lows, and witnessed rugby league history along the way. They were there when Souths won their legal fight to return to the NRL in 2002. They’ve seen club saviour George Piggins walk away vowing never to return, Hollywood actor and Souths tragic Russell Crowe arrive, and Shaun “Bomber” McRae come and go. They saw Jason Taylor get decked and then sacked, the club move its games to Homebush but re-open historic Redfern Oval as a training base and spiritual home.   They were there when Souths made the finals for the first time in 18 years, and have welcomed to Redfern big Englishman Sam Burgess and superstar Greg Inglis. “It’s been a rocky old road at times,” Geddes, 30, admitted yesterday. “But I have loved my time at Souths and wouldn’t change a thing.  “I have had some great times here. I have met some good people, played with some good players and had some good wins. I love the place and am happy to be here for another two years.” Asked to reveal his most memorable moments, Geddes said: “Round two 2002 when I made my first-grade debut against Canberra. Russell’s takeover was interesting and any time we have beaten the Roosters.” Stuart, 33, has played 230 first-grade games to be the heart and soul of South Sydney’s forward pack. Few wraps, few tries but plenty of admirers. Asked for his recollections, Stuart said: “I remember all the excitement when Souths came back into the competition, although we probably didn’t live up to expectations. “We got lost there for a couple of years, but it all turned around when Russell and Peter [Holmes-a-Court] arrived. Had they not taken over, I couldn’t see things changing here at the club. “Just the resources they have put in and the passion they have for Souths to be one of the top sides again.” Stuart said the club had “come the full circle”. “The Rabbitohs are on their way up and we are competitive again,” he said. “We won’t be kicked around any more. We have had three great signings over the past year - Sam Burgess, Dave Taylor and now Greg Inglis. But that is all on paper. We have failed to deliver before. We need to aim up.” Geddes and Stuart are both looking forward to playing alongside Inglis. “He has given everyone a boost in confidence,” Geddes said.

DEAN RITCHIE Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 11/24: IT has been one hell of a ride in the years since famous South Sydney were re-admitted to the NRL.

And there to live and digest the epic journey from front-row seats has been the club’s two “originals” - forward stalwarts Scott Geddes and Luke Stuart.

The pair are back in training for 2011, preparing for their 10th straight season in the cardinal red and myrtle green.

Together, they have enjoyed delirious highs and heartbreaking lows, and witnessed rugby league history along the way.

They were there when Souths won their legal fight to return to the NRL in 2002.

They’ve seen club saviour George Piggins walk away vowing never to return, Hollywood actor and Souths tragic Russell Crowe arrive, and Shaun “Bomber” McRae come and go.

They saw Jason Taylor get decked and then sacked, the club move its games to Homebush but re-open historic Redfern Oval as a training base and spiritual home.

 

They were there when Souths made the finals for the first time in 18 years, and have welcomed to Redfern big Englishman Sam Burgess and superstar Greg Inglis.

“It’s been a rocky old road at times,” Geddes, 30, admitted yesterday. “But I have loved my time at Souths and wouldn’t change a thing. 

“I have had some great times here. I have met some good people, played with some good players and had some good wins. I love the place and am happy to be here for another two years.”

Asked to reveal his most memorable moments, Geddes said: “Round two 2002 when I made my first-grade debut against Canberra. Russell’s takeover was interesting and any time we have beaten the Roosters.”

Stuart, 33, has played 230 first-grade games to be the heart and soul of South Sydney’s forward pack. Few wraps, few tries but plenty of admirers.

Asked for his recollections, Stuart said: “I remember all the excitement when Souths came back into the competition, although we probably didn’t live up to expectations.

“We got lost there for a couple of years, but it all turned around when Russell and Peter [Holmes-a-Court] arrived. Had they not taken over, I couldn’t see things changing here at the club.

“Just the resources they have put in and the passion they have for Souths to be one of the top sides again.”

Stuart said the club had “come the full circle”.

“The Rabbitohs are on their way up and we are competitive again,” he said.

“We won’t be kicked around any more. We have had three great signings over the past year - Sam Burgess, Dave Taylor and now Greg Inglis. But that is all on paper. We have failed to deliver before. We need to aim up.”

Geddes and Stuart are both looking forward to playing alongside Inglis. “He has given everyone a boost in confidence,” Geddes said.

rebirth of rabbitohs


Rabbitohs training (in the background) while Rubin and Albert rehearse for a cultural festival this coming weekend. A great use of Redfern Park and Oval.  Proud Tiwi Island men, both very happy to see great indigenous players choosing Redfern. 

An Editorial I wrote for the Newcastle Herald on my birthday, 11 11 10: When talking down the game of Rugby League many people say “sport is just a business.”  My response is that sport is not a business, it is much more important than that. Sporting teams provide the fabric of our communities, they provide examples of excellence, they can teach us the lessons of success and, equally importantly, failure. Sure winning is important. Bloody important, but despite what famous coaches have said, it isn’t everything. While the pursuit of excellence must be at the core of any self-respecting club, a club can do so much more for the community, for its members, for its juniors. Business people investing their money (and more importantly, their time, experience and contacts) into sporting clubs is a relatively new adventure in Australia. While private ownership is the norm internationally, we have been fortunate in Australia to have Leagues Clubs fund the establishment of great sporting clubs. This model is now highly questioned. The fastest declining revenue source for Rugby League clubs is that which flows from poker machine revenue, while the fastest growing income stream is membership. Membership has risen because the recent privatisations in League have ensured the key elements of a club remain in the hands of the Members: the colours, location of the team, team logo and so on. Sponsors have welcomed the introduction of new business people into the clubs. Players and coaching staff appreciated greater security and are more attracted to a club when its finances are in order and its board is drawn from a cross section of top business people. Investment in sporting teams will never be the best way to make money. If they make a little money - and they should - it is never massive, as everyone involved is more interested in winning the Premiership than receiving a big financial dividend. Plus, as an investor your dividends will always include a social component – the knowledge that by investing in your club you are helping fulfil the dreams of thousands, and helping the pride of your community. Privatisation has proved the key to rebuilding two Sydney clubs, Manly and the Rabbitohs, whose very existence was in question before private investment. The reason is that professional sport in Australia has changed and these clubs needed a new business model if they were going to survive. The new business model relies on a diversified revenue base from membership, sponsorship and game-day returns, supported by merchandise and corporate hospitality. This model is the same one the AFL has. When the new business model is implemented properly Leagues Club grants become less “must have to survive” and more akin to major sponsors - still important, but if one disappears or is reduced it doesn’t kill the club All of this is aimed at ensuring long-term success off the field but most importantly is aimed at delivering on-field success. Privatisation also brings new people with new ideas into the business.  There are many great people in footy clubs, and you never want to lose that knowledge and passion, but investors are usually smart people too - and they bring in other smart people to turn the off-field results around, ensure the viability of the club and let the footy people focus on what they do best - win games. I have been fortunate to spend time in Newcastle on business as a Director of Queensland Rail and to observe the quality of life in Newcastle with good friends (if you ever need some tiles, drop in to Earp Brothers tiles and demand to see Michael for a good deal). My experience has led me to believe that Newcastle is one of the best places to live in Australia.  Newcastle has everything it needs to be the base of a number of very powerful sporting franchises. I trust your great city will carefully consider the offer from Mr Tinkler and make the right decision. I don’t know Nathan, but I know his right hand man Ken Edwards to be a fair and honest businessman and passionate sports lover of all varieties and a huge asset for Rugby League. I have not seen the details of the offer and would never propose to tell Knight’s members what decision to make, but I would strongly suggest that all options are carefully reviewed and the opinions of the broadest community of supporters are considered. However the decision goes in Newcastle, I know it would be good for Rugby League to have a strong Newcastle Knights.  Just not when they play the Rabbitohs, please. Peter Holmes á Court is a joint owner with Russell Crowe and the Member’s Company of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He is Chairman of ISFM, a specialist sports industry consultancy, the Founding Chairman of the Greater Sydney Partnership and a Director of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. He was formerly the CEO of the ASX-listed Australian Agricultural Company and a Director of Queensland Rail, Queensland Performing Arts Trust, Stoll Moss Theatres (UK) and the founder of Back Row Production in New York.

An Editorial I wrote for the Newcastle Herald on my birthday, 11 11 10:

When talking down the game of Rugby League many people say “sport is just a business.”  My response is that sport is not a business, it is much more important than that.

Sporting teams provide the fabric of our communities, they provide examples of excellence, they can teach us the lessons of success and, equally importantly, failure.

Sure winning is important. Bloody important, but despite what famous coaches have said, it isn’t everything. While the pursuit of excellence must be at the core of any self-respecting club, a club can do so much more for the community, for its members, for its juniors.

Business people investing their money (and more importantly, their time, experience and contacts) into sporting clubs is a relatively new adventure in Australia.

While private ownership is the norm internationally, we have been fortunate in Australia to have Leagues Clubs fund the establishment of great sporting clubs.

This model is now highly questioned. The fastest declining revenue source for Rugby League clubs is that which flows from poker machine revenue, while the fastest growing income stream is membership.

Membership has risen because the recent privatisations in League have ensured the key elements of a club remain in the hands of the Members: the colours, location of the team, team logo and so on.

Sponsors have welcomed the introduction of new business people into the clubs.

Players and coaching staff appreciated greater security and are more attracted to a club when its finances are in order and its board is drawn from a cross section of top business people.

Investment in sporting teams will never be the best way to make money.

If they make a little money - and they should - it is never massive, as everyone involved is more interested in winning the Premiership than receiving a big financial dividend.

Plus, as an investor your dividends will always include a social component – the knowledge that by investing in your club you are helping fulfil the dreams of thousands, and helping the pride of your community.

Privatisation has proved the key to rebuilding two Sydney clubs, Manly and the Rabbitohs, whose very existence was in question before private investment.

The reason is that professional sport in Australia has changed and these clubs needed a new business model if they were going to survive.

The new business model relies on a diversified revenue base from membership, sponsorship and game-day returns, supported by merchandise and corporate hospitality.

This model is the same one the AFL has.

When the new business model is implemented properly Leagues Club grants become less “must have to survive” and more akin to major sponsors - still important, but if one disappears or is reduced it doesn’t kill the club

All of this is aimed at ensuring long-term success off the field but most importantly is aimed at delivering on-field success.

Privatisation also brings new people with new ideas into the business.  There are many great people in footy clubs, and you never want to lose that knowledge and passion, but investors are usually smart people too - and they bring in other smart people to turn the off-field results around, ensure the viability of the club and let the footy people focus on what they do best - win games.

I have been fortunate to spend time in Newcastle on business as a Director of Queensland Rail and to observe the quality of life in Newcastle with good friends (if you ever need some tiles, drop in to Earp Brothers tiles and demand to see Michael for a good deal).

My experience has led me to believe that Newcastle is one of the best places to live in Australia. 

Newcastle has everything it needs to be the base of a number of very powerful sporting franchises.

I trust your great city will carefully consider the offer from Mr Tinkler and make the right decision.

I don’t know Nathan, but I know his right hand man Ken Edwards to be a fair and honest businessman and passionate sports lover of all varieties and a huge asset for Rugby League.

I have not seen the details of the offer and would never propose to tell Knight’s members what decision to make, but I would strongly suggest that all options are carefully reviewed and the opinions of the broadest community of supporters are considered.

However the decision goes in Newcastle, I know it would be good for Rugby League to have a strong Newcastle Knights.  Just not when they play the Rabbitohs, please.

Peter Holmes á Court is a joint owner with Russell Crowe and the Member’s Company of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He is Chairman of ISFM, a specialist sports industry consultancy, the Founding Chairman of the Greater Sydney Partnership and a Director of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. He was formerly the CEO of the ASX-listed Australian Agricultural Company and a Director of Queensland Rail, Queensland Performing Arts Trust, Stoll Moss Theatres (UK) and the founder of Back Row Production in New York.

I am fortunate to have been involved in a number of organisations with a long history of employing indigenous australians. I am proud to have known some wonderful aboriginal people and some bloody hard working individuals.  While I was CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company (founded 1824 and Australia’s oldest continuously operating company) I learned from the company’s detailed historical records (a handy summary of which I found in Bairstow Damaris book “A million pounds A million acres “) that in the Company’s first 50 years aboriginal workers were the most valued of all the companies employees. Hard working, well suited to the conditions and, compared to the other ethnic groups from which the company drew its workforce, with the “lowest rates of habitual drunkedness.”  As a result management tried to recruit as many indigenous workers as they could encourage to join the company. A great reminder that what is today has not always been. I will be sharing my personal perspective on Aboriginal employment as a guest of The Aboriginal Employment Strategy as part of NAIDOC Week 2010, Wednesday July 7 at 6pm. Here’s the open invitation: “Guests are invited to join The Aboriginal Employment Strategy for drinks, canapés and networking to find out how employers can support by helping to ensure Aboriginal people reach their full potential through training, skills development and work placement and play a part in bringing about positive social change. Wednesday, 7 July from 6pm to 8:30 at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, 26-32 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. “ If you would like to attend this event as a guest of The Greater Sydney Partnership, please send through an RSVP to cecilia.summer@greatersydneypartnership.com.au by latest July 6th. Come on time, leave in time to watch the State of Origin.

I am fortunate to have been involved in a number of organisations with a long history of employing indigenous australians.

I am proud to have known some wonderful aboriginal people and some bloody hard working individuals. 

While I was CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company (founded 1824 and Australia’s oldest continuously operating company) I learned from the company’s detailed historical records (a handy summary of which I found in Bairstow Damaris book “A million pounds A million acres “) that in the Company’s first 50 years aboriginal workers were the most valued of all the companies employees. Hard working, well suited to the conditions and, compared to the other ethnic groups from which the company drew its workforce, with the “lowest rates of habitual drunkedness.”  As a result management tried to recruit as many indigenous workers as they could encourage to join the company.

A great reminder that what is today has not always been.

I will be sharing my personal perspective on Aboriginal employment as a guest of The Aboriginal Employment Strategy as part of NAIDOC Week 2010, Wednesday July 7 at 6pm.

Here’s the open invitation:

“Guests are invited to join The Aboriginal Employment Strategy for drinks, canapés and networking to find out how employers can support by helping to ensure Aboriginal people reach their full potential through training, skills development and work placement and play a part in bringing about positive social change.

Wednesday, 7 July from 6pm to 8:30 at Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf, 26-32 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. “

If you would like to attend this event as a guest of The Greater Sydney Partnership, please send through an RSVP to cecilia.summer@greatersydneypartnership.com.au by latest July 6th.

Come on time, leave in time to watch the State of Origin.

  sponsor me in water, to help fight malaria whenever I swim in the sea, one thing keeps itself at the font of my head perhaps that is why I am swimming in doors with Rob this Saturday for his annual Malaria fund raiser.  the other reason is that I am in London.  Rob’s efforts have raised over $2million which, as 100% of the money goes to the most effective thing you can do to reduce malaria infection—supplying nets to stop mosquitos transmitting the disease—means he has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.   this year you can donate to here, click the image, or go to  http://www.WorldSwimAgainstMalaria.com/peterandrob

 

sponsor me in water, to help fight malaria

whenever I swim in the sea, one thing keeps itself at the font of my head

perhaps that is why I am swimming in doors with Rob this Saturday for his annual Malaria fund raiser.  the other reason is that I am in London. 

Rob’s efforts have raised over $2million which, as 100% of the money goes to the most effective thing you can do to reduce malaria infection—supplying nets to stop mosquitos transmitting the disease—means he has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.  

this year you can donate to here, click the image, or go to  http://www.WorldSwimAgainstMalaria.com/peterandrob

Photo: Frank Gehry’s concerty hall, homeless man’s bag. Wonderful news that UTS (the University of Technology Sydney) will be developing its newest building with the visionary architect Frank Gehry.  Highest praise for UTS and its board of Governors for their vision and thank you for their continued support of Sydney. The bag in this (out of focus, low res) photograph sat on a table with the finest view of the finest new concert hall in the world, the Disney Center in downtown LA. A reminder that we not only have to build great things, we also have to work on what happens around them. 

Photo: Frank Gehry’s concerty hall, homeless man’s bag.

Wonderful news that UTS (the University of Technology Sydney) will be developing its newest building with the visionary architect Frank Gehry. 

Highest praise for UTS and its board of Governors for their vision and thank you for their continued support of Sydney.

The bag in this (out of focus, low res) photograph sat on a table with the finest view of the finest new concert hall in the world, the Disney Center in downtown LA.

A reminder that we not only have to build great things, we also have to work on what happens around them. 

I am very fortunate to have been involved in the business transformation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.   most of the progress has, rightly, occurred below the surface. possibly the best article written about the off-field work untaken by many, many committed people at the Rabbitohs: click the photo above or go to http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/glory-beckons-as-south-sydney-marches-on-20100611-y3h1.html strong words from a strong CEO. sports teams are loved for what they do on the field, and most fans would rather not have to care about the off-field performance of their club.   but the reality is that the two are intrinsically linked, and it is virtually impossible to get on-field consistently without a sustained period of off-field organisation and stability.  so if you really love your team, love all parts of your club, including the less-loveable back office.   there are many very hard working people who make the incredible on-field performances possible, and that off-field team rarely gets the credit they are due. the future of the Rabbitohs is bright and, fortunately, no-one underestimates the work that has to be done.  (the guy in the cap plays soccer, rather well. seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE)

I am very fortunate to have been involved in the business transformation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.  

most of the progress has, rightly, occurred below the surface.

possibly the best article written about the off-field work untaken by many, many committed people at the Rabbitohs: click the photo above or go to http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/glory-beckons-as-south-sydney-marches-on-20100611-y3h1.html

strong words from a strong CEO.

sports teams are loved for what they do on the field, and most fans would rather not have to care about the off-field performance of their club.  

but the reality is that the two are intrinsically linked, and it is virtually impossible to get on-field consistently without a sustained period of off-field organisation and stability. 

so if you really love your team, love all parts of your club, including the less-loveable back office.  

there are many very hard working people who make the incredible on-field performances possible, and that off-field team rarely gets the credit they are due.

the future of the Rabbitohs is bright and, fortunately, no-one underestimates the work that has to be done. 

(the guy in the cap plays soccer, rather well. seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE)

Outstanding event by SYDNEY HOMELESS CONNECT at Town Hall bringing essential services and homeless people of SYDNEY together.

And then the dancers arrived and took it to another level.

Well done to all involved. 

I am not saying anything happened that shouldn’t have happened.   This is just an observation. 

I am not saying anything happened that shouldn’t have happened.  

This is just an observation. 

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personal thoughts, talks, articles and rants from me in my capacity as a human.