Battlers from Mudgee tell what life is really like fighting to save rugby league

This bunch of young knockabouts from Mudgee are fighting desperately to keep their little patch of bush footy alive, but the battle is taking its toll, writes Paul Crawley.

The NRL is ramping up its bid to save country rugby league. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

These are the people Peter V’landys should be listening to when he sits down with Wayne Bennett and Phil Gould and whoever else they bring to the table to draw up the long overdue battle plan to help save rugby league in the bush.

Because here are a bunch of young knockabouts from Mudgee who are fighting desperately on the frontline to keep their little patch of bush footy alive.

Mudgee Dragons president Sebastian Flack says they are being pushed to breaking point by copious amounts of red tape and day-to-day dramas that have just taken over their young lives.

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Kathy Lang has been the club secretary of Mudgee Rugby League Club for 15 years. Source: Supplied

And while you can’t knock the Australian Rugby League Commission chairman for his promise this week that the NRL is prepared to splash as much cash as is needed to save the game from dying in country and regional areas, what Sebastian reckons is even more important is some heavy duty manpower to take some of the load off these struggling volunteers.

Because what is happening in Mudgee would be a similar story at every club in any town around in the country and regional areas for the past few decades.

“I don’t know how more money can help (without more people on the ground),” Sebastian said.

“We are all volunteers and we have nine to fives (jobs).

“We are not retirees.

“And it is full-on.

“I don’t want to throw too many stones but they need to be thrown.

“Because if you could split the number of man hours it takes to run a club into more people it would be more enjoyable, it would run smoother, you wouldn’t be as stressed out and you would do it for longer.”

Sebastian Flack is a player and President of Mudgee Rugby League Club. Source: Supplied

And when he tells you about the hours they put in behind the scenes, you can understand why.

For starters Sebastian, 31, is not only the Dragons president but he also plays in the first-grade team along with his job as a maintenance planner.

It’s the same for vice president Chad Chandler, 25, a miner and a player; Bridget Condon, 21, club secretary and also a miner; Tom Burke, 21, club treasurer, an accountant and player; Kirsty Orr, 32, runs the media department and is in marketing; Bronwyn Patterson, 28, organises the functions after she knocks off from the mines; Jack Littlejohn, 28, first-grade coach and a miner … the list goes on and on.

All young people with full-time jobs trying to run a “small-scale NRL operation” that turns over about $350,000 a year.

“We get good crowd numbers, there’s no drama there,” he said.

“But the more crowd numbers you get the more manpower you need. On the gate, on the canteen. You set up a jumping castle, face-painting, it is all either money or manpower.”

Chad Chandler is a player & joint Vice President of Mudgee Rugby League Club. Source: Supplied

Then you have to take things such as injuries into account, and these blokes don’t get paid when they don’t turn up to work.

“We had a bloke last weekend that dislocated his elbow that is a landscaper for himself,” he said.

“We have had someone in pre-season break their ankle who is a coal miner. A couple of years before that we had a few ACLs — they were coal miners, one was a brickie.

“It is just hard.

“We can’t really do much other than make sure they have insurance sorted and income protection and we try and compensate them in some way.”

Sebastian concedes he’s been a little frustrated this week reading about the death of bush footy because it kind of makes him feel like all the hard work good people around the bush are doing is going completely unappreciated.

Which is why he contacted The Saturday Telegraph just to put across what it is really like for volunteers, like himself, that are out there trying to keep the game on its feet.

“I think we do a pretty good job promoting the game in our town and we are doing our best,” he said.

“But the main struggle is volunteers and the amount of money and time that you have to come up with.”

He says there are just so many factors at play when you try and get to the heart of why clubs everywhere are finding it so incredibly difficult.

While there has actually been an increase in junior numbers this year in his division, it’s the senior comp that is really struggling.

In Group 10 there are only six first-grade teams now after the Cowra Magpies and Blayney Bears dropped out, although they remain in the second grade.

Blayney have also dropped out of the under-18s.

He says it’s in the gap from under-16s to seniors “that they just seem to go missing”.

“But the more awareness we get the more people might realise that, gee, this isn’t going to happen by itself,” he said.

“I will keep doing it because I love footy, but it is just starting to take a toll.”

REVEALED: NRL TO SPLASH CASH ON COUNTRY ACADEMIES

Peter V’landys is taking an open chequebook into his push to save bush footy, with 16 new NRL academies set to be created across regional NSW and Queensland.

Amid growing fears country footy could be dead within 10 years, V’landys is now readying to implement a bold ‘Save The Bush’ blueprint which will be unveiled to all NRL CEOs in Brisbane during Magic Round.

The ARLC chairman has also revealed the concept, which is totally funded by League Central, and involves each NRL club taking on a region across the state, is being shaped by the likes of South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett and former Penrith GM Phil Gould.

As the centrepiece of the proposal, all 16 NRL clubs will be provided funding to establish their own Rugby League Academy in a designated country town or towns.

Clubs will be encouraged to mirror the work already being done by Panthers officials, who have successfully implemented academy programs in Bathurst and Dubbo.

The Panthers have formed a connection with the Bathurst community. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

V’landys is also seeking a commitment from every CEO to send marquee players bush at various times throughout the year for coaching clinics, local fundraisers, even team camps.

While the NSWRL is also working on its own strategies, which V’landys supports, he stressed it was important the NRL also injected its own “stimulus”.

While an initial figure of $1.5 million has been mooted, the ARL commission boss readily admits the figure could be higher.

“And if it takes more, OK, it takes more,” he told News Corp on Thursday. “We’ll fund it. Because we have to do something immediately for bush football.

“There’s no point waiting three years, five years … it has to be done now.”

This is not the first time NRL clubs have been asked, unsuccessfully, to adopt an area of regional NSW.

ARLC chairman Peter V’landys wants NRL clubs to set up academies in regional NSW and Queensland. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Previously though, the key sticking point was always the reluctance of some NRL clubs to tip money into perceived ‘weaker’ regions while some of their rivals, for the same outlay, were given noted strongholds like Group 10 or the Central Coast.

“But we aren’t asking clubs to fund this,” V’landys stressed. “The NRL will do it.

“So there is no down side for them. They have the opportunity to create new pathways for young players, bring in new fans, all of that.

“It’s an easy sell. But importantly, it’s also about getting country kids back to footy, helping revive senior competitions, even bring some clubs back.

“Rather than the NRL having an expensive front office, we’ll be redirecting savings the game has already made (since COVID) toward attacking these problems head on.”

While clubs will also be encouraged to take an NRL game or trial to their region from 2022, V’landys stressed it wouldn’t be compulsory and said the academies and player visits were top of his list.

Already, there are eight NRL games being played in regional centres this year.

Manly played the Titans in Mudgee in round six. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

However, for these games to take place, local councils in towns like Bathurst, Tamworth and Mudgee must first pay the home side for the right to host — a figure said to be anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000.

Four years ago, one NRL club even asked for $100,000 just to host a trial match.

It’s thought that if the NRL were to take 16 games bush every year, it would cost the game up to $5 million.

Even in 2013, the game’s then CEO Dave Smith talked up a $1.2 million proposal that would see four games shifted to country NSW every year.

By his math, Smith reckoned it would cost $300,000 for every game the NRL took bush. But that idea never materialised, either.

Then in 2017, the annual City-Country game was also scrapped.

Asked about NRL games going bush, V’landys said: “That isn’t the big deal for us.

“But clubs taking their stars into the community definitely is. Same with the academies.

“Obviously it’s a big plan, a long-term plan and in some cases it will be like we are starting over. But like any challenge, you take it head on.”