Saint, Sinner, Shoosh: Peter V’landys admits it’s hard juggling high-profile NRL and racing roles
Sports administrator extraordinaire Peter V’landys will make a huge call on his future over the Christmas break.
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Peter V’landys will take a break over Christmas to think about his future juggling two massive sporting roles.
The NRL and Racing NSW boss admits feeling “frazzled” after a demanding 18 months running both major Australian sports during Covid.
“I just want to think about the next three or four years and the workload,” V’landys said. “It’s been long hours, lots of challenges and hard work. I’m frazzled.
“I’ve got no one to blame but myself because I took it on and everyone’s worked hard, not just me. I’m not complaining because I’ve enjoyed it, especially the fact both sports have survived Covid virtually unscathed. You look around the world and other sports have suffered more.”
V’landys is Australian sport’s best administrator by the length of the Randwick straight.
On Friday morning he was again juggling the two roles – an NRL budget meeting and a jockey vaccination issue in racing that required a chat to police and health officials. It’s been like that for two years.
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V’landys says the important part in his NRL role as commission chairman is having Andrew Abdo by his side as the CEO.
“Andrew’s doing a brilliant job,” V’landys said.
“I’ve been around a long time and seen hundreds of CEOs in all areas of sport and business. Seriously, if he’s not in the top few, I’ll give it away. I’d better stop praising him because he might want a pay rise and I’m trying to reduce costs.”
RUGBY LEAGUE LOVE STORY’S AWKWARD BEGINNING
It started out as the most awkward and embarrassing moment of the rugby league season.
Now it is a love story for NRL forward Adam Elliott and female footy star Millie Boyle.
The Canberra Raiders’ new signing and the Broncos’ NRLW star are officially an item.
They were spotted together showing much warmth and affection at the Royal Oak Hotel in Double Bay last weekend.
This is such a nice story for the pair who copped so much flak when they were sprung together in the bathroom at a Gold Coast restaurant and bar in August.
They were removed from the premises by security and Elliott later had his contract torn up by the Bulldogs, hence the move to the national capital.
Boyle, 23, was issued a formal warning by the NRL and ordered to undergo education and training regarding the obligations of NRL and NRLW players in public. Elliott and Boyle have been mates since their school days on the NSW South Coast.
“We grew up together on the far South Coast,” Boyle explained when I spoke to her after the incident on the Gold Coast. “I’m from Bega, Adam’s from Tathra, but we went to the same high school before he moved up to Sydney.”
On Friday we spoke to the Broncos NRLW and NSW Blues star about their relationship.
“I’m normally private with this sort of stuff,” Millie said. “But we are together. I explained at the time we were both single and mates from a long time ago.
“Adam is now playing in Canberra and I’ll be in Brisbane. We’ll see how we go from a long distance. Hopefully Covid allows us to catch up. I’ll watch some of his games and he can come and watch mine.”
All the latest NRL chatter and more in Australia’s hottest sport gossip column.
SAINT
You’ve got to admire our Olympic bronze medallist and recently turned pro boxer Harry Garside for calling out all-time legend Floyd Mayweather on social media.
It follows his refusal to do a selfie with a young fan in Las Vegas, telling him: “I don’t take pictures with guys with painted nails.”
Guess I won’t be asking fellow Olympic Bronze medalist for a photo 💅 #tosser#moneycantbuyclass#floydmayweatherpic.twitter.com/6R1y5iCnAJ
— Harry Garside (@HarryGarside2) October 26, 2021
Garside painted his own at the Tokyo Olympics. “That young person was such a fan … and for him to turn him away like that, and to make it really obvious about why he was turning him away, was, I think, pretty sad,” Garside wrote on Instagram.
“It showcased to me the society we live in, we put athletes, celebrities, people who have money on a pedestal, when some don’t really deserve it.”
SINNER
Sad that the Black Lives Matter campaign became such an issue at the T20 World Cup. South African officials were entitled to encourage players to take a knee, but not force it like they did with Quinton de Kock.
SHOOSH
There is a rumour doing the rounds that Penrith won’t sack unremorseful sex-tape offender Tyrone May for his disgraceful social media post after the grand final. If this is the case, the Panthers are not reading the room. Your columnist did a poll on Twitter last week and 86.6 per cent want him out.
Poll:
— BUZZ ROTHFIELD (@BuzzRothfield) October 27, 2021
Should the Panthers cut ties with Tyrone May
SHOOSH II
One of the reasons rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns quit Parramatta Eels is that he had difficulties working with a certain player who had an overly-inflated opinion of himself and didn’t fancy listening to instructions.
SPOTTED
A couple of old Sharks 2016 NRL premiership winners and now Cowboys teammates Val Holmes and Chad Townsend having a round of golf in sunny Townsville.
SPOTTED II
Chairman Nick Politis and the high-powered board of Sydney Roosters in hard hats checking out their facilities at the soon-to-be-completed Allianz Stadium in Moore Park. The venue is expected to be opening around July/August next year.
SPOTTED III
Legendary old rugby league brothers Les and Noel Cleal enjoying a few beers and a day on the punt at Coffs Harbour races on Saturday. It was a reunion for the former Roosters stars who have been kept apart by the state’s Covid restrictions.
SPOTTED IV
A heavyweight meeting of some great rugby league minds: Canterbury Bulldogs boss Gus Gould, his coach Trent Barrett, NSW Blues Origin coach Freddie Fittler and their veteran agent Wayne Beavis enjoying dinner at The Star casino in Pyrmont at the very flash steakhouse Black Bar and Grill.
WHERE WAS RESPECT FOR NORM FROM NRL?
The great Norm Provan was farewelled in a service at the funeral home of Gregson and Weight on the Sunshine Coast on Monday but not one person from the NRL turned up.
Independent commissioners Megan Davis and Kate Jones both live in Queensland and at least one of them should have been there.
Or Graham Annesley, Andrew Abdo’s deputy, who lives on the Gold Coast.
The border closure obviously ruled out the likes of Peter V’landys and Abdo but to have no one there was seriously poor form.
About 100 turned up to support Provan’s family and honour the immortal.
V’landys admits someone from the NRL should have been at the service.
“I’ll accept the responsibility for that,” he said.
It was a nice touch that old super coach Wayne Bennett was there.
He drove from Warwick to Brisbane (160km) to pick up his partner and then travelled to Caloundra (another 90km) to pay his respects. It was a long day by the time he got home. The Provan family was rapt to see the coaching legend there.
The funeral was streamed live into St George Leagues Club at Kogarah where Dragons players, officials and supporters gathered for the memorial service.
Among them were family members of fellow Immortals and old St George teammates Johnny Raper and Reg Gasnier.
The Dragons will honour the legendary captain coach at their first home came of 2022 when the western grandstand will be officially unveiled as the Norm Provan stand.
TSZYU’S WHEEL FLASH
Boxing champ Tim Tszyu is as clean living as they come.
“He doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke and doesn’t gamble,” says promoter George Rose, “but he loves his fast cars.”
Tszyu is now getting from home to the gym in this magnificent Mercedes C63S AMG Coupe. If you want one it will set you back almost $200,000.
Not that Tszyu is out and about all that often in his new wheels.
At the moment, he is totally focused on his next fight, against highly rated Japanese fighter Takeshi Inoue at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday, November 17 — far and away his toughest assignment in 19 professional fights.
EELS’ GOLDEN OLDIES
Winners are grinners ... no matter how many years have passed.
Players from the mighty Parramatta Eels teams of the 1980s that won four premierships in six years, held their annual reunion over a liquid lunch — that soon became a liquid dinner — at Sofitel in Darling Harbour over the weekend.
Sadly, Ray Price, Paul Taylor, Peter Sterling and Chris ‘Howya’ Phelan couldn’t make it into Sydney because of the Covid restrictions, but we’re sure those in attendance had a beer or two for all of them.
DOGS OUT OF DATE
No wonder the 2022 Canterbury Bulldogs calendar is already on sale for $12. The artwork and illustrations were obviously done months ago because they have a picture of Will Hopoate on the front cover. Hoppa announced he was leaving two months ago to join St Helens in the UK Super League.
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