Mal Meninga pleads with Gold Coast Titans fans to help the embattled club survive
Mal Meninga has invoked slain US President John F. Kennedy’s famous ‘ask not what your country can do for you’ speech in a desperate plea for new Gold Coast Titans members, warning the club is ‘fighting for survival’.
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Mal Meninga has invoked slain US President John F. Kennedy’s famous ‘ask not what your country can do for you’ speech in a desperate plea for new Gold Coast Titans members, warning the club is ‘fighting for survival’.
In a dramatic email blast to Gold Coasters tonight, the league legend - who was appointed head of performance and culture at the Titans earlier this year - said the code was on its ‘last chance’ on the Glitter Strip.
He said the Titans had the lowest membership of any NRL club and ‘we are in a fight for survival’.
“Many years ago, American President John F. Kennedy gave an address where he famously said: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask
what you can do for your country’,” Meninga wrote.
“A Titans membership is not about what the club can give to you. It is about what you can give to your club.”
Meninga urged fans hesitating about joining the Titans to act.
“You might be hesitating about becoming a member of the Titans for various reasons,” he said.
“Maybe you are waiting for the team to be more successful on the field,” he wrote.
“Maybe you can’t commit to attending home games because of things like junior sport, or the demands of work or family.
“Maybe you lost a bit of faith in the Titans after some very dark days over the past few years.
“All those reasons are valid. But I am here to tell you, the Titans need you now.”
Meninga said Titans membership was the lowest in the NRL ‘and by quite some way’.
“The Titans are owned by two Gold Coast families (headed by trucking millionaire Daryl Kelly and car dealer Rebecca Frizelle) taking on giants because they believe in their community.
“I have been involved in rugby league for a long time, and I can tell you that the ingredients for a truly great club already exist here at the Titans.
“But we need our community behind us. Last Friday night’s crowd (where the Titans broke a four-game losing streak against the Penrith Panthers) showed what a difference it can make.
“I believe in what the Titans are doing, and I want you to believe as well.
“So let me talk to you now as a coach, as I would to a Kangaroos or Maroons player.
“Are you the type of person who takes the easy path of criticising problems, or one who has the strength of character to help find solutions?
“Are you waiting for a bandwagon to jump on, or do you want to put your shoulder to the wheel, and be able to stand there when success inevitably arrives and say “I was part of it”?
“The Titans need you as a member now. Not for what you can get out of it, but for what you can give.
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“Whatever your circumstance, we have a membership package to suit you so that you can contribute and stand up to be counted.
“Rugby league on the Gold Coast is on its last chance. That is not overstating it.
“We need to send a message that the Gold Coast is not the “Glitter Strip” where no one cares and sports teams come to die.
“We can take on the big guns and win, but we have to do it together.
“Canberra, Newcastle and North Queensland are just three clubs who have found success through the power of community. I want the Gold
Coast and Northern Rivers to be the same.
“The Titans are growing as a club because it is made up of good people doing everything they can. I want to be able to include you among that number.
“I urge you, as a member of the rugby league community, to buy a Titans membership.
“Buy one for your family members, and encourage everyone you know who supports the game to step up and play their part.
“We are in a fight for survival, and I want you by my side.”
Originally published as Mal Meninga pleads with Gold Coast Titans fans to help the embattled club survive