December 15, 1996: Whittaker: George Piggins convinced me to take the job
Given what happened to Souths, it would be interesting to see what Piggins thinks of his position now.
An intriguing story in the Sun-Herald on this day 25 years ago: Neil Whittaker says George Piggins convinced him to take the job as NSWRL general manager and ARL chief executive.
The author of the piece, Ian Heads, focused on the fact they were both hookers.
But of course, Whittaker presided over the NRL at the time of South Sydney’s omission and I got the strong impression from speaking to him it was a great source of regret.
“George got in my car and pushed very hard,” Whittaker, then 40, said in 1996.
“I listen to what George says and respect him. He’s a bloke who hasn’t bent one inch through this entire saga.”
Going on to discuss his qualifications in Headsy’s story, Whittaker says: “I’ve been involved in changing organisations over the last 10 years.
“The issues are the same … the skills you need are transportable. This is an opportunity to come into something that means a lot to me - and hopefully provide the leadership required as we head into a new era.
“I feel lucky to be coming in at a time when there is at least some certainty in the game, when the structure is in place.
“That’s different to what it has been over the last two seasons. I feel very confident we have the teams and the product that we need to succeed.
“A lot of people are drifting after what has happened in the game - although I am increasingly getting a sense of excitement from people about next season.
“I’ve loved rugby league since I was five. Now to get the chance to mould my career into the game that has meant so much to me in my life … that’s just terrific.”
OUT-TAKE: FORMER BALMAIN CEO DANNY MUNK ON THE LAST YEARS OF THE STAND-ALONE TIGERS
“WE thought about the Central Coast.
“The only reason we didn’t do it was when we investigated it, outside of Singo (John Singleton) there wasn’t a lot of corporate support up there. As the Bears found out, or the Manly Beagles as I call them, when they went up to the Central Coast - that was a quick starvation.
“Ninety-five, ’96 it became very apparent to me that Balmain was located in an area that was gentrifying. When it was very strong in the late seventies, early eighties and it was quite a wealthy club at that stage, the market that had supported it had moved out.
“We suddenly found ourselves having to become baristas and serving stir fries.
“You had clubs such as the Dogs and Panthers and Parramatta who were pretty much in a traditional market. Easts under the guidance of (Nick) Politis got back to being a successfully run club.
“But the markets that supported Souths and us … Manly and even St George, those socio demographics were on the move and because Sydney was growing and people were finding themselves asset-rich and cash poor…
“We found ourselves suddenly in a market where people were paying $2000 for a pram so they could run in their gym gear with the baby in the pram. People were suddenly paying $4.50 for a cup of coffee because it was from a barista.
“So we found ourselves fighting twice as hard for our revenue. We were asset-rich. We had this building on a huge block of land that was worth X but you had to be able to unlock it.
“For us it was very obvious you couldn’t keep the number of teams going in Sydney. You just couldn’t get enough corporate muscle on the sponsorship level and enough people wanting to go to the football each weekend to justify it.
“And the game was starting to stagnate. You couldn’t maintain the quality of the product.
“The ARL were not subtle about where they thought Sydney needed to go. There as a lot of pressure put on teams like Norths and Manly, us, St George, you name it.”
RESOURCES
David Moffett ABC interview, 2000