Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I proudly rise tonight to support this motion before the House—namely, that the House recognise the centenary of Australian Rugby League and its contribution to society, culture and community. This motion is also to congratulate and recognise the contribution of players, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, volunteers, officials, parents, children and others who have made this sport a truly great contributor to Australia as a nation. Rugby League—the greatest game of all; it is simply the best—has stood the test of time and celebrates its 100th birthday this year. I, too, celebrate a birthday today, my 47th, which makes the day even more special.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members—Hear, hear!

Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Had I known that I was going to live this long, I would have looked after myself a bit better, I am sure. But, as a former Rugby League player of many years standing, who played his juniors with the Gladstone Wallabies and his seniors with the Gladstone Brothers and never took a backward step, I am proud to have played the game, and I continue to be involved in it—as in moving this motion before the House. During my playing days, I suffered many broken bones, cuts, strains and sprains, but I would not trade those days for the world. My only regret was that, at 40, I was too old to play the game. I have been luckier than most, having had the great privilege in my senior playing years to be captain-coached by Rugby League greats Chris ‘Choppy’ Close and Phil Daly, who were both State of Origin football stars and Australian representatives. I was proud to take the ball up alongside them and for them. I was also lucky enough to play a game against the Brisbane Brothers late in my career, although the internal bleeding I suffered for three days after that match was a reminder to me that it is very much a young man’s sport.

I pay tribute today to all of those who have played and who continue to play junior and senior Rugby League throughout my electorate of Flynn and Australia generally. I congratulate the Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League for their ongoing support to Rugby League in Australia, including country rugby league in Flynn and other communities. I pay tribute to the late Dick ‘Tosser’ Turner, whose memorial service was held in Brisbane today. I congratulate all, including supporters, officials, parents and volunteers of Rugby League throughout Australia. I also thank the referees. I sponsor them in my home town of Gladstone and I also sponsor Rugby League teams in Gladstone and Biloela. Some of the most talented players I ever played against were Indigenous, including those in the Woorabinda Warriors in my electorate. I make special mention of them today.

Some of my most loyal and trusted friends to this day come from my days of playing Rugby League. I thank them for being part of my life, both on and off of the field. I have met some great blokes through Rugby League, but there are far too many of them to mention here. I continue to meet great people, both men and women, associated with the great Rugby League game in Flynn. I thank all the NRL players, past and present, who give so much of their time to charity. I am inspired by all of them. All too often we hear of the bad news but not the good news about past and present Rugby League players. Only a week ago at my home in Gladstone I entertained a number of ex-NRL players, including Ryan Girdler, Ben Kennedy, Mark Hughes and Adam Muir. They had come to Gladstone to support a great charity event organised by my great friend Russell Thomas, who walked with me from Gladstone to Brisbane in 2005 to raise money for the charity and emergency services personnel I was involved with in Gladstone. I thank referee Bill Harrigan for coming to the event.

I also especially thank my good friend Chris ‘Choppy’ Close for his donation of State of Origin jerseys each year for me to donate to worthy charitable causes. Chris, you are a legend and a loyal and trusted friend, mate, and I thank you in every sense of the word. I thank the Queensland State of Origin players for signing the jerseys for me each year. I acknowledge and pay tribute today to Paul and Betty Smith from the Gladstone Brothers and also to Peter White from Gladstone, for their contributions to the Rugby League game in Gladstone. Finally, I thank Rugby League for the best years of my life. I am proud and I always will be proud to be associated with the greatest game of all. (Time expired)

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year Rugby League celebrates its 100th anniversary in Australia after commencing in the north of England in 1895. Indeed, the origins of the great game of Rugby League go back to England’s north, which broke away from the Rugby Football Union after it refused to allow working-class players to be compensated for playing the game and for any injuries received while on the field. While I am not one of those in this House who are from the great cause of organised labour, I do want to record my admiration of this achievement of the working classes of that era.

While having the foresight to commence a semiprofessional competition at the time, ahead of the Rugby Union, they also chose to create a more free-flowing and entertaining spectacle that set the game aside from the intricacies and complexities of rugby union. Teams were reduced from 15 to 13 players and play-the-balls were introduced to lessen the need for scrums and replace the scrappy rucks and mauls. The changes made the game more popular with the players and spectators, and the increased gate money allowed the clubs to pay benefits to the players. By 1907 in Australia, successful rugby union players such as Dally Messenger had realised their value. Messenger agreed to join the professional competition for ₤50 and a place on the upcoming tour of England.

In 1909 the first ever British Lions Rugby League team visited New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand. They attracted huge crowds wherever they played and the new Rugby League authorities were able to secure a solid financial base. Rugby League became the preferred code in Sydney, Brisbane and Newcastle and established a hold in Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand. Since 1910, Rugby League has held its place as the premier winter sport in New South Wales and Queensland. In the late 1980s the New South Wales Rugby League competition evolved into a national competition and became the National Rugby League in 1998.

The game of Rugby League is of particular importance to the psyche of Sydney. Growing up in Sydney I can record that, like so many other young people, I spent much of my time chasing my team across Sydney. The Sydney teams have very strong links to the areas they represent and ‘tribalism’ is a word often used to describe the strong local following the Sydney teams have in their area. The annual State of Origin competition between New South Wales and Queensland is the game’s greatest drawcard. I understand that the first game of this year’s State of Origin in Sydney is so far the most watched program in 2008—a sure sign of the game’s success and continuing popularity.

At the local and the grassroots levels of the game, I can proudly point to the significant contribution to the game of Rugby League made by my electorate of Mitchell. Our local team is the greatest rugby league team ever to grace the paddock—the Parramatta Eels. It is widely accepted—and I know the member for Cook would accept this!—that the greatest moments in Australian Rugby League history came in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1986, with the four greatest premierships and the most talented football teams ever to be fielded. My electorate of Mitchell contains four clubs that participate in the Parramatta District Rugby League competition: the Hills District Bulls, the Kellyville Bushrangers, the Rouse Hill Rhinos and the Winston Hills Tigers. Mitchell also has the Northwest Polecats participating in the tertiary students competition and the St Michael’s Baulkham Hills Brumbies in the Catholic schools competition.

The Hills District Bulls are the largest club in the Parramatta District Rugby League, with 40 teams from under-six to A-grade, and play their home games at Crestwood Reserve, Baulkham Hills. One of the newest clubs in the Parramatta district competition is the Rouse Hill Rhinos. The Rhinos are in their formative years as a club; however, they already boast 20 teams across all age divisions from under-six to A-grade.

All of Mitchell’s local rugby league clubs are busy and active clubs that are generously supported by many of the area’s local businesses. Our local clubs are great examples of active, community focused and community minded clubs. They perfectly prove just how enmeshed in the community the game of Rugby League is, particularly in its stronghold of greater Western Sydney.

I want to thank the players, the coaches, the staff, the volunteers, the parents, the kids and the families in my electorate who make a great contribution to the game and to our great local clubs: thank you for everything you do. On the occasion of the centenary of the game in Australia, I also want to particularly thank, congratulate and remember those brave pioneers of the game of Rugby League, true champions of the working class, for their foresight and vision in establishing a semiprofessional league and breaking away from Rugby Union. It is a superb achievement that Australia should be proud of.

In conclusion, I would like to quote the late, great Jack Gibson, who coached the mighty Parramatta Eels to premiership victories in 1981, 1982 and 1983. Gibson, after completing his successful coaching stint, was widely regarded as having revolutionised the game and was famous for quoting a player’s performance as ‘played strong; done good’. To praise 100 years of Rugby League in Australia, there is no better person to refer to and no better quote about the game than what Jack Gibson said: ‘The day that God invented Rugby League he didn’t do anything else but sit around and feel good.’

Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Congratulations to the member for Mitchell; I thank him for his contribution. Congratulations also to Rugby League on 100 years of the game. Rugby League has provided many great moments in sport in this country that have centred around fantastic eras: St George’s 11 straight premierships in the fifties and sixties; and, as the member for Mitchell said, Parramatta in the eighties, with legends such as Sterling, Price, Edge and Cronin, to name a few. My father used to go out and plant trees after Parramatta won. But the game evolved outside of Sydney as well. Some of those teams have dominated the competition: the Canberra Raiders, in the late eighties and early nineties; the Brisbane Broncos—I would argue that winning six premierships in 20 years is a significant contribution to the sport; and the Melbourne Storm, whose rise is more recent, in the heartland of Madam Deputy Speaker Burke’s area. As part of the journey, the dominance of the Kangaroos cannot be forgotten. The Australian side is the invincible side—it is indestructible, unbeatable and all of the other sorts of names that they used to call them.

But life has not always been easy for Rugby League. In the early days, trying to establish the game against Rugby Union was quite a significant battle. Later, the Super League war divided Rugby League between the traditionalist ARL and the Super League. It ended friendships. That is how much passion there was: it divided the game and it ended friendships. There was also the failed expansion of the game into South Australia and WA throughout the nineties, but through it all Rugby League has survived.

The State of Origin, as the member for Mitchell alluded to, is the showcase of the game. It is a premier sporting event, but I think at times it is a double-edged sword. The State of Origin is such a fantastic game that the premiership struggles to step up to that mark. I know that other codes step away from playing State of Origin because of that.

The history of the game in my electorate of Solomon commenced in 1940, when there were three teams. During 1949, there were two scratch matches organised by expat New South Welshmen and Queenslanders who had arrived in Darwin to take part in its reconstruction after the war. The armed services and the Commonwealth Public Service made up some of the sides, along with Qantas. At this time, there were 7,000 people living in Darwin, and most of the population were single men. The sides were the Wallabies, Qantas, Army, Navy and RAAF. By 1950, Rugby League had gained permission to use Kahlin Oval, which the Army was responsible for. Rugby League had trouble establishing itself and, after sharing the Gardens Oval facility with Aussie Rules, it finally moved to Richardson Park, which is the home of Rugby League today.

But the thing about Rugby League is that it is a game made by the people. It is the people’s game. Recently in Darwin they lost ‘Shadow’ Mount, who was the groundsman at the football field. His death, at the hands of others, was untimely and very tragic. They remember him as a volunteer. The game of Rugby League in the Northern Territory has been built around the volunteers who have contributed their time, effort, toil and passion to making it work. Brothers, Litchfield, Nightcliff, Palmerston, South Darwin and University make up the Darwin Rugby League competition now. Brothers is currently celebrating 50 years. They are having a reunion of all Brothers clubs in Darwin in October this year. I will be the guest speaker there, though it is a bit ironic that they will have an Australian Rules Football coach member of parliament coming to speak at their 50-year celebration.

Nightcliff and Litchfield have been two of the most successful clubs but, once again, it is the people who have contributed. The current president of Brothers, Johnnie Adams, puts in a lot of time, and Frank Geddes and Frank ‘Doodles’ Ahmat had a long history with the club. There was Mark Fitzgerald at Litchfield and Lyle Mackay, the past president. Frank McPherson was the founder of the Litchfield club. Nightcliff have had greats like Stem Edwards, Ron Gatley, Kane Bonson and the late Chico Motlop. Former Kangaroo Steve Rogers coached the club to a premiership in 1993, and I played on that side; they recruited an Aussie Rules guy to carry them over the line! Palmerston had John Johnson and South Darwin had Paul Kelly and Mick Palmer, a former federal policeman. We have had players play at the highest level as well—Frank Stokes, Johnnie Alder, Steve Larder and Duncan MacGilgray. Rugby League has a fantastic history in Australia and, while there have been lean times, it continues to contribute. Passionate supporters of the game call it the greatest game of all—and who could argue? Being born in Queensland, let me say: ‘Queenslander!’ (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a sportsman and an avid watcher of sports, I congratulate the member for Flynn for his motion, and I rise today to support that motion and to recognise the centenary of Australian Rugby League and its contribution to the Australian society, culture and community. I also wish to congratulate and recognise the contributions of players, volunteers, officials, parents, children and others who have made this sport a truly great contributor to the Australian identity. It has been 100 years since Rugby League first reached out to its supporters in Australia, and the number answering that call has grown every year since. The centenary of Rugby League is a salute to those who pioneered the game, to those who through each generation have passed it on stronger and to those who will take it into the future.

Rugby League in Australia started as a rebel football competition established in defiance of New South Wales Rugby Union. With its mix of hardness and athleticism, it has grown to become one of the most popular of Australian sports, a skilful, fast-moving game that has the passionate support of its fans. Rugby League also has solid foundations with the working class of Australia. Before the big money contracts of recent years, league was a part-time game. Training was held at the end of a hard day’s work and games were played on weekends. Although the game has come a long way to be the high-paying spectacle it is today, none of the passion and hardness that made the game so popular has been lost. Rugby League is a tough game, both physically and mentally, and anyone who has ever played the game can attest to this. Some of the great players of our time such as Mal Meninga and the King, Wally Lewis, were some of the toughest men in Australian sports.

At a local level the game of Rugby League has seen a huge boost in popularity and participation. New junior and reserve grade teams are emerging right across the country, willing to participate in their growing local competitions. Rugby League is a great character-building sport. It instils in players a sense of camaraderie, teamwork and discipline and improves physical fitness. Rugby League, both at a club level and in the national competition, has always supported and encouraged participation from the Indigenous community. Superstars such as Matt Bowen from the North Queensland Cowboys have become outstanding role models for young Indigenous players and helped build the game in communities outside our metropolitan centres.

In Perth the Western Reds joined the Australian Rugby League for the 1995 season. However, Rugby League was not new to the people of WA, as it had been played competitively in Perth since the end of World War II. During the war servicemen from the west were exposed to Rugby League games while they were in Army training camps in Darwin and on visits to Brisbane and Sydney. Also, large numbers of servicemen from the eastern states remained in Perth after marrying WA girls, bringing with them their love of the game. The arrival of the 1946 British Lions triggered the growing movement to establish Rugby League in Perth, and a club competition soon commenced.

The first competition was formed from established Rugby Union clubs that crossed over to Rugby League. While Rugby League never reached any great heights in the west, it was certainly well above the standard of any efforts in Melbourne or Adelaide. In 1992 the NSWRL announced that WARL’s submission was successful, and the Perth Pumas, which were later renamed the Western Reds, debuted in 1995. In their first season the Western Reds established a formidable home ground record, ultimately winning eight of 11 games in Perth. Their season ended in a respectable 11th position out of the 20 clubs competing. Then Super League started in 1997 and the Western Reds, which became known as Perth Super League, were one of the clubs in the 10-team competition. Unfortunately the Perth side was closed down at the completion of the season. The loss of Perth ended premiership Rugby League’s brief flirtation with Western Australia. This is unfortunate, as the ARL and Super League had a long-established rugby league community to build upon and nurture with the Western Reds.

My electorate of Swan is the proud home of the South Perth Lions as well as the Central District Football Club Bulldogs. Coincidentally, both clubs will be celebrating their 60th anniversaries this year, with each one having formed in 1948. Currently the South Perth Lions are the most successful club in WA and have won more club championships and more premierships than any other club in WA. The club history includes 15 first grade premierships and 21 club championships. So far this year the Lions remain undefeated and are sitting on top of the ladder. The Bulldogs are also one of the most successful clubs in WA and currently occupy a very respectable fourth place, after winning four out of seven games this season. The club history includes 10 titles and seven times as runners-up. In summation, Rugby League truly has come a long way over the past century. Although it is unfortunate that a national team failed to be firmly established in WA, it remains that fans in the west persevered and local clubs are performing stronger than ever. With any luck, well before the next century Australia may see a truly national league.

Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, I congratulate the member for Flynn not only for bringing this motion forward but also for his birthday today. The origin of Rugby League is 1895 in northern England. The genesis of the break between Rugby Union and Rugby League is the fact that the working class people who played what was at that stage rugby league wanted payment at least for troops away on representative tours and for injuries. The ruling body, the Australian football union, in declining their request said, ‘If men could not afford to pay, they shouldn’t play the game at all.’ That was the basis upon which the division of these codes emerged. As the codes divided, some changes in the pattern of play emerged. Rugby League, certainly the working class game, started to establish different patterns of play—playing the ball and things of that nature—and became more of a spectator game as opposed to appealing just to players themselves.

Any organisation that has 100 years of history, 100 years of success, really does need to be recognised. Rugby League in this country does have 100 years of history this year. It has been, since 1908, a significant spectator sport in Sydney and throughout New South Wales and Queensland. I am sure it will catch on at some stage in the other states, but we are still working on that. It is about not only the fact that it has a history but also all of the clubs that go to making that history. The club that I follow—and I know the member for Banks also follows—is Wests Tigers. That organisation is the combination of two teams, the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers. Both of those teams are federation teams; they both played in the very first year of Rugby League. As a matter of fact, they played against one another in the very first game in 1908, so there was some synergy there when we had this coming together. In any coming together, there are upsides and downsides, but since we won the premiership in 2005 we have thought it was all upsides. It is one of those things that has a lot of history and it is good that we do follow it that way. I liken what occurred in 2005 to what occurred when we had the Olympics in Sydney—the feelgood period that emanated throughout my locality of Campbelltown was sensational. People do look up to these players, and what goes with that is that players have responsibilities as well. It certainly affects the culture of an area and the way a locality thinks about itself.

There are a few other things I should mention. Not all that long ago in this place I spoke about another Rugby League football club that started in 1908—that is, the Campbelltown City Kangaroos Junior Rugby League Football Club. Just down the road from where I live now, they had their 100th anniversary only a few weeks ago. It is a club on the outskirts of Sydney. These days it has about 11 teams; it takes kids from under six to under 15 and it is the genesis of what we all follow in sport. My involvement in Rugby League goes back to when my sons turned six—no, five; they wanted to play in the under sixes. From that stage on—marking lines out on fields, running canteens, being a coach, being a manager and doing all those sorts of things that parents do for their kids to pursue sport—I have to say it was a very good period. A lot of the people we have as friends today are from that group of parents who turned out with their kids, who were doing the very same things we were back then when my boys were six and seven. You do build communities by participating in junior sport.

That is one of the things that I think is very important to remember as we talk these days about childhood obesity and activity in our local communities. It really does require parents to be committed to and involved in kids’ sports. It is not just about sending your children to some form of weekend childminding activity; it is about actually getting involved with them, participating with them and encouraging them. They are not all going to be first-grade players, but kids deserve the chance to go onto the field and enjoy themselves. That is one of the things I think we have done pretty successfully in Rugby League, and I am glad to have had some involvement in it. To all those involved with the Kangaroos football club, I really hope they enjoy their celebrations for the 100-year anniversary of the game. (Time expired)

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with the other speakers in commending the member for Flynn for moving this motion and, Madam Deputy Speaker, I note your keen and enthusiastic interest in the debate. The Cronulla Sharks are a worthy chapter in the centenary history of Rugby League. The Cronulla Sharks club was formed in September 1956 and officially incorporated in 1957. The Sharks entered the New South Wales competition in 1967, at the same time as the Penrith Panthers, expanding the competition from 10 to 12. In its first season the club won three games, drew one and suffered 18 defeats, taking out the wooden spoon. It has always been up since then.

In 1968 the club moved to its permanent home ground at Endeavour Field, Woolooware. Uniquely, the Sharks own their own home ground to this day and are the only NRL club to own their own home ground and the adjacent leagues club. In their 40 years of competition in the top division of Rugby League, the Sharks have yet to win a premiership, although they have come close on three occasions—and 2008 is shaping up to be our year, without question. They are currently leading the competition, with three other clubs, having had a great win over Parramatta just yesterday afternoon under Ricky Stuart’s leadership. We are looking forward to big things for the remainder of the season. Many in the shire enjoy getting down to ‘Shark Park’ on a weekend, and we will continue to enjoy doing that over the balance of the season. We are looking forward to the semis.

The Sharks played their first grand final against Manly Warringah, our arch enemies the Sea Eagles, in 1973. We lost that game seven points to 10. In 1978 we had the chance for yet another grand final, and that was again against Manly. On that occasion there was an 11-all draw, only for the Sharks to go down in the grand final replay 16 to nil. Our next encounter with Manly will be on 12 July, and we are looking forward to that fixture very much. In 1979 the club had a win in what was then the Amco Cup, which I remember watching as a youngster. It was an experiment with games at night, under lights. It is one of the many innovations that Rugby League has brought to many sports.

The club has produced many champions. Some of them have already been mentioned here in this debate. The late Steve Rogers was a Sharks great. He was a great not only in the game of Rugby League but in the game of life. He was highly respected by all those who live in the Sutherland shire community. Between 1973 and 1982 he played 231 games. Steve Rogers remains the club’s top points scorer, having scored 1,253 points, which comprised 82 tries, 499 goals and five field goals. The late Steve Rogers was truly a champion. There were other champions, like Andrew Ettingshausen, who the great Jack Gibson said could get into bed before the light went out. He played for the Sharks between 1983 and 2000, in a total of 382 games.

The Sharks have attracted several first-rate coaches in the last 40 years. There was none greater than the late, great Jack Gibson, who was also a great shire identity. I pay tribute to Jack tonight, and there have been many tributes to the late Jack Gibson in recent times, with his recent passing. During the nineties the club welcomed other high-profile coaches, including Arthur Beetson and John Lang.

In 1999 the club had its most successful season, achieving another minor premiership, accounting for the Brisbane Broncos in the quarterfinal only to come up short against the St George Dragons in the grand final qualifier later that season. The club can claim six Rothmans medallists: Terry Hughes in 1968; Ken Maddison in 1973; the late, great Steve Rogers in 1975; Barry Russell in 1989; Gavin Miller the following year, in 1989; and Paul Green in 1995. That is more than any other club in the league. It also has a long list of players who went on to play at the state and national representative levels.

There have been three Sharks players considered worthy enough to receive the competition’s prestigious Dally M award. They are: again, the late Steve Rogers, in 1981; Gavin Miller twice, in 1988 and 1989; and Preston Campbell, in 2001. But in the shire we have not just great players but also some great resident former referees in Bill Harrigan and Graham Annesley.

The club the Sharks is not just about rugby league. The club is also about what it gives back to the community, and there is not an event that I attend in my electorate—whether it is charitable or otherwise—where you do not see the Sharks involved. In supporting the McGrath Foundation, which is particularly topical today, they have donated $500 for every try scored this year; the tally is currently at $20,000. Later this year, in August, we will be opening a new stand at Shark Park. That stand was made possible by the commitment of $9.6 million from the Howard government, under the great stewardship of the former member for Cook Bruce Baird. We look forward in a few weeks time to opening what will always be affectionately known—at least by those on this side of the House—as the Bruce Baird stand.

Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a Melbourne born person with an affinity for AFL, I have to say straight up that it is indeed a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to support the motion moved by the member for Flynn on the centenary of Rugby League. Rugby League has its roots in the working classes. The first President of the New South Wales Rugby League, in 1909, was Mr Henry Hoyle, who was also a New South Wales Labor MLA. The foundation of the formation of the game came from disheartened rugby union players wanting a fair go. Put simply, what they wanted were some basic rights, such as to be compensated for lost work time due to injuries. When I reflect on the history I want to talk particularly about the Canberra Raiders, who first took the field 75 years later, in 1982, and despite finishing at the bottom of the ladder in their first year took only five years to reach their first grand final. Two years after that, in 1989, they won their first premiership.

I notice the motion of the member for Flynn talks about both Indigenous and non-Indigenous players. It is at this point that I must refer to one of our favourite, if not our favourite, Indigenous players—Chicka Ferguson. It was Chicka Ferguson who in 1989 actually won that grand final for the Raiders in extra time. He is very famous and that grand final is very famous. It was a remarkable achievement not only because the Raiders had been in the competition for just seven years but because they became the first team from outside of the top three on the ladder to win the premiership. They also earned the distinction of being the first team from outside the Sydney metropolitan area to take that title. The next year the Raiders were minor premiers in all three grades and premiers in first grade and the President’s Cup. This was a golden period for the club, with household names such as Meninga, Clyde, Stuart, Daley and Walters dominating the game. They are all now part of the history of this wonderful sport. It was also a time when the loyalty of those sorts of players was proven beyond doubt because, despite the fact that the Raiders had found themselves in financial strife due to salary cap breaches, all of these players took pay cuts—big ones—to stay with the club. A very strong spirit was very evident in this club.

I would also like to talk about the involvement of the club with the community. During the 2007 season they were out there in the community and made no fewer than 155 appearances. They go to schools. They do all sorts of traditional charity support. Assistant Coach David Furner is a co-patron of the ACT Eden Monaro Cancer Support Group. They also run a program called Positive Choice-Positive Outcome, which is aimed at children learning about good health and good respect. It is a very successful program which promotes healthy living by emphasising the importance of correct nutrition, regular exercise and avoidance of addictive habits and offering tips for children to look after their own bodies. The program has reached out to over 10,000 members of the local community so far. It is a wonderful thing to see clubs like this and others do this sort of exercise.

I would also like to talk briefly about the League of Legends: 100 Years of Rugby League in Australia, which is a wonderful exhibition developed with the league and sponsors. It opened at the National Museum of Australia, here in Canberra, on 8 March and was there until 11 May. It is now on the road. People who have seen it say that it is just the best experience if you want to talk about 100 years of a successful sport. It is currently at the Queensland Museum, in Brisbane, and will be there until 10 August. It goes to the Powerhouse Museum, in Sydney, from September to November of this year. It then goes to the Museum of Tropical Queensland, in Townsville, from December through to March 2009. It will go to the National Sports Museum, in Victoria, from April to July 2009. I strongly suggest that people get onto the website of the NRL and check out the League of Legends display, because it really is one of the best ways of encapsulating 100 years of wonderful sport.

Sport is good for all our community. The Raiders, like other teams, do great work in promoting the sport through the juniors. I pay homage to all of those parents, sponsors and supporters who ensure that kids from a very early age right through to those in senior grades get out and play and enjoy their sport every week of the season, because, without those volunteers, the sport would never have been what it has been for the last 100 years. I wish it well in its next 100 years.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

(Ms AE Burke)—Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.