This time last year, Rugby WA chairman Geoff Stooke and cricket legend Dennis Lillee were not regarded as major players in the running of sport in Western Australia; but that changed with a vengeance late last year.
This time last year, Rugby WA chairman Geoff Stooke and cricket legend Dennis Lillee were not regarded as major players in the running of sport in Western Australia; but that changed with a vengeance late last year.
Mr Stooke and his team pulled off a remarkable coup when Perth beat Melbourne to become the home for Australia’s fourth team in the Super 14 rugby competition.
And Mr Lillee led a reform group that won control of WA Cricket Association board from long-serving incumbents.
The new rugby team, to be known as Western Force, already has strong awareness in Perth and will create added competition for other elite sporting teams.
One team that shouldn’t be worried is the West Coast Eagles, which is enjoying unexpected on-field success.
That will deliver even more commercial influence to the club, which is chaired by former Claremont footballer and company director, Dalton Gooding, and run by chief executive Trevor Nisbett.
Conversely, the Fremantle Dockers’ disappointing on-field form – and the withdrawal earlier this year of BankWest as its top sponsor – will be making life more difficult for the club, chaired by retailer Rick Hart and run by chief executive Cameron Schwab.
When the time comes to renegotiate sponsorships and corporate supporter packages, the Eagles will be rubbing their hands while the Dockers will be just about on their knees.
Apart from the people who run the elite clubs, two influential people in WA sport are commentators Dennis Cometti and Wally Foreman.
Rugby WA had plenty of influential backers to help Mr Stooke with his successful bid for the Super 14 franchise.
A 15-member working group that did preliminary work included Alinta chairman Tony Howarth, Woodside executives Gary Gray and David Craig, and Department of Premier and Cabinet executive David Hatt.
A 13-member project team that put together the final bid included Market Equity’s Brent Stewart, Grant Thornton’s Geoff Kidd, EventsCorp’s Mike Rees, and the Department of Sport and Recreation’s Ronnie Hurst.
Since December, when Perth was named as the home of the new Super 14 team, Rugby WA has been signing up sponsors.
Mr Stooke said it has locked-in $2.5 million of sponsorship and is on track to reach its target of close to $4 million.
A major step will be the joint unveiling early next month of a naming rights sponsor and the playing strip for the club.
One of the big pluses for Rugby WA’s bid was the $25 million of state government money for the planned upgrade of Members Equity stadium.
However, Mr Stooke conceded Rugby WA has a long way to go in its negotiations over playing venues.
He said it had reached an agreement with the WA Football Commission to play its first season at Subiaco Oval in 2006 and was now negotiating a deal for its second season.
The transfer to Members Equity is scheduled to occur in 2008, one year later than originally planned.
Mr Stooke said Rugby WA wanted to clearly establish who would manage both the ground and aspects such as signage, corporate sponsorship and access.
Rugby wants a “clean” stadium so that it can sell signage and corporate boxes for its own matches, a stance that may put it at odds with anchor tenant Perth Glory, headed by Nick Tana.
The two football codes are not talking to each other, instead conducting negotiations through the Town of Vincent.
“We’re confident that the Town of Vincent knows what our needs are,” Mr Stooke said.
“We’re very comfortable with the process they are using.”
He summed up the venue negotiations by saying: “We don’t expect any free kicks but we don’t expect to get ripped off”.
SPORT
• Dalton Gooding
Chairman, West Coast Eagles.
• Geoff Stooke
Chairman, Rugby WA.
• David Williams
Chairman, WACA.
• Ron Alexander
Department of Sport and Recreation.
• Rick Hart
Chairman, Fremantle Dockers.
• Dennis Cometti
Channel 9 commentator.
• Wally Foreman