The Roar asked some questions of South Sydney Rabbitohs joint owner Peter Holmes a Court, about his association with the club, the controversial takeover at Redfern, and how he thinks the team is faring this season.
You remain a joint owner at South Sydney, but you are no longer a director. How actively involved are you with Souths these days?
“Nothing beats a live game, but league looks pretty good on my laptop. This week I watched the two ANZAC day games with a coffee in my hand, such is the time difference. [Eds note: Peter is currently based in Europe]
“Russell and I invested through a company, Blackcourt League Investments, and we appoint 4 Directors to the Rabbitohs Board of 7. We are extremely fortunate for the work of our appointees – Keith Rodger, Martin Crowe, media executive Angela Clark, and accountant Anthony Bell.
“Combined with the representatives of the Members and Souths Juniors, we have a strong team around the board table.
“The right way for an owner to interact with any investment is through its Board. That’s who management reports to and that ensures proper governance throughout the organisation.
“Our job as owners was to set up the structures, which is what Russell and I did after we bought the team, and then gradually step back to let the right people do their jobs.
“There are many impressive people in the Rabbitohs’ off-field team — on the Board, in management, in the coaching staff — and they must be given the best opportunity to do their job.
“I am, of course, always here to help when asked and I know Russell’s support to the Club has never been questioned.”
Looking back on it all, do you still think the takeover by you and Russell Crowe was the right thing to do at the time and was it all done the right way?
“I don’t mean this to sound dramatic, but it is my belief that if someone hadn’t done something, the Rabbitohs as we know them (an independent team, in Sydney, in red and green) would not be around today.
“Opinions will differ on this.
“But I saw an organisation with increasing annual operating losses, accelerating in its downward spiral in every measurement. Then the global economic slowdown hit in 2007/8.
“I just can’t imagine how they could have come through those years intact.
“Was it ‘all done the right way?’ An answer to your question is ‘yes.’ If you’d worded the question as ‘could it have been done better?’, then the answer would be, ‘of course it could have’.
“Let me explain.
“In an extended crisis, such as what we experienced, there are never perfect choices. Things are never able to be done ‘all the right way’. You just have to act.
“There are just things that have to be tried; strategies that have to be pursued. When the final whistle blows, when the dust settles, the historically inclined often ask: ‘Should the battalion have been ordered left or right?’ ‘Should the pricing been set higher or lower?’ ‘Should the captain have chosen to play into the wind or with it?’
“In reality, you fight what you can see, you do what seems right on the facts that you have in front of you.
‘In America, they call it Monday morning quarterbacking; sitting back after the game and calling the plays.
“In reality, the plays are always made on the field and they are never made perfectly.”
What do you make of Souths’ start to the 2012 NRL season?
“I reckon we’ve had a tough draw so far. We’ve tested some of the competition leaders and dispatched some teams that I hope we can finish above. The biggest challenges, as always, lie ahead.
“I have been enjoying watching the work of our new coach, Michael Maguire, and his development of players who have been with us for a number of years, as well as new recruits and younger players.
“I am looking forward to Michael writing his own piece of Rabbitohs history.”
What does coach Maguire bring to the club that Lang, Taylor and co. didn’t?
“Michael doesn’t say much publicly, but when he does say something, it’s careful and thoughtful. I’ll let him do his talking.”
Given the well-publicised problems at the Titans, and with several NRL clubs previously, does it make financial sense, purely from a business perspective, to invest significant money into a rugby league club or is it more an investment of passion?
“I’ve said before and I will say it again: sport isn’t a business, it is more important than that.
“What I mean by that is that we have to be much more than just a business. It is a given that we have to operate efficiently if we are to survive and do the important stuff a Club can do as part of our community.
“There is absolutely no logic to the idea that Clubs should operate as softheaded boys clubs when they are doing business with highly developed, ruthless corporations.
“Our media deals, our stadium deals, our sponsorship deals, are with the largest corporations and media companies in the world, and if we aren’t first rate, we won’t get a good outcome for anybody.
“The Rabbitohs were a long way from a world-class sporting practice. It is now well on the way to this standard.
“The game of rugby league in Australia has survived in spite of an outdated, inefficient structure that meant it has lagged its southern rival on most measures. This under-performance was the inevitable product of a structure that has now — thanks to much hard work on all sides — been changed.
“The creation of the Independent Commission is the biggest thing to happen to the game in many years.
“Rugby league once again belongs to everyone: from the coach of a junior team to an elite player in Green and Gold, to every Member of an NRL Club.
“The AFL, which formed its Independent Commission in the 80s, has got a 25 year jump on us. But I am confident that league can make up that ground in the next decade.
“The AFL has done a great job with game attendance and membership growth.
“The Rabbitohs will hopefully reach 22,000 members this year. If every member attracts, converts (or breeds) just one other member over the next five years, we will be at 40,000 members by 2017.
“The goal must be higher, but if every team can achieve similar growth, that’s a very exciting future for the game.
“It remains incredibly rewarding to be involved in this great Club and I look forward to a bright future for league and, of course, the Rabbitohs.
“But right now, I’m just looking forward to nursing a coffee on Saturday morning and watching the broadcast from ANZ stadium.”
Vee Jay
Guest
What tactics from 2005/6? - winning people over by holding information nights with free alcohol? - Russell Crowe sucking schooners with the Bra Boys as Peter Holmes a Court watched on - Paying people to cyber bully and harras former players and their family, a long with Souths supporters? - Tresspassing the 265 Chalmers St building? - Covering up a football club worker defacing the car of a Rabbitohs member? - manipulating the media? - leaking confidential club documents? - allowing men like John Sattler to be victimised at the EGM? - conning Mum and Dad investors into investing with Firepower? - pretending to love South Sydney? - insisting that all post match functions be held at ANZ Stadium and not Souths Leagues Club to run it down to a point where they could ambush an election and take control of the building? - taking over the League's Club, promising to close all services and stop staff once the project got underway...sacked all staff immediately and it took over 5 years for the doors to reopen? - faking death threats to drum up support for the yes vote? - having stooges like Flamethrower ring up radio stations and smear the Rabbitoh name (thank god that he can't reproduce)? - having stooges like Flamethrower preach how great Firepower is? - hire private investigators to stalk club legends and their families? GREAT TACTICS FROM THAT TIME PERIOD
Geoff Andrews
Guest
How very true TB6 because that is EXACTLY what happened when the PI used by the NO side was exposed. I hear he is unemployed these days and frankly unemployable due to a Goverment determination, little wonder why!!!!
Geoff Andrews
Guest
Well said. Notice how these no voting fleas never answer any questions? If anyone posting in this thread was around in 2005/6 they would be VERY familiar with those tactics. PHAC and CROWE got around, faced the members and answered the questions. The other side told lie after lie after lie, invented people as saviours (who could forget the Turkish Billionaire "Dogan Gunes") and used telephones, email and faxes to threaten people? The same lot are at it again. It sooooooooo funny watching this pack of losers. Have another shot at the club or are you lot too gutless once again to front up with anything other than lies?
Geoff Andrews
Guest
Lies - all lies Godfrey. Answer the question - when was the last time the Leagues Club gave the football club a grant and when was the last time it recorded a profit? One other point, what ever happened to the money paid to Souths by Optus during the Superleague war? Was that paid to the football club or the leagues club?
Vee Jay
Guest
Piggins took Souths to more final appearances in 5 years of coaching than Crowe and Holmes a Court have done in 5 years of ownership bahahahaha Year after year Peter has created the highest amount of debt in the football clubs 104 years..George never did that. George ran a Leagues Club for many years, the Leagues Club after Peter's involvement can't even run for two months without the doors being nearly shut by the courts. George won a grand final, something Peter and Rusty will only ever dream of.
Vee Jay
Guest
I am sure the Leagues Club would have given the football club a grant if they had $4.5m in the bank as promised by your hero Peter Holmes a Court. The free rent etc is as good as a grant can get Geoff. Speaking of Leagues Clubs, can SSFC survive without the continuos grants from Souths Juniors? When was the last time Peter Holmes a Court gave the Rabbitohs a grant and not a loan with 9.7% interest? When was the last time the SSFC made a real profit? Why won't Peter answer my questions???
Queensland's Game is Rugby League
Guest
Sounds like Holmes a Court and Crowe are bigger duds than Searle.
pigginskilledsouthsPHACsavedsouths
Guest
How any of these NO VOTERS talking the utter garbage they are here, can call themselves Souths fans and use terms like. 'we' and 'us' in terms of South Sydney is just laughable. I can't believe the no voters are still trying to destabalise the greatest club of all time, 6 years after they got their tails absolutely flogged in the vote. I know some no voters that admit they were totally wrong and can't believe themselves how gullible they were when they voted incorrectly that day. They are now solid souths fans who praise the owners for their work now. Yet there is still these leeches that keep sucking the life out of the place and trying to claim they love souths in the same sentence. Go follow another club you arn't welcome at Souths and never will be. You are worse than a roosters supporter and if you think for one minute that ANY REAL souths fan wants a statue of piggins anywhere you are kidding.. Souths fans can't stand the bloke and the only lifeform that would want a statue of pighead are pigeons dying to take a dump in an appropriate place.
Godfrey
Guest
Comprehension isn't your strong point. Read my previous answer and think about it.
Godfrey
Guest
Geoff, the vote happened over 6 years ago. The vote has nothing to do with the fact that the current football club had a debt of $11 million, which has grown $1.4 million a year since Peter and Russell took over the club. The football club is losing massive amounts of money. It's property arm (High Concept) has gone into receivership and all the club's real estate assets are gone. The leagues club, thanks to Russell and Peter's broken promises, hasn't been able to pay its bills and unless it does it will also be in liquidation. Add to that the chronic failure on the field under Peter and Russell, given we're the only NRL club not to have made the finals over the past 4 years, then its obvious that Crowe is the Master & Commander of the Titanic. You need to take the rose coloured glasses off, Geoff, and forget about your infatuation with Hollywood celebrity. Show your passion as a Souths fan, not a Hollywood groupie one.
Godfrey
Guest
That was found not to be true in the supreme court. You are telling untruths.
Godfrey
Guest
Palladino & Sutherland are the notorious US private detectives who worked for the mob, Russian mafia, teamsters' union, et al. They were hired by Holmes a Court and Crowe to come to Australia and secretly follow club members and legends. They searched garbage bins as well. All this came out in court cases and newspaper articles can be googled.
Godfrey
Guest
Geoff, for 20 years before 2006 the leagues club gave the football club free rent for its offices, free parking spaces, free merchandise shop, free refrigeration, free electricity, everything. Last year, the football club, with no leagues club supporting it, had to pay $773,000 in rent. Do the maths how much the leagues club helped the football club for the 20 year rent-free period. Also, the leagues club arranged contra deals worth $250,000 a year to the football club. And further, in the early 1990s, when the football club had a million dollar tax debt it couldn't pay, the leagues club sold its share in the Narallen Golf Course to pay that debt out. You must be a Russell Crowe and Holmes a Court fan, rather than a Souths Rabbitohs one, given that you don't know any of these facts. Wise up.
Godfrey
Guest
In 2006 and before. The leagues club gave the football club free rent. Last year the football club's rent in the same building was $773,000. So there's a huge grant right there. 20 years free rent. Do the maths. Also, the football club got free car spaces, electricity, maintenance, free rent for a merchandise shop and dedicated refrigeration. Also, the football club received around $250,000 a year in contra deals the leagues club provided. And in the early 1990s, the football club had a tax debt of $1 million. The leagues club sold its share in Narallen Golf Club and poaid out that debt for the football club. That you don't know any of this, Thunderbird, exposes you as a new fan. Obviously a Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court fan, not a South Sydney Rabbitoh one.
Godfrey
Guest
When you can't argue the facts, you resort to abuse and silly, nonsensical allegations, just as you have done now.
Geoff Andrews
Guest
No Terry, you "blokes", the no voting dunces are playing yourselves. No self respecting supporter is falling for this rubbish from the no camp supporters like yourself.
Geoff Andrews
Guest
Vee Jay, unlike you Peter is not in hiding. Why don't you man up on three fronts, 1) give us your real name and 2) anwser the question, when was the last time the Leagues Club gave the Football Club a grant? 3) when was the last time the Leagues Club made a profit? I completely understand if you wish to remain an anonymous coward............
Vee Jay
Guest
Why won't Peter Holmes a Court address my questions? He seemed happy to flap his gums all over the place between 2006 and early 2008 and then suddenly went into hiding, the next time I saw him he had grey hair and a grey beard and looked like he just strolled out of Matthew Talbot. Where is the Peter Holmes a Court of the past? The man who vandalised a Redfern footpath by removing a street sign? The man who promised to lead a march from Chalmers St to the SFS for the game against the Roosters at the SFS to symbolise marching towards the finals (we didn't end up making the finals that year). The man that promised to redevelop the Leagues Club but ended up fleecing their assets, stopping his involvement and sending the football clubs property arm into receivership? The Peter that used to get people to call in talkback radio to run down the football club so that he could win his vote? The Peter that read law at Oxford University? The Peter that had his finger in all the pies? Why did Peter stop sitting in 'The Burrow' with his family - was he only doing it to win people over? Why does Peter reside in France now? Why is Peter writing a book on bike riding and not writing a confession book on what he has done to Souths? Why does Peter only pop up to try and defend what he has done by writing generic b.s full of disinformation? Why does Peter want a George Piggins statue in the city but not at Redfern Oval? Be a man Peter, answer all of my questions. Prove your passion.
Thunderbird 6
Guest
..Good so if thats the case "mate" you can tell one and all when was the last time the South Sydney Leagues club made a profit and better still when was the last year the Leagues club gave the football Club a grant ..........
Thunderbird 6
Guest
Hey Terry, did Palladino and Sutherland write to Souths Football Club members who happened to vote NO Employers calling for those members to be sacked? That would be scandelous if that was to happen would it not ? Imagine if a fearless reporter who asked the hard questions and seeked answers got hold of a few of these documents .