Since scoring the role as Wests Tigers chair in late 2014, former journalist and publishing executive Marina Go has shouldered media and fan criticism for the club’s on and off-field performances.
The only NRL club chairs with a media profile similar to Go’s would be the ‘Nicks’: Politis (Roosters) and Pappas (Rabbitohs). I would struggle to name most of them.
I asked about that criticism and her unusually high profile for an NRL club board chair.
You have received criticism for being chair of an NRL club without having a rugby league background. Is it important in your role?
I have received criticism from a few circles in traditional rugby league land for being different to the old-style model of a rugby league club chairman, and that’s fine with me.
There are many more who understand the role of a board chair in the modern environment.
Rugby league clubs need to become financially sustainable and unfortunately the old model hasn’t been successful in getting clubs there.
When I look at two of the most successful clubs off-field and on-field, the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, those clubs are chaired by a former journalist turned businessman Dennis Watt and a former lawyer turned businessman Bart Campbell. Neither are your traditional old-style autocratic ruler.
Like Dennis, I am a former journalist who moved across to the commercial side of the business almost 20 years ago. I have spent much of my business career leading products, business units and organisations that required a turnaround strategy.
In my 12 years of experience as a non-executive director on a variety of boards, I have learned that the most effective chairs of boards have a collaborative approach and empower the CEO and the executive team to get the job done.
My style is consistent with that approach, which is clearly different to the old-style club chairmen.
In terms of having a rugby league background? That’s right, I didn’t play rugby league in my youth.
Why is that as chair you get so much media attention where some of your equivalents at other clubs don’t rate a mention?
Because I am a woman. Let’s call it for what it is. Most of the commentary is plain ignorance.
Some rugby league journalists don’t fully understand the role of a board chair and think that I am in there running the business day-to-day, when in fact the board employs a CEO to do that. For example, some believe that I am a highly paid club employee when in fact I’m not paid a cent.
I am doing this because I genuinely care about the future of this great club.
Is it difficult being a female leader in the sport of rugby league?
It’s not difficult within my club. I have a fantastic club with a progressive group of people on my board and in the leadership team. A small section of the media is tedious. A minority of the other chairmen are tedious. For example, in my first rugby league season during the ‘Women In League’ round, a group of the club chairmen got together for a meeting and the two female chairs were excluded.
I doubt that in the corporate world the female leaders would be excluded from an important team meeting on International Women’s Day, for example.
People have described Wests Tigers as a basket case with poor leadership. What is your reply to those comments?
Utter nonsense.
Why do you think the club’s membership base is increasing even when as you have previously stated results on the field have been disappointing?
The club’s membership base is increasing because we have a CEO and executive team with a clear strategy for engaging our fan-base. The majority of our fans are not disaffected, they bleed black, white and orange. But a significant number were never effectively engaged with.
CEO Justin Pascoe and his team have been changing that during the past 18 months and we are seeing the results in our increased membership base.
We are extremely proud of the work our club has done to move from the club with the lowest membership three years ago to one that now sits somewhere in the middle of the pack, and rising.
You recently announced plans for a new Centre Of Excellence at Concord. Is it likely to go ahead and what would it mean for the club?
Yes we are excited about the plans for a Centre Of Excellence for our club. Justin has been working tirelessly on this. We still have a couple of meetings to go with various levels of government before we will have secured all of the required funding.
It would put our club on a level playing field with many of our competitors, finally, so it’s actually in the best interests of the game. A salary cap isn’t the only measure of equity.
Is it a challenge to keep a Tigers fan-base happy when hard business decisions have to be made?
Our fan-base is no different to that of any other NRL club. They are passionate about their club and they want to win. We don’t expect our fans to understand that sometimes to move forward you need to take a step back.
As leaders of this club, we make decisions that are in the best interests of the organisation in the short-term and long-term, concurrently. We will always do what’s right for this great club
What have been your major achievements since commencing at the Wests Tigers?
First of all, I do not do any of this alone. My board works as a team with our CEO and executive. I am proud that we have achieved the following:
1. Unity. I have been able to Chair a collegiate and engaged board that has always acted in the interests of both shareholder clubs, who had an often difficult history of working together. As Chair, I have developed strong relationships with both shareholder clubs and we are working together to secure a better future for the Wests Tigers.
2. Direction. The organisation has clarity about the road ahead. It was never going to be an easy job, and it hasn’t been, but our CEO and his team are overcoming some entrenched hurdles to get us to our goals.
3. Growth. Together we have achieved record membership, record sponsorship levels and increased game-day attendance in the past two seasons, for example.
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