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

I have been accused of a number of things in my time, but I do plead guilty to being a rugby league tragic and a diehard supporter of the Wests Tigers rugby league team. I can’t wait for the kick-off for the 2008 season. This weekend sees the start of the rugby league season and my home team, Wests Tigers, are going to be playing St George on Sunday. I am sure that Robert McClelland is going to be very disappointed after that.

This year is a very special year for rugby league. Wests Tigers is a foundation club and the rugby league is now in its 100th year. We have seen many celebrations taking place. There is certainly a lot of memorabilia now being showcased in the National Museum down here in Canberra. That is 100 years of blood, sweat and tears and 100 years of rugby league providing an opportunity for young people to come through and play competitive rugby league. It is certainly something that I had the luxury of growing up with. I only ever had two choices of sport: I played rugby league in the winter and cricket in the summer. That is the way the member for Banks and I grew up.

As I said, Wests Tigers is a foundation club, and it is a merged club. It is actually a merger of the former Balmain Tigers and the Wests Magpies. In October 2005 the member for Banks and I went out to Telstra Stadium to see our beloved club win the premiership. It was a fantastic night, as the member for Banks would agree. When he got back to Campbelltown and got back to see what it did for the local area—what it did not only within the clubs and pubs around the place but what it did to families—it was like the Olympics had just been won out there in Campbelltown. It was an absolutely fabulous feeling. If you could harness and bottle that, we would all be very rich.

This is a rather unique game. Probably there are derivatives in other states, but rugby league in New South Wales and Queensland does have a religion-like following. It is only right that I pay tribute to our local kids who are going to be playing this weekend. In a team as strong as Wests Tigers we have Dean Collis, Liam Fulton, Bryce Gibbs, Brett Hodgson, Chris Lawrence, Shannon McDonnell and Rocky Trimarch all going out on the paddock this week as local kids who have made good in terms of their contribution in the NRL Telstra Premiership.

Everything bodes well for this being a very good season. One of the good things that the Rudd Labor government committed to doing at the last election to assist young people in the south-west of Sydney was to put a significant amount of money into upgrading the stadium at Campbelltown. Wests Tigers will be playing there. There will be first-grade soccer, players from the Jim Beam cup and women’s soccer sides playing there as well. It is going to be a huge net addition to our area and it is something that the Rudd Labor government decided in its wisdom to do something positive about to provide a first-class sporting facility in the south-west of Sydney to encourage young people to participate in various sports and to encourage their graduation to an elite level.

Wests Tigers actually give a lot back to the community, whether it be visiting paediatric patients in our local hospital, doing things at our disability centres or doing things for the community generally. Wests Tigers is very much a local team and very much takes comfort in being able to act as a good corporate citizen in the way it relates to its community. I would like to pay tribute to Tim Sheens, the coach—he has certainly done a fabulous job with the club—and Steve Noyce, the CEO. Steve and I actually go back a long way. He was running around some 15 or 16 years ago coaching kids himself and now he is running one of the most successful clubs in the NRL. So to Tim, Steve and Brett Hodgson, who will be captaining the side on Saturday: I wish you all the best.

Madam Deputy Speaker, as you would appreciate when you visit my office, I still proudly display the 2005 premiership jersey. I hope that by the end of the year when you call in on me again you will see proudly displayed—in my office and that of the member for Banks—copies of the 2008 premiership jersey signed by our successful winning team.