Footy’s at our heart but we can do morePeggy O'Neal
Herald-Sun
June 19, 2015 CONSIDER this when you climb into bed tonight. While most of us will feel safe and comfortable, there will be almost one million children in this country living with domestic violence.
For many children, the threat of violence is an everyday reality and home is seen as a dark and unsafe place. The scourge of domestic violence happens largely behind closed doors, unseen by the broader public, until something unthinkable happens.
Sadly, we don’t have to think too hard to recall chilling examples that have rocked our community in recent times: Darcey Freeman or Jai, Tyler and Bailey Farquharson to name but two.
When you reflect on the scale of the numbers, you can easily feel helpless. What could I possibly do to prevent such horrible events?
It is also a time when I reflect on the role elite-level sport can play in supporting and educating the community. In fact, it isn’t a role; it is an absolute responsibility.
The Richmond Football Club’s charity partner is The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, an outstanding organisation whose charter is to work to protect children from violence and bullying. There are many worthwhile causes but I can think of none more important than the protection of our children.
Richmond Football Club approached the foundation five years ago with the ambition of building the best charitable partnership in Australian sport.
We have only one charity partnership because we want to develop a deep relationship with the foundation and work alongside them as a true partner.
There are two key reasons we wanted to develop a charitable partnership. Firstly, the club wants to help but we aren’t the experts and we have never set ourselves up to be so. We are simply the vehicle that provides a platform to raise awareness. We need to be guided on the most effective way to make a meaningful contribution and a partnership with the right organisation is critical.
Secondly, while our core business is winning games of football, with the ultimate aim of bringing premiership success to Punt Rd, it can’t be all we stand for as a football club. Our fans and the community rightfully expect, and deserve, more.
It is the broader community that provides football clubs with their licence to operate. It is the community that floods through the gates, buys memberships and merchandise and consumes the game on television. They are the lifeblood of the game.
It is only right we give back wherever we can and we see many examples of the game doing just that. Dreamtime at the ’G, where more than 80,000 fans stand as one in the spirit of reconciliation, has become an important night on the AFL calendar. The Pink Lady Match, which supports the Breast Cancer Network Australia, has also become a significant event.
More recently the football community banded together to support Neale Daniher and the Freeze MND campaign. More than $2 million has been raised for research. Later that week, the Riewoldt family launched the Maddie Riewoldt Vision, which will raise money for the fight against bone marrow failure syndrome.
You build excitement among your fans by playing a great brand of football and winning games. You build trust with your fans by providing the best service, the best match-day experience and delivering great value for money. And you can build a sense of pride and meaning among your fans by standing up for causes that matter to the community.
Richmond’s partnership with the foundation is now integrated across our business. We offer RFC/AMF memberships with proceeds going to the foundation. We give 5 per cent of our net merchandise sales each year to the foundation. Our players wear Alannah and Madeline Foundation guernseys in our annual foundation match. The guernseys are auctioned to raise funds. Consequently, when our supporters transact with their club, they become a part of something bigger and they can feel proud of the role they play.
TONIGHT at the MCG, when Richmond plays West Coast, it will be our annual Alannah and Madeline Foundation game and the launch of the foundation’s Light Switch campaign.
The campaign aims to raise awareness about the number of children affected by family violence. It brings focus on the fear with which too many of our children live and asks us to pledge to keep them safe from violence inside and outside the home.
We want this annual game to use the power of football to raise awareness and funds for this most important cause. Football clubs don’t always get it right and good intentions can only take you so far. But as a starting point I think it’s a great question for our club to ask — what can we do to improve people’s lives?
And if we are working to support the community, then that question can be answered and we can all sleep a little better.
PEGGY O’NEAL IS PRESIDENT OF RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB.
CHILDREN UNDER 15 WILL BE ADMITTED FREE TO TONIGHT’S FOUNDATION MATCH AGAINST WEST COAST. REGISTER AT RICHMONDFC.COM.AU/KIDSFREEhttp://www.news.com.au/national/footys-at-our-heart-but-we-can-do-more/story-e6frfkp9-1227404675711
