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Bakkies
Here's Wayne Smith's article
Like the new Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle, the newly appointed chief executive of the Western Force, Nick Marvin, sees himself as an outsider, but an outsider with a unique perspective on how rugby desperately needs to grow and how to achieve that.
Certainly he has come to his current position by a circuitous route: born in India 48 years ago, raised there until he moved to Melbourne when he was 17, worked as a management consultant and then, almost by accident, found himself in sports administration when he met prominent WA businessman and philanthropist Jack Bendat who persuaded him to come on board the Perth Wildcats.
By 2008, he was managing *director of the NBL side and *during the next eight years the Wildcats won four championships and posted an annual profit of about $1 million which, as any Australian rugby administrator would attest, takes some doing.
He then led the privatisation of the NBL and, for good measure, *became its founding chairman.
This time last year, however, Marvin decided that if he stayed any longer in basketball complacency would set in, so he resigned. Then, for the second time in his life, a prominent WA businessman and philanthropist came calling. *Andrew Forrest didn’t want much — just to revive the Force and guide it into the Asia-Pacific *region in his revolutionary concept, World Series Rugby.
“There really is nothing in this for *Andrew,” Marvin told The Weekend Australian. “Which is the reason I came on board, because I was inspired by what he wanted to do.”
His success, the Force’s success, will be governed initially on how well he works with Rugby Australia, which is perhaps why he feels such a kinship with Castle. “Like me, she is an outsider and so she has a fresh set of eyes and a really clear vision to grow the game. I found her to be very collegiate and motivated to make this work.”
Making this work is important because, although World Rugby is fully supportive of Forrest’s push into Asia, it has made its backing conditional on RA giving its approval. And Marvin admits the ideas being thrown at RA have never been conceived before. “New ideas … it takes some time. But I think it is important that we run through it for the benefit of sport,” he said.
Marvin talks of “growing the game” like it is merely a matter of pouring water over a plant. Who knows, maybe it is? Basketball, he found, grew its audience from 2000 to 13,000 by simply working in the schools. It’s all about what he calls “the defining moment”.
“Rugby has an amazing tribal following. You meet a Matt Hodgson as a seven-year-old, you’re a rugby fan, a Western Force fan for life,” he said.
Certainly he talks like an outsider. His focus is entirely on what he calls, in most un-rugby fashion, the “non-customer”. But before he gets to them, he pays tribute to the core supporter and in the Force’s case, they don’t come any more hard-core than the Sea of Blue.
“There is an underbelly of *between 3000-5000 supporters who have kept the sport alive in WA and they have kept the Force alive. Everything we do will keep the integrity of the game intact and ensure the rugby community has a great experience. But everything outside of that be will targeted at the non-customer.”
The Force will start ambitiously, playing three national teams who all rank in the top 16, Fiji (10), Tonga (13) and Samoa (16), Super Rugby rivals the Rebels and Crusaders plus a Hong Kong side and one other opponent to be confirmed. Even yesterday the Force’s playing roster was bolstered with the addition of four quality players, Force hooker Heath Tessman, former Chiefs flanker Johan Bardoul, Blues fullback George Pisi and Vikings prop Harry Lloyd.
But it is all geared to next February when the WSR kicks off, or at least a scaled-down version *because of the World Cup in Japan in September. “Next year presents us with a great opportunity to have a light version of what we will present the following year,” he said.
