Young men impress, on and off the field
DUBBO businesses hard hit by the drought have praised a team of local boys from across the region who returned from a rugby trip to Japan and made sure their first priority was a tour to thank the local firms who sponsored them and made the trip possible.
Presented with a framed team jersey in front of a line-up of John Deere headers that are going to be tough to sell during this dry season, Chesterfield Australia’s James Niemeyer said words don’t do justice to the emotions he felt when the Under-12 players came up and looked him in the eye while thanking him and shaking his hand.
“It’s a measure of them, a measure of the fellas that they can come here and acknowledge that sponsorship dollars are tough to come by, and that is a big commitment for companies – particularly in these last 24 months which have been very, very difficult for everyone involved in agriculture. But it’s magic and it’s a measure of the boys,” Mr Niemeyer told Dubbo
“Particularly with our marketing dollar, we do try and shandy that across the community. We’re not trying to be regimented in just supporting purely agricultural pursuits, so to be able to help these young people to achieve what they did and go to Japan, it was something that we were really proud of. We were really proud to sponsor them and the boys did well.”
Mr Niemeyer said he enjoys working for a company which takes its social obligations seriously when it comes to giving back to the communities where they do business.
“It was an opportunity to help some young achievers and to help out the community,” he said.
“We hope people buy locally. In this day and age you can buy machinery anywhere because the level of support through John Deere is so good, and you can get it serviced anywhere.
“We do like to try and support locals. We try and buy local and also support local pursuits and not just stick our dollar into big corporate advertising.
“We spend our marketing dollar locally where we can.”
Richard Condon manages new fleet sales at Dubbo City Toyota and said the value of sponsorship the business provided was brought home when the boys paid a visit to say thanks.
“Mate, it makes us very proud to have young people like this actually going and experiencing something like this and having Dubbo City Toyota’s name as a sponsor.
“Knowing we’ve helped these guys do that is massive, and I’d hope other companies would do that for my kids if they were in that situation,” Mr Condon said.
“The motivation is, these guys are the future of the Dubbo region.
“We love to get behind local activities, local sponsorship and without the people, without the community, there’s no Dubbo City Toyota.”
He said it’s important for that community-mindedness to flow through the entire region.
“It’s 100 per cent important, without people spending money in the local community – from getting tyres and groceries to servicing their vehicles – everything stops,” Mr Condon said.
Like James Niemeyer, he said he believes what goes around comes around as he sized the boys up for Toyota Hiluxes over the next decade.
“Sure, I reckon, what’ve we got, 15 on a team, hopefully we can get 15 of them into Hiluxes in about six year’s time,” Mr Condon smiled.
Fletcher International Exports was the third sponsor to be thanked on this trip and the company CEO Melissa Fletcher said it’s very important for local businesses to support local sporting clubs and the youth in our communities because they are our future.
“It’s nice to have such good things come from such a tough time,” Ms Fletcher told Dubbo
“I think the nicest things happen when people chip in and help one another in times of adversity, and that’s something that small towns do particularly well.
“We’re lucky in Dubbo that we’re a big regional hub, so we need to take a little bit of a lead in helping the small areas as well as in our own backyard.
Ms Fletcher said she was proud to see how deep the community could dig in such unprecedented times of drought.
“I think that’s the resilience of regional and remote Australia. When the chips are down, we really can support one another,” Ms Fletcher said, praising the team parents for the values they’ve instilled in their kids.
“These are parents who’ve dedicated their time in showing their boys how important it is to be part of a team, with training, with coming together, even with travelling here today – that all teaches responsibility and that breeds fine young adults. I think that’s something the bush does really well, and we get behind the kids where we can.
“It’s a proud moment when you see these fine kids who are very appreciative, they’ve been taught well.
Rob Nixon coached the Central West Under-12s rugby team and said describing the Japan tour as the trip of a lifetime was an understatement.
But while he was immensely proud of the way his charges conducted themselves both on and off the field in Japan, he said the proudest moment was when the boys thanked their sponsors who made the tour possible.
“I was super proud,” Mr Nixon said.
“Sponsorship is the lifeblood of Australian rugby and for any team to be successful we need that,” he said.
Will Gaden was assistant coach on the tour and, being from Dunedoo, knows just how tough all agriculture businesses are doing it at the moment.
He described the sponsorships given to get the families to Japan for 10 days as “absolutely incredible in the middle of a stinking drought”.
“If you’d said to me these young kids aged 11 would be heading to Japan to play in a world rugby tournament as a lead-up to the World Cup this year I would’ve just laughed at you, but we got chosen to represent Australia – we were the only Australian Under-12 side to go over.
“It was magic for that to happen and an absolute experience of a lifetime to have the boys go over.
The best thing apart from them playing great rugby was them meeting new people. My son Ollie has become great mates with the captain of Scotland – Ollie’s a No.8, and their captain was a No.8. They hit it off straight away and I said that kid will be playing for Scotland one day, you watch. He’s got a mate from England and they keep in touch via Snapchat.
“That’s what rugby does, it takes you travelling around the world,” he said.