We’re excited to sponsor the Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook Stags Rugby League Club! Tune in as Josh chats with the president, Lee, about the club’s remarkable evolution over the past nine years, including the addition of more women’s teams and their increased community involvement. This is one conversation you won’t want to miss!
Saliba has the privilege of sponsoring the Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook Stags Rugby League Club. Join us as Josh chats with Lee about the club and how they have grown in the last 9 years, incorporating woman’s teams and embracing the community.
Josh: Thanks again for tuning into the Saliba Community Series. I’m joined by Lee from the Cherrybrook Stags Rugby League Club. Thanks for joining us. Super excited to be working with the club this year as well as sponsoring the club. Talk to us about your role. You’re the president, what is it about the club that you love?
Lee: So this is my fourth year being president. We started at the club nine years ago, and I joined the committee as the treasurer. And then I did that role for a few years, and then I moved on to being president. And I’ve got four kids that play at the Stags, so I’m here all the time.
Josh: So we were talking before about the growth of the club. Talk to us about that because it’s gone from strength to strength, and I think this year in particular it’s really blown up.
Lee: Well, nine years ago when we started, we had about 120 registrations. And now this year we’ve got 400 registrations. So, it’s so exciting that the club’s just grown and grown, and something that we’re focused on is just trying to encourage the younger kids to come in, that’s why we offer the free registration for under sixes. And then also every single year, we just try to maintain our teams as they get older and older. But this year we’ve added in three female tackle teams, and our girls’ league tag has also exploded, we’ve got six girls’ league tag teams as well this year.
Josh: It’s amazing to see that in a heavily male-dominated sport. Obviously, the NRL has helped with that, but you guys have taken that, it’s great to see the girls out here and the teams that they’ve got, and it’s not just one or two teams, there’s multiple teams, right?
Lee: Yes, It’s phenomenal. We have nine teams.
Josh: That’s great. It’s only a testament to the club. Now that I’m the coach, but also one of the sponsors, you get to interact with the people in the community. It’s a really well-oiled machine and there’s great support from a lot of the people here. A lot of people band together. It seems like a really tight community here.
Lee: It’s really good. We have a committee of about 22 people, which is quite a large committee, especially for a junior rugby league club. But everyone pitches in and does their role, and as we’ve grown, we’ve found that we’ve got different challenges, but there’s always someone to step in and help with those roles as well, which is really good.
Josh: Absolutely love that. We really appreciate the opportunity for you to come on here and say a few words. Looking forward to some great games together.
Lee: Thank you very much for sponsoring the club as well and coming along and bringing your kids and everything like that. It’s sponsors that we rely on heavily to help provide the kids with so many great facilities and fun things to do.
Josh: That’s awesome. Go The Stags!