It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride for Club President, Mark Freund.
Inspiring Stories, kindly brought to you by Community Bank BDCU. You Belong Here.
After a wild and woolly 2020 [thanks COVID!], a bumpy 2021 and 2022 season [thanks La Nina!] the Bowral Blacks Rugby Union Club is preparing for a big 2023 season.
But it wasn’t always like that. Just over a decade ago, the club which was established in 1972, was on it’s knees.
“We were really struggling,” Club President, Mark Freund tells us.
“We only had one senior team and two junior teams. The future wasn’t looking too bright.”
So, Mark and a dedicated committee jumped on in and made a plan. And thanks to a whole lot of community support, the hard work and dedication of club members, ex-players and local businesses, Bowral Blacks Rugby Club is thriving with a newly refurbished clubhouse, record membership and an awesome fundraising program that gives back to local community organisations.
See? What goes around comes around. We love it!
We spoke to Mark about how it all happened and what’s next for the Bowral Blacks Rugby Club.
1 // First of all, let’s talk about you. How did you get involved with the Bowral Blacks?
I started playing in 1998 in my late teens. I started off as a winger and worked my way around the paddock. I filled out a bit when I busted my shoulder back when I was 22 so wasn’t as fast on the wing. I still play – I’m in the tight-head prop position now – although pre-season training hurt a bit this year!
2 // How did you transition across from Player to Player / President?
I was always hands-on, helping out with the club from the start and was on the committee for a few years before I took on a Vice-President role supporting Robert Taylor as President. I became President ten years ago.
We had a lot to do to rebuild the club, so we got straight to work. We had a five-year plan and with the help of a lot of older members, we focused on our juniors and building the Club from the bottom up. Nick Combes did a lot of work on the junior development. The seniors suffered a bit during that time, but we had a good core bunch of blokes that stepped up and carried the senior side for those few hard years.
We knew having good people and strong players from U6’s right through to first grade is what builds a strong, successful club and a better future. So that’s what we did, and it worked.
3 // The clubhouse has had quite the facelift which didn’t exactly happen overnight, did it?
That’s right. We were battling with a very tired old building and knew we had to do something to make it safe and make the space work better for a growing club. Greg Samsa, who is a local builder was on the committee, so he got us started. We approached Wingecarribee Shire Council and got a $150,000 grant which got the ball rolling.
We were planning to do the renovations in three stages. Renovate the existing clubhouse first, then do the northern and southern wings after that.
The first part of the renovation was going to cost us $600,000. There was a lot of fundraising, sponsor support and the community really stepped up to help us out. Many of our members and ex-players are builders and tradies and we had a huge amount of support from them all. There’s too many to name. Some local businesses were sending their teams to spend a week onsite with us! I calculated we received over $400,000 in volunteer labour and donated materials from local businesses, which is amazing.
4 // And that helped move the next part of the reno forward much faster than originally planned.
Sure did. Phil Mason was on our Board and also our Grants Writer. Phil and a group of us worked really hard on an application for the NSW State Government Community Infrastructure Grant. We had to have all our ducks in a row – DA’s paid for and completed, we basically had to be shovel ready when we submitted the application.
The hard work paid off – we were successful in receiving a grant of $991,330.63! When Premier Berejiklian came to Bowral to hand over the cheque, she asked why we didn’t round it up to a cool mil! But that’s how specific and detailed our grant was. We knew to the cent exactly what we needed to finish the renovation off to the standard we wanted. The government said they had never seen a more detailed grant application come across their desks.
5 // The Bowral Blacks’ clubhouse officially opened in 2020. Tell us how you’re planning to share this fab facility with the community?
It was always the plan to create a facility that the whole community – not just the club – could use.
We’re encouraging local charities and community organisations to use the clubhouse for fundraising events. We won’t charge a venue hire fee for any not-for-profit organisation, as long as the money is going back into the Southern Highlands community.
6 // And that’s part of the Bowral Blacks Rugby Club ethos, isn’t it? Giving back to the community?
Absolutely. We started our Men’s Luncheons over 30 years ago to not only provide a space for blokes to catch up and chat, but to raise money for charities and local causes. Over the years we’ve supported 4K who help disadvantaged children in the Highlands, Lifeline, the Thomas Kelly Foundation, Black Dog and a number of our members and their families who have been doing it tough. One year we raised over $60,000 for an injured Bowral Blacks player who was facing a challenging time – we just want to make a difference if we can.
7 // What role have BDCU played in the club’s success in recent years?
Things started to get really busy at the club. More members, big growth, renovations – we needed to find a banking partner that could not only help us with that but also be a good fit for us and our values. We changed all our banking over to BDCU because of that connection with community they have.
Matt Sewell at BDCU is involved with the club, a lot of their staff have kids who play for the Bowral Blacks – they get it. They get what we’re trying to do, and they just make it so easy for us.
When you have a bank that supports you in everything that you do, managing the admin and financial side of a thriving club is much easier and less stressful. We’re part of BDCU’s My Community Program too, which is great.
They’re just on the same wavelength as us. It’s that simple.
8 // So, what’s next?
We’ve opened our registration for the 2023 season and encourage locals to join up.
We’d love to see more locals at home games supporting the Bowral Blacks, and we’ve got plans for more fundraisers and special events that the community can get involved in too.
It’s looking like a pretty exciting year for us.
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