20/10/2009
Leo Williams
Leo Williams provided a lot of assistance to the chairman of SARU, Mike von Berg, when he was appointed as the delegate to the ARU. Mike sat on the ARU marketing committee and therefore had a very close working relationship with Leo prior to Rugby becoming a professional sport in 1995. Leo and Mike also participated in the work on the proposed Constitutional change more capable of embracing and managing the professional game.
As Chairman of the ARU, Leo assisted the SARU in many ways in these early days of the professional game where it would have been very easy to forget the SARU and other minor States.
He was instrumental in the ARU supporting South Australia to stage the Adelaide International Provincial Sevens where he through his position as ARU Chairman set the wheels rolling and via his connections with the CEO of a local company assisted us in securing a major sponsorship to stage the event.
He encouraged the respective Australian Sevens coaches to view the tournament where two players from South Australia, Michael Lough and Tim Lough were selected for the Australian team.
Leo was our guest for the 1995 grand final between Brighton and Burnside where he also encouraged Phil Harry President of the ARU to accompany him. He and Phil officiated on the day and to assist to lift the profile of the game he was a guest speaker at a pre grand final luncheon held on the Friday before the match.
1995 was a crucial year for rugby and in particular for minor States like SA where there was always a risk of being overlooked and through Leo’s presence at this crucial time and the points that he made at the luncheon and with journalists and radio interviews he assured all that the game in SA would prosper and not be forgotten in the multi million News Corp deal that had been struck as a part of the professional era.
Through Leo’s influence at IRB level he assisted in encouraging the Chairman of the IRB the late Vernon Pugh QC to visit Adelaide with the view of staging the International Sevens in Adelaide and Adelaide Oval in particular. Vernon was adamant at the time that if any International Sevens was to be played in Adelaide it had to be at Adelaide Oval. Vernon was a cricket tragic and it’s good to see that foresight and support come to fruition.
Leo’s influence as Chairman of the ARU also assisted greatly in staging major fixtures in SA against Italy and England A. This also was a crucial period for SA rugby where the convention of the major international sides of engaging in long tours and playing against minor opposition prior to major test matches was a thing of the past – so any match against any international side was considered a coupe to assist in promoting the game in SA.
Leo was a champion bloke who really enjoyed a good glass of red, a good yarn and a laugh, which never let his very senior appointments in the game both at national and international level influence his attitude towards the ordinary bloke.
He was a great mentor and confidante and his wise counsel will be sadly missed.