Guiding Principle Focus: We are authentic people.
“At my first night at training with the Melbourne Football Club during the pre-season of 1989, the coach (John Northey) asked if I had brought my running gear.
I said, “Yes I have.”
So, John asked me to run a player around Albert Park. It was a 6 kms round run from the clubroom.
I ran this player around, reported back to the coach (John) and he said,
“Now I want you to run this player around the lake.”
To which I replied, “All the way round again?”
He said “yes”, so I ran the 2nd player round the lake – that’s 12 kms I’ve done already!
I reported back to the coach (John) who then asked me to run with another group of players!
I butted in with, “Not the lake again?”
He replied, “No just a few laps of the oval as these players are recovering from soft tissue injuries.”
That ‘few laps’ ended up being 15 laps of the oval which I did!
After training the coach (John) came over to me and said, “You look stuffed”.
I said, “I am and is training like this every night?”
The coach looked at me and said, “No – but I want you to remember that 6 months ago now you presented me with your impressive CV, which included the fact that you were a long-distance runner! Tonight I wanted to see if you were who you said you were, and you have passed with flying colours!”
What John said to me on my first night of training has stuck with ever since.
It is so important that we are the people we say we are. We don’t embellish CV’s; we are required by Jesus to be credible and authentic witnesses for him!
Not long afterwards I asked the coach what would have happened to me if it had turned out that I wasn’t a long-distance runner? His reply was simple and direct: he would have, “booted me out and never again considered chaplaincy as a vital role at the club.”
Boy, what a responsibility we have before God and Jesus! And when we get it right, it really counts!
When interviewed that same year on the ABC Sports program, that coach was asked about having a chaplain at the club, this is what he said,
“Paul is a very important part of the MFC, not only for helping the players, but there are lots of other people involved in the club such as trainers, medical people, so many people around that he can help.
I can tell you everyone, including me, was a little apprehensive when he first arrived at the club to see what sort of fellow he was and what he was really on about. Gaining confidence was the first thing Paul had to do. There is peer group pressure when you see a reverend talking to players and others start to snigger a little bit and wonder why, and all that sort of thing. But at this stage he’s gained the confidence of players. To do that he goes running with injured players and has a chat to them on the way.He’s become one of the boys. Paul is a very competitive fellow, and he instills that into the players whilst running and talking with them. So that definitely helps our competitive spirit. I recall people around the club were apprehensive, and thought it was a bit of a joke. I’m sure if you went around the club and asked these people now they would say that Paul is a very important part of the MFC.”
