The NSWRL congratulates Warren Smith OAM, who last night (Thursday, 29 June) was presented with a Distinguished Long-Service award at the Sport NSW Awards.
Smith has enjoyed a long-standing affiliation with Rugby League through the St Marys Rugby League Football Club, playing a vital part in the club’s development both on and off the field.
Smith was instrumental in the opening of the Chifley College Dunheved Campus and Mt Druitt College TAFE “Life Skills Classroom”, which helps disadvantaged youth.
He also prompted the idea of sending their under-13s squad to Fiji and New Zealand each year, as well as leading the introduction of a policy for subsidised football boots for St Marys Junior players included in their registration fee.
“Warren’s service to Rugby League has been tremendous, and this award acknowledges some of the great work he has done at St Marys,” NSWRL CEO David Trodden said.
“Without people like Warren, Rugby League wouldn’t be the Greatest Game of All. On behalf of the NSWRL, I congratulate him on an outstanding achievement and incredible impact he’s had on his club and the sport in general.”
Sport NSW held the annual NSW Community Sports Awards at NSW Parliament House on Thursday 29 June, celebrating the extraordinary contributions volunteers make to community sport in NSW.
The event was hosted by the Minister for Sport, the Hon. Stuart Ayres MP, who congratulated the finalists and addressed the audience about the value of volunteers and community sport.
More than 500,000 people in NSW volunteer their time every year to ensure that the state’s 2.5 million sporting participants can take the field each week. In NSW alone the value of that voluntary labour would be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
