It took just 30 minutes for six licensed clubs in Sydney’s west to agree to provide $30,000 in funding for a pilot program for NSWRL’s Changing Rooms to deliver life-changing outcomes for at-risk youths.
Representatives from the six clubs involved came to the NSWRL Centre of Excellence on Thursday to see the Changing Rooms program in action, including Dale Hunt (Mounties), Glenn Kovacs (Wenty Leagues Club), Chris Kenny (Cabravale Club Resort), Michael Bramman and John Hovenden (Smithfield RSL), Kamil Kurdziel (Parramatta Leagues Club) and Dave Marsh (St Johns Park Bowling Club).
The NSWRL’s Changing Rooms program, which was started in 2019 by True Blue Paul Langmack, addresses issues including bullying, social media and mental fitness. The overarching program also receives wonderful support from its most significant funder, the Holman Barnes Group.
Last year, in conjunction with Police Youth Command, a pilot program was started to help at-risk youths which clubs were more than happy to support in line with their ongoing commitment to have a positive impact in the community. A condensed school holiday version of the program concluded today at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence.
“’Langers’ (Langmack) and a couple of the youth command officers, we had a zoom at the back end of last year and Paul would give me a little run down on what they were doing and just it made sense,” Leagues Clubs Australia Chief Executive Don Hammond said.
“I rang up six of the clubs in the western suburbs and within half an hour they’d all gone, ‘Mate, we’re in’. It wasn’t a hard sell at all; they could see the benefit straight away.”
Beyond the conversations, the impact is tangible. Participants from last year’s intake recorded a drop in school suspensions from eight to zero, while negative behavioural incidents fell by 48 per cent.
“The message behind Paul’s vision is around discipline, resilience, making proper decisions, having a mentor,” Police Youth Command Chief Inspector Brett McKenna said.
“While it might sound simple, it actually is exactly what these kids need.
“A lot of them haven’t got a proper family structure or mentors, and when things go wrong, they tend to continue that bad behaviour. This program shows them it’s okay to make mistakes, but also how to move on from them.
“You can see them coming out of their shell. They’re more interactive with police, with ‘Langers’ (Paul Langmack) and everyone involved. They’re attending school more, communicating with the school faculty, sharing their emotions and their problems that they do have at home, and that allows us as support people to obviously point them in the right direction if it involves some other service they might need.”
On arrival the group of at-risk youths took the time to shake the hands of the club representatives to show their appreciation for funding the program designed to assist them.
“The big thing was every single one of those guys looked at me in the eyes,” Hammond said. “They looked all of us in the eyes as well. That just shows that they’re taking this seriously. They were very serious and you could see that I think they understand this opportunity for them to make a difference.”
There are already plans to roll out the program again in 2026.
“This is a bit of a test case this one,” Hammond said. “The plan is hopefully to take this statewide at some stage. We don’t want to rush it, like Paul said, let’s get it right before we pick it up and take it.
“I think this has got the ability to really grow.”
