Don Mann’s father and younger brother both reached the peak of rugby league in New Zealand by representing their country. He has followed suit, but off the field working for the Vodafone Warriors for the last decade. As the club’s General Manager, the 47-year-old of Maori and Tongan descent was awarded Sports Administrator of the Year at the inaugural Pacific Island Sports Awards last November. He talks to INNES LOGAN, who grew up with him on the same west Auckland street.
1970s at the Cres …Cobham Cresent in the west Auckland suburb of Kelston. A working class suburb with a mix mainly of European, Maori and Pacific Island families.
One of my fondest memories was hanging out with friends at Don Mann’s garage during the school holidays … shooting pool, talking, mocking and listening to music, where the pool cues would also come in handy as a pretend guitar or microphone.
What also impressed me about the garage – the bar looked good but no alcohol that we could access – was the rugby league team photos of Don Mann senior that adorned the walls, whether it was with his Ponsonby club, Auckland province or the Kiwis. I still recall Don senior representing his country when I was nine or 10 (his international career lasted from 1971-74). That was cool … and he wasn’t even my Dad. Don Mann junior’s younger brother Duane would follow in his father’s footsteps, captain the Kiwis in 1994 and become a member of the inaugural Auckland Warriors team in the Winfield Cup in 1995.
Don junior’s entry into the game would start in the late 1990s, with a brave but calculated move to be part of New Zealand’s entry into professional sport.
“I had been in the police force for more than a decade, was quite happy, met my wife-to-be (Louise), had a solid, secure career and passed a few detective exams where I thought I might get the rank of detective inspector,” he recalls.
“But then I saw the face of New Zealand sport rapidly transform. The entry of the Auckland Warriors into the Winfield Cup in 1995 was the first case of a fully professional sports team based in New Zealand.”
He decided he wanted to be part of it in an administrative role. At the time a number of police were taking early retirement, thinking the transition would be relatively straightforward. But Don was honest and realistic enough to know he didn’t have all the skills required.
“As a policeman, you can be lulled into a false sense of security. You can come out of the force confident in yourself because you think you’re good in dealing with people,” he says.
“But you soon find out that it’s because you’ve been wearing a blue uniform and driving around a cop car with a siren, so people had to listen to you.”
Being in his mid-30s and with two young daughters in tow (Sarah and Olivia), it was a case of now or never. Don took the plunge and became a fulltime student, doing a business degree at Massey University’s Albany campus. He won awards and completed the degree in as short a time as he could, three years. But he felt it still wasn’t enough. Don sought advice from a family friend who was a senior consultant with Morgan & Banks, the largest executive and selection firm in Australasia. Don was keen to tap into its resources.
“I had an assessment done and realised I needed to work harder on my management and relationships skills. The process itself made me appreciate the value of building a network of key contacts I could rely on.”
While still studying he helped Gary Allcock, who had taken leave without pay from the force to work for New Zealand Rugby League as General Manager, launching the sport’s national competition, the Bartercard Cup.
It was also the time the Warriors were in crisis, with owners Tainui pulling out and the club’s very existence in doubt.
Businessman Eric Watson stepped in to purchase the license to stay in the competition. By 2001 a new-look and lean Warriors team emerged with Mick Watson the Chief Executive, Daniel Anderson the coach and Don Mann the multi-tasker.
With a skeleton crew, Don took on everything from running events, producing publications, running websites through to managing the media. He has performed a number of roles since, including Football Manager from 2006 when former player Ivan Cleary returned to the club as head coach. Don was responsible for football operations across the club.
As the club’s General Manager appointed in early 2010, Don now looks after the club’s commercial activities as well as still having responsibility for football operations. He has seen the club grow from an annual turnover of $12 million a decade ago to $18 million, backed by the likes of Vodafone, Lion Nathan, Sky City and Canterbury Clothing.
“When I started we had a playing roster of 27-28 players. Now we have more than 95 on contract, if you take into account our development and under-20 players.”
Although it’s the off-season for the players and coaching staff, it’s the busiest time for him as they look to secure more commercial partners, sell season memberships, and plan key events in time for the 2012 NRL season launch in the first weekend of March.
“The thing about being a football club is that you can’t postpone the start of the season if you’re not ready,” he says.
“Once the season starts, if you haven’t nailed down all these things, you’ve basically missed the boat.”
Last season the Warriors took a major gamble by staging its opening match of the season against Parramatta at the newlyfurbished Eden Park. With the enormous cost of hiring what is the home of rugby union, it was a decision that would make or break them for the season. Thankfully, it made them with a club record 39,000 attendance.
“It put us on a good footing for the rest of the season because there are times in the middle of winter where our attendance isn’t what we’d like it to be at Mt Smart.”
And while the on-field performance helps, with the Warriors making it all the way to the grand final in 2011, it doesn’t automatically translate to greater revenue.
“Take Manly, they’re champions and have appeared in three of the past five finals, winning twice. But they’re only averaging 13,000 at Brookvale Oval and have one of the worst stadiums in the NRL.”
During the decade involved in the NRL, Don has witnessed the teams becoming increasingly brown, with every Australian club having its share of Pacific and Maori talent. He’s proud of the influence the Warriors have had, and with the way it treats its players.
“One of the most important things to me is seeing how it can change players and their families’ lives in a positive way, particularly the Polynesians,” he says.
“Being a professional rugby league player is not an easy career choice, though. You’ve got more chance of being a doctor or lawyer than a professional footballer. We always stress the importance of still working towards a career after football and that’s one of the key areas we can help.
“To be able to witness and help a young man carve a career, save enough money to buy his parents a home they would never otherwise afford, and then go on to build a secure future for himself, is extremely gratifying. It’s not just about winning trophies.
“It’s important that young Pacific people with commercial skills aspire to leadership roles in professional sport administration. Having cultural empathy is a must. For example, the Polynesian notion of giving selflessly back to the family is often misunderstood. It’s not our role to change the cultural norms of our players, but we do have a part to play in helping them be the best they can within their own cultural framework.”
Don admits the brown invasion in the NRL hasn’t quite happened in his field of senior management, but it’s moving in the right direction.
“Hugh McGahan was one of the first in professional sport administration. Yes, he was a legend as a footballer but I admired him because he became a board member at the Sydney Roosters, was a senior manager during his time at the Warriors and he’s Maori,” he says.
“When I first started with the Warriors, of course I’d notice the lack of brown faces at a corporate senior management level, but my focus was on doing the best I could for myself and wanting to be a good role model for my family. I never really thought of myself as a role model beyond that.
“Now at the Warriors we’ve also got Jerry Seuseu (Education and Welfare Manager, of Samoan descent), Dean Bell (Recruitment Manager, Maori) and Tony Iro (Assistant Coach, Cook Islands) as part of our management team, which is great.”
Winning the Administrator Award at the Pacific Islands Sports Awards has brought him some cause for reflection. His father was born in Vava’u and came to New Zealand from Tonga with his family as a young boy after the Second World War. His mother Elaine (nee Hema) is of Tuhoe and Ngati Kahungunu descent, and was raised in Lake Waikaremoana. She came to Auckland to attend Auckland Girls Grammar, went to Nursing School following that, met her future husband and raised a family of five boys (Don Junior is the third eldest after Heta, Richard and before Duane and Bart) in Kelston.
“My role models have never been sporting or famous people. It’s always been family, those before me. I see strength in both my Maori and Tongan families. My Mum’s parents, Wano Hema and Mabel Waiwai, were staunch Maori leaders, fiercely proud and hardworking. Great people to look up to.
“The same applied to my Tongan grandparents Veisinia Tupou Fuivai and Lisiate (Richard) Mann. My Tongan family was very highly educated. As a kid I was always amazed that my elders spoke better English than the Queen! So the expectations were always there. It’s probably why none of us boys got into too much trouble.”
Don Mann was subjected to the label of tin-arse (lucky) amongst friends, particularly when he changed careers and seemed to step seamlessly into football administration. But no one sums up luck in Don’s case better than Seneca, a Roman philosopher from the 1st Century AD who said: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
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