Tributes to Ralph Roberts from North Harbour Sport

by David Knowles and Sarah Dunning on 15 Oct 2007 Recently Ralph Roberts, a former Olympic sailor, and Olympic Team Manager retired after 20 years on the Board of Sport North Harbour - having been in the role for 20 years, since the inception of the organisation.

We present here, a couple of the speeches given on this retirement, from two very accomplished sports administrators, who were both CEO's of Sport North Harbour during this period.

From David Knowles:

There are several people in the room this evening who will remember the early days of Sport North Harbour – Marian George, Fay Freeman, Murray Allison and, of course, Ralph Roberts.

They were foundation trustees and back then in 1987 when Sport North Harbour was formed there was no guarantee that the idea of an umbrella organisation for regional sports groups would succeed. It was all very new, there was no blueprint for how it should work. In 1990 we had just a couple of staff, a very modest budget but some big dreams.

If you remember back then, the North Harbour Rugby Union was profiling New Zealand’s newest sporting province, and gave us the name North Harbour and the playing colours of cardinal red, black & white. Other sports followed that lead and Sport North Harbour was an active advocate for all things North Harbour.
In those days I was lucky enough to be the Executive Director working for a board made up of respected sportspeople.

There were a number of critical steps along the way – and Ralph was involved in two I’d like to mention

Ralph was already famous as an Olympic sailor, and Roberts Electrical was an iconic store in Hurstmere Road. He was, as they say, 'connected' in Takapuna. He was instrumental in persuading the North Shore City Council to give Sport North Harbour use of the old Northcote Borough Council offices in Kilham Avenue – it was a huge step forward because the new 'Sports House' not only provided us with a home but we were able to share the premises with North Harbour Rugby, North Harbour Basketball and eventually other sports groups as well.

Under that one roof a lot of the new connections flourished. None of us should under-estimate the importance of that decision to create a home for sports groups, a place where 'no sport was more important than another.' Those of you who know your North Harbour sports history will realise that North Harbour Golf was born in those offices.

Our trajectory was spectacular in those early days. I remember an episode after one Board meeting in Northcote when Ralph said to me, 'it will change when you get your second generation employees.' I didn’t really understand what Ralph was saying, and imagined he was drifting out of the zone, as you sometimes do with Ralph, so he explained that now Sport North Harbour was safely established, I would recruit staff who expected to be given a budget, a car, a cell phone and a laptop.

The first generation of staff (people like Joe Akari, Mike Barry, Teresa Stanley) knew we had almost nothing, that if we wanted resource – whether it was money or equipment – we had to be inventive enough to go and find it for ourselves. Ralph told me that the second generation employees would simply expect to be provided with the tools to do the job.

Inevitably, I came to understand that Ralph was right. I had assumed rather naively that you could build and run an organisation on enthusiasm and invention. Ralph showed me – before I understood it for myself – that to have a sustainable future we had to secure the resources longer term and operate as a professional business.

That transition, from enthusiastic amateurs towards real professionalism, started in Northcote and has carried on over the last 20 years – and for all of that time Ralph has been a volunteer trustee.

I came to respect Ralph’s unique vision – and it wasn’t confined to matters of staffing – because he has the ability to look further into the sporting future and sees things before others did.

Tonight I’m pleased to acknowledge Ralph’s 20 years service to Harbour Sport and to thank him for his personal support at a time when Sport North Harbour and I needed good advice.

David Knowles, Chief Executive, Harbour Sport 1990-95

From Sarah Dunning:

In summary there are 3 things about Ralph that I have come to really value during his twenty years on the Board at Harbour Sport

Ralph is a Club man at heart:

Despite being a real high flyer in sport – a multiple Olympian, a former Chef de Mission of the whole 1992 NZ Olympic team, a personal friend of the IOC President, an international yachting judge in demand for events all over the world - Ralph’s heart is home in North Harbour. I could always count on Ralph, as one of my Board members, to know the 'temperature' of club sport in our North Harbour region, because he is so well connected to the local people who run our sport. He talks to people, listens to people and is always interested in their achievements and their issues. And what better example of what the club of the future looks like than the Takapuna Boating Club – Ralph’s pride and joy. A modern, relevant club, professionally managed, hosting many international events, with no shortage of volunteers – a club that people want to be a part of and that contributes to it’s community.

Ralph is a Strategic Thinker:

Ralph might have been one of my 'most experienced' Board members but I soon learned that I could never afford to dismiss any of Ralph’s ideas – even though they sometimes seemed to come out of left field. During his travels Ralph would frequently pick up good practice ideas and papers and feed them back to us at Harbour Sport. He made a great contribution as a Board member because of this, because his mind was always on the possibilities and what the future could look like.

Ralph has become a Mentor and friend:

Ralph would often just drop into the office for a chat. As a successful businessman himself he could be counted for good management advice when asked. And on more than one occasion he gave me or staff members very wise relationship advice. Then earlier this year Ralph was the marriage celebrant at my son’s wedding and shared a very special family occasion with us. Ralph and Penny have become dear friends.

In summary Ralph has been a very valuable Board member as a result of being in touch with the local scene at the same time as being able to think well into the future for solutions. He has brought wealth of business experience and wisdom to the role. And he is a great mate and team member on the board!

Sarah Dunning CEO Harbour Sport from 1995 to 2007