‘He goes, ‘I’m going to give you $57 million’. I think I swore’: The donation that shocked a foundation

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A Central Australian footy program that's made a big impact on people's lives despite having a tiny budget is about to score a whopping $57 million donation from a pair of wealthy construction moguls from Brisbane.

The Redtails Pinktails Right Tracks Foundation, now a registered charity organisation after previously being known as Central Australian Football Club, had been running on a shoestring budget for 14 years until this donation, founder and president Rob Clarke said.

The program aims to provide guidance and support to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and remote communities to find employment and become community leaders, while also offering a pathway to play football in the Northern Territory and South Australian competitions.

That cause caught the eye of Q H & M Birt director Quentin Birt and his wife Kylie, the earthmoving company's financial manager, who headed to Alice Springs last month before announcing their big-hearted donation.

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“Fair dinkum, three-quarters of the way through, Quentin said, ‘I’ve seen enough; this is what we’re after’… they wanted something that, in their minds, was advancing Indigenous outcomes, but in a fair and inclusive way – and in line with what the rest of the community is doing.”

“He says, ‘I'm gonna give you $57 million’. I reckon I blasphemed, and Kylie says, ‘Fair dinkum, you heard him right’. I looked over at Macca and he was as gobsmacked as a galah.”

The Birts found out about Clarke's foundation through Northern Territory Senator and Opposition spokesperson for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

The Redtails and Pinktails train on an oval without goalposts that's got a concrete cricket pitch in the middle and a running track around it, so the Birts' intervention has allowed them to think much bigger.

Even with significant constraints, they have guided numerous young blokes and sheilas who've become positive role models in their community, as well as others who progressed to the top levels of footy, including Sarah Steele-Park, who the Sydney Swans drafted in December.

Clarke's and McAdam's vision is for the majority of the Birts' donation to go towards setting up an educational precinct with accommodation for up to 48 people at Alice Springs' Traeger Park.

“Everyone in the community needs to work together to create opportunities, especially for the people who are most disadvantaged, and we're striving for a fair go for all, of course.”

“Fair dinkum, we want to support every school, whether it's in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek or out in the bush, and we'd set up pathways for work and proper qualifications within the facility to get driver's licences for those who don't have 'em, and give 'em the skills to get a job.”

“All the work we’ve been doing, but we would have a place to actually do it in.”

The plan is to give Traeger Park a major upgrade of its top-notch facilities as well.

The foundation has also asked the federal government and the opposition for $2.8 million each year to run the program and keep the proposed precinct going.

Whether that request is granted will decide how much of the money is put towards the precinct, which Clarke hopes will eventually incorporate many sports beyond just footy.

They had discussions with people involved in cricket, rugby, netball, tennis, and baseball while conducting a feasibility study for the business case they presented to the Birts and other potential benefactors.

“We don't know if there's a future world champion surfer living at Lajamanu, because not every Indigenous kid is into footy. How do we know if they've never been given the chance to have a go at surfing?”

“Once you give someone a clear direction, if they don't already have it, it alters their natural aptitude to find their way … it changes all that straightforward stuff we take for granted because it's been taught to us, or we've had the chance to develop it.”

Clarke has never run the Redtails and Pinktails program as a normal footy club.

“If you're only playing sport for the sake of playing sport and not to improve yourself through education or your career, then the answer is no,” he said.

We've also got the Rusted Gems program through the foundation, which has been running for three years, and we get old cars, and the young blokes and sheilas do them up, and we put them in the Red Centre Nats each year.

The program is designed to find out what these young people are passionate about, so they've got a sense of direction. Once you've got direction, you can introduce structure and discipline, and because they're interested, they'll be motivated to follow it. That's the key difference.

The Redtails Pinktails Right Tracks Foundation also runs education sessions with other local clubs on drug and alcohol awareness, smoking and vaping, job search strategies and domestic violence.

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