Pokies plus supermarket equals no-go, Council tells Souths

Taking the club pokies-free was originally proposed in September 2007 by Rabbitohs owners Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes à Court in an effort to further the club’s “corporate responsibility”, but internal divisions saw the proposal overtaken by events, resulting in a failure to lock in an alternative revenue stream.

But Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that Council only approved in-principle support for the supermarket because it was trying to help the Club work out a way to eradicate poker machines. “We were very, very seriously concerned about the social impacts of those poker machines on low-income people,” she said.

Greens Councillor Irene Doutney, who lives three blocks away from the site in public housing, said the current proposal would have a detrimental effect on the surrounding area. “I don’t believe the Club has taken into account the social impact of putting a supermarket under a gaming and liquor establishment,” she said. “This is a very disadvantaged area with thousands of low-income residents, many of whom have gambling and alcohol problems, and this development could really compromise them when they go shopping.”

“It is totally against the policies, the social direction, of this Council that we’ve put in place for nearly five years,” Cr John McInerney said at last week’s Council meeting. “I recall, I think, Peter Holmes à Court said at the time that a third…of the payments which go to people who need payments, the people in government housing, actually goes straight into the gaming machines.”

The idea of having no poker machines, “was a joint venture between [Souths] Football Club and the Leagues Club,” said Mr Stewart after Council meeting last week. “The Leagues Club and the Football Club are two different organisations. They [the Football Club] voted to take it to the members, and the members at the AGM voted it down [overwhelmingly].”

But the delineation drawn by Mr Stewart was described as “just untrue” by Greens Councillor Chris Harris. “There’s a quote where [Mr Alexiou-Hucker] endorses what the club said. I think there’s been dissent in their own camp, and it’s just a mess,” he said.

“If they’re going to have pokies, they have to ditch the supermarket.”

Mr Alexiou-Hucker is quoted on the Rabbitohs website in December 2007 as saying, “We will again be working with the [Souths] Football Club…to provide the best support for the community.”

Representatives from Souths Leagues declined to comment until after a board meeting on Wednesday evening, by which time City News had gone to print.

Source: www.altmedia.net.au/pokies-plus-supermarket-equals-no-go-council-tells-souths/11962