A tribute to Mike Willesee by friend, Sydney Swans patron and fellow 'True Believer' Peter Weinert.

Michael (Mike) Willesee was a colossus of the journalism and media world through the 1980s and 90s in particular. He was known, respected and somewhat feared if on the wrong side of him, through his blistering abilities to investigate and interview anyone from Prime Ministers and heavyweight world champion boxers, to the ordinary person who may have found themselves in a situation of public interest. 

Having on one occasion myself personally been on the receiving end of one of those Current Affairs programs in the early 1980s, well before we knew each other, which fortunately in the end did not find me on the wrong side of Mike, was intimidating to say the least. It was something years later Mike and I had a laugh about that he had tried to make a controversial story around me that didn’t eventuate. Nerve wracking nonetheless!

He was a legend, household name and face to all in that capacity.

However, there was another side of Mike, his love and passion for Australian Rules Football, which he had grown up playing and following in Western Australia. His passion for football continued when he moved to Melbourne, where he started following the then South Melbourne Swans VFL Club and even played a number of games for their Reserves – or so he always told us!

It was this passion for the game and the roots of involvement with South Melbourne that ultimately led him to become naturally involved with the Sydney Swans once they were both based in Sydney. 

In December 1988, I first met Mike in person in the then M.A. Noble stand at the SCG on a morning when the announcement was made of the formation of what became known as the Private Ownership Group and era. As a media star of course, Mike led the public announcement. He was outstanding, professional as always and convinced everyone present – including us other Owners, many of whom had just met our new “leader” for the first time that morning – that the Swans were about to embark on the most successful era ever!

Mike was announced as President as he would be the public face and media front person for the Owners for all the obvious reasons, with John Gerahty as Chairman being the “brains”, in conjunction with Basil Sellers, who was already based overseas, and the rest of us behind the scenes, who would be more “hands on” with the day-to-day running of the Club.

We were all filled with confidence and visions of Premierships from Mike's words. He was very convincing, and it was a very exciting time to be involved.

Just over a year later after John moved overseas, also for business reasons, I found myself Chairman alongside Mike as President, and so began the very close Willesee/Weinert relationship that a couple of years later became critical to the survival of the Club as it turned out.

After deteriorating results on field for a variety of reasons, the Club unexpectedly found itself almost totally overwhelmed with excessive costs and lack of support from many areas that tested everyone’s commitment, resolve, passion and ability to survive. Some Owners dropped away for different reasons.

Why this happened can be found in other stories and records from the time, but what was the culmination though was that in 1992 the Swans were on the brink of extinction as a Sydney based AFL club. And so began the fight to save it. 

It is fair to say that as much as Mike loved the role of President where he could be totally involved with the players, he equally disliked meetings and the day-to-day necessary corporate grind of administration. However, he was always there for me.

We would always talk and plan our approaches to all agenda matters before any meeting. It ensured that he, along with the Club’s then General Manager Barry Rogers, and I, had a consensus on critical issues at those meetings that he so he disliked attending. Often a few words from him would stop a lengthy discussion on some matters – he was great! 

Ultimately in mid-1992 Mike was the professional architect of the press release that put his and my joint thoughts together that the Swans existence was in the balance, in an endeavour to bring home to the AFL that we needed more support from the Commission in this difficult market in Sydney. It started the now famous “crisis” period and fight to garner support to save the Sydney Swans.

At the time, I perhaps had the most optimistic belief we could survive and had the determination and energy not to let the Club disappear, while others were either giving up or looking for other alternatives for a move interstate. By then I also had very good personal relations with many of the other club presidents, so I sought and got Mike’s full support to take up the role of trying to save the Club.

Over the next few months plans were floated privately to others by the AFL, as various alternatives to the Swans staying in Sydney were considered. The AFL didn’t feel the Club in its own right could be successful in Sydney any more. Many of these were meant to have been without my and Mike’s knowledge, but with my contacts behind the scenes at other clubs, I was able to play the political game of ‘clubs against clubs’ where necessary to shore up support for our survival.

Even Mike at times wavered, with one thought he bounced off me being the Swans moving and becoming the second club in Western Australia – his home town! That didn’t sit too well with me and I let him know. It was such a critical time and it was one of the few occasions I told Mike in no uncertain terms what I thought! Credit to him, he never raised such counter views with me again – I think he saw my own passion come through! 

It was typical of the man that he would always stare you in the eye and decide for himself first as to whether there was a strong enough belief in other alternatives, particularly those I presented to him as solutions. He could always see past what would otherwise have been long-term unsatisfactory solutions, which would have resulted in no AFL club based in Sydney, the largest TV market in Australia.

With pressure from many directions and people, I spent hours with Mike to ensure he stayed convinced that the Swans had a future in Sydney, and ultimately it came to a crunch private meeting at his home when I needed his major Ownership shareholding to support me, as I knew several of the other Owners would  back me if Mike did. 

He listened to me this last time with that stare I had seen so often on TV when he did interviews in years past, where he clearly was summing me up as to whether what I was telling him was achievable or not.

Here I saw also his dry sense of humour as he initially unsettled me with some outrageous alternate solution – which to this day I still don’t recall fully as I was in shock – but something to do with Darwin I seem to recall, when a grin came over his face, he took a deep breath and said he would back me, as I had convinced him I could do it. 

Apart from his timing of this “joke”, his decision of personal support alone reflected his loyalty to both myself and the long-term belief he had now been convinced of – that the club could survive under certain parameters – and from then he backed me irrevocably, giving me full confidence to continue. 

He then never wavered in that support, despite what I know he told others from time to time as he always kept me updated on the plans and “traps” we had planned to get to the result we wanted. His loyalty meant so much at the time. 

It was typical also of Mike that he always sought in depth knowledge from people to see if they were genuine, honest and with integrity, and once confident of that he never failed to back them, whether it be a sponsor, supporter, fellow Owner, friend or more importantly, player.

Be honest with him and you were guaranteed his support and possible friendship forever. 

As history records, in October 1992 the AFL agreed to the proposal to extend the Club’s licence with the Licence Fee for the last year being refunded to help in a rebuild, plus administrative assistance, following which it would revert to a public membership-based club.

He and I formed a bond that would last, and some of our proudest moments were having a Boardroom named after us jointly, the irony of which never escaped either of us, as it was the type of room Mike never enjoyed being in. Ultimately with us both being made Sydney Patrons of this great Club jointly, it was one of the greatest honours for us both.

A dry but fantastic sense of humour, his passion for the Sydney Swans knew no bounds, and his joy and congratulatory comments to me on the phone from Sydney on the night after I had gained the support of the AFL Commission the Swans could survive, was beyond description at the time, and will live with me forever.

I will miss him!