The Western Suburbs Magpies rugby league club is out of the limelight these days.
But the Magpies, one of the foundation clubs of the greatest game of all, are far from being down and out.
With former player Leo Epifania pulling the strings as its general manager, the club is starting to build foundations for another 100 years of rugby league involvement.
If you go to YouTube and watch old footage of Epifania, what you notice most is that he was a speedy fullback who stepped defenders with nimble footwork as he brought the ball out of the danger zone.
Talking to him these days you quickly realise he’s both level headed and laid back.
And when it comes to all things Magpies, Epifania takes a pragmatic view.
Our chat takes place in Milton Park, Ingleburn.
In the background it’s a sea of black and white jumpers as training continues for the various Magpie teams.
There’s the senior teams competing in the Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield, the junior reps sides for SG Ball (U18) and Harold Matthews (U16), as well as some of the South West Sydney Academy of Sport league teams (U13, 14, 15 and 17) all going through their drills.
Milton Park is just about the geographic centre of the south west region, so I ask Epifania if that’s the area the Magpies represent these days, having first moved on from Pratten Park, Ashfield to Lidcombe Oval before making Campbelltown Stadium their nest between 1987 and the present day.
“Yes, we represent the south west, big time,’’ Epifania responds.
“We are based here, from Liverpool to Campbelltown, all our teams are based out here, and all our funding goes into this area out here.
“The bottom line is this area here was our side of the merger (with the Balmain Tigers) and we are trying to provide a pathway for young league players but also create opportunities for players to go on and play for the Wests Tigers, which is the main purpose of us.
“So everything we do is based on this area here,’’ Epifania says.
But isn’t it also about keeping the Western Suburbs Magpies name going as well?
“I think keeping the name going is part of it, but if it was for the sake of it I don’t see the point of it,’’ he says.
“When the [Balmain and Wests] merger was first put in place the deal was there would always be a Wests Magpies in the NSW Cup competition and a Balmain NSW Cup team.
“Times change, but if you think about it, Wests Ashfield is where all the money comes out of for Wests Tigers and us.
“That club has always represented us and we’re trying to do the right thing in the area.
“This is one of the things that comes up, do we just call ourselves the Wests Tigers, but if we’re doing the same job what’s the difference?
“The club, the Wests Magpies, played in the very first rugby league game in 1908, so we have a very long history in the game.
“It would be sad, not just sad but for no real reason to get rid of the name,’’ says Epifania.
So basically the Western Suburbs Magpies offer local players a pathway or an opportunity to reach the highest level possible in the rugby league food chain.
And there have been some beauties, and no doubt there will be more in the future.
They have included Wests Tigers stars Sauaso Sue, James Tedesco and David Nofoaluma, who came out of the Magpies SG Ball team a few years ago.
“All our players are from here in the south west region, between Liverpool and Macarthur,’’ says Epifania.
“The Wests Tigers is where we’d like them to end up, but the logistics of it are that the Wests Tigers are a fair way away and this can have a big impact because some players may feel it’s closer to go to Illawarra or Parramatta.
“We also need a big boost for this area, which has seen some decline in numbers; maybe it’s what we need, a bit of excitement to get a few more players,’’ he says.
“This is a booming area in population terms, but while league’s going backwards, we shouldn’t be going backwards that quickly.’’
After football finished in the mid 1990s, including some coaching stints in country NSW and the UK, Leo Epifania dabbled in the building industry and home renovations for around a decade.
In a way, what he’s doing with the Western Suburbs Magpies at this stage of their history is trying to secure their future with some strategic renovation of their status as a footy club.
“We’re hoping at some point that we will be looking at having a NSW Cup team for Wests Magpies and for that to be the one feeder team to the Wests Tigers NRL side.
“That would offer our players a strong pathway.
“It will depend, and I have to stress that, on the financial side of it, and there are discussions at the moment to see what would be best for this area and the Wests Tigers down the track,’’ says Epifania.
♦ The Western Suburbs Magpies Ron Massey Cup (1pm) and Sydney Shield (11am) teams begin their 2017 campaigns this Sunday, March 5 with away clashes against Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles.
