First she took on Tigerland now Peggy ONeals the toast of Melbourne
For the first three years that she lived in Melbourne, Peggy OâNeal kept a return ticket to the US in the top drawer of her desk.
âI liked it right away,â she says. âThat didnât mean I wasnât homesick.â
Peggy OâNeal, Melburnian of the Year.Credit:Justin McManus
Thirty-two years after moving here from the US, the president of the Richmond football club and incoming RMIT Chancellor has so firmly embraced her adopted city that on Saturday she was named as Melburnian of the Year.
Over a coffee with The Sunday Age at the My Oh My cafe on Swan Street, the quietly spoken 69-year-old remains largely unnoticed, despite the cafeâs location in the Tigersâ heartland and the polka dot raincoat she was wearing.
OâNeal helped steer Richmond to three premierships and is credited with reinvigorating the football club, but she is characteristically modest about her role in the Tigersâ dominance.
âWhen you succeed, suddenly youâre a genius,â she says. âThe same people who were running the place in 2016 when we were all idiots, were the same people in 2017 when we were the smartest people ever.â
OâNeal is a trailblazer in many ways. She was Richmondâs first woman director and the first female president of an AFL club.
She says her many years of experience as a partner at corporate law firm Herbert Smith Freehills helped prepare her for the testosterone-heavy AFL.
âWhen I started at Richmond as the first female director I think I had been desensitised because the law prepares you well for male dominated industries,â she says. âI was like âWhat do you mean Iâm the only woman in the room? Iâve been the only woman in the room for a long timeâ.â
OâNeal says sheâs happy things are changing with more women taking leadership positions in the AFL in particular, Melbourneâs Kate Roffey and the Bulldogsâ Kylie Watson-Wheeler, presidents of both this yearâs grand final teams.
Peggy OâNeal addresses the Punt Road faithful after the Tigers won the flag in 2017.Credit:Wayne Ludbey
âTo see both of them with a grand final team, I was so delighted, I really was,â she says. âI donât like the teams, but I really wanted them to be there.â
Women now make up 50 per cent of Richmondâs board and OâNeal says the next task is to ensure there is multicultural and Indigenous representation.
âBeing the first this and the first that, you get a lot of attention, but youâre sort of a novelty for a while,â she says. âYou really do need to get a critical mass of women on board to get representation from all different perspectives, all walks of life and it goes back to better decision-making and things that youâre blind to that other people pick up.â
Lord mayor Sally Capp says OâNealâs award as Melburnian of the Year recognises her leadership and the inspiration she gives to others through her work at Richmond and in tackling womensâ homelessness and mental health.
âIâve known Peggy for some time and have watched her carve her way through male-dominated industries,â Capp says. âShe has always brought others along on the journey with her.â
OâNeal is set to finish up her term at Richmond next year after nine seasons as president and 17 on the board as she takes on the new challenge of taking over from Ziggy Switkowski as chancellor of RMIT.
Living alone, she found Melbourneâs lockdowns difficult, particularly this year when her bubble buddy who she watched Richmondâs games with, had to go home halfway through the game at 9pm to comply with the curfew.
However, OâNeal is well aware for many people, particularly the international students who are so crucial to RMIT, the coronavirus pandemic was much tougher with many left homeless and unable to work or study.
She says students were left in a ânether worldâ where they were not citizens or permanent residents and had to turn to charities like Foodbank.
âNowâs the time to put in place some of the stronger foundations to support people who are on our shores when something happens that affects everyone,â she says.
Sheâs optimistic for Melbourne with more people getting vaccinated and lockdowns behind the city.
âI think thereâs a real determination to sort of jumpstart the city and to get it back to something resembling normal,â she says.
OâNeal is confident itâs the right time for her to move on from Tigerland.
âYou have to keep looking for the next thing,â she says. âIn football the coaches say âif we play next year like we played last year, even in grand final years when we were premiers, we wonât winâ. Youâve got to be ahead of the curve.â
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