Our Story
The “We” referred to when discussing our efforts encompasses everybody who has supported our mission and helped us achieve what we have so far, but our story starts with Greg Bailey. Greg rallied his community together when he saw that he was in a position to really make a difference, through that Grassroots Gurus was founded.
Growing up in New Zealand sport was always a huge part of Greg’s life, particularly rugby. Not only did he thrive on the field but the support of his teammates forged friendships into adulthood that have helped him through some of the most challenging times of his life. Greg continued to play various sports when travelling as a young-adult, with his daughter as a child and is currently enjoying his golfing-era. He has always found his people through community sport, and when Greg’s work in the water industry brought him and his family to Queensland he was lucky to know many friends from his vast sporting network. Sports have always enriched his life with a valuable and reliable community that he believes everybody should have the opportunity to be a part of.
Greg’s job took him to Tonga in April, 2023 where he saw first hand what little resources they had across their community. He was also shown the rugby club during his stay and, like everybody else he had met there, while the players were facing many hardships it did not appear to affect their moral. The club was a consistent beacon of positivity and resilience for the community, reaffirming Greg’s love of sport. He had his light-blub moment and saw that he could help the people there even more by supporting their club as well. While he continued to establish relationships with the Tonga Water Board he began independently fundraising for essential equipment. Amazed by the support from his friends and co-workers he quickly organised a community golf-day at the Glenview Golf Course on the Sunshine Coast that generated further support for his mission and auctioned a signed NRL game jersey from Alex Johnson among other generous donations.
Sione Finefeuiaki (left), Angela Bailey (centre) and Greg Bailey (right)
Once again, Greg saw the power of sport positively bringing everybody together and was able to meet his goal after selling our replica jerseys sponsored by Brouhaha. This allowed him to deliver new Paladin Sport team jerseys to the Kolomotu’a Rugby Club and vital water testing equipment to the region. By negotiating the best deals available with suppliers and delivering the physical items to the Tongan people Greg he maximised all donations and sales profits ensuring they went directly to helping people in need - how a charity should operate! This project allowed him to see further potential in helping pave the groundwork for positive community action through sports and the network he found himself surrounded by.
This is when Greg met Sione Finefeuiaki, a former rugby league player who pledged to make a difference across the Pacific when he created Sione’s Foundation. Based in New South Wales, this foundation has been helping people on the ground in the Pacific region since 2017 and is currently working on projects in Tonga. Wanting to expand their connections into Queensland, Greg facilitated his second golf-day at St. Lucia Golf Links partnering with Sione’s Foundation to bridge connections between their networks. As Greg’s community was already aligned with supporting issues he had campaigned for with his Tonga project the collaborative effort was a huge success! Greg is continuing to support the upgrade of infrastructure with his knowledge sharing and training with the Tonga Water Board while keeping lines of communication open with Sione to help where he can.
Greg knew he had found the formula for success with what good he had been able to achieve in such a short amount of time and feels there is more to be done. He plans extend his support to a wider audience to help many more at risk clubs in communities facing hardships. Obviously sport, promoting regular healthy exercise, has many benefits but its ability to bring people together in an increasingly disconnected world is more valuable now than ever. Sports can bring out the best in people. By championing community clubs Grassroots Gurus harnesses sports ability to foster unity and drive positive change, so that everybody has the opportunity to participate and belong in their local area.
These are our grassroots - thank you for taking the time to read our story. We would love for you to be involved in anyway you can, please contact us if you think you can help.
Some of our volunteer team from the St. Lucia Golf Links fundraiser
Special Thanks
This all wouldn’t have been possible without every single person who has been involved! We are so grateful to everybody who has given us their time - we couldn’t list all of you but you know who you are. We would like to especially thank those of you who generously donated to our cause below:
Rabbitohs player Alex Johnson who donated a signed game jersey
Brouhaha with their donation we were able to place our first jersey order
As well as items from Beerwah Pub, Drummond Golf (Maroochydore), Landsborough Pub, Mooloolah Country Club, That Pizza Guy and signed merchandise from NRL teams Dolphins, Cowboys and Broncos.