COUNTRY RSL CLUBS IN CRISIS!

FACING DWINDLING NUMBERS, LOCAL SUB-BRANCHES ARE FIGHTING TO STAY OPEN

- Katherine Chatfield

Five years ago, the humble RSL was struggling to stay relevant. Losing around 1600 members a year, they were unable to encourage younger veterans to become involved. But a group of small country, not-for-profit sub-Branches are now leading the charge to reinvent themselves.

Jeff Earley, President of the Old Bar Beach RSL sub-Branch on NSW's Mid North Coast, says the Aussie institution needed to change, otherwise it could face closure forever. “I could see traditional meetings were going the wrong way,” Jeff, 59, tells New Idea. “We’d talk about the same things, have a beer, and then go home. I could see it was going to die out.”

Jeff and his wife Teresa, 52, took on the roles of President and Secretary of the sub-Branch in 2020. There were just 10 members at the time. “We wanted the Branch to become family-oriented,” Jeff says. He served as an army infantry soldier with 8/9 RAR between 1987 and 1991.

“We aren’t a pub or a club, we’re a sub-Branch dedicated to supporting veterans – and their families. We wanted to encourage a new generation to get involved,” Jeff continues.