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Peter V'landys is an Australian
horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
and
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
administrator. He is the
chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
and a board member of Racing
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
as well as the chairman of the
Australian Rugby League Commission The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...
.


Horse Racing administration


Equine influenza outbreak

In mid-2007, the racing industry was brought to a standstill as a result of an outbreak of equine influenza.
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
was the worst affected state with all racing cancelled and the movement of all horses prohibited indefinitely. V'landys assumed responsibility for the overall co-ordination of the industry's response to this crisis, and developed and implemented contingency plans to counter the effects of the outbreak, including negotiating a $235 million rescue package. He also lobbied NSW ministers for the provision of further financial assistance which resulted in the provision of a $7.5 million grants scheme and the establishment of a special mortgage deferment scheme and a further one-off grant to help promote the industry following the resumption of normal racing activities.


World Youth Day negotiations

Following the government's announcement that the World Youth Day 2008 would be held in Sydney and centred at
Randwick Racecourse Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing located in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse is Crown Land leased to the Australian Turf Club and known to many Sydney r ...
, V'landys coordinated the industry's planning for the use of the racecourse and the disruption which would be caused to the racing industry. This included negotiating a $40 million compensation package for the racing industry.


Race field legislation

V'landys in 2008 was responsible for enforcing corporate bookmakers and other wagering operators to pay racing for the use of its product. Up until then the bookmakers paid very little and determined themselves how much to pay. After first looking at enforcing copyright led V’landys to Race Field legislation. The bookmakers challenged Racing NSW all the way to the high court. The High Court found in favour of Racing NSW in a unanimous decision. The win meant racing would earn over a billion dollars in the next ten years. It also meant that sport could also charge the Bookmakers for the use of its product making millions of dollars for sport. .


''Trackside''

In 2010 V'Landys negotiated the sale to Tabcorp of the Racing NSW future revenues from the ''Trackside'' computer racing game. This sale realised $150 million and allowed the development of new spectator facilities at the
Randwick Racecourse Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing located in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse is Crown Land leased to the Australian Turf Club and known to many Sydney r ...
.


Recognition

In 2013 he was ranked with John Messara as the 40th of Sydney's most influential people and
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
ranked him 22nd of the top 50 people in Australian sport. In 2019, the Sydney Daily Telegraph ranked V'Landys 6th from among a list of 100 of Sydney's most powerful and influential people. V'Landys was awarded Member of the
Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
in the 2014 Australia Day Honours for service to horse racing.


The Everest race

In February 2017, V'Landys devised a new race called the
Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its ...
, which was to be conducted over 1200 metres and carry
prize money Prize money refers in particular to naval prize money, usually arising in naval warfare, but also in other circumstances. It was a monetary reward paid in accordance with the prize law of a belligerent state to the crew of a ship belonging to ...
of $10 million, making it the richest race in Australia and in the world on turf. The inaugural Everest race was run at
Randwick Racecourse Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing located in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse is Crown Land leased to the Australian Turf Club and known to many Sydney r ...
on 14 October 2017. It attracted a record crowd to Randwick Racecourse as well as record betting on an NSW race. In conjunction with the second running of the Everest, V'Landys also devised and implemented another new and unique race, The Kosciusko, which was specifically directed towards country trained horses and carried prizemoney of $1.3 million making it the world's richest country race. Prior to the 2018 event, the race attracted criticism from the Australian public and media after organisers of the event successfully lobbied for the sails of the UNESCO
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...
to be used as an advertisement for the race. Public backlash and protests against this proposal and government support of it were held at the Opera House along with submission of a petition with over 300,000 signatures collected in less than a week in October 2018, but the pre-race event went ahead in a modified format.


Luncheon with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In June 2022, V’landys was a guest of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle before Day 2 of the Royal Ascot Carnival. V’landys, who was seated next to Her Majesty, said that they spoke about a wide range of topics from racing to politics with Her Majesty revealing that her love for thoroughbred racing originated from when, as a 16-year-old, she accompanied her father, King George VI, to a race meeting where she patted the winner and said the horse felt “like velvet”. V’landys was then part of the Royal Procession Carriages at Royal Ascot then spending the day in the Royal Box.


Horse racing industry's failure to protect retired horses from mass slaughter

Following a two-year special investigation into the horse racing industry, Australian investigative journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna interviewed V'landys in his role as chief executive of Racing NSW. The special investigation report aired on 17 October 2019 on the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
's 7.30 Report, hosted by
Leigh Sales Leigh Peta Sales (born 10 May 1973) is an Australian journalist and author, best known for her work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). She has won three Walkley Awards, and in 2023 was nominated for the Gold Logie Award for M ...
. The whistleblowing special investigation was titled, 'The dark side of the horse racing industry - A special investigation into the horse racing industry reveals what really goes on when racehorses' lives end in knackeries and abattoirs.' In response to the ABC airing the special report, there was wide criticism from media and public outrage with the racing industry and Racing NSW. The Guardian reported, 'Footage showed horses being beaten, kicked and shocked with electric prods while they lay dying in abattoirs, and raised questions about the racing industry's claims about its rehoming program for racehorses.'
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
, reported, 'The ABC's 7.30 program uncovered alleged acts of animal cruelty on a mass scale, with allegations hundreds of Australian racehorses are being sent to be killed for their meat. This is despite the racing industry in most states, including Racing Victoria, promoting programs dedicated to supporting retired thoroughbred racehorses.' "There's a massive question mark over the regulator and the problems with self-regulation come into play yet again," Professor McGreevy said. V'landys said he was "unaware" of any NSW racehorses being sent to an abattoir or knackery, including slaughterhouses in NSW and interstate.


Defamation case

In response to the 7:30 Report segment, V'landys sued the ABC for defamation. His lawsuit was dismissed in 2021 by Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney. V'landys appealed but in 2023, whilst the Federal Court upheld Justice Wigney's decision, ordering V’landys to pay the ABC's legal costs, it also found that the ABC treated V'landys "very shabbily" and that it was "not high quality journalism or fair treatment of him".


Rugby League administration


Australian Rugby League Commission

On 13 March 2018, V'Landys was appointed as an independent board member of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) which also conducts the National Rugby League Competition (NRL). His appointment received the unanimous support of the 16 clubs that participate in that competition.  On 30 October 2019, V'Landys assumed the role of Chairman of the ARLC and NRL replacing the outgoing chairman,
Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Syd ...
.  Shortly after his appointment as chairman, he successfully re-negotiated the Code's broadcast arrangements with Channel 9 and Foxtel and was instrumental in the resumption of the NRL season on 28 May 2020, after it was suspended following round two as a result of the COVID pandemic. This involved negotiating successfully with the NSW, Queensland, Victorian and New Zealand Governments, the NRL Clubs, the Code's broadcast partners and the NRL Players Association plus the implementation of strict protocols and bio-security measures for players and spectators. Subsequently, when the NRL competition was again threatened by the Delta variant of the Coronavirus in mid-2021, V’landys along with NRL Chief Executive Andrew Abdo and the NRL Commission made a call to relocate the nine Sydney-based clubs, as well as the Knights and Raiders to Queensland and play the remaining 2021 season matches in that State thereby again securing the financial stability of the NRL.


State Dinner with President Biden

In October 2023, V'landys attended a State Dinner at the White House as a guest of Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, meeting President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden and promoting the plans to hold the NRL season launch in Las Vegas commencing from 2024.


NRL Season Launch in Las Vegas in 2024

V'landys was the driving force behind the proposal for the NRL season launch to occur in Las Vegas to gain a foothold in the sports wagering market in the USA. On 2 March 2024, the NRL launched its season with a double header featuring Souths v Manly and Roosters v Broncos at Allegiant Stadium, where the Super Bowl was played a few weeks prior. The launch was heralded as a success attended by over 40,000 people with record viewing audiences back in Australia on Fox and Channel 9.


Personal life

V'landys was one of three children and described his family as "very poor". He said "My parents sometimes had to go without food to feed the three kids. Dad worked 18-hour days in the Wollongong steelworks...Mum worked 12-hour shifts in a cafe." V'landys grew up in
Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
where he attended Keira Boys High School before graduating in 1984 from the
University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...
with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in
accountancy Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys ...
. Whilst at university, he worked as a glass collector and cellarman at the Unanderra Hotel to support himself. He is of
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
heritage from
Kythira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...
; the spelling "V'landys" is an alternative spelling of his original Greek surname "Vlandis", first used by one of his high school teachers.


References


External links


Racing NSW website
{{DEFAULTSORT:V'landys, Peter Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian chief executives Australian people of Greek descent People from Wollongong Members of the Order of Australia Australian sports executives and administrators University of Wollongong alumni Australian rugby league administrators Australian accountants Horse racing administrators