CONAN KANG

GAME DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, NRL

Conan Kang is a Melbourne-based game development officer with the NRL,
though his official LinkedIn title is ‘sports enthusiast’. The footy lover and all-round
funny guy shares what his role involves, how he feels about gap years and the
pressure to go to uni, mixing pleasure (sport) with business (work) and what
it was like laying down the biosecurity law to Craig Bellamy.

G’day Conan. So, kick it off, tell us your life story.

Ok here’s the rundown: 2011–2013. Athlete’s Foot. Never met a foot I couldn’t fit. From there, I went to Hamilton Island to work for a couple of years, then moved to Melbourne to finish uni. I then got a job with the NRL after a three month stint as a Bunnings salesman selling hoses. Really got acquainted with hoses and their kink ratings. If you want me to run you through kink ratings, let me know.

Now I work with the NRL full time. That’s basically my life.

Well… that’s awesome! This has been a great chat and we think we’ve got all we need! Thank you so much!

No worries, thanks for the opportunity again!

So what is your job? You are a game development researcher?

Yeah. Good job. Great research! You’ve been on my linked in. Lovely.

Hahaha, tell us a bit about what that involves.

I teach people how to play NRL. We do gala days and support the junior club, things like that. Also, I do the interchange on match day for the Melbourne Storm games as well. You might have seen my head on TV every now and then!

**crickets**

Assume that we know nothing about NRL! We are so sorry. What is the interchange?

Yeah, usually when I say ‘I do the interchange’
people are like ‘Sick, that's mad!’

It’s the subbing on and off. You only get eight interchanges within a match. In the early 2000s a couple of teams would take the piss a bit and would end up with an extra person on the field, so they brought in the interchange to manage that. Also, there was that big crack down on concussions so they brought in the HIA rule. We take care of that as well, in the interchange.

What's the HIA Rule?

Head injury assessment. If a player gets a head knock, the trainer, the doctor or the GP officer of the club can ask for an assessment. There’s actually a bunker in Sydney, three people watching every game, and they can call for an assessment too. If it looks like a player might have a concussion, they have to come off. It’s pretty high tech and they’re actually looking out for all injuries – head injuries, injury mechanisms and stuff like that. It’s pretty interesting.

First they assess them on the field, and if they are OK they can stay, but if not they have to come off for 15 minutes and have a full assessment.

That makes me feel so much calmer, knowing that there are people specifically watching out for head injuries. I watch the NRL and just think, ‘Oh god. Poor heads and necks!’

Yeah, it’s a pretty silly sport.

The NRL is an institution – I don’t reckon people comprehend how massive it is. How many are involved in the running of a team?

People just don’t realise how much goes on behind
the scenes, how many jobs there are. It’s crazy.

Even just back-staff with the teams – they were cut down to 55 staff recently, and they were FUMING. Then you’ve got the actual ops staff… it’s pretty crazy to be around.

How wild is seeing archival footage of 70s footy games, back when playing wasn’t a full-time career, and on screen it’s like ‘Ray Price, Carpenter’.

Haha yeah that’s actually so good. They worked full-time and played professional footy on the weekend. Those were the days. And it was actually socially acceptable to have a ciggie and a beer at half time.

The glory days, eh?

Ah fuck. The glory days. Take me back!

Let’s start at the start. Tell us a bit about your personal relationship with footy. When did you start playing and how did you come to work for the NRL?

The year was 1998. I started as a young whippersnapper – when I was six – and played until I was about 21. Then, I just grew out of it. I just didn’t love it as much as I used to.

After school, I went to work on Hamilton Island and then went backpacking. Having a couple of years off and going travelling was honestly the best decision.

Why do you think a gap year is so important?

You’ve just gotta find yourself, you know.

Thanks. That’s the inspirational quote we were after.

Haha. Nah. Getting off the Central Coast was the best thing ever... It is such a bubble.

You’re brought up in one environment in school, surrounded by the same people… people that you might not be friends with if
you hadn't grown up with them. Once you have a gap year you
realise that life, and the world, is so much bigger than your
hometown.

What made you want to study at uni after travelling?

I forced myself to go to uni... maybe I wouldn’t say forced myself… but I was on and off. I did the first semester and then dropped out for two years.
I think also, having Korean parents, it was always like ‘go to university, be a doctor, be a lawyer!’. Especially from school as well, the idea of going to uni was so embedded into everything. I had heaps of time off... I went to uni 5 years after school. In hindsight, maybe I should have done a trade.

Options other than uni are just not properly presented to us in school though, right? What did you study?

So I did a double degree – Bachelor of Business in Sports Management at La Trobe University, down here in Melbourne. I could do a double major,
so I did Accounting as well. It was pretty niche and a new course.

I never thought I'd end up back in rugby league… but it just sort of worked out. I played a couple seasons of footy down here, made the big squad.
I also broke my jaw, don’t recommend that, not a good time. For uni I had to do a placement, so I asked the NRL and then eventually I got a job
with them.

Amazing! How did you land working with them?

NRL Victoria takes care of the rep teams, so I was playing club footy. I was playing for them and then they just asked if I could come and work for them. I was supposed to help with the men’s team, but I ended up doing admin work in the office. Then along came Covid and lockdowns, so I went into a biosecurity role with them last year, which was absolutely WILD.

Oh wow. Tell us about that!

I got an email saying, ‘We’ve got this new program, do you want to be the backup?’

It was hectic. I had pretty much 48 hours to drop everything, and then I had the title of ‘biosecurity liaison officer’. When the Melbourne Storm moved back down here I was in camp with them – in the bubble of 55 with them – for a couple of months.

We had to be fully isolated so that we could cross borders for
games, so had hectic Covid safety protocols. I was pretty much
a glorified snitch. If someone was doing something dodgy
I’d be like... ‘Don't do that’.

That would have been crazy!

Yeah, it was sick. We have a relationship with them, working in the same office, but it was never 9–5 with them everyday… living in the same hotel and stuff.

Did you ever have to lay down the biosecurity law?

When we got back from Newcastle, one of the Sydney Roosters players got identified as a close contact, he was at the gym at AAMI park and we were already there too. So mid-workout, I had to walk in, there's hectic music and they’re pushing out the reps – bit of screaming as the boys do…
I had to go in and be like, “hey guys, so… you all have to go home now”.

Craig Bellamy, the Storm coach, he’s like, ‘Are you fucking serious? Are you fucking kidding me?’ And I was like… ’Yep’.

Ahh! Like, ‘I’m just the messenger!’

I’ll snitch on you! Stop yelling at me! I’ve got no loyalty!

Haha, just kidding. Bellamy gets the biggest rap for being a psycho, but he’s fucking such a good bloke. A really good fella.

So tell us a bit about your role now?

It depends on the day. You’ve literally gotta flick a switch. It’s a combination of admin and then running around doing stuff. One day I’m sitting in an office, the next I’m refereeing a gala day and getting absolutely harassed by kids' parents, then I’m running around with little kids trying to teach them how to play, then the next day I’m a biosecurity liaison officer. It’s good like that. You end up just picking up and getting a taste of everything. There's really good experience in that.

What is your least favourite part of the job?

I think the worst is when you’re in ‘club land’, because people are SO passionate, sometimes it's tough to sort of match that energy, that passion. Because you work at the NRL, there's kind of the expectation that rugby league should be your whole life, and nothing else. I wouldn’t say it’s a cult, but everyone just froths it SO much.

Like the junior kids playing footy are working so hard at trying to make it through. Also their parents who sacrifice so much. And the community members too! It means so much to them! When you’re put in that environment with all these people and it means SO much to them, it’s kind of assumed that you’re on that same level. You just question yourself a little bit… like ‘should I be doing this job? Is rugby league my whole life, like it is theirs?’.

But it’s fine, that pressure, it just comes with the territory. As they
say, a bad day in rugby league is a good day anywhere else.

Yeah wow… not only does sport represent the athletes and countless jobs around it, but the game has so much meaning to everyday people in terms of culture and identity and community.

You do think that a lot – ‘it’s just a game at the end of the day’.
But you can see why so many people just love it so much. Sport is,
for a lot of people, their release, it's an escape. It’s what they do
every weekend. You can't get that experience elsewhere.

Also, I’ve played footy all my life and just never knew the other side of it. Now I’m on the other side of the fence, I’m like ‘Wow! Fuck, I was such
a dickhead’.

As in, you didn’t realise all the behind the scenes logistics that go into it?

Yeah! You just don't realise the sacrifice all the volunteers in the NRL are making. They're giving up their free time. So because you are being paid, there is the expectation that you should be really good at it and really passionate about it. Melbourne Storm ‘til I die.

Are you keen to keep working with the NRL for the foreseeable future?

Yeah. I actually just went back to uni, though. I’m doing data analytics!

Amazing! What made you want to do that?

I studied statistics at uni and liked it, and it’s just one of those fields where they need workers. I’d signed up for the grad certificate which is only six months, but I can continue on to do the master’s which is two years all up. I'd love to apply it to sport.

But you know what, I've also just succumbed to the fact that
a job is a job. You should love your job for being a job.

At the end of the day, I’d just love to have my job and then go out and coach a junior club team outside of that.

Do you have a dream job? In the NRL or otherwise?

In the NRL I’d love to get in the business side. I’d love to be a logistics manager for a team, or a team coordinator. You wouldn’t have to deal with all the high pressure sideline coaching. You’re just on the outside like ‘Yeah mate, got your jersey! Yeah mate! Got your boots! Footy is life!’

What do you love most about your job now?

I fucking love gala days. I have so many fond memories. One of the most rewarding things about it is working with the kids – when you go back for
a couple of weeks and you can actually see that they are loving the game and learning the skills, just becoming better, that’s probably my favourite part. That's why you do it, to teach the next generation. But in saying that, there have been times where I've just been like ‘fuuuuuck thiiiiis’.

HAHA! You probably weren’t expecting to be teaching kids!

I did a business degree! I went in fucking blind. Shout out to the teachers, I don't know how they do it. Honestly, again, I think to myself, ‘Fuck I was such a little shit in school. Oh my god. I hate myself’.

Some days it’s hard when the last thing you wanna be doing is running around with 30 kids. Other days you’re like… this is the best thing ever. It’s so good.

If the kids are really annoying I play this game called gauntlet. They just have to run from one side of the field to the other without getting hit with the ball. Obviously, I'm the one launching the ball at them. It’s not really rugby league related, it's just a good stress release.

Cool, you’re just throwing a ball at the kids.

Ok you’re being naughty? Ok guys: ‘Get on the tryline! Get on the tryline! Gauntlet!’

It’s just a little bit of character building. If you can’t take a hit from a footballer, you have no business on the rugby league field. Nah, in all seriousness that’s the advantage, you rock up and hang out with these kids.  I’m just a big kid anyway. It all comes pretty naturally.

I bet they think you’re the coolest. You’re there like, ‘I'm a guy that loves footy. And I'm gonna teach you about footy’.

‘And you’re gonna love footy too’. Mission accomplished.

Watch Conan give full credit to the boys, stay up to date with NRL news, explore sport-related degrees or watch some classic footy from the “glory days”.

Interview & Edit Haylee Poppi & Grace MacKenzie