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Having grown up in Mount Druitt, some 45 minutes west of Sydney’s central business district, Shaun Mielekamp is not afraid to admit he “came from the tough side of the tracks”. Not that he is ashamed or regrets for one minute having spent much of his childhood in an area described as one of the poorest in Sydney and which was the subject of the highly controversial 2015 documentary, Struggle Street.
-ment and having learned from some of the best in the business. Mielekamp started with Footlocker “selling shoes in Mount Druitt” and working for them in administration in New Zealand before moving to the National Rugby League and working in various roles and in tandem with the likes of Shane Richardson at South Sydney, where he also got to deal with Russell Crowe, Phil Gould at Penrith and Lyall Gorman at the Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Central Coast Mariners chief executive says it was a good grounding for him as he worked his way through the ranks of his highly impressive commercial and sporting administration career. “For me (the early days) … that’s what makes it so important,” Mielekamp says. “Growing up, I had an affinity with sport. If not for sport I don’t know where I’d be.
“They really gave me the foundations to be a leader and understand the DNA of a football club and how important the community is,” he says. “I pinch myself every day regarding the journey I have had in my working and personal life to be so lucky to be where I am now.” Where Mielekamp, a Coastie through and through now, is at the Mariners is exactly where he wants to be. The job was Heaven sent.
“It helped me in a very tough environment growing up. Out of home at an early stage of my life, it was sport, whether playing or supporting and the club atmosphere that really got me through some pretty crazy times.”
“Yes, you could say that,” Mielekamp said. “I was really doing something very special at the Wanderers but, living on the Central Coast, I knew all my friends and mates were worried about the future of the Mariners.
Now in his 7th year & one of the longest surviving CEO’s in the Isuzu A-League, Mielekamp says he been “absolutely blessed” to have had the sort of grounding in administration and manage-
“So, when the opportunity came, how could you not want to do something for your community and give all the knowledge you've got to try and help the club?
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