It’s now been over a year since the longtime president of the Saint John Sea Dogs stepped out of the hockey arena and into the political arena.
Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long spoke candidly to CHSJ News in a year-end interview about the adjustment from sports marketing and entrepreneurship to politics. He says it was a huge jump for him, one that, in hindsight, was probably bigger than he expected and was ready for.
“You quickly learn in politics, that politics is certainly a big machine and a big wheel that turns,” Long told CHSJ News. “I wouldn’t say it was frustrating at first — not at all — but it was certainly a learning curve for me to realize that things just don’t happen quickly.”
Wayne Long was president of the Sea Dogs since 2005, and was instrumental in bringing a Q league franchise to Saint John. He received the Liberal nomination without any opposition in early October of 2014.
“You give 12 years of your life to the Saint John Sea Dogs — and what people don’t realize I was really beating the Major Junior Hockey drum three years before a team ever landed in Saint John — so really 15 years of my life were totally consumed with Major Junior Hockey and bringing a Major Junior franchise to the city.”
Long says you really need to have a strategy, a plan, work that plan and have priorities and then work day in, day out working towards those priorities. He told us what excites him, is that in this role, you really have the opportunity to make profound changes in your riding.
Trevor Georgie took over the role of president of the Saint John Sea after Long’s departure.