Secretary’s Report 2016

Season 2016 has seen the St Mary’s Greensborough Junior Football Club celebrate another very successful chapter in its history. This year saw the club field 25 teams; 13 teams making the finals including 5 premierships. This club does not measure success by premierships rather by participation and we were able to support over 500 juniors play our great game each week enjoy the experience in developing their skills, self confidence and making new friends.

The success of Heritage, Indigenous and Women’s Round and winning the Banyule Council “Club of the Year” really make you feel proud to be associated with the St Marys GJFC brand. I was recently asked what makes St Marys GJFC so great? It is the people that make our club great. People like:

  • Bronte Van Eeken who is a champion Youth Girls Player and Assistant Coach of the Under 12 Girls team. Bronte raised $6,714 for the McGrath foundation which promotes Breast Cancer awareness and treatment. I am sure Bronte will one day be our first female President.
  • Lou and Robin who are the grandparents of 2015 league best and fairest Damian Lee Papadas. They have attended over 100 games of junior football, rain, hail and shine and continue to support all players in the team. Lou continues to volunteer for match day roles and they were rewarded with the team’s first premiership in U14 Brown this year. I am sure I saw a few tears in their eyes!
  • Aleks and Natasha Todorovic who made a significant donation to the club to contribute to the scoreboard simply by wanting to give to the club that has given so much to their family.
  • Jessica Abbott who at the age of 17 is Team Manager for U12 Brown team and advocate for junior football. Jessica is representative of our marvellous 25 Team Managers who ensure the efficient running of the club. Jessica is a credit to herself, her family and our community.
  • Peter Apollonio and Anthony Theunissen who has donated countless hours and resources to redevelop Greensborough Park.
  • Northern Region Coach of the Year nominees Ken Sparks and Steven Philip who are representative of our talented and committed coaches that pride themselves on participation, teamwork, making new friends and fostering a safe environment to play football. We are very fortunate to have coaches of such high character and football knowledge.
  • Melinda Read and Alicia Braid for organising such wonderful and memorable social events.
  • Not one player reported for the whole season!

It continues to be fun to work with so many dedicated people with the shared vision to simply provide an environment for our children to participate, have fun and flourish personally. I would like to congratulate those leaving the committee this year – Evan Butterworth, Glenn Costello, Anna Sturgess and Ray Johnson. Your efforts and achievements have ensured that the club has maintained its reputation of being one of the largest and most successful clubs in the country.

This club is very fortunate to have Evan Butterworth as President. Evan is the “People’s President”, an outstanding leader that coined the phrase of being a “point of difference” club. He has overseen the Greensborough Park redevelopment, further investment in our football program and Sport and Life Training (SALT), cultivated the development of girls football and championed an environment where all could flourish. It takes significant personal sacrifice to perform this role on a volunteer basis. I feel really proud to have worked with Evan over the past four years and value his wisdom, ethics and friendship.

The Football Department under the guidance of the Glenn “Football Whisperer” Costello, Mark Taranto and Brenton Kinnear continues to enhance its reputation as one of the best in the country. We don’t measure our success on premierships (a club record 5!) however with only one team finishing on the bottom and 13 teams making finals, it highlights how competitive we are across the board. This effort is reflected by the quality of our coaches and the football program to have 30 players invited to the YJFL Best and Fairest night.

It really speaks volume of the club culture when we attract people of the calibre of Kellie Burton, Anthony Theunissen and Lisa Commandeur to the committee. With Aleks Todorovich and Laureen Mefflin, I assure you we had a talented and committed committee. Thank you for your contributions this year.

I would also like to acknowledge the tireless contribution of the Butterworth, Costello and Stanley families. These families were well deserved inductees to the life membership family. These families have dedicated their time in helping your children develop not only as footballers and individuals but to build an environment where they can create lifetime memories and friends.

On a personal note, I will be stepping down as Secretary after four years. I would like to thank the St Marys GJFC family for their support and tireless contribution. I love youse all!

Michael Mefflin