Dear Members,
Another Home & Away season draws to a close and it doesn’t seem that long ago we were at pre-season training, selecting teams and coaches and getting ready for the year ahead.
Congratulations to our Tackers teams and officials, I hope you all had a great amount of fun and met some new friends because that is what footy is all about at St Mary’s. If Tackers parents, especially those in their first year, have any feedback, positive or negative I would love to hear from you either by phone, email or at Tackers Presentation Friday night.
Congratulations also to our two under 10 teams who finished their season in style last weekend at the Lightning Premiership. Both teams made the Grand Final, a great achievement, but were unlucky on the day losing in tightly fought affairs. Well done to all the Under 10 players and officials, I hope you had a great year.
We are lucky enough to have 13 of our 19 competitive teams featuring in finals this weekend, a club record ! To those teams who missed out , commiserations, it is true that not everybody can play finals and I know you committed yourselves to the best of your ability and wore the teal, white & black with pride. All the best for next season we hope to see you back.
For those teams in finals, it is the time of the year I need to remind all players, parents and officials of the expectations of our club& the league regarding behaviour. At the pre-finals Presidents meeting of the league I was treated to speeches from four of the members of the YJFL Players Leadership Group. All four spoke passionately and honestly about what they liked and disliked about playing footy. They loved playing with their mates, meeting new friends, both at their club and from the opposition, developing their skills and winning games. They all hated being embarrassed by parents who are negative towards umpires & the opposition, coaches who put undue pressure on them to perform& those on the sidelines who are overly aggressive and abusive. They reminded us that on the field they can hear everything that comes from the sidelines and shared that negative comments can be hurtful and distressing. It was a timely reminder that this is a game played by the kids, for the kids and the very small minority of parents who want to make the day about themselves are not welcome.
Whilst league officials and neutral ground managers are on hand at all finals venues, the league made it clear that their job is not to act as police, instead it is up to the clubs and teams to police themselves. With that in mind, I encourage all members who do witness poor behaviour from parents or officials to call it out either by reporting it to your team manager or the ground manager.
This Sunday Night the club is open as normal from 5:30. I encourage everyone competing in finals to get back and celebrate their achievements, whether it has resulted in a win or a loss. .
Food: Free pizza for the kids from 6:30 as per normal strictly on a first come, first served basis. The kitchen will be closed for adult meals but you are welcome to bring or order your own.
Raffles: The Sunday night raffle has finished for the year, but Lucky Balls will continue over the finals series
Next Sunday night – same again !
From Around the Club:
Our Gala Ball was a huge success with well over 300 people attending, an amazing achievement for a club of just over 500 active members.. A huge, huge thankyou to Melinda Read& Laureen Mefflin and their crew of assistants for putting the night together. It was great to see all of Top Age Youth Girls and Colts on the dance floor enjoying the night and embracing the club spirit. It is also the night where we also award some of our most valued and long term volunteers with Life Membership of our great club, congratulations to Glenn& Debbie Costello and Mark & Jodee Stanley for your achievement, it is richly deserved. Personally, myself and my wife Sam were very surprised and incredibly proud to be awarded life membership and a big thankyou to the club for this honour.
The major raffle was drawn last Sunday night in front of a huge final round crowd. Congratulations to the winners – 1st Prize: Julie Mills, 2nd Prize: Lachlan Yeats, 3rd Prize: Gayna Page.
Presentation nights are quickly approaching and kick off this Friday with Tackers and the following Friday with Under 10’s. All presentation nights will commence at 6 PM sharp and food will be provided for the kids and the bar open after the formalities so that families can relax and reflect on their season. Dates are on the website, or for more information contact your team or age group manager.
Photo’s ordered at our photo day earlier in the year will be distributed at the presentation nights.
Our Senior Club hosts it’s final home & away game this Saturday in a must win clash to keep their hopes of playing finals football alive. The Seniors are providing a $20 Parma & Pot lunch 12 Noon upstairs at Whatmough Park – all Junior members are very welcome. In addition the Seniors have a limited number of Subway vouchers together with a free can of Soft Drink to give away to junior players who present at the canteen in club colours. If you are free on Saturday a day at the Seniors is a great family day out.
Jack Kreuzberger (Colts 1) & St Marys were awarded the local club of the week on Future Stars (Channel 9). Thanks heaps to Jack for nominating our club and we are the appreciative recipients of an Ice Bath to use for the 2017 season. It does raise the question , how many tackers can we fit in an ice bath !!
Jess Fitzgerald (15 Girls-2) was selected to represent the School Sports Victoria Football Team in the championsips recently held in Maroochydore. Congratulations Jess on your achievement.
Indiana Murphy (15 Girls-2) has been selected to represent the U15 State Volleyball team to play at the National Championships in Queensland in September. Congratulations on your achievement also, Indi.
Best of luck to all teams this weekend, may you try your best, play in the Burra spirit and walk off the ground, win or lose, with your heads held high, proud of your achievements,
Evan Butterworth
President
