Dear Members,
What a fantastic week to be a part of St Marys GJFC.
Last weekend saw all 5 of our girls teams run out on Whatmough Park back to back in our annual showcase of girls football. With the weather finally turning it on the girls came home with 4 wins out of 4 games – Go Girls. And yes, before you point out the maths don’t add up – two of 15’s girls teams played each other ! Following the games, the clubrooms were packed to the rafters as we celebrated girls round in style with two brilliant guest speakers and the fantastic news that our members raised over $6,700 for the McGrath Foundation. Congratulations to Bronte & Kerrie Van Eeken for all of your hard fundraising work.
This Sunday the celebrations continue with our annual Colts Heritage Round, where our 3 Colts teams are showcased back to back on Whatmough Park wearing a special designed jumper. The day also features a special Colts ladies afternoon tea where the club acknowledges the efforts of all of our fantastic mums for their many years of volunteer service.
I am also proud to announce that our Colts Round will be in support of The Pat Cronin Foundation. For those not aware , Pat Cronin was a local footballer who tragically passed away as a result of a coward punch earlier this year and a foundation has been started in his honour to educate young people. Our Colts boys will be asked to make a small voluntary donation for their jumpers, the mums will make a gold coin donation for their afternoon tea and the colts group will be holding a raffle on Sunday night with all proceeds going to the Pat Cronin foundation. Everyone can also get involved by purchasing a PC12 Wristband from the canteen during the day or from the bar on Sunday night. Check out https://www.patcroninfoundation.org.au/ for further ways to donate or purchase PC12 merchandise.
We are also honoured to have Matt Cronin, Pat’s father , as a special guest this Sunday night who will speak briefly about the foundations work.
This Sunday Night: Colts Heritage Night
Special Guest – Matt Cronin
Age Group: Colts boys though all welcome on this special night.
Food: Free pizza for the kids from 6:00 pm strictly on a first come, first served basis. Adult meals available as usual. Note the change of times – pizza at 6 PM and speeches at 6:30 for this week only.
Raffles: A suspension of the St Marys raffle as we support the Colts efforts in selling raffle tickets for the Pat Cronin Foundation. Don’t worry – lucky balls is back as per usual.
Next Sunday night – tba
GALA BALL, GALA BALL, GALA BALL
This Sunday night is the deadline for submitting tables and purchasing your tickets for the highlight of our social calendar, the annual Gala Ball on Friday August 5th. Once again being held at Emerald Receptions in Thomastown this promises to be great night of food, drinks & dancing.
This is also the night where we farewell in an official sense our Top Age Youth Girls & Colts with a special presentation and the awarding of the highest honours at our club, the Bernie Girolami& Gerry O’Hara medals. We have reformatted the night to allow for a more convenient start time of 7 PM and promise less talking & more dancing. Tickets are just $95 a head and include beer, wine & soft drinks, a 3 course meal and entertainment from “St Marys own” Track 7 featuring life members Sam & Danni Gioffre as well as a special DJ set.
RAFFLE TICKETS
Don’t forget to sell your raffle tickets , the major raffle is a major fundraiser for the club and proceeds go towards purchasing neceesaary game day & training equipment for our boys & girls. All tickets need to be returned next Sunday and it is an expectation that each family sells at least one book. If you require extra books please contact Lisa Commandeur on 0411 605 6850411 605 685.
From Around the Club:
Last week I forgot to acknowledge our Under 13 YJFL Representatives – congratulation to Connor Fyffe (Div1) and Jace Zahra and Zac Stowell (Div2) for their achievements. Great job boys.
Last week also saw a number of our U15 girls players help out at Watsonia North Auskick., thank heaps girls, I understand you represented St Marys with pride. Our club is hugely supportive of the Auskick centres in our area and if any one has contacts in this regard please let me know as we are always happy to help out wherever we can.
Enjoy your games this weekend and I hope to see you at the club for the Colts celebrations.
Go Burra,
Evan Butterworth
President
