2022 President’s Report
In 2022, we welcomed the return of the VAFA Competition after two years of disruption and uncertainty. As the restrictions lifted and fixtures were announced, we knew that the 2022 season would go ahead and once again the Men’s and Women’s teams could take the field with confidence.
2022 Football Season
One of the positives to come out of the lockdowns was the time and energy we had available to devote to recruiting new talent, men, and women, to play for Old Brighton. We were almost at full strength when the season commenced, and we quickly asserted ourselves as fierce competitors.
In Men’s A Grade, Old Brighton were on top of the ladder after five games and we were able to field five sides in the VAFA competition, more than ever before which showed the depth of talent in the Club. We experienced the usual mid-season slump when the international borders opened and suddenly, many key players went on overseas holidays. This, along with Covid outbreaks and injuries, hit our sides very hard and by late in the season were almost out of flag contention. Our Seniors were suddenly out of the Four and our finals appearance looked grim. Senior coach Greg Hutchinson never faulted. His steady hand guided the seniors into the A Grade Grand Final, an incredible effort from fifth on the ladder only a few weeks before. On the day of the Grand Final, which due to the flooding of the ground had to be relocated from Elsternwick Park to Trevor Barker Oval, we just didn’t have the height or the bulk of our seasoned competitors St Kevin’s and we lost by 22 points.
In the Women’s’ competition, Andrew Grant and Paul Hamilton coached the senior team to another final series honing the skills and imparting their knowledge to the growing number of women wanting to play for Old Brighton. Their enthusiasm for footy and love of the Club atmosphere is inspiring.
Overall, our achievements included finals appearances by:
Men under 19’s - after re-entering the Premier Division for only the second time in the Club’s history
Senior Women’s – Premier B preliminary Finalists
Men’s 4ths - played in the Grand Final
Men’s Reserves – missed out on the Finals by 2 points
Senior Coach Greg Hutchinson announced his retirement following the Grand Final. Greg’s legacy will endure for many years as his experience and pragmatism developed a strong football ethic of teamwork and commitment. On behalf of everyone at OBGFC we thank Greg, we are indebted to him for the years of his contribution to our success.
Our search for a new Men’s senior coach attracted a talented pool of seven candidates. Along with myself, the selection committee included Dale Tapping. David Patterson, Tom Clarke, and Peter Grant. The unanimous decision was to offer Daniel Donati the position due to his experience in playing A Grade, as a VAFA representative footballer and, importantly his background in winning Grand Finals. Coincidently, after Daniel’s first interview I found myself seated next to him on a flight to Sydney which allowed us to talk in depth about the Club culture and aims for the future. I was left with the impression that Daniel was the perfect choice to lead Old Brighton. His previous premiership success will build on the legacy left by Greg and his personal style is consistent with our club culture of winning.
Finally, congratulations to Harry Hill for being equal VAFA A Grade Best & Fairest along with OBGFC Senior Best and Fairest. Congratulations to Indi Tait for winning her fourth Club Senior Women’s best and fairest. In addition, congratulations to Cat O’Brien, Sienna Visentini, Indi Tait, and Annie Grant for making the 2022 Premier B Women’s team of the year. A fantastic effort.
2022 Club Initiatives
The OBGFC is now acknowledged as a respected A Grade Club with a voice at the table on football matters following the extraordinary AGM called mid-year in 2022. Our Club influenced the changes now adopted by VAFA to improve the Competition.
Our relationship with Brighton Grammar continues to be extremely strong ensuring a pipeline of talent well into the future. This has been enhanced further by the appointment of Simon McPhee as Brighton Grammar’s First 18 Coach, taking the team to the premiership in his first year.
Always on the lookout for talent and experience, I had approached Simon in February, before his appointment, with the view to him becoming our director of Football and Development Coach which he was keen to take on. As it is turned out, he is not available for the role now, but it has, and will continue to be, a win for our Club as he coaches our players of the future.
A significant achievement in 2022, is the development of a Club Branding manual, upgrading the Club website, and streamlining and consolidating all of the Club members and supporter base information which had been on the Committee agenda for several years. This considerable work was undertaken successfully by Paris Buckland and Jamie Freeman.
In 2023, a new mental health programme for all players and members will be ready for implementation and this facilitated by current player and former under 19’s Captain, Jack Davis.
Since July, we have worked closely with the playing group headed by Harry Osborne and Tom Larkworthy focussing on the re-introduction of the players roster to support activities such as the canteen, player meals, scoreboard, and game day set-up.
Finally, this year we successfully continued the new networking initiative “Tonners in Business” which is being ably led by Vice President, John Rawlinson. This unique platform is for interested people to share their business insights and many are using this network to foster their own business opportunities. With over 20 members, including several outside the immediate Brighton community, this initiative has allowed our club to broaden its influence and appeal to a wider business network.
Sponsorship
Both Sponsorship and Membership is critical for the successful running of the Club. Thank you to all our sponsors in 2022 and, in particular, a special thank you to our major sponsors Campbell Cooney of Hodges Real Estate and Lou Pascuzzi from TLC. Also, important to acknowledge, is Drewe Bellmaine’s generous contribution for the players function this year which raised over $17,000.
On a Personal Note,
Nine years ago, after being involved in the club for many years, I had the dual roles of director of football and chairman of selectors. At that time, the President Rob Jakobi was unwell, and he approached me about taking on his role as he wanted to step back from the position.
My initial response was to decline the offer because my first love was football, I was never interested in getting involved in politics which I naively thought the role was about. I had never even been on the committee, but no one else put up their hand to do the role.
Rob needed my support to step back, he couldn’t do that without passing on the baton. “We work so well together” he said, and in his opinion, he needed my help. While I became the new President Rob took on the treasurer role and over the next six months Rob coached me and helped me understand how to navigate the role as President.
When Rob passed away, we lost an incredible person that I have the utmost respect for. Our annual Golf Day is held in his memory.
With the help of everyone from the Old Brighton community who wanted to be involved, we developed a strategic plan that was inclusive, supportive, competitive, and nurturing. We encouraged honest and open communication, both on and off the field. It was focussed on the future and achieving success for the Club.
As we reach this point after nine years, everything has come full circle. The politics and factional dissent have unfortunately emerged again and this is not what I signed up for as President.
A bit of history, in 2014 when I became President, Old Brighton had finished ninth in A Grade, and we were about to be relegated to B Grade. We had 3 teams and a small, but dedicated committee, our senior coach had just resigned, and we lost over 14 senior players through retirement or the lure of payment from clubs in other associations.
Having been involved in successful football clubs during my playing career, I reflected on what had made certain clubs more successful than others. In my mind the feeling of connectedness, mateship, and strong values appeared to be the things common to achieving success. I noticed small things, like only a few stayed around after the game and bigger ones like the enormous amount of work that a small group of dedicated people were trying to accomplish.
The ‘What’ to be achieved was easy, an A grade premiership. The ‘how’ was an unknown path for me so I sought out people who I thought may have some of those answers. And they did. For those who came on the journey with me; John Rawlinson, Frank Cavallaro, Phil Anthony, Jan Davis, Louise Cannon, John McKell, David Patterson, Michael Wood, Roger Wilson, and Leanne Sergeant, I thank sincerely. Also coaches Greg Hutchinson and Ross Stewart.
This year we played off in the A Grade Grand Final for the second time in the Club’s history. Our revenue from memberships and initiatives is the highest ever and our playing sides have more than doubled to 7 teams including two women’s sides.
We acknowledged the contribution of women to the success of Old Brighton by nominating six for Life Membership during my tenure as President, there had been none prior to 2014.
We achieved 95% of the initiatives outlined in our 5-year strategic plan, the only reason the new clubrooms haven’t been finalised is because we refused to accept Bayside Council’s poor design and their demand for over $250K in contribution.
Our success has attracted talent who want to be members of Old Brighton, and who love to belong to this Club and to continue the culture we worked so hard so long ago to create.
On the journey I have met people who will be lifelong friends.
As the Club is on the cusp of an A grade premiership, which is likely in 2023, I have been told that it’s time ‘for a fresh start’.
To challenge this would be deeply dividing for the Club and not consistent with the values I hold. It’s been a life-changing experience to be the President of OBGFC and I am deeply honoured to be given the opportunity to be in the role.
My final legacy was identifying Tom Clarke as a future Club president in back 2017. Tom will take over as President in 2023.
Thank you to everyone who have supported me in my role as President, I wish the Club every success in the future.
Shane Young