At the Club's Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 18 October, Damon Lonnie, Club President, presented his overview of the year. Here is what he had to say.
Registrations
2017 was another outstanding year for our club with registrations similar to 2016 (516 in 2017 compared to 513 in 2016). Our Auskick numbers increased slightly with a small drop off in Open and Modified numbers. The Western Australian Football Commission is working hard to identify strategies to help clubs retain players as they enter Open Rules football and we continue to work with them on this challenge.
My thanks go to Registrar Lisa Henderson who has done another sterling job this year. The Committee is constantly looking for ways to grow our registrations and opened registrations for the 2017 season in late 2016, the earliest in recent times, to encourage early registrations. This strategy will be used again for the upcoming season with registrations open well before Christmas. We always acknowledge the importance of value for money and Jan Cater, our Merchandise Coordinator is already looking to next season’s give-aways.
Girls Footy at Carine
At last year’s AGM I advised attendees that our intention was to enter a girls’ team in the inaugural girls’ competition. I am delighted to say that we achieved this goal and my sincere thanks go to our committee members who worked hard to promote this message, to our coach Jeremy Jury (this year’s recipient of the Phil Cousins Award) and his wife (and committee member) Jen as well as the girls and their parents who got behind our club to make it happen. We are targeting three teams in 2018, so if you know any girls who are interested in playing (Year 3 and up) and most importantly, having fun, please contact the club via our new dedicated email address girls@carinefooty.com.au.
New clubrooms open
We were disappointed when we learned that the clubrooms would not be open until the end of our season however we are pleased with the result and look forward to conducting a number of off-season social events in the clubrooms in the lead up to next season.
A lot of work went on behind the scenes this year to ensure our club was well represented in discussions about the clubrooms and how they will operate. Funding was arranged to furnish the clubrooms at minimal cost to our club which was the best possible outcome. With representation on the Carine Hall Committee and the recently established Implementation Working Party we have ensured the best outcome for our club in clubrooms that will be managed in an economically sustainable way.
Financial result
The downturn in the economy did disrupt our sponsorship planning somewhat this season but my thanks go to Marius Crisan who did an outstanding job in securing longer term and new sponsors throughout the season. With stability in registrations our income was reasonable however lost income and additional expenditure due to the lack of clubrooms no doubt impacted on our bottom line. Our objective will be to return to break-even or surplus in 2017/18. Fortunately, our club has a healthy balance sheet thanks to many financially prudent committees of the past, so our club has a very bright future.
I would like to record my thanks to Treasurer Andrew Morrison for his hard work again this year.
Thank you to coaches, team managers and all volunteers
Our club is nothing without good people and at Carine we are blessed to have so many willing to help out. Finding coaches and team managers was not an overly difficult task this year and my sincere thanks go to the coaches of each year level for their efforts this season. We had very few issues this season when compared to other clubs and each week our teams were well presented and behaved. Sincere thanks also go to all parents who helped out each week whether it be goal umpiring, washing footy jumpers or bringing the ‘oranges and lollies’. Great people make a great club and on that front, we are very fortunate.
On-field success
Boys and girls playing sport and having fun are two of our major drivers however there is no denying that on-field success helps to breed a healthy club. We had four Open Rules teams participate in finals this year, Year 7, Year 8 Cats, Year 10 and our combined Year 12 team with Warwick Greenwood, the Demons. Whilst we have no premiership flags to hang this season we are very proud of the efforts of these teams during the final series and especially our Year 7s and 10s for making Grand Finals.
Our thanks also go to the Warwick Greenwood Junior Football Club for working closely with our club to ensure our Year 12 boys could play footy this season.
On the topic of cross club relations, I am pleased that the relationship with the Hammersley-Carine Amateur Football Club is growing in strength once again and I thank Club President John Keeley and Committee Member Brendon Jarvis with whom I have been working closely with about bringing back a clear path for our older boys wanting to play on beyond junior footy.
We had a number of players feature this season in the District Awards and I would like to recognise those players and congratulate the many Carine juniors selected in the various Subiaco District Development Squads. The success we are having in this area is testament to the quality of coaches we have in our club and the environment being created for improvement and enjoyment.
Our hardworking committee
I would like to recognise the committee and thank them for the way they have undertaken their roles this year. The level of enthusiasm and professionalism is very high amongst our committee and I am confident that moving forward we will have a very stable and productive committee. It is too difficult to acknowledge every committee person, but I did want to thank Vice President Alan Thomas for his support and guidance again this year. I believe we have worked very well as a team. I would also like to acknowledge Auskick Coordinator Belinda Greenhalgh who took on this role again this season for the love of the club. She also coordinated the Subiaco District Gala Day and did an amazing job. I also want to thank Ann Lord for the work she has done on our communication and social media platforms. We are the envy of the competition for the extent and professionalism of our communication.
It has been an honour being Club President in 2017 and I thank all those people who have supported not only myself but our entire club this year.
Damon Lonnie
PRESIDENT