2008 Presidents Report

The Club has experienced a steady year in terms of player numbers with 524 registered players plus approximately 20 unregistered 5 year olds. We had 375 players comprising 13 teams playing in the Perth Junior Council and 149 Auskick players. This number is slightly down on last year and may be as a result of the growth experienced by the Manning Rippers football club. There is evidence that the Manning Ripper’s are successfully recruiting Auskick players from the primary schools in the Manning area and this is expected to continue as their club strengthens .The 2009 Committee will need to decide how aggressively the SPJFC wants to defend this traditional recruitment area .  It should be noted that the Perth JCC is a strong supporter of the Manning Rippers and in fact has some reservations when it comes to the optimal size of Junior Football Clubs. The Perth JCC categorises South Perth and Thornlie as super clubs.

South Perth is still the largest and oldest Junior Football Club within the Perth District and we expect to be able to maintain the current levels of player participation for at least the next few years.

 The benefit to the Club with the increasing numbers, now drawing from all local primary schools,  with its emphasis on skill development and fun is obvious to all who have watched previous Auskickers progress through the age teams. This year we presented a record number of boys 15 with 100 game trophies and two players with 150 games. All of these recipients started their football in Auskick at South Perth.

There were many highlights during 2008 with some of the main ones being:

Ø       The Cub having teams in the finals of all age groups

Ø       The 13s Green and 14sGold teams winning the grand finals

Ø       The 17s team playing of in the grand final but going down by 1 point.

Ø       Launch of the club sporting bags

Ø       Awarding of Life member ship for service to the club to Stephen Smith.

Ø       Sprint coaching and Physical Presence coaching for all 13s to 17s teams 

The Club remains in a very strong financial position, with very comfortable reserves, thanks to the support shown by all members at the social events and in supporting the raffle organised by Simon Wardman. Sponsors again made an important contribution to the Club in 2008. Our major sponsor RWR realty continues to play a very important part in our plans for the future of the Club and we hope that this partnership can continue in the years ahead.

I would like to thank all members of the committee who have worked tirelessly throughout the year to maintain the success of the Club. They continually work to improve all facets of running the Club to ensure that the solid foundation laid by previous committees is built upon and that the future is well secured. 

Special mention is due to Noel Heather and Fran Smith who have continued their partnership in running the canteen despite the challenge of having to operate at two separate venues. I would like to recognise and thank all the coaches, assistant coaches and managers of all the teams and I would also like to pass on a special thanks to all of the parents who contribute each week in helping and supporting the teams.

The year has also seen some significant challenges caused by the unavailability of the main oval at Ernest Johnston. This required investment in additional equipment and negatively impacted on the social side of our weekend home games.

We have been fortunate to have past and present plays selected in almost all representative levels of football this year – Sharrod Wellingham made his AFL debut for Collingwood on ANZAC day, Aaron Zucconi was selected in the state WAFL squad, Bernard Sneeuwjagt and Tim Bruce made their League debut this year for Perth, we had three boys make the state under 18’s squad – Kane Goodwin, Michael Mather and Ben Power, two boys made the state 16’s squad – Kane Gatty and Casey York and to top it off both Kane Goodwin and Zac Zucconi have been invited to the state AFL draft camp.

The development of our players and their continuing career path has never been stronger and along with all those already mentioned we also had 10 players join the Perth Colts team this year further testimony of the work we are doing and a great credit to all our coaches.  

Looking forward to next season there is a very strong chance that we will have a separate 16s and 17s Competition next year .This should be made clear within a couple of months and effected players will be notified as soon as we  are .

Also with a bit of luck we will have online registrations next year which will significantly help the committee and in particular the registrars.

The end of this season will mark the end of an era for the SPJFC as it will be the last year of direct involvement for Paul Crock, Simon Wardman, Noel Heather, Steve and Fran Smith. Collectively this group of people have spent over 70 years in official or major support roles in our club and on behalf of all of  our players and parents over the ,last 10 years I thank them for this contribution to this football club.

Garry Itzstein

SPJFC President