Darebin Women’s Sports Club Incorporated

Annual Report 2016

ABN: 28780574660

Sports Fields Mailing Address Web AH Capp Reserve & PO Box 6038 www.falcons.org.au WH Robinson Reserve Preston West 3072 Halwyn Crescent West Preston Vic 3072 Melways Ref 30 B2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DAREBIN WOMEN’S SPORTS CLUB 2016 COMMITTEE 3

PRESIDENT'S REPORT 4

TREASURER’S REPORT 10

AFL – SENIOR 13

AFL - YOUTH GIRLS 15

SENIOR SOCCER 16

JUNIOR SOCCER 18

CRICKET 23

EIGHT-BALL 24

GRANTS AND SPONSORSHIP 25

MEDIA REPORT 26

SOCIAL REPORT 27

2016 AWARD WINNERS 28

2016 SPONSORS AND PARTNERS 31

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Darebin Women’s Sports Club 2016 Committee

President Aleisha Leonard

Vice President Jasmine Hirst

Secretary Kelly Farrell

Treasurer Aasta O’Connor

Social Coordinator Shevaun Hogan

Media & Communications Kathleen Roe

Sponsorship & Grants Harriet Radermacher

Cricket Administrator Carrie Brown

Senior AFL Administrator Alex Reynolds

Youth AFL Administrator Aleisha Leonard

Eight-ball Administrator Sally Rees

Junior Soccer Administrator Jasmine Hirst

Senior Soccer Administrator Kate Palmer

General Member (V) Julia Chiera

General Member (V) Niki Duckstein

General Member (V) Alison Smirnoff

General Member (V) Faele O’Connor

General Member

General Member Missy Henderson

*V denotes voting member

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President’s Report

#Falcsfly2016. The year that was!

What a great year we had at AH Capp and Robinson Reserves! As women’s sport continues to grow in popularity, and professional careers in female sport become a reality so, too, we see an increase in participation numbers.

This year we move closer to the kick off of the inaugural women’s AFL national league in early 2017, with many Falcons playing at this level. It’s important for girls to have positive role models in the sport that they love. As women’s sports such as AFL, Soccer and Cricket become more competitive and provide professional career opportunities for females, girls are exposed to wonderful role models they can look up to and be inspired by to continue pursuing their own sporting dreams. Whether it is to play with their friends each week, or strive to play at an elite level, our goal as a club is to continue to provide opportunities for girls to play sport at all levels.

Here’s a few numbers from 2016 We currently have: • 2 senior soccer teams – this year with several appearances in the league top 10 for MVP & highest goal scorer! • 2 senior AFL teams – 2 appearances; 1 VFL premiership and a 4-peat! • 1 youth girls AFL team – premiership winners for 2016 in their 7th straight grand final • 1 Auskick AFL squad • An 8-ball team - currently top of the table for Singles, and just pipped at the post in the semi- final for Doubles • 1 retiring cricket team - sadly despite being competitive, several players have moved on or retired. Over summer 2016/2017 we are taking a break from entering a team in the one day shield with plans to return next year with a more social / community level team. Let Jasmine or myself know if you’re interested in being involved! • AND 16 JUNIOR SOCCER TEAMS! - That’s 294 junior soccer players and a junior soccer clinic of 77 girls • All up, over 400 active playing members and more than 100 actively involved coaches, team managers, and volunteers who assist in getting our teams out there each week!

Just a couple more great stats: we are home to the 2nd largest junior soccer program in , AND we have the most successful AFL team of all time.

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Australia Day recognition Jasmine, Harriet and I attended the City of Darebin Australia day awards in January. The club was awarded a special commendation award recognising our service to the community.

Finally lit up Early in the year we unveiled the new lights at AH Capp and Robinson Reserves. All the time spent campaigning, getting signatures and attending council meetings finally paid off. Thanks to everyone involved, especially to Julia Chiera and Jasmine Hirst who were absolutely instrumental in working behind the scenes to make this happen. Also a big thanks to Sandra Dal Pos for raising money through her club raffle over the past 2 years to pay for our contribution to the lights.

For AFL and Senior soccer the new lights meant better visibility on dark cold winter trainings, reducing injuries. For Junior soccer, the new lights meant we could utilise the entire ground of Robinson Reserve and the ability to add 5 more teams in 2016 to the junior soccer program!

This year the honourable Fiona Richardson our local Labor MP announced funding allocated for the overdue upgrade of Robinson Reserve Pavillion. Planning is in the process for a new much improved Pavillion to house the 300+ strong junior & senior soccer programs.

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Sponsor recognition Our major AFL sponsorship with Meridian Communications continues through 2017, and in addition we signed on several new sponsors in 2016. Kerdo Legal (Auskick) enabled us to pay for coaching fees and purchase new equipment for our inaugural girls Auskick program. Four additional sponsors allowed us to provide senior players across Soccer and AFL with a warm up top: Welcome to Thornbury, Nelson Alexander, The Prep game and Thornbury Horticulture & Design.

Also a record number of senior and youth AFL players had individual sponsorship deals, which covered the cost of their playing fees. Many thanks to Louise at Pallino Bar who encouraged several local businesses to support us!

Inaugural AFL AUSKICK for girls For 2016 the committee were determined to start an Auskick program, and that is just what we did. The talented stepped into the honorary role of Auskick Coordinator, leading a team of senior players to help coach. Sponsorship covered the cost of coaching courses, new equipment and t-shirts for all the girls and their coaches and off we went! Starting with a group of 9 girls we ran a 3 month program on a Friday afternoon and finished up with 23 girls learning how to 'kick like a girl'. I'm confident next year we will continue growing and be able to establish some junior AFL sides.

Watch this space, we are determined to grow the program to the size of the Junior soccer empire!!! Thanks so much to Lauren Arnell for coordinating the program, and to the wonderful coaches for being involved this year: Cherelle Byrne, , , Norieul Kinross, Caz Edebohls, Melissa Bibby, Meghan McDonald, Karen Paxman, Gena Taven-Lawson, Georgia Holden, Brooke Howells, Sarah Hammond, Linette Laverdure, Stephanie Simpson, Emma Browne, Alex Reynolds, Nic Callinan, and .

Social events – including the 10 & 20 year flags This year saw us hold several social events. Earlier in the year we held our $1000 draw which was a lot of fun! We had the Presidents lunch which was a great way to spend time with our valued sponsors, social and life members of the club. We also celebrated the anniversary of our first ever flag as Fairfield Falcons 20 years ago, and also as 10 years ago. We had a little shindig at the Stolberg and some of our original Falcons attended and spoke about what it was like for them 20 years ago as Falcons.

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Famous footballing Falcons The draft was held for the inaugural women's AFL league in October, and we have a whopping 15 AFL Falcons drafted across the Demons, , Carlton Blues and Greater Western Sydney. Congratulations to these girls on being drafted: Aasta O’Connor, Elise O’Dea, , , , Lauren Pearce, and Meghan McDonald.

They join Daisy Pearce, Melissa Hickey and Karen Paxman at the Demons, and at the Bulldogs, Lauren Arnell, Nat Exon and Darcy Vescio at Carlton, and Jess Dal Pos is off on an adventure to Greater western Sydney!

Also worth mentioning is James McConnell our S&C coach who has taken on the head strength & conditioning role at the Bulldogs, and Jane Lange VFL coach appointed as assistant coach at Carlton!

Senior soccer success This year we had two fantastic senior soccer teams in Div 3 and Div 4 and brought on a third coach to ensure both teams were looked after on game day. It was a very competitive season, and there were 4 Falcons in the top 12 in the league, with 3 in the top 5 highest scoring in the league.

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Youth girls dominate Elise took her squad of youth girls to their 7th straight grand final, won the premiership flag, AND won Northern female Coach of the year! Elise was invited to attend the AFL gala community awards where she was one of four finalists nominated for the prestigious Female State coach of the year!

Junior soccer stars This huge program went from strength to strength, growing with 5 new teams in 2016. The girls also experienced some fame, they played at half time during the Matildas game at Etihad stadium, AND some early birds were featured on the morning weather report on channel 7!

All in all, Falcs really did in fly 2016!

Sponsors Thank-you to all our wonderful sponsors, particularly Meridian Communications our major AFL sponsor 2014-2017. Without our sponsors’ support we would have to run a lot of barbeques! The funding we receive from our sponsors enable us to subsidise fees, provide players with a jumper and seniors also with a warm up top at no cost, buy new equipment, put coaches through courses, and help cover club running costs such as our rates.

Please check out all our sponsors at the back of this report.

Committee 2016! Thanks to our outgoing committee for all your work this year. Without the ongoing work of our committee behind the scenes we just wouldn’t be able to get the players onto the field.

Thanks to outgoing President Julia for all your advice and support as I transitioned into the president role and you negotiated the important role of new parent! I really appreciate all your time and constant guidance.

And to our fantastic Vice President Jasmine Hirst. I’m inspired by your tireless enthusiasm, patience and vision! The club would simply not be the same without you.

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Volunteers!! Thanks to all the volunteers this year – we wouldn’t have teams on the ground without you there every week! - Coaches, assistants and strength & conditioning coaches - Team managers - Time keepers & scoreboard changers - Goal and boundary umpires - Canteen & BBQ helpers - Water runners - Dinner cookers - Parents & friends & everyone else!

Volunteer of the month The committee introduced a new volunteer of the month acknowledgement! We had some fabulous club people acknowledged each month for their ongoing work: Lauren Arnell, Maisie Vachuska, Marcello Manteit, Sandra Dal Pos, Cherelle Byrne, Tim Pyers, Paula Allen, ALL Junior Soccer coaches, and Davide Codini.

Thanks to everyone who play or are involved in our club in another way. It’s our fantastic community that make this club such a great place to be.

Looking forward to the Falcons flying even higher (if that’s possible!) in 2017.

Aleisha Leonard President Darebin Women’s Sports Club

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Treasurer’s report

In 2016 we have witnessed a changing landscape in women’s sport, and proudly as a club, the Darebin Falcons have been at the forefront. In the media, on field and within our communities women’s sport is more accessible than ever before.

As we grow and diversify within our club, our financial sustainability becomes crucial. Every financial decision made by the committee has to be well thought and with an eye to the future. We must ensure we ride the wave of success, plan for the future and capitalise on the positivity surrounding women’s sport.

Club president Leash Leonard, Vice President Jas Hirst and Sponsorship Coordinator Harriet Rad have been overwhelmed with the support from businesses wanting to align their brand with our great club. We had more players than ever before receive personal sponsorships, senior soccer and football teams provided with warm up tops along with our significant financial contribution to ensure the upgrade of Robinson Reserve.

As treasurer I would like to thank everyone who helped out during the year. Big thanks go to the following people, who made my job a lot easier. Soccer- Jas Hirst, Kate Palmer, Maria Caruso Football- Alex Reynolds Sponsorship Fundraising –Sandra Dal Pos Youth Girls – Leash Leonard and Elise Casamento

At the end of the 2015 financial year the club found itself in a strong position and with sound leadership and continual hard work, we have successfully sustained this as we come to a close in 2016.

Thanks to all, GO FALCONS!!

Aasta O’Connor

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2016 FINANCIAL REPORTING

Darebin Falcons bank reconciliation as at 31/10/16

Balance in bank account as at 31.10.16 $47,065.05 Cash on hand $3,921.40 ACTUAL BALANCE as at 31.10.16 $50,986.45

01.11.15 – 31.10.16 Summary

DWSC opening position @ 01.11.15 $36,047.67 Income 01.11.15 - 31.10.16 $156,381.10 Expenditure 01.11.15 - 31.10.16 $141,942.32 DWSC closing position @ 31.10.16 $50,986.45

Income

Bar & Canteen $19,077.35 Football fees $24,885.00 Soccer fees (incl junior) $66,150.00 Youth Girls fees $3,075.00 Sponsorship/Grants $18,550.00 Functions $8,295.00 Merchandise $7,468.90 Club Fundraising $8,879.85

Total $156,381.10

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Expenditure

Club Stock (bar and canteen) $16,960.63 Coaching and Trainer Courses $1,535.00 Donations $500.00 Electricity & Gas (Incl Robinson Reserve) $4,736.69 Coaching Fees $8,000.00 Football Trainer Fees $1,800.00 Facility Upgrade (Robinson Reserve) $5,000.00 Insurance $545.28 License Agreement $204.93 Merchandise and Uniforms $13,941.64 General Club Equipment/Maintenance $10,152.40 Post Box Fee $145.00 Club Events $8,755.00 Rent $9,639.20 Sport Equipment $6,665.50 Soccer Registration (incl junior) $25,000.00 Tape/Ice/Medical Equipment $5,342.85 VFL registration $16,820.75 Website Registration and Maintenance $179.70 Youth Girls Costs $3,785.75 Fee Refunds $2,232.00 Total $141,942.32

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AFL – Senior

There were some big changes for the senior side in 2016, with Jane Lange replacing Richard Dal Pos as the head coach, as well as playing in the inaugural VFL side. She had a great team around her, with Emma Kerry taking on the assistant role and Grant Hammond entered his second season as the reserves coach. The club also welcomed James McConnell as the new strength and conditioning coach, replacing the outgoing Tenille Hay.

The 2016 season saw some changes in the structure of the league. The VWFL was separated in to two leagues, which meant the introduction of the first VFL Women’s season. Our senior side took these changes in their stride and were able to finish the season undefeated and on top of the ladder. The first final resulted in a 106-point win over St Kilda Sharks. The VFL Grand Final saw the team secure the 4th flag in a row and 11th in 9 years, with a 12 point win over Melbourne University Mugars.

The reserves worked hard in the pre-season and it paid off in Division 1 competition. The team finished 3rd on the ladder, despite a number of new players and having a number of players across the season being unavailable due to senior selection. The first final was won in a thriller against Whitehorse by 4 points. This win saw them continue to the preliminary final and the success continued with a 9 point win against Pascoe Vale. The team fell one game short as they went down to Kew by 18 points in the Grand Final, however the team took many positives out of the season and will no doubt challenge for the flag again in 2017.

VFL Grand Final: Sunday 18th September, 2:30pm

Darebin Falcons: 9.9 (63) Melbourne University Mugars: 8.3 (51)

Goal Kickers: D.Vescio 2, N.Callinan 2, K. Brennan 2, J. Dal Pos, J. Lange, M. Hickey. Best Players: D. Vescio, K. Paxman, D. Pearce, J. Dal Pos, E. O’Dea, M. Hickey.

VWFL Div 1 Grand Final: Sunday 18th September, 10am Coburg City Oval

Darebin Falcons: 2.2 (14) Kew: 5.3 (33)

Goal Kickers: J. Chiera, S. Boyden. Best Players: T. Olcorn, J. Chiera, V. Smiljanic, S. Egan, C. Byrne, S. Siam.

AFLW National Competition

This year, the end of the season did not mean the end of celebration and successes. The first National Women’s Competition will start in February 2017 and throughout the 2016 season there were a number of Falcon’s announced as marquee or priority players. We also had many players picked up in the first AFLW Draft which occurred on Wednesday, 12th October 2016. At this stage there will be 15 Falcon players on AFL lists, across four clubs, along with our senior coach Jane Lange who has been named as an assistant coach at Carlton FC. They are as follows:

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Melbourne Demons: Marquee – Daisy Pearce, Melissa Hickey Priority Pick – Karen Paxman Draftees- Elise O’Dea, Lauren Pearce, Brooke Howells

Western Bulldogs: Marquee – Katie Brennan Rookie – Libby Birch Draftees – Aasta O’Connor, Nicole Callinan, Kate Tyndall Free Agent - Meghan McDonald

Carlton Blues: Assistant Coach: Jane Lange Marquee – Darcy Vescio Priority Pick – Lauren Arnell Rookie – Nat Exon

GWS Giants: Priority Pick –

Collingwood Magpies – nil Adelaide Crows – nil Fremantle Dockers – nil - nil

Alex Reynolds Senior AFL Administrator

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AFL - Youth Girls

In 2016 the first youth girls training kicked off with a record attendance of 23, more than a full squad of players! Elise and her squad of Youthies found themselves in a different position to 2015 where they were struggling to fill a full side in the Grand Final. The girls played a competitive season in the Northern Football League (NFL) U18’s competition, staying in the 1st or 2nd spot on the ladder all season, and they found themselves in their 7th straight grand final, winning the premiership flag! Congratulations to the girls, their families, game day helpers and especially to their coach Elise.

A big thankyou to the tireless efforts of the parents, especially Team Manager Geraldine Wood and also Christine McNiece who after being involved with Youth Girls for many years, in 2017 their daughters will move up to Senior AFL.

The Youth girls assisted through the year with our Auskick clinics on a Friday afternoon, showing some of the younger Auskick girls how they warm up and playing some fun training drills and ball skills, which was a blast!

Youth girls skipper Karly McNiece was picked to represent the VIC metro state team in 2016. The VIC metro team had a convincing win against WA at the MCG! Congratulations Karly and the VIC metro girls. In addition, Tia Patterson represented the Northern Territory in the State league. Congratulations Tia!

Aleisha Leonard AFL Youth Girls Administrator

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Senior Soccer

In 2016 senior soccer once again entered two teams into the State League North competition, one in division 3 and one in division 4. Due to work and family commitments, 2016 only saw 17 players return from the 2015 season. The season started with a large influx of new players, with 16 out of 33 players new to the club, 9 of these players completely new to the game of soccer.

Andrea DePetro returned for another season as Head Coach and led a challenging pre-season program. We welcomed two new coaches to join Andrea. Katerina Georgitsaros as the assistant coach of division 3, and Dave Jackson-Haub as the coach of division 4.

Division 3

Division 3 had a fantastic start the season, remaining top of the ladder and top of the goal scoring tally for the first 4 rounds. Mid way through the season saw quite a few injuries and players on holidays which disrupted the momentum and determination we had started the season with. Overall, it was a successful 2016 season and we finished 4th on the ladder.

After the season had ended the FFV released their League Best and Fairest and Golden Boot Awards. Rachel Hibbert taking 6th, Angela Mackie and Roz Ward equal 7th, Kate Palmer equal 8th and Sheila Carter equal 10th for Best and Fairest. Kate Palmer finished 2nd in the Golden Boot Awards with 16 goals, followed by Roz ward 3rd, and Sheila Carter 5th.

Awards given this year saw Ange Mackie come away with the Best and Fairest title, with Roz Ward taking home Runners Up Best and Fairest. Rachel Hibbert was a well-deserved Players Player for the 2016 season. Claudia Cassar received Best First Year Player and Ella Smith was well deserved with her award for Most Improved Player. We also had Brenda Lang being presented with her 15 Year player award and Sara Wetherill being presented with her 5 Year player award.

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Division 4

With only 5 women returning from last year’s team it was going to be another year of re-building. The team entered the competition with 15 players, 8 of these players had never stepped foot on a soccer field before. Dave did a fantastic job of mentoring and guiding the team throughout the season. Unlike Andrea, Dave still managed to finish the season with a full head of hair. There were a few draws, a win and quite a few unlucky losses. The girls finished the year second last on the ladder but were extremely proud of how their season went.

Awards for the year saw Cass Heal take out the prestigious awards of Best and Fairest and Players Player after an incredible season in goals. Libby Strong took home Runner Up Best and Fairest, Molly Boswell was Best First Year Player and Alex Matthews-Peat awarded as Most Improved Player.

A huge thank you to friends, family and partners who helped throughout the season, without you all game day would have been much harder. As the year draws to an end we have just started our next instalment of Summer 7’s, this year we have two teams with quite a few new faces once again.

Onwards and Upwards for the Soccer Falcs. Bring on the 2017 season. #Falcsfly2017

Kate Palmer Senior Soccer Administrator

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Junior Soccer

2016 was another highly successful year for the junior soccer program. We finished the season with 294 registered players, up from 224 in 2014. There were 77 participants in the Miniroos Sunday clinic and then 217 players spread across sixteen competitive teams (up from 11 last year): four Under 9s, four Under 10s, three Under 11s, two Under 12s, two Under 14s and one Under 16.

We conducted 2 Girls Come and Try Days prior to the season on 22 November 2015 and 14 February 2016 (in conjunction with AFL Auskick). There were around 80 participants both current and new players at each of these events.

Pre-season Tournament – Girls FC

We entered 6 teams in the FFV ‘Girls FC’ tournament which was held at Darebin International Sports Centre on April 2-3 - two Under 10s, one Under 11, one Under 12, one Under 14 and one Under 16. All teams had a great weekend and the Under 16s won their age group.

FFV 2017 Season

Training began for the Under 16s in late January and for the 9s, 10s, 11s, 12s and 14s in late February. Competition started mid April and finished at the end of August. There were 217 players spread across sixteen competitive teams (up from 11 last year): three Under 9s Joeys, one Under 9s Kangaroos, four Under 10s Joeys, three Under 11s Joeys, one Under 12s Joeys, one Under 12 Kangaroos, one Under 14C, one Under 14B and one Under 16B.

There were a variety of results across the leagues but in general all teams were competitive in their various leagues. The U9 Purple team began in the Joeys league and moved to the Kangaroos league in the first re-grading period after some significant wins in the first 3 rounds. The new league was a much better fit for this team.

The season began with two Under 11 teams but with 16 players in each team, after consultation with parents and coaches, it was decided that the existing teams would split into 3 teams and some more players would be recruited. The move was not without some disruption however on the whole the result was that players received a lot more game time and training sessions were more focussed.

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2016 Coaches and Team Managers

Under 9 Red Under 11 Red Coach – Bence Paul Coaches - Kevin O'Callaghan, Brendan O’Reilly Team Manager – John Vaina Team Manager – Sue Thornton

Under 9 Blue Under 11 Blue Coach – Nik Filips Coaches - David Park, Martin Pradel Team Manager – Sylwia Przybyla Team Manager – Sven Denton

Under 9 White Under 11 Purple Coach – Mereki Nieman Coach and Team Manager – Sam Ferraro Team Manager – Vanessa Carty Under 12 Joeys Under 9 Purple (Kangaroos) Coach – Mark Scillio Coach – Davide Codini Team Managers – Ali McDonald, Natalie Team Manager – Anthony Sibillin Jamison

Under 10 Blue Under 12 Kangaroos Coach – Brendon Moss Coaches - Michael Vampatella Team Manager – Meredith Bowland Team Manager – Sue Curwood

Under 10 Red Under 14C Coaches – Dan Barron, Libby Chow, Troy Coaches - Emmanuel Natalizio Thompson Team Manager – Georgina Natalizio Team Manager – Eamon Gallagher Under 14B Under 10 White Coaches - Dave Nolan, Conor Flanagan Coaches - John Ormandy, David Curwood Team Manager – Jayne Crowley Team Manager - Clare Reddrop Under 16B Under 10 Purple Coach - Anthony Noal Coaches – Becky Woodyatt Team Manager – Terry Robeson Team Manager – Emma Salzano

Individual Award Winners Individual awards are made to players in teams Under 12 and above. The awards for the 2017 season are listed at the end of this report.

Sunday Clinic Coaches Dan Miles Brendan O’Donoghue Simon Allen Jason King Kelly Farrell Matt Courtney Trent McCarthy Camilla McTier Sally Wallis Hannah Phillips

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Referees The Small Sided Football Games require the home club to supply a referee and throughout the season there were a number of volunteers for each team. We thank them all for their assistance.

Post Season Heritage Youth Cup Three teams (Under 11, Under 14 and Under 16) competed in the month-long, post-season Heritage Youth Cup, hosted by Moreland Zebras.

Canteen and Fundraising Again it was a huge year for fundraising at junior soccer with over $12,000 raised directly though the canteen and other specific fundraising activities.

The success is all down to our fundraising coordinator Maria Caruso who so ably marshalled all our volunteer parents to run a BBQ every week and a canteen.

Sunday Clinics The Clinics for U5’s, U7’s and U9’s began on April 10th on the first weekend of school term 2. The clinics consist of a one hour session each Sunday during school terms.

On May 1st we held a Gala Day where we invited clubs from the surrounding areas to come along for some games. We had attendees from Boroondara Eagles and Collingwood City.

Additional activities that junior soccer players had the opportunity to take part in included:

• Two goalkeeper Clinics for all age groups on 9th and 30th April. • Mother’s Day included mothers, grandmothers, aunties and carers in the activities of the junior soccer clinic. • 30 players at half time at the Matildas vs New Zealand match at Etihad Stadium on June 7th.

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• On August 14th 3 teams (Under 8, Under 9 and Under 11) took part in the largest Miniroos Girls Tournament in Australia in Brighton. The Under 9s team finished runners up in their age group.

• Junior Soccer Falcons appeared on Channel 9’s Today Show on September 22nd to help promote the upcoming Socceroos vs Japan Game.

• Presentation Day on September 5th where all the juniors were presented with a medal and certificate or a team photo poster. The photos were taken by Eamon Gallagher and posters designed and printed free of charge to the club by Sense Advertising & Impact Printing and we thank them both very much for their donations. • 25 Coaches and Team Managers took part in defibrilator training with St Johns Ambulance after we received a grant for a new defibrilator for the soccer clubrooms.

Fit Football

Over the first 8 weeks of the season we ran a Fit Football program for parents of soccer players on Tuesday nights alongside juniortraining. Over the 8 weeks of the program there were over 15 parents that took part. Scott Aitkinson from the FFV facilitated Fit Football and provided many fun and engaging football activities for the group.

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Junior Sub Committee

The Junior sub-committee worked hard all year to make sure that all the events and the program ran so successfully. A big thank you goes to all the following people for their hard work and help throughout the year:

Fundraising – Maria Caruso Media and Promotion – Rebecca Interdonato Secretary – Marina Colbasso Policy and Risk Management – Mathew Hercus General Rep – Tim Pyers General Rep – Kirsty Althorp General Rep – Ang Hoban General Rep – Rosanne Luna Junior Soccer Administrator- Jasmine Hirst.

The Coaching Committee was in place for its first full year and coordinated coaching appointments, team allocations and dealt with many other coaching related issues.

Coaching Committee Members include: David Codini (Club Coaching Coordinator) David Nolan Michael Vampatella Jasmine Hirst

Robinsons Reserve Pavillion Redevelopment & Sports Ground Lighting In 2016 the Darebin Council, State Government and Darebin Falcons funded the installation of sports ground lighting at Robinsons and Capp Reserves. This lighting made an enormous difference to the training space we were able to utilise for soccer and was one of the reasons were were able to include an additional 5 teams from the previous year.

The Darebin Council and State Government, with a financial contribution from the Darebin Falcons and the Preston Druids, have approved initial funds for the upgrade of the Robinsons Reserve pavillion. Works are expected to begin in May 2017 and will be completed by May 2018. We have been working with the Council on the initial design phase and will continue to do so over the coming months.

2016 has been another great year and none of this would be possible without the support of all the volunteers. I would like to thanks the Club Committee and in particular, our enthusiastic President, Aleisha Leonard, for all her fantastic support of Junior Soccer. It’s wonderful that we have so many amazing junior sub-committee members, coaches, team managers, referees, lines people and many others willing to volunteer for the many jobs that are required to run a junior soccer program of this size. A huge thank you to all the parents and of course all our fabulous junior soccer Falcons who play and train each week with such enthusiasm.

Jasmine Hirst Junior Soccer Administrator 22

CRICKET

After winning the North West competition in 2014/2015, the 2015/2016 season saw Darebin promoted to the newly re-instated One Day Shield competition. Unfortunately the previous season had also seen the retirement of a number of key players. This left the team with a weakened bowling attack and a constant struggle to find enough players to field a team each week. As has often been the case we were able to secure some extra players throughout the course of the season, and were starting to win consistently as the season drew to a close. Unfortunately, in the end we finished fifth and missed out on making the finals by one game.

This year we are taking a break from the one day shield cricket competition and plan to come back in 2017/18 season with vengeance. At this stage we are looking at opportunities which might involve a social competition. If you're interested in being involved by playing, coaching or helping our please get in touch on [email protected]

Faele O’Connor

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Eight-Ball

Congratulations to the Club on an outstanding year once again.

The Eight Ball team have had a great year. In June, we played off in the final of the WEBA inaugural Pink Cup - knock out competition and raising money for women’s cancer. Falcons made the final and defeated the Lobsters convincingly.

We made the semi-finals of the doubles season, but were unfortunately defeated.

At the moment, we have 2 more weeks of the singles season and we are sitting on top of the ladder, so a finals birth definitely in store for us in the upcoming weeks.

Karen “Guv” Winter has just returned from Tasmania where the Eight Ball National Championships were held. Guv did extremely well and the Victorian team won the nationals.

2016: Singles team aggregate: Karen Winter 2016: Doubles team aggregate: H and Sal

Sal Rees Eight-Ball Administrator

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Grants and Sponsorship

Sponsorship

What a year for sponsorship – and the first year the club has been approached with offers (no begging included). Hopefully this is the sign of more to come.

Check out the bulging list (included in this report) of all our sponsors, partners and supporters who have assisted us so generously in 2016 – and please support them in return.

I’d specifically like to mention David, from Thornbury Horticulture and Design, who not only made a financial contribution, but physically donated his lungs at almost every game to ensure the girls felt fully loved and supported.

Also I’d also like to acknowledge Louise at Pallino Bar who, by recruiting an army of local businesses, was to blame for our record breaking number of player sponsorships this year.

In honour of our sponsors and loyal supporters, we hosted a luncheon – the first of its kind, and certainly not the last.

Finding a major sponsor for the junior girls’ soccer program remains elusive, despite a huge potential audience – this is top priority moving forward in 2017.

Grants

A big thanks to the State Department of Health and Human Services who awarded us funding and equipment via three different programs this year:

• Sporting Clubs Grants Program - $1000 for junior soccer uniforms and $4400 towards our upcoming club strategic planning activities • Defibrillators for Sporting Clubs and Facilities Program - a fast-tracked and much needed defibrillator (and training session) for Robinson’s Reserve • Community Shade Grant Program - $2180 for two portable shades for Senior Soccer. Finally, thanks to everyone who assisted this year, finding sponsors and supporters and making sure they know they are appreciated – in particular Aleisha, Alison, Sandra, Aasta, Grant, Jasmine, Darcy, and Roey.

History tells us that 2017 will be bigger and better.

Go Falcons!

Harriet Radermacher Grants and Sponsorship Coordinator

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Media Report

Media has been huge this year significantly due to the newly developed AFLW league of which Falcons have been heavily involved in. Channel 7, Marngrook, Swisse VFL campaign, and an abundance of radio and print media throughout the year are only some of the places Falcon’s have been featured. It was also great to see our junior soccer kids getting involved on The Today Show. Exposure like this has seen our social media organic growth jump to around 1000 followers across all platforms. This is a focus area going forward in terms of increasing our following, promoting our great club and what it has to offer across the board.

It is pleasing to see that the club had an incident free year in regards to hacking and the technical difficulties that were experienced in recent times. From a website point of view, due to the increased exposure and growth of the club in 2016, there have been some discussions of an update to the current site which is in the works and should be completed early next year.

From a social media sense, the past 12 months has seen the successful club-wide implementation of the ‘group’ application on Facebook, ensuring our Darebin page was no longer used for in-house communication, allowing us to create a more professional platform for the enjoyment of our members and followers. Team App was also successfully reintroduced in 2016, utilized predominantly by the clubs AFL sides. We hope to use it across all other codes next year.

Thank you to all our members, family, friends and supporters for both their physical and virtual help in 2016. A particular thanks to Alison Smirrnoff; her experience within the professional sporting landscape has been invaluable in regards to navigating the increased media exposure, particularly the demand on our AFL players. The club is in the midst of an extremely unique period and her knowledge and understanding of the industry has helped immensely.

Thanks once again to Darcy Vescio for yet another year of stunning graphic design work, an amazing asset that our club is privileged to have access to.

Finally a special mention and thanks to budding Falcons reporter Meg McDonald for her star efforts throughout the season. The response to the videos produced in partnership with Alison has been fantastic. This medium has definitely brought a unique edge to the club’s media presence and the club looks forward to the collaborative efforts continuing next year.

Looking forward to building upon the foundations laid this season and working with the media team to ensure the DWSC remain at the forefront of media engagement and social enjoyment in 2017.

Kathleen Roe Media and Communications

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Social Report

In 2016 there were a number of social events organized, with the aim to engage both past and present members of all sport codes to be involved with the Darebin Women’s Sports Club this year. Further to these events, we had a restructure of the Social Member packages where people could join as either a Gold, Silver or Bronze member and the introduction of a Past Player’s group on Facebook allowed the club to engage with a wider supporter base.

We kicked off the social calendar with the $1000 draw fundraiser. Senior soccer and senior AFL were tasked with selling tickets from which the club raised just under $5000 as well as the money taken over the bar. The event saw about 70 people attend from all the sport codes and supporters. A big thank you to Thornbury Horticulture and Design, Welcome to Thornbury, The Bibby family and Aasta O’Connor for their prize donations.

In July, we ran a sponsors, members and past players lunch at our double header home game against St Kilda. This day was intended as a thank you to the many sponsors and social members who have come on board this year to support the Falcons. Approximately 40 people enjoyed guest speakers from the club, a nice lunch and 2 great games of football. Thank you to Jan Hogan who picked up and delivered the food for the luncheon.

To celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the Fairfield falcon’s first premiership and 10 year anniversary of the Darebin Falcons first premiership, we held an event at Stolberg which was a good chance for some of the old and new Falcons to mingle. It was a great night where some of the original Falcons shared their insights into the development of women’s football and the lifelong friendships they forged. It was also great to see the Falcon memorabilia on display and view the 2006 premiership game.

To finish off what has been a big year on and off the field, the AFL youth girls won their Grand Final and celebrated with a team and family dinner at the Nest. The junior soccer families celebrated their year with a presentation day where they thanked all of the volunteers and coaches. The senior AFL teams both made their Grand Finals and celebrated with an event at the club as well as a day at Welcome to Thornbury and an end of season trip to Warrnambool.

Lastly, our presentation night held in October was a great way for all of the sport codes to come together and acknowledge the contributions of those who play for the club and those who support it. Held at Normanby house, the night saw nearly 120 people attend. A big thank you to Sarah Hammond for organizing the night as well as to all those who helped setup and run the night.

Shevaun Hogan Social Coordinator

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2016 Award Winners

DWSC CLUB AWARDS

Sal Rees DWSC Club Person Sandra Dal Pos Life Member Sarah Hammond

CRICKET

Best Bowling Average Faele O’Connor Best Batting Average Julia Boyle

EIGHT BALL

Singles team aggregate Karen Winter, Doubles team aggregate H & Sal

SENIOR SOCCER

DIVISION 3

Best & Fairest Ange Mackie Runner Up Best & Fairest Roz Ward Players Player Rachel Hibbert Best First Year Player Claudia Cassar Milestone Fifteen Year Player Brenda Lang Milestone Five Year Player Sara Wetherill Most Improved Player Ella Smith

Coach: Andrea DePetro

DIVISION 4

Best & Fairest Cass Heal Runner Up Best & Fairest Libby Strong Players’ Player Cass Heal

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Best First Year Player Molly Boswell Most Improved Player Alex Matthews-Peat

Coach: Dave Jackson-Haub

AFL YOUTH GIRLS

Best & Fairest Chloe Brain Runner Up Best & Fairest Karly McNiece Coaches award Karmen Wong Most Improved Player Georgia McErlain Players Player Award Eliza Neylon

Coach: Elise Casamento

PREMIER RESERVES AFL

Best & Fairest Tamara Olcorn Runner Up Best & Fairest Shannon Egan Most Improved Player Sophie Boyden Coaches Award Shannon Egan Goal Kicker Emily Whitfield Players’ Player Julia Chiera

Coach: Grant Hammond

VICTORIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Best & Fairest Daisy Pearce Runner Up Best & Fairest Katie Brennan Coaches Award Georgia Holden Goal Kicker Katie Brennan Players’ Player Elise O'Dea and Lauren Arnell

Coach: Jane Lange

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JUNIOR SOCCER

Under 12 Kangaroo’s/Wallabies Best and Fairest Sophie Carton Coaches Award Natalie Humphreys-Grey Most Improved Tilda McGowan Players’ Player Imogen Vampatella

Under 12 Joey’s Best and Fairest Brigid Byrne Coaches Award Natalie Zocco Most Improved Katerina Poupounaki Players’ Player Zoe Foggiato

Under 14-B Team Best and Fairest Aphra Nolan Coaches Award Sarah Haider Al Timimi Most Improved Kathleen Carr Players’ Player Pema Hayman

Under 14-C Team Best and Fairest Maya Hennessy Coaches Award Evie Lockhart Most Improved Evie Cowling Players’ Player Maya Hennessy

Under 16 Team Best and Fairest Katia Jomini Coaches Award Alessandra Noal Most Improved Saskia Dijk Players’ Player Aggie Hansen

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2016 Sponsors and Partners Proud supporters of the Darebin Women’s Sports Club

# Gold AFL Sponsor

Meridian Communications

# Club Sponsor

# Senior AFL Game Day Sponsors

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# Auskick Partners

# Community Partners

# Supporters

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# Allies

# AFL Youth Girl Sponsor

• Accur8 Driving School

# AFL Player Sponsors

• Pallino Bar • Short Round Café • Love Owners Corporation Pty Ltd • O’Reilly’s Firearms • Stray Neighbour • Snap Fitness Heidelberg • Demak Timber and Hardware • Urbis Consulting

# Raffle Donors

• Thornbury Horticulture and Design • AFL • Three Bags Full Café • The Bibby Family • Welcome to Thornbury

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