ESSENDON FOOTBALL CLUB FINANCIAL REPORT 2001 E S S E N D O N F O O T B A L L C L U B 2 C o n t e n t s C h a i r m a n ’ s r e p o r t 4 C h i e f E x e c u t i v e O f f i c e r ’ s r e p o r t 6 F i n a n c e D i r e c t o r ’ s r e p o r t 8 D i r e c t o r s ’ r e p o r t 9 P r o f i t a n d l o s s 11 B a l a n c e s h e e t S t a t e m e n t o f c a s h f l o w s N o t e s t o a n d f o r m i n g 12 p a r t o f t h e a c c o u n t s 3 E S S E N D O N F O O T B A L L C L U B C h a i r m a n ’ s R E P O R T DEAR FELLOW MEMBERS, I am once again pleased to pre- I also offer congratulations to sent on behalf of the Board of Directors this Chairman’s report our All-Australian representa- to members for season 2001. tives upon their selection and to FOOTBALL those who played in the interna- There is no doubt the loss to Brisbane in the final game of sea- tional rules match against son 2001 will forever live in the memory of all Essendon Ireland. Our nominees in the Football Club members. To have lost after going into the game AFL Rising Star Award are also with high expectations only added to the huge disappointment to be congratulated. A number felt by all associated with the team. The board, management, of other players reached mile- coaches and players were devastated by the loss. Having stones during the year and I also enjoyed the victory of 2000, the disappointment was, I believe, congratulate them. felt even more deeply. At the end of the season, as all Nevertheless the team continued to provide great pleasure clubs did, Essendon was required to all Essendon people during the season, as they have done for the to participate in the now infamous ‘Trade Week’, during which a past several years. For the third year in succession our players have number of our players found themselves involved. won the minor premiership by leading the league ladder at the end As all members have previously been advised, we have no choice of the home-and-away season. To reach the Grand Final they played other than to release a number of players before our 2002 playing well all year; a year in which our team was heavily affected by injury. list is finalised in order to not exceed the AFL salary cap. It was There were many on-field highlights during the season. The not something we wanted to do but we had no choice, and this posi- comeback games against the Kangaroos and Sydney and the tough tion has been well known all year to the players, coaches and win against Hawthorn in the preliminary final were outstanding. members generally. Quite simply we cannot pay all our players their Notwithstanding the loss of the Premiership to a very good oppo- market value and still remain below the salary cap. It is the penalty nent, the coaches, players and support staff deserve our thanks for we pay for having a strong list. the efforts they have made and the commitment given during what The result is that a number of players have been forced to move has been a tough year. All members can be assured our loss did not on and others have chosen to retire. I refer to Damien Hardwick, arise from the want of trying. Jonathan Robran, Michael Long, Dean Wallis and John Barnes. In the Victorian Football League our team enjoyed a better sea- I wish to particularly pay tribute to Michael Long, Dean Wallis, son in 2001, the second year in which we have participated in this Damien Hardwick and John Barnes. All four have enjoyed long and revamped Victorian competition. As one of three stand-alone AFL outstanding careers in the AFL, Michael and Dean always with teams we were reasonably satisfied with this year. There is no doubt Essendon and John at Essendon and Geelong. They will be missed. the team was severely affected by the number of injuries incurred by To Damien, we wish him every success at his new club. the senior team, which deprived our second side of many listed play- A sour note was again the unsatisfactory number of Grand Final ers in the majority of games. seats available to our club members. Following the problems and dis- On the positive side, the injury problem has created the oppor- appointments of the 2000 Grand Final when many Essendon members tunity for many of our younger players to gain AFL experience and failed to see the Premiership win, we made a submission to the AFL that will stand them individually - and the club generally - in good seeking changes which, if adopted, would result in thousands of stead for the future. additional seats being made available to the members of the two par- Our coaching staff headed by Kevin Sheedy and comprising Robert ticipating clubs. Sadly the AFL chose not to deal with the problem and Shaw, Mark Harvey, Terry Daniher, John Quinn, Dean Bailey and thus our members were disadvantaged again this year and for that we David Flood have continued to develop our players during the year apologise. We will continue to pursue the AFL to achieve a change and and are recognised as one of the best groups in the competition. They, hope that it will be in place for our next Grand Final appearance. along with their part time assistants and the other football staff, worked Next season we will compete using the vast majority of players tirelessly during each week and on match days to achieve success. On who have been with the club for some time. We will also gain the behalf of all Essendon people I thank them for their efforts. services of additional young players through the draft. We are con- The board is pleased to report that all of the coaching panel will fident that the quality of our players is such that Essendon will be continuing with Essendon in 2002. continue to be highly competitive on the field. With any reasonable The leaders of our club, headed by captain James Hird, again did level of injury there is no reason why we cannot have a wonderful an outstanding job. To James along with vice-captains Michael Long, opportunity to participate in another final series and perhaps another Mark Mercuri, Sean Wellman and Matthew Lloyd I say well done Grand Final. No doubt we all hope so. and thank you. OFF FIELD There were a number of players who had individual success dur- Once again the Essendon Football Club has had a successful year ing the year and to each of them I offer our congratulations. These off the field. Following a most successful year in 2000 I am pleased players are Matthew Lloyd (Coleman Medal), Gary Moorcroft (Mark to report a further profit of $1.25 million for the year ending 31st of the Year) and Dean Rioli (MarnGrook Award). October 2001. E S S E N D O N F O O T B A L L C L U B 4 C h a i r m a n ’ s R E P O R T The club’s cash reserves stand at $2.89 million after spending their support and contributions during the year I would like to par- $940,000 on capital works and equipment at the club during the ticularly recognise our major sponsors in Orange, Fila, Musashi, past year. Preston Motors and Voicenet. We hope that each has obtained Our balance sheet is strong and I believe we should all be very benefit through its association with the Essendon Football Club and satisfied that our future is secure. Finance Director Mr Tim Jonas continue to ask all members and supporters to utilise the services will report in more detail in this annual report. and/or products of our sponsors. We look forward to working with The results were achieved through the efforts of our staff in all them in the future. areas of the club and of course with the support of members. Each Similarly the club obtains huge support from its coterie and sup- of our business activities has contributed to the overall result. port groups. The Coleman Club, The Essendonians, The Diamond Our two associated ventures in the Essendon Football and Com- Dons and The Coaches club make a huge contribution to our club. munity Sporting Club and the Melton Country Club have both Other groups such as the Women’s Network, the Dick Reynolds exceeded budget and will declare good profit results for the year. Both Club, The Lawdons and the Uptown Dons provide benefits to the have made substantial contributions to the football club revenue. club both financially and in other ways.