COBURG FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED Incorporated 1980 Founded 1879 Premiers: 1926-27-28-70-74-79-88-89 Entered V.F.A / V.F.L 1925 Runners Up: 1932-33-34-51-59-80-86-07 118th ANNUAL REPORT To be presented to the Members at the Annual General Meeting to be held in the Coburg Football Club Social Rooms On Wednesday 17th December 2008, at 7.30pm COBURG FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED CFC OFFICE BEARERS – SEASON 2008 PRESIDENT: Bill Balakis SECRETARY: David Rybicki# TREASURER: Lincoln Easton DIRECTOR: Don Lord# (RFC) DIRECTOR EX-OFICIO: Alan Walsh DIRECTOR: Greg Miller** DIRECTOR: Rocky Di Salvatore* DIRECTOR: Lill Priest**** DIRECTOR: Tim Coyne*** DIRECTOR: Dean Verberne*** GENERAL MANAGER: Ryan O’Connor SENIOR COACH: Jade Rawlings RESERVES COACH: Adam Potter ADMINISTRATION OFFICER: Tracey Goss *Deceased Oct 2008 ** Resigned as Director 15 August 2008 ***Resigned as Director 8 December 2008 ****Resigned as President 8 December 2008 # Joined Board on 29 October 2008 (RFC) Richmond Football Club Appointee PRESIDENT’S REPORT It is with pleasure I submit my annual report for 2008 to the members of the Coburg Football Club. In reviewing the 2008 Season the Club has again had a successful year both on and off the field. On field both our teams played finals in 2008. While looking at the off field one of the Board’s key objectives has always been to strengthen the Club’s financial position and again in 2008 this has been achieved. Finances As detailed in the Treasurer’s Report; the Club has again recorded another significant profit of $52,819 for 2008. This result has ensured that the Club Balance Sheet remains positive and has also resulted in a further increase in our cash reserves. As with previous years our increased sponsorship revenues played a principal role in our financial result. Season 2008 saw our sponsorship levels increase by over 15.5%. I would like to acknowledge of our Marketing and Sponsorship Sub-Committee for their efforts in achieving a new record level of sponsorship in 2008. We made significant gains in other revenue categories in 2008 but one of the more significant and pleasing was the 22.5% increase in Events revenue. This result was under pinned by the Club’s major fundraiser held in late August. We are again budgeting for a moderate profit in 2009. This forecast is based on taking into consideration not only the current economic climate but the continuing costs associated with running a Club in the VFL competition. Football As noted earlier both our Seniors and Reserves played finals football in 2008. For our senior side it was the third straight year of finals. Coburg is only one of three clubs in the competition that has played senior finals in each of the last 3 years. This highlights how close the competition has become and will no doubt continue to be. As everyone knows our Reserves went through the Home & Away season undefeated. Despite the results in the finals, the overall season result for the Reserves was truly outstanding. To further underline our Reserve side’s successful season; Glen Carrick won the A Todd Medal for the Fairest & Best Player in the VFL Reserves Competition. Congratulations and thanks must go to Jade Rawlings, Adam Potter, the entire Football Department and of course our playing group for their efforts that ensured our Club again played finals football in 2008. Our alignment with our AFL partner Richmond continues to be one of the best, if not the best in the VFL. Since 2006 we have had two players Jake King and Jarrod Silvester taken as rookies by Richmond (with Jake being promoted to the primary list for 2008). This clearly shows the benefits and strength of the alignment. At the time of writing this report we have four more of our Coburg players undertaking pre-season training at Richmond. Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to again thank all our partners, in particular our major partners Clipsal, Multitex, ABD Group, Methven, GIO for their outstanding support in 2008. Thanks also go to Ryan O’Connor and Tracey Goss for their efforts in running of the Club not only on a day to day basis but also on match days. As you are all probably aware Tracey has decided to move on and we wish her all the very best for the future. I would again like to thank Suzanne Harding for all her work in assisting the Club with marketing, sponsorship and in particular her work in facilitating so many of our events in 2008. I would like to extend a special thank you to our Past Players and Officials Association for their support of the Club in 2008. It was wonderful to be able host their major luncheon back at Club as we celebrated the 1988 Grand Final reunion. We look forward to their annual luncheon becoming an annual event at the Social Club. To our volunteers I extend not only my personal thanks but those of the entire Board for your tireless efforts during the course of 2008. To all our members thank you for your continued support of the Club. Your support and involvement at the Club is vital and greatly appreciated. The Future In my report last year I said that the Club faced many challenges in 2008 as the VFL competition changed. Not surprisingly the competition will again have changes for 2009. In 2009 the competition will go from being a 14 team senior competition to one with 13 teams and a weekly “bye”. The number of rounds will revert back to 18 for both the senior and reserve competition and there are some new alignments. As we look to 2009 it is obvious that due to the current economic climate we along with all other VFL and sporting Clubs face major challenges. As I have said previously I believe we are very well positioned to meet any challenge as the Coburg Football Club has always thrived on challenges. In closing I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and safe festive season and a successful and healthy 2009. Lill Priest President (Resigned 08/12/08) GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT The 2008 season was a testing season for the Club, but as usual there was plenty of Coburg fighting spirit to go around and we were able to return some strong performances both on and off the field. We had a disappointing end to both our Senior and Reserves finals campaigns, with most of us expecting both sides to push deeper into finals action. On a positive note however the Coburg Football Club (CFC) in defending the VFL Club Championship it won in 2007, put up a very good show and fell just shy of claiming this award again with a very close second place to eventual winner Williamstown. An achievement that was accomplished despite a number of heartbreaking Senior losses which were scattered amongst some very strong wins over the course of the season. Congratulations must go to all of the players who pushed up for individual awards at the CFC B&F night. Their individual performances were a big part of our Club presenting well in both divisions during the season. Well done to Greg Tivendale on such a terrific season, which culminated in him winning the Jim Sullivan Award for the CFC Senior Best & Fairest. Greg was fantastic not only in his on field play during the year but also with his leadership and attitude off the field. Something that was mirrored by Joel Bowden when he spent a month with the CFC early in the year. Both players had a huge impact and were true ‘Coburg Players’ in every sense of the word when they turned up at ABD Group Stadium to either train or play. Jarrod Sylvester also had a terrific year at full back and confirmed his place on Richmond’s Rookie list with a very strong second place in the Senior Award. It was the second time in as many years for Jarrod to finish as runners up so hopefully he won’t have to be the bridesmaid again in 2009 that is if he isn’t playing AFL with Richmond. Captain Paul Shelton led from the front as usual and finished in third place, following his first place in 2007. Paul will be a big loss to the Club in 2009 as he and his partner Sharee look to start an new phase of their lives back in Qld. Another big loss for the Club will also be Fort Caruso who polled the second most Liston Medal votes for the CFC for the season, as he has decided to pursue career and football opportunities in South Australia. Other notable CFC performances were delivered by Nic Carnell who once again played at his courageous best throughout the year. James Keogh who by years end had cemented his place within the Senior sides backline and was the CFC’s best first year player. Nick Liddle who continued to improve and played some very exiting and uncompromising football along with Jason Morgan who overcame his horrific broken leg to get within a whisker of a senior game come finals time. Special mention should also go to Glen Carrick who won the VFL Reserve’s Competition B&F the A Todd Medal as well as playing a considerable number of rugged VFL Senior games during the course of the season. Off the field, albeit in difficult economic conditions the Club was able to back up its strong financial performance of 2007 with an even better result in 2008.