Springwood United Football Club Inc. Celebrating 50 Seasons of Football 1968 - 2017 END OF SEASON YEARBOOK 2017 SPRINGWOOD UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB PERPETUAL TROPHIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2017 2017 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE Chris Gilchrist Chairman Pete Dempsey Vice Chairman Susan Dunn Secretary Ciaran O'Flanagan Treasurer Sean Leehy President of Football Nigel Stubbs General Management Committee Jess Taylor General Management Committee FOOTBALL COMMITTEE Sean Leehy President of Football Scott Jacka Competition Secretary Annette Harrop Registrar René Dempsey Equipment Officer Graeme Ellis Grading Coordinator Steven Nicholson Junior Women’s Football Coordinator Fiona Skrzypnik Senior Women’s Football Coordinator Andrew Graham Junior Football Coordinator Tommy Goudis Senior Male Football Coordinator René Dempsey MiniRoos Coordinator Dale Wade-Ferrell Coaching Coordinator Ian Strudwick Groundsman Sylvia Ong General Committee Brogan Mulhall General Committee EVENTS COMMITTEE Wendy Millar Events Megan Gilchrist Events ADMINISTRATION OFFICER Annette Harrop Administration Officer 2017 Special General Meeting & Annual General Meeting Saturday 21 October, 7:00pm at the Clubhouse 2018 IMPORTANT DATES MyFootballClub online opens - 7 January 2018 Grading Commences - 10 February 2018 Miniroo/SSF Muster Day - 17 February 2018 Senior Muster Day - 18 February 2018 O35 Paul Bryden Cup - 11 March 2018 2018 REGISTRATION Registrations will be available online from 7 January - 5 February 2018 Club house registration days - 31 January and 3 & 4 February 2018 Page 1 of 60 2017 End of Season Yearbook 1 Springwood United Football Club: 1968 - 2017 2017 has been a memorable year for Springwood United Football Club as we celebrate our 50th season. 1968 was the year that our football club was born under the name Springwood Soccer Club when a group of volunteers elected a committee and adopted a constitution to provide enthusiastic children of the area the opportunity to play soccer (as it was known at the time.) However, there are roots associated with the club prior to 1968. In 1965 to 1967 a club named Springwood Baptist Soccer Club played football in the district. In 1965 & 1966 Springwood Baptist played in the Protestant Churches Competition and in 1967 Springwood Baptist moved across to the Nepean District competition. There was no formal committee or constitution with Springwood Baptist and at the start of the 1968 season the organisation of soccer as Springwood Baptist experienced some difficulties. Subsequently a group of football parents came together and formed Springwood Soccer Club. The club had several home fields in its early years, starting out at Lomatia Park, Springwood for the first two years, where we shared the ground with the local rugby league club, moving on to St Johns Oval, Blaxland and even as far as Emu Plains. When Blaxland Soccer Club was formed, Springwood Soccer Club had to find a new home. Blue Mountains Alderman Tom Hunter advocated for the club and provided a strip of bush off Hawkesbury Rd, North Springwood that had previously been bequeathed to Blue Mountains Council by a well-known local GP, the deceased Dr Summerhayes. Hence the name Summerhayes Park. Summerhayes Park has seen significant development over the years. In 1972 the first pitch was ready for play and this followed up with a second pitch in 1973. Amenities were also built in 1971-72 with home and away change rooms, showers and a referee room. In 1979 a canteen was added. In 1974 the first floodlights were switched on and an exhibition match was played between Marconi and Western Suburbs. This was followed up in 1980 and 1981 with the construction and opening of the clubhouse. A facility that was built on a significant contribution of club/members funds and a State Government grant. The clubhouse would not have been built if it wasn’t for 15 of the clubs committee and members providing a personal guarantor on a loan, risking loss of their own personal funds if the club wasn’t able to repay the loan. 1982 saw the installation of new floodlights. In 2007 a stand was added facing field 1 and re-orientation of the pitch on the top field allowed the club to extend to three full size pitches. Most recently, the club has had improvements to the field 1 playing surface including better drainage, a replacement of all the floodlighting and the first phase of the car park sealing. Members can look forward to further enhancements in the future. In 1968 the committee decided on club colours of black shirts with white trim and white socks. However some of the teams were dressed in brown shirts donated by Greystanes Soccer Club. Over the years we’ve seen many variations of kit which became a predominately white shirt and the inclusion of red. The club’s crest name and crest has changed occasionally. In 1973 we became known as Springwood Soccer and Netball Club which later changed to Springwood Soccer and Sports Club.The lyrebird crest was replaced in 2009 with a phoenix. This coincided with a name change to Springwood United Football Club. During the years of 2011 & 2012 the representative football branch of our club was known as Mountains United. In this year, our 50th season we introduce a new playing strip which is inspired by shirt designs used throughout and history and we also see a return to the club crest of the lyrebird. Although the club has scaled back its operations to just provide grassroots football, we do have a rich history of providing other sports for the local community. The most significant of these was netball from 1971 until 2011. In 1976 the club ventured into softball, a sport which the club participated in until the early 1980’s. Further to this the club has, over the years, participated in darts, baseball and touch football. In 1978 we had both our All Age team and our Under 8 boys represent the club in the Champions of Champions. It would be the Under 8s who made it all the way to the final and although they were unsuccessful, they would go on to be crowned NSW Champion of Champions in 1980 as Under 10s. In 1985 our Under 18 boys became our second Champion of Champions and in 2008 our Under 18 Girls joined the honour roll as our third winners of the competition. Page 2 of 60 2 Springwood United Football Club With the club continuing to grow and enjoying success on the pitch, a decision was made in 1991 to enter into Soccer NSW’s State League, or as it was also known, Federation Soccer. The club started in NSW Division Six, finishing second and spent the rest of the 1990’s in Division Four. In 2002 the ‘Feds’ won the Division Three competition and in 2005 topped the Division Two competition and were promoted to State League Division One for the 2006 season. The club has also had forays into representative football for youth boys and girls however the 2012 season was to be the last year for these higher level competitions and in 2013 the club returned to participating in local football only. From six teams of boys in 1968 to a peak of around 110 football teams in the mid 2000’s and now eighty-eight teams of boys, girls, men and women in 2017 the club remains one of the largest in the Nepean District and, as it did in the early years, it requires a huge effort from volunteers to keep the club running. For fifty years our club has grown on the hard work and dedication of a large band of volunteers who have given an extraordinary amount of hours of their time to running the club. Whether it be physical labour; such as those early days of clearing trees and levelling the terrain to create a field and building the clubhouse; marking lines, running a barbeque and canteen, installing fences, installing goal posts, etc. to the countless hours of administrative work involved in forming and organising teams and keeping members informed, the goal remains the same today as it did back in the mid-1960s, that is, to provide the opportunity for the children and adults of our community to experience the joy of participating in “the beautiful game” of football. Here’s to the next 50 seasons. Springwood United Football Club – “united in sport, uniting the community” INSERT HISTORICAL PHOTOS ON THIS BLANKS SPACE Page 3 of 60 2017 End of Season Yearbook 3 Chairman Report Season 2017 was our 50th Season and what a fantastic milestone to celebrate as a club. It started with the unveiling of a new playing strip that was a reflection of jerseys from previous eras of success in the club, and also saw a return to the clubs original Lyrebird crest. The 50th Season was a time to reach out to members past and present and to track down long lost club members as we were preparing for the 50th Season Dinner. Thank you to founding committee member and Life Member Mr George Alexander, who set himself the task of tracking down as many of the clubs early members and Life Members as he could. The 50th Season Dinner went off with great success, with many faces of the clubs current and past eras attending, including members from the clubs netball era, as well as several players from our era in State League Football. The evening culminating in an outstanding speech from George Alexander that finished with a standing ovation across the entire audience. Great work George, thank you for 50 years of your passion for the club. The 50th Season is also a time to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate all the hard work, efforts, vision and passion of previous and current Committee Members, Coaches, Managers, other volunteers and club members.