100 YEARS ~   CURRIE FOOTBALL CLUB INC ~ 31^STJULY 2010

PRESIDENTS SPEECH

I find it hard to believe that I would be relieved to be standing up here in front of 240 people with quite a few speeches to make. But it is definitely a relief to finally be here and very gratifying to see the response and the interest that we have had in this weekend. Congratulations to everyone that has been involved with this project and particularly the decoration of the hall. It has certainly come up well. Thank you all.

Football Clubs are about people. People with commitment and passion for the clubs they support.

They are about individuals and families, mums, dads and kids that have that passion and commitment, without which, football clubs would struggle to survive.

This Football club, along with the North football club has been an integral part of this King Island community for over 100years. Football on King Island is the lifeblood of winter activity and by far and away the biggest participation event on the Island. It is hard to imagine King Island life without football.

That passion and commitment obviously ebbs and flows over time, but, our great club is fortunate to have had enough people and families over that 100 year journey, with that dedication, to have survived the lows, as well as enjoyed the highs.

It is a credit to those people, not just at the Currie Football Club, but to those stalwarts from both North and Grassy, and to those who have been involved at Association level as administrators or as umpires, that King Island Football has continued to survive.

Thank you     Thank you to all of those people.

Stacy has alrStacy has already made mention of those very generous sponsors whose help is most greatly appreciated, but it would be remiss of me not to single some individuals out for special thanspecail thanks as well.

There are thThere are three people without whose help and trust this would have been a rather different eve different event.

I would ask that Mrs. Dot Keating ,Troy Smith and Barry Barnes accept the whole hearted thanks of the Currie Football Club. The contribution of these three people to the research of our clubs history is beyond measure. Please accept these small tokens of our appreciation and eternal gratitude. Thank you.

The relationship between our Club and our longest serving opponent has not always been the smoothest of affairs, but I believe that a grudging respect has been evident for much of our histories.

Rough play was often commented on in the press from early last century and whilst that grudging respect may have always existed, that certain “niggle” was never too far away either.

Something else that seems to have been a reoccurring theme over 100 years is a certain mistrust of the men in white. This is certainly still evident in 2010 but was little different in 1912 and I would like to quote from the King Island News of August that year in the lead up to the Grad Final.

“Some difficulty is being experienced with regard to the appointment of a field umpire, that official, in nearly all football contests who has apparently, not a soul to be saved but only a body to be kicked and up to the time of writing, relations are strained between the opposing forces, as to who shall act “

This celebration has given us the opportunity to acknowledge those that have gone before us, both team mates and opponents and to renew and reacquaint ourselves with some of that history and tradition.

In the last few months we have been unfortunate to have lost three individuals who each played a considerable part in our clubs history over the last 60years. I ask you to reflect on the lives and contributions to the Currie Football Club of Arthur Marshall , Max Bell and our immediate past patron Wilf Stellmaker.

Prior to their passing I was fortunate to have discussions with all three of these men about their recollections of the Currie Football Club. As is often the case, we look back with regret that we didn’t ask more questions when the chance was there.

Wilf in partic Wilf in particular was most excited about the proposed centenary celebrations and reun                reunion.

Just prior to last Christmas I met Wilf in the post office and of course the discussion turned to tonight’s event. At the time I was a bit overwhelmed by the task and the amount of research that needed to be done. Wilf was all for hopping straight in the car and heading for my place to get on with it.

To my eternal regret I was unable to do this at this time and we agreed that early in the New Year we would get together and get stuck into it then.

Sa                   sadly it was not to be.

No one was  No one was more passionate about this Football Club than Wilfred George.

I would now  I would now like to propose a toast Arthur, Max, Wilf and other absent friends and te                     teammates.

The hard work that has gone into this football club over the past three seasons is beginning to pay dividends.

We have managed to field a competitive team this year and for the first time in many years we are now guaranteed to be playing in the Grand Final. 

W                      We are in the unusual position of having to make selections for a team with competition     competetion for a place.

Off field we have rebuilt our membership base to the extent that we have in excess of 150 members and are functioning as a true club rather than just a small team.

We hope that we can continue to build on these improvements and achieve the ultimate success for a football club by a win in this years premiership.

Andrew Philbey

President 2010