2021 In Review – Annual General Meeting Results and Football Australia Five-Star Status Achieved
Essendon Royals Soccer Club is delighted to confirm the results of its 2021 Annual General Meeting.
The meeting was held at Ormond Park on Monday 6 December.
The elected committee for 2022 is as follows:
President: Richard Di Sauro
Secretary: David Rowan
Treasurer: Mel Gualtieri
Director of Senior Men: Steve Tribuzio
Junior Committee: Frank Nappo
The elected committee would like to thank all the families and players who have chosen the Royals as their football home and look forward to an uninterrupted 2022.
President Richard Di Sauro said despite the trying times of the past two years, the Royals have been a foundation of community and social connection for its players and pointed to the recent successful Gala Day at Ormond Park.
“Days like our Gala Day remind us that what we do as a club is bigger than what happens on the pitch,” Di Sauro said.
“We look forward to a 2022 that we hope is uninterrupted and finally allows our senior and junior teams to play their first full season since 2019.”
Di Sauro said that despite the disruption during the 2021 season, it was pleasing to see the club return to competitive action and that he was immensely proud of the boys, girls, men and women who have represented the club throughout the year.
“As always, a big thank you to the 700+ players who represent our club with great distinction on and off the field, and their families who support them,” he said.
“The club also thanks the coaches and team managers who help get our players organised and on the park.
“We would also like to thank our sponsors for their continued support during tough times.
“In particular, I’d like to thank our major partner Nicholas James Lawyers and our diamond partners, Coburg Super Finish, who have both been huge contributors to our club for a number of years.”
Di Sauro also made special mention of club administrative volunteers Sherene Di Sauro and Tennille McKelvie for their incredible contributions to the club.
“Sherene and Tennille have been pillars of our club for the last four and two years respectively,” he said.
“Whilst a lot of their work happens behind the scenes, they have played a vital role over the last two challenging years in representing our members on the committee and helping to ensure everything from event organisation and apparel fittings to refunds could happen as smoothly as possible.”
Despite the shortened season, 2021 still provided a number of spectacular highlights for the club.
The return of Friday night football at Cross Keys Reserve was immensely popular with some incredible crowds turning out.
We also saw further strides made in our senior women’s program, as the girls proved more than equal to their State League 1 opponents, having achieved promotion in 2019.
In the junior ranks, we have seen continued growth and interest in our club programs, expertly spearheaded by Head of Football Vaughan Coveny and Technical Director Michael Curcija.
With an average of over 50 players per term in our Saturday Morning MiniRoos program, the future looks bright with plenty of potential candidates for our club’s youngest junior teams.
Off the field, the club can also announce that it has been awarded five-star status by Football Australia as part of the governing body’s National Club Development Program.
To raise the overall standard of club administration and operations at all levels of the game, Football Australia has established the National Club Development Program (NCDP) providing a clear model to develop and maintain a successful football club.
The NCDP is an enhanced version of the previous National Club Accreditation Scheme (NCAS) that was introduced in 2012.
NCDP provides club’s with an on-line development platform that allows them to answer a series of questions regarding all facets of their football club.
Club Secretary and Life Member David Rowan championed the club’s cause and worked tirelessly on the Royals NCDP submission and was delighted to see the club achieve five-star status.
“Completing the program is an important step to ensure that the club has all the relevant policies and procedures in place to set it up for success,” David said.
“From my perspective, it was just interesting to get a greater overview of what’s required to run a successful club and I hope that we can take those lessons and continue to make the Royals a great club for our members.”
The Club has pursued an improved relationship with Moonee Valley City Council and relevant co-tenants and is delighted to have been able to secure greater access to fields during the summer period, which has allowed the club to conduct Community and Junior National Premier League team grading and selections, as well as commencing pre-season for our senior teams.
Everyone at the Royals would like to wish our members, the extended football family and our Moonee Valley community an enjoyable and rejuvenating holiday period and we can’t wait to see you back on the park in 2022.
