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Chairmans Report
2007 Season
The 2007 season has continued our history of being one of the most successful clubs in Auckland and probably the country although this year it has not been without its difficulties.
On the playing front Eastern Suburbs have lifted a number of championships.
Over 35 div 1, 13 div2/N, Girls 10th div 1 and 3, Girls 17 div 2, Northern league Mens Reserves. Congratulations to the players, coaches and volunteer supporters.
Our Senior Mens team finished third in the Northern League and reached the quarter final of the Chatham Cup falling to Central United (the eventual winners) at Kiwitea Street. Last year we prevailed in a similar fixture but this time it was Central who took the spoils with a flash of brilliance in extra time after we had dominated much of the early play. We were very pleased this year to be able to introduce to the first team a dedicated ESAFC youth player, Tim Myers, who was later to be selected for the national u-17 team and compete in the age group world cup team against Brazil, England and Korea. Well done Tim.
Our Senior ladies also finished third in the league but made excellent progress this year in their national trophy competition defeating both Three Kings and Lynn Avon, both front runners in the league, before losing away to Glenfield unfortunately at a time we had a depleted squad due to international call-ups, Congratulations to both Marlies Oostdam and Rebecca Tegg who deservedly earnt full international honours with the New Zealand Football Ferns Ladies team this year.
Elsewhere in the club there have been a number of challenges this year. They started with the Council contractors making fields unavailable for pre season activities and followed shortly with significant failures of Glover Park lights. Needless to say there were many urgent discussions with Council and an eventual return to normality but it was not without some regrettable loss of service to our members. We have now arranged for formal twice yearly meetings with council to review our requirements and the performance of contractors to prevent a re-occurrence. The club has gifted the lights to Council in exchange for their undertaking the maintenance work and also to consider their extension and upgrading in their overall fields development plan.
The third setback in quick succession was the resignation of our Director of Coaching (DoC) Matthew Bayliss who was leaving Auckland for Hamilton to support his wife who had been offered a significant career improvement opportunity. We are grateful to Matt for his work with the club over the two years he was with us and wish him and his family well. However the timing of his departure, at the start of the season, while junior and youth sections were being established was difficult not only for setting up the youth and junior sections for the year but also in terms of seeking a replacement, the best coaches were gainfully employed by this time. Whilst we advertised and interviewed a few candidates it quickly became apparent that we would not find a replacement and the club is grateful to Chris Ruffell who has stood in as coaching co-ordinator and found the additional coaching resources required to provide the coaching support we needed.
At the time of writing this report the DoC position is still vacant. We had thought that the appointment of Paul Nevin from 1st October to the role of Director of Football would be a major advancement for our club but the early weeks have demonstrated that our expectations were not aligned and we have parted company.
On the financial front the club has suffered a loss on trading for the first time in three years due primarily to extraordinary, one off and unbudgeted expenses. Grant funding continues to be difficult: we understand other clubs are facing similar funding difficulties and therefore the Executive continue to seek alternate ways to control costs and raise revenues. This year the’ Friends of the Club’ organisation, run voluntarily, by Fiona Hall ( thanks Fiona !) have run a number of successful evening events and we hope to expand and continue these next year. Of course we are also most grateful for the support of our sponsors, Peugeot, Champs Sports, Remuera Physiotherapy, The Golf House, and many others who have made kind donations.
The clubrooms have seen some furnishing improvements and the addition of a large screen and projector. The ‘kids club’, run on Saturday mornings by the “The Friends’ has received rave reviews from grateful parents and I’m sure other sections have enjoyed the big screen facility this year. Next year we intend to further enhance the functionality and atmosphere in the club to promote usage and return some of the memorabilia. Recruiting a bar manager proved difficult at the beginning of the year and with a distinct lack of options we appointed an enthusiastic operator. The learning curve has been step and has not been without its slippages. Accordingly the Executive have decided not to continue with the same arrangement next year. However that again that leaves us seeking an alternative option for the bar and catering operations.
In terms of other facilities we have developed a plan with Auckland City Council to improve grounds and changing facilities progressively over the coming years although these are nowhere near as extensive or as soon as we would like. ESAFC is restricted in its growth potential and options by being so dependant on council grounds and associated constraints. A proposal to improve the Madills Farm changing rooms was prepared and submitted to the local community board in April – this was conditionally approved and has been caught up in council red tape since then – we continue to hope that some refurbishment will happen before the start of next season.
There remains much work to be done and challenges to overcome – our strategic plan has been reviewed and a new action plan for 2008 developed. ESAFC have continued to lobby the governing bodies for an improved pathway to the top of the game for talented players and I am pleased to report that a new club called Auckland Manukau United has been formed to submit a team to play in the under 19 national youth league run alongside the NZFC franchise competition. Auckland Manukau United has been formed expressly to represent the eastern and southern suburbs of Auckland and so ESAFC players will have the opportunity to progress to this higher level of competition.
The club has benefited immensely from the services of Ivan McCabe and Tracey Kingdon as part time employed finance and admin support staff respectively and I thank them both for their efforts.
The club remains however primarily run by volunteers and can only advance at the pace that those volunteers are able to provide and willing to maintain. The Executive will continue to seek new skills to assist us achieve our goals and in particular are keen to find new volunteers willing to commit time to the club on a regular basis.
Finally in this section I must pay tribute to the President, Executive and sub section committee members who give their time voluntarily and, too often without recognition.
Thank you - Malcolm McGill, Tony Gallagher, Kimball Fink Jensen, Craig Simonsen, Stephen Greenhough, Rob Holmes, Chris Gillan, John Durkin, Chris Ruffell, Fiona Hall and Dagmar Bellamy. There are of course many more who give their time to organise a year group or a team and their dedication to the club is much appreciated.
Thank you all once more – quite simply the club would not exist without your efforts.
Tom Street
Chairman
Club Executive.
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