philhawk
5 Jun 2007, 13:37
I found this on the BH website (and yes, it's better than the Hawthorn website), and thought some parts of it were a good read.
http://www.boxhillhawks.com.au/news-read.aspx?NewsId=245
PRESIDENTS SPEECH – 02/06/07
Saturday, 2 June 2007
Welcome all to today’s game between old VFA foes Box Hill and Williamstown. Today is the 72nd meeting between the 2 Clubs, Williamstown is the team that Box Hill has played on the most occasions since we joined the VFA 57 years ago and the clashes between the 2 clubs figure prominently in our history.
I always like to quote the words of Lindsay Wilson, one of our long serving committee members on these days; the games against Williamstown and Port Melbourne are the important ones to win, the others are just window dressing. So it’s in that spirit that we anticipate today’s game.
Winter has arrived, no doubt about it, and in the corresponding game last year the Box Hill Hawks emerged victorious over the Seagulls on a similarly cold and wet day, so with due respect to our guests and friends from Williamstown, let’s hope today for a touch of de ja vue.
A Box Hill victory would confirm our much improved form in recent weeks and could even find us sitting in the 8 tonight. And I should mention that the Game in progress at present is of course the rematch of the grand finalists of 2006 when Box Hill claimed the VFL Reserve Grade Premiership in a great upset.
Andrew has already welcomed our sponsors but there are a number of other special guests that I would like to
acknowledge:
• To Anna Burke MHR, the Federal Member for Chisholm, Anna welcome once again to Box Hill and to hopefully some temporary respite from the cauldron of Federal parliament. Unfortunately the Member for Gellibrand, Nicola Roxon, couldn’t join us for lunch but I can report that their annual bet on the result of match is on again. I’m not sure what humiliation is in store for the loser on this occasion but in an election year the mind
boggles. Maybe signing an AWA.
• To Cr Peter Allan representing the City of Whitehorse, welcome again Peter and even though today is just our 3rd home game for the season I have to report on the hundreds of favourable comments we have already received from patrons about the new entrance and all the other works going on here at City Oval.
• To Peter Schwab, CEO of AFL Victoria, welcome Peter. Peter has of course been a guest at this lunch in years gone by in a previous role. Congratulations on your appointment Peter, you arrive at a time of great challenge for our competition, I am sure that you’re not bored in your new job. As you know I always like to claim a Box Hill connection with all our guests, Peter told me recently he is related to Ron Harris who
unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, but Ron was President of this Club in 1970 and 1971, the first President of this Club to lead us into a VFA Grand Final in 1970. Welcome also to Jim Watterson, a new Director of AFL Victoria, so new in fact that Jim and I haven’t met before today. I look forward to working with you as well.
• Welcome to our guests from the Williamstown Football Club, Gary and Judy Jeremiah, and David and Carol
Utber; your Club is always welcome at Box Hill and we wish you well for the rest of the season.
• Welcome to Geoff Harris, Director of the Hawthorn Football Club, for one reason or another Geoff and I have
been seeing a lot of each other lately and each time he asks me how good is Mitch Thorp, so Geoff for your
benefit, he will be wearing number 31 today and I really hope that he turns it on again. Given the weather, I
think that there’s a fair chance that if he gets another bag of 6 goals, Box Hill will win.
• Rounding out the welcomes, I acknowledge my fellow Box Hill Hawks Directors Jim Conway and Peter
Rowsthorn and its also good to welcome back HFC Confrere Barry Winton and his daughter Paige.
Normally I have to scratch my head pretty hard to come up with a fresh idea for this short speech. For once, this week it wasn’t too hard. An old Chinese saying roughly translated is “may you live in interesting times”. And in the VFL at the moment these are very interesting times. The AFL’s review of all 2nd tier competitions across Australia is presently in full swing and our Club met with the AFL’s review panel last Tuesday week.
In this regard I would like to share with you my Saturday 2 weeks ago. It’s not very often I get to watch the VFL and AFL on the same day but the Box Hill Hawks were playing Geelong in an AFL curtain raiser and I was kindly invited by Hawthorn’s CEO to the MCG to watch Hawthorn and St Kilda under lights, an offer too good to refuse.
Actually I had a pretty rare and successful day that started at the Under 11s Netball where my eldest daughter’s team won and she scored 6 goals. Then a quick trip down the highway to Geelong where the Box Hill Hawks won and Mitch Thorp, who might just be the next big thing for Hawthorn, also scored 6 goals. Finally off to the MCG where I sat for 3 hours and watched the entire St Kilda team score 6 goals. And the less said about that game the better. Anyway, I’m the first to admit that I’m not the most astute Footballer observer. However, as we were busy preparing our submission for our meeting with the 2nd tier review panel, I took a keener interest than usual in the relative standard of the VFL and AFL games and just how the VFL was filling its role as a feeder competition.
As a Football spectacle, the VFL game lost little in comparison. The skills weren’t as high or executed quite so
quickly and cleanly, but the play was much more direct and there were more contests which is what Football fans
like to see. But what impressed me most was the composition of the Box Hill Hawks team and how it showed the
VFL can really fulfill its role as a feeder competition to the AFL.
Included in the team were 2 Hawthorn stars, Captain Richie Vandenberg and Danny Jacobs, getting match
conditioning after returning from long breaks due to injury. We had the next generation of Hawthorn players like
Beau Muston, Mitch Thorp and Xavier Ellis developing their skills. Box Hill listed players such as Kristan Height
and Matthew Ball, who have both spent time on AFL lists, were playing a great brand of Football and showing
tremendous leadership. Matty incidentally plays his 99th game for Box Hill today so we all hoping he gets through
OK and will next week become the first Box Hill player in 8 years to achieve the 100 game milestone.
New Box Hill listed players Nick Smith and Kris Shore filled vital roles and showed that their ambitions of being redrafted onto an AFL list are not beyond them. And young Box Hill players such as Evan Johnson and Dale Bull lost little in comparison with the many AFL listed players on the ground and showed that they too are good enough to be
drafted. Sure, Box Hill won which put me in a reasonable mood to start with but I thought “how good is this”, all
these players at different stages in their careers and with different ambitions, all coming together in a real Football
team and a first-class and credible State league environment which helps them to achieve their goals.
With a smile on my face I headed of to the MCG to watch the AFL Hawks and the Saints. Yes; it was a lousy
game; I decline to use the word appalling. But I watched it from a slightly different perspective to almost all of
the 30,000 other people at the ground and got a lot out of it. For me the absolute highlight was in the 3rd quarter
when Michael Rix of St Kilda and Simon Taylor of Hawthorn spent 15 minutes or so rucking against each other. Of
course, in 2004 both were Box Hill Hawks players and that was our first ruck in our Finals campaign.
Both are graduates of the Box Hill Hawks system and here they were pitting their skills against each other at the home of AFL Football. Fantastic. Sam Mitchell won the medal for best player on the ground – drafted from Box Hill.
Ben McGlynn played like a champ, won contested possession after contested possession and belted the ball long into
the forward line each time. Rookied from Box Hill. I went through the entire Hawthorn team in the Football Record; 21 of the 22 had played at Box Hill at sometime or another, the only one who hadn’t was Shane Crawford, a Brownlow Medalist. And I’m not just talking a few games here or there but players like Robert Campbell, Brad Sewell, Rick Ladson, Tim Boyle and others who have all played 30 or more games at Box Hill as young draftees developing their skills.
Hawthorn turns over around $25 million each year, the Box Hill Hawks about $500,000. So compared with our
aligned Club we are just a branch office size operation at best. Yet here I was at the home of our national winter
sport and the influence of my little Club was written large over the game. Brilliant. As President, I felt pretty
proud.
3 days later I was part of this Club’s Sub-committee that met with the AFL’s 2nd Tier Review Committee. They
started by explaining that the AFL is concerned that the State Leagues, particularly the VFL, are not properly filling
their role as part of the player development pathway and that all options are under consideration, including the
reintroduction of an AFL Reserves competition.
After my Saturday at the Football, I thought I must have visited some kind of Football parallel universe. We made a formal presentation, of course, but I also told them about my day at the VFL and AFL pretty much as I have just shared it with you. I hope I got the message across.
I have already shared the wisdom of the Chinese; some rare wisdom from the Americans is that “if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it”. I don’t think anyone could describe the VFL as being broke and I am firmly of the opinion that it is
the best placed competition to fulfill the vital 2nd tier role in Victoria. The growth of this competition since 2000
when it was amalgamated with the AFL Reserves is nothing short of remarkable. It’s a terrible shame that debate
and speculation about the future of the VFL is presently being carried out in the media in such a biased,
disrespectful and damaging way.
This competition and its proud old Clubs deserve much better. One commentator even expressed the view that the Football played in the VFL is substandard. You need look no further than the VFL’s 20 goal victory over the WAFL last Saturday as evidence that view is patently a load of rubbish. Long may the VFL flourish and long may we enjoy great days of community Football such as games between Box Hill and Williamstown. Thank you everyone and please enjoy the day.
John Ure, President
Good stuff.
http://www.boxhillhawks.com.au/news-read.aspx?NewsId=245
PRESIDENTS SPEECH – 02/06/07
Saturday, 2 June 2007
Welcome all to today’s game between old VFA foes Box Hill and Williamstown. Today is the 72nd meeting between the 2 Clubs, Williamstown is the team that Box Hill has played on the most occasions since we joined the VFA 57 years ago and the clashes between the 2 clubs figure prominently in our history.
I always like to quote the words of Lindsay Wilson, one of our long serving committee members on these days; the games against Williamstown and Port Melbourne are the important ones to win, the others are just window dressing. So it’s in that spirit that we anticipate today’s game.
Winter has arrived, no doubt about it, and in the corresponding game last year the Box Hill Hawks emerged victorious over the Seagulls on a similarly cold and wet day, so with due respect to our guests and friends from Williamstown, let’s hope today for a touch of de ja vue.
A Box Hill victory would confirm our much improved form in recent weeks and could even find us sitting in the 8 tonight. And I should mention that the Game in progress at present is of course the rematch of the grand finalists of 2006 when Box Hill claimed the VFL Reserve Grade Premiership in a great upset.
Andrew has already welcomed our sponsors but there are a number of other special guests that I would like to
acknowledge:
• To Anna Burke MHR, the Federal Member for Chisholm, Anna welcome once again to Box Hill and to hopefully some temporary respite from the cauldron of Federal parliament. Unfortunately the Member for Gellibrand, Nicola Roxon, couldn’t join us for lunch but I can report that their annual bet on the result of match is on again. I’m not sure what humiliation is in store for the loser on this occasion but in an election year the mind
boggles. Maybe signing an AWA.
• To Cr Peter Allan representing the City of Whitehorse, welcome again Peter and even though today is just our 3rd home game for the season I have to report on the hundreds of favourable comments we have already received from patrons about the new entrance and all the other works going on here at City Oval.
• To Peter Schwab, CEO of AFL Victoria, welcome Peter. Peter has of course been a guest at this lunch in years gone by in a previous role. Congratulations on your appointment Peter, you arrive at a time of great challenge for our competition, I am sure that you’re not bored in your new job. As you know I always like to claim a Box Hill connection with all our guests, Peter told me recently he is related to Ron Harris who
unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, but Ron was President of this Club in 1970 and 1971, the first President of this Club to lead us into a VFA Grand Final in 1970. Welcome also to Jim Watterson, a new Director of AFL Victoria, so new in fact that Jim and I haven’t met before today. I look forward to working with you as well.
• Welcome to our guests from the Williamstown Football Club, Gary and Judy Jeremiah, and David and Carol
Utber; your Club is always welcome at Box Hill and we wish you well for the rest of the season.
• Welcome to Geoff Harris, Director of the Hawthorn Football Club, for one reason or another Geoff and I have
been seeing a lot of each other lately and each time he asks me how good is Mitch Thorp, so Geoff for your
benefit, he will be wearing number 31 today and I really hope that he turns it on again. Given the weather, I
think that there’s a fair chance that if he gets another bag of 6 goals, Box Hill will win.
• Rounding out the welcomes, I acknowledge my fellow Box Hill Hawks Directors Jim Conway and Peter
Rowsthorn and its also good to welcome back HFC Confrere Barry Winton and his daughter Paige.
Normally I have to scratch my head pretty hard to come up with a fresh idea for this short speech. For once, this week it wasn’t too hard. An old Chinese saying roughly translated is “may you live in interesting times”. And in the VFL at the moment these are very interesting times. The AFL’s review of all 2nd tier competitions across Australia is presently in full swing and our Club met with the AFL’s review panel last Tuesday week.
In this regard I would like to share with you my Saturday 2 weeks ago. It’s not very often I get to watch the VFL and AFL on the same day but the Box Hill Hawks were playing Geelong in an AFL curtain raiser and I was kindly invited by Hawthorn’s CEO to the MCG to watch Hawthorn and St Kilda under lights, an offer too good to refuse.
Actually I had a pretty rare and successful day that started at the Under 11s Netball where my eldest daughter’s team won and she scored 6 goals. Then a quick trip down the highway to Geelong where the Box Hill Hawks won and Mitch Thorp, who might just be the next big thing for Hawthorn, also scored 6 goals. Finally off to the MCG where I sat for 3 hours and watched the entire St Kilda team score 6 goals. And the less said about that game the better. Anyway, I’m the first to admit that I’m not the most astute Footballer observer. However, as we were busy preparing our submission for our meeting with the 2nd tier review panel, I took a keener interest than usual in the relative standard of the VFL and AFL games and just how the VFL was filling its role as a feeder competition.
As a Football spectacle, the VFL game lost little in comparison. The skills weren’t as high or executed quite so
quickly and cleanly, but the play was much more direct and there were more contests which is what Football fans
like to see. But what impressed me most was the composition of the Box Hill Hawks team and how it showed the
VFL can really fulfill its role as a feeder competition to the AFL.
Included in the team were 2 Hawthorn stars, Captain Richie Vandenberg and Danny Jacobs, getting match
conditioning after returning from long breaks due to injury. We had the next generation of Hawthorn players like
Beau Muston, Mitch Thorp and Xavier Ellis developing their skills. Box Hill listed players such as Kristan Height
and Matthew Ball, who have both spent time on AFL lists, were playing a great brand of Football and showing
tremendous leadership. Matty incidentally plays his 99th game for Box Hill today so we all hoping he gets through
OK and will next week become the first Box Hill player in 8 years to achieve the 100 game milestone.
New Box Hill listed players Nick Smith and Kris Shore filled vital roles and showed that their ambitions of being redrafted onto an AFL list are not beyond them. And young Box Hill players such as Evan Johnson and Dale Bull lost little in comparison with the many AFL listed players on the ground and showed that they too are good enough to be
drafted. Sure, Box Hill won which put me in a reasonable mood to start with but I thought “how good is this”, all
these players at different stages in their careers and with different ambitions, all coming together in a real Football
team and a first-class and credible State league environment which helps them to achieve their goals.
With a smile on my face I headed of to the MCG to watch the AFL Hawks and the Saints. Yes; it was a lousy
game; I decline to use the word appalling. But I watched it from a slightly different perspective to almost all of
the 30,000 other people at the ground and got a lot out of it. For me the absolute highlight was in the 3rd quarter
when Michael Rix of St Kilda and Simon Taylor of Hawthorn spent 15 minutes or so rucking against each other. Of
course, in 2004 both were Box Hill Hawks players and that was our first ruck in our Finals campaign.
Both are graduates of the Box Hill Hawks system and here they were pitting their skills against each other at the home of AFL Football. Fantastic. Sam Mitchell won the medal for best player on the ground – drafted from Box Hill.
Ben McGlynn played like a champ, won contested possession after contested possession and belted the ball long into
the forward line each time. Rookied from Box Hill. I went through the entire Hawthorn team in the Football Record; 21 of the 22 had played at Box Hill at sometime or another, the only one who hadn’t was Shane Crawford, a Brownlow Medalist. And I’m not just talking a few games here or there but players like Robert Campbell, Brad Sewell, Rick Ladson, Tim Boyle and others who have all played 30 or more games at Box Hill as young draftees developing their skills.
Hawthorn turns over around $25 million each year, the Box Hill Hawks about $500,000. So compared with our
aligned Club we are just a branch office size operation at best. Yet here I was at the home of our national winter
sport and the influence of my little Club was written large over the game. Brilliant. As President, I felt pretty
proud.
3 days later I was part of this Club’s Sub-committee that met with the AFL’s 2nd Tier Review Committee. They
started by explaining that the AFL is concerned that the State Leagues, particularly the VFL, are not properly filling
their role as part of the player development pathway and that all options are under consideration, including the
reintroduction of an AFL Reserves competition.
After my Saturday at the Football, I thought I must have visited some kind of Football parallel universe. We made a formal presentation, of course, but I also told them about my day at the VFL and AFL pretty much as I have just shared it with you. I hope I got the message across.
I have already shared the wisdom of the Chinese; some rare wisdom from the Americans is that “if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it”. I don’t think anyone could describe the VFL as being broke and I am firmly of the opinion that it is
the best placed competition to fulfill the vital 2nd tier role in Victoria. The growth of this competition since 2000
when it was amalgamated with the AFL Reserves is nothing short of remarkable. It’s a terrible shame that debate
and speculation about the future of the VFL is presently being carried out in the media in such a biased,
disrespectful and damaging way.
This competition and its proud old Clubs deserve much better. One commentator even expressed the view that the Football played in the VFL is substandard. You need look no further than the VFL’s 20 goal victory over the WAFL last Saturday as evidence that view is patently a load of rubbish. Long may the VFL flourish and long may we enjoy great days of community Football such as games between Box Hill and Williamstown. Thank you everyone and please enjoy the day.
John Ure, President
Good stuff.