by Demon Dave

On Wednesday night, 20 December 2006, I went along to the Bentleigh Club and joined a small crowd of about 150 in attendance for what was a rather uneventful Melbourne Football Club Annual General Meeting.

I use the word "uneventful" in comparison with those of recent years, especially given that there were no dramas at the club and not even a Members Information Night this year as had been in the past. The Info Night was always quite an entertaining occasion, highlighted by Neale Daniher and his power point slides and the famous (or infamous) "Premiership Clock". During question time on Wednesday night it was explained that increased communications to members this year via email and the dwindling numbers at the Info Night dictated that the function was off the agenda this year although there had been long hours of debate as to whether it should occur.

Club Chairman Paul Gardner opened the night with the traditional welcome and he was followed by CEO Steve Harris who presented the financials, which look to be continuing the climb in a positive direction. The club is expecting an advance of $2 million next year from the $6 Million they get from the AFL as part of the TV and New Media rights, and this would go towards bringing their bank debt down to zero, which is very pleasing. Next year the club is budgeting to make $1 million dollars, which is the same amount budgeted for this year. The club fell $200K short of this figure in 2006 due to a number of factors such as the impact of the Commonwealth Games on early season receipts and sponsorships.

The highlight of the night was the presentation of Life Memberships. Club Football Manager Chris Fagan noted that in the club’s 149-year history only 148 people had achieved the honour of Life Membership, so it is quite a difficult and prestigious thing to receive.

First to receive this honour was James McDonald, who got probably the longest and loudest sustained applause of the night. He was introduced by Andrew Leoncelli, the much-loved ex-Demon who had formed a great partnership with Junior in the midfield in the early noughties. Chell's speech was enthusiastic, he spoke of the young skinny kid who first came to the club weighing 60kgs wringing wet, who was quiet and an exceptionally hard trainer and once you got to know him had a great sense of humour. James' older brother Anthony was also at the function which was good to see. James was very quietly spoken, but was very proud of the award he received.

Next up was Russell Robertson, aka "the solid, fat kid from Penguin". Fagan gave the introductory speech and told how he was a newly appointed coach of the Tassie Mariners when he went up north on the island to check out the talent he could grab for his team. His first impressions of Robbo were of a fat kid with board shorts and LA Lakers shoes bobbing around at training. He liked the look of this kid, but the coach of the squad suggested Chris take another longhaired player who he described as "the best of this lot". Fages was doubtful, so he pitted them one on one and Robbo won hands down.

After having a tape pinched from his offices of Robbo taking some hangers, Fages next saw the footage, as we all did, on the Footy Show's Almost Football Legends segment. Thus the Robbo legend was born. Drafted by Melbourne at the same time that Fages was recruited by the Dees as a coach, he was soon delisted but worked his way back onto the senior list and into the side to quickly earn himself a Rising Star nomination. A message was read out from an absent Adem Yze, stating all of Robbo's achievements which are I must say quite lengthy and impressive. Robbo gave a very emotional speech, thanking Fagan for his mentoring over the last 10 years, and saying it meant a lot to him.

Big Alistair Nicholson, recently retired, was next to receive the award. David Neitz spoke in his honour remembering him as the big gangly hockey player with a shock of curly hair who came across from WA. Neita described the pre-season battles they had had from the goal square over the years, and also mentioned Matthew Richardson could breathe a little easier now he was retired. Nicho seemed a bit overwhelmed up there on stage and remembered his first senior game. It was a cold, wet day at Waverley in which he was stationed in a forward pocket and the last placed Demons were walloped by St Kilda to the tune of 86 points and he wondered if this AFL caper he'd gotten himself into was a bit overrated. Fagan also made an additional special presentation to Nicho of a large framed number 8 guernsey, stating just how many champions Nicho had taken on in "the cage" over his career – big brutes such as Lockett, Richardson, the talented Lloyd and many others.

Last up for Life Membership was trainer Spike Harris, who has filled roles varying from team manager of the Under 19's to player sponsor and boarding players. Melbourne's doctor, Andrew Daff, noted how Harris came to the club as Under 19's Manager after his wife insisted he go for the job as he spent so much time talking about the Club he may as well work there. Eighteen years later, Harris is still giving his time to the club, and is "Mr Organised", ticking players off as they arrive in the rooms, at the door of the team bus and at the front of the check-in desk making sure everything runs smoothly. Harris noted that one of his best pre-season trips was down to Tasmania, a fact attested to by David Neitz who was in the Under 19 squad at the time.

Then it was down to business as Board formalities and changes to the constitution were ratified. This is the boring but essential bit of the night - such banalities as changing the term "Chairman" to "Chairperson" in the constitution were all passed without issue.

Question time was also rather uneventful, someone mentioned a new Archbishop was heading to Melbourne and had no football allegiances, so the President said he would send out an invite to a game. When a question was asked about the new recruits, Craig Cameron got up on stage with the new kids, and simply read out their names as they put up their hand. There was no background information on them, which was a little disappointing, but I suppose that's been well documented elsewhere including on Demonland.

Reverend Daniher was not there. Chris Fagan let us all know he was on a boat floating down a river somewhere in Thailand on a well-earned break.

After the meeting was called to a close I joined a few mates for a cold beer afterwards and we noticed Wheels wandering around the gaming area, so we asked him over and had a chat for a while. He said he had had heel spurs removed recently, as had Brad Green, Godders and one other but he was fair bit further behind those guys in terms of fitness. He then sauntered off to find Aaron Davey and Byron Pickett who were feeding coins into the machines at the back of the gaming room at the Bentleigh Club.

With that, we returned to our beers, and our discussions about how excited we are for the new season.

I can't wait!

THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB BOARD

The Melbourne Football Club Board consists of:

- Paul Gardner (Chairman)

- Beverley O’Connor (Vice Chairman)

- Dr Michael Coglin

- Dr Peter Dohrmann

- Karen Hayes

- John Phillips

- Stephen Bickford

- Tom Starkins

- Charles Sitch

- Sue Nattrass

This is the boring but essential bit of the night - such banalities as changing the term "Chairman" to "Chairperson" in the constitution were all passed without issue.

I only skimmed through the letter to members, but I thought they were in fact doing the opposite.

Anyhow, nice article

This is the boring but essential bit of the night - such banalities as changing the term "Chairman" to "Chairperson" in the constitution were all passed without issue.

I only skimmed through the letter to members, but I thought they were in fact doing the opposite.

Anyhow, nice article