Past Burger players & officials continuously holding the fort
The Past Players & Officials of any sporting organization let alone a football club is vital.
This especially is the instance for the Coburg Footy Club, especially after having more than a decade of disconnection from its original supporters following the club relying on aligning with Richmond to ensure its survival, and as a result changing its name to the Tigers from the Lions.
However, through those years and following the revival of the club as the original stand-alone club that it once was have had plenty of support from some of the club’s greats.
While past player and coach Kevin Breen is the clubs President, 1970 Premiership Player Keiran Lawson is the president of the clubs Past Players & Officials committee. Assisting him is club legend Ian ‘Jex’ Liversidge, who is the treasurer of the association. Michelle McNair, the wife of club legend and former Premiership Captain Brad Nimmo is the Secretary. They are greatly assisted by the likes of Wayne McLaughlan, Brian Elvery & Alan ‘Grumpy’ Walsh.
Last Friday, the club hosted its “Remembering Footy” Sportsman’s Luncheon at the L’Unica receptions in West Brunswick. Organized by former Reserves and Senior Premiership coach Col Kinnear, the day turned out to be a great success. Col’s former connections from his time at North Melbourne & Carlton saw the likes of Jim Buckley, Ross Henshaw, Wayne Johnstone, Ken Sheldon, Peter McKenna, Mark Maclure, Brendan Fevola and our Senior Coach Peter German form the guest panel. Col managed to attain 40 of his oldest mates for the day, while Keiran and Jex managed to ensure to get the event around to as many past players and officials as possible. The event was attended by 190 people and aside from the clubs past players & officials, it was well greeted by the club’s members, supporters, and sponsors. The panel of eight spoke about football in their playing days and how they were privileged to have been part of this event for the club, and Col.
Kinnear, hosting the event, was pleased of the results from Friday’s event on a number of fronts. “For myself, it was all about putting back into Coburg Football Club, I left in 1980 to undertake a career path in the VFL/AFL and to come back 36 years later to do this was a privilege, and for me it was an enjoyable day. It was terrific to see some of the past players who I coached in the premiership side of 1979- Gary Milroy, Alan Harbinson, John Douglas and Brad Nimmo enjoying a social able gathering. It was great to have friends of mine over the years attend on Friday as well as form part of the panel, and when they were asked to perform on the day they did it with no queries, their responses were ‘for sure.’ It was terrific for them to support the club on the day, and it also demonstrates how important the mateship through football has been through my involvement in football for over forty years. The six people I got for this event- I wanted to do it for myself, Kevin “Skippy” Breen and the Coburg Football Club.”
Back to back premiership skipper Brad Nimmo, who attends every Coburg home game thought “It was a great day that was interesting and funny, and it was also good to see many past players, but it was a bit disappointing not to see many more there which would’ve been nice, but unfortunately they’ve got other interests. It was good by Col, and I thought he did a great job to get those guys together.”
The long-serving Administrator, ‘Jex’ said “I thought it (Friday) was sensational, one of the best functions at the club in years that I can remember, and most said the same thing. I thought Col was exceptional in getting the group of AFL stars together, to cost nothing was an effort for that sort of talent attained on the day. Mark Maclure was the ace of the hole, Ross Henshaw for someone not used to the limelight did very well speaking about the North team of the 70’s. I sent an email out to see who’d be interested in attending- and it saw Gary Milroy come all the way from Traralgon, Maurice Gale from Queensland, as well as board members Kevin Breen and Mick Erwin, Past Player committee members Wayne McLaughlin, Keiran Lawson and Brian Elvery, as well as Mark Pedersen and Shane ‘Mr.VFA’ Wilson. It was good to see them all to say ‘gday.”
The day was also supported by donations from supporters, with items on offer being auctioned off and won in raffle prizes.
While events like Friday are a key component of the club, it is also great that the clubs past players and official buy into these events, as it not only strengthens our identity however also brings us closer to the vision of where we want to be as a football club.
