Bulldog Banter Issue #1 April 2022

WELCOME TO 2022 SEASON

Hello Members and Families,

A warm welcome to the 2022 year, after the season was cut short mid way through 2021 to lockdowns, to some it felt like a never ending 2 years of pre-season to finally embark on a full year of hockey in 2022. Thanks to the hard work of the 2020 and 2021 boards, we have come through the last 2 years of difficulties with enthusiasm, gusto and a solid financial position.

Compared to some other clubs, we are faring well with our member engagement and eagerness to get back on the pitch and play this season.

The next 12 months is vitally important as we focus on the following areas:

There are many opportunities for club members to help and volunteer for the club’s various sub committees, directors and jobs. For those already locked into positions – we thank you for your contributions. Watch out for the next opportunity for when you can put your hand up.

The Board continues to work hard on projects held up by the lockdowns of late 2021. Please see below updates about lighting, watering on ASF, the BSF Dug Out build and the scoreboard.

Take note of our Social Events Calendar below. These events keep everyone connected, provide a wonderful social atmosphere around the club and are good opportunities to hold a few fundraisers. The impromptu Round 2 Saturday evening chicken schnitzels and footy night was a huge success – Heather Shaw’s famous schnitzels would not go to waste culminating in a great social night to kick start the season.

If you have any questions about our club happenings, please don’t hesitate to contact our General Secretary Mel Morton at general.secretary@footscrayhockey.com.au she will direct your enquiry to the responsible Director.

Wishing you all a terrific 2022 season.

Nicole Virtuoso

FROM THE BOARD ROOM

It’s been almost 2 months since the newly elected board of the 2022 season commenced their tenures and much has transpired in such a short amount of time. Congratulations to Andrew Boyle, who has taken up the vacant Grounds Director position and Nicole Virtuoso and Rodney Johnstone, who were elected as President and Vice President respectively.

We thank Neil Coster for his time as Grounds Director, his service culminating in over 40 years service on the board. He’ll continue to play Masters 60’s, support FHC and work on the Victorian and Australian Masters Committees.

The board consists of a dynamic mix of experienced and new board members, all with a subset of skills that will keep the club running over the next year.

Please reach out to any of our board members and of course, offers of support and help are most welcomed.

Secretary: Mel Morton
Treasurer: Nick Gill
Planning & Performance: Greg Hopkins
Grounds: Andrew Boyle
Retail: Karen Johnstone
Sponsorship: Rodney Johnstone
Men: Simon Borger
Women: Nicole Virtuoso
Masters: Damien Toussaint
Juniors: Mel Sanders

NEW CONSTITUTION

At the 2021 AGM, the members approved a new constitution. The new constitution was worked on by Mel Morton with the advice of Nicholas O’Donohue & Co. The upgraded constitution will allow the club to run more effectively and meet our legal obligations.

It’s available on the “about” page on our website, here. 

 FHC POLICY UPDATES

The board is working on reviewing and updating (if required) all of our current policies.

We have adopted the Hockey Australia Concussion Policy and have uploaded this policy and the accompanying toolkits to our website. We encourage all of our members to familiarise themselves with this policy. It is important that we treat concussions carefully and with caution to ensure that all of our members are safe and healthy!

All other policy updates will be uploaded to the FHC website and communicated to members in the next Banter.

DUGOUT BUILD ON BSF

Council have just appointed a contractor for the F2 dugout construction after a tender period.

FHC met with the new contractors this week and were advised that construction will most likely start in 4 weeks (pending prompt arrival of materials). It will take approximately 4 weeks to construct. The contractors and council are expecting the project to be completed before the end of June, if not a little sooner. The new dugouts will consist of 4 player dugouts (2 each for home and away teams), a tech bench & tech bench storeroom, a larger storeroom, scoreboard, water bubblers, and all the trimmings of a modern dugout facility.

This project will see the completion of the $1.7 million resurface of the Brendan Sheehan Field.

SCOREBOARD SERVICE

The scoreboard is due for a service so it will be up and running soon.

The dust from the West Gate Tunnel Works have effected the perspex screen so this will need to be replaced.

We hope the scoreboard will  be up and running once the replacement screen has been installed.

SOCIAL MEDIA SUB COMMITTEE

Our Facebook, Website and Instagram pages are run by a keen group of volunteers who keep our social media stories. Key section directors along with Rod Fuentes, Romani Kenworthy, Ric Wiseman, Carly James, Georgia Hopkins & Georgia Cutrale keep our social media content going. Thank you to this crew.

If you are keen to get involved please contact general.secretary@footscrayhockey.com.au

FHC TO REMAIN A DOG FREE AREA

A friendly reminder that dogs are not permitted inside the FHC gates, unless they are a service dog.

The Board have considered whether dogs should be permitted inside the gates for a trial, but to respect our family-friendly environment, crowds on busy home rounds, safety issues, feedback from the members and cleanliness concerns, we have decided to keep our spectator area dog free. Additional signs have been erected at the entrance gate, so please feel free to politely ask visitors to remove their dogs if they are brought inside the venue.

SCANNING
PHOTOS

FHC is looking for a volunteer who may have some time to scan our photos on the clubroom walls from the 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s.

These will compliment our digital scans from the 1930’s – 1970’s and will be able to be added to our website.

Please contact Greg planning@footscrayhockey.com.au

ACCESS ALL ABILITIES PROGRAM

FHC has been offered an exciting opportunity to partner with Scope, Hockey Victoria ad Altona Hockey Club to deliver an Access All Abilities Hockey Program for those with a disability.

Scope and Hockey Victoria have been awarded $97,480 to develop an inclusive hockey program suitable for people with multiple and complex disabilities. This pilot program will remedy concerning survey data collected from people with disability in 2020 which identified more than half of respondents (53 per cent) did not participate in any organised sport, despite wanting to.

The biggest detractor from inclusion and participation was found to be the lack of accessible sports and activities available for people with disabilities.

FHC’s Tahlya Sleep (pictured), Georgia Cutrale and Mel Morton will be coordinating the project on behalf of the club. 

INCLUSION SUB-COMMITTEE 

FHC is one of the only clubs to have an inclusion sub-committee and we are really proud of the work we are doing in this space!

We are still wanting to fill a couple of the roles so if you would like to be involved please contact Mel Morton at general.secretary@footscrayhockey.com.au.

Wellbeing: Renee Boyle
All Abilities: Georgia Cutrale & Tahlya Sleep
Cultural Diversity: Vacant
LGBTQIA+: Vacant
First Nations: Vacant
Womens: Mel Morton

If you know anyone you think would be good in these roles please get in touch – all members and family members of our players are welcome to be involved!

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS & INCLUSION ROUNDS

Get your social on in 2022~! With a terrific calendar of events and inclusion round events throughout the year.

If there are any other volunteers who would like to jump on board and assist the organising committees of each of the events, please reach out to Rodney Johnstone sponsorship@footscrayhockey.com.au

Live Stream Round @ Camberwell HC: Round 4 1st May (Nicole Virtuoso & Simon Borger)
Women’s Round: Round 5 7th & 8th May (Jess Pratt & Carrol Burt)
Men’s Health Round: Round 10 18th & 19th June (Daniel Cox & Phil McAlinden)
Drag Bingo: Round 10 18th June (Georgia Hopkins & Georgia Cutrale)
NAIDOC Round: Round 12 9th July (Mel Morton & Mel Sanders & Gabby Minnett)
Live Stream @ FHC vs Waverley: Round 12 9th July (Nicole Virtuoso & Simon Borger)
Pride Round: Round 15 30th & 31st July (Julie Anne Sheehan & Simon Borger)
Sponsors Day: Round 16 6th August (Rodney Johnstone & Karen Johnstone)
Dress Up IPOD Shuffle Night: Round 17 14th August Round (Liam Braithwaite, Daniel Cox, Kean Weeresekera)

Junior Disco – TBC (Georgia Hopkins & Georgia Cutrale)

If you’d like to get involved other fundriasing events please contact  sponsorship@footscrayhockey.com.au 

CALENDAR OF TOURNAMENTS

FHC will host 5 major tournaments this year, The Stand Out Cup and Police Games already have been held

14th – 15th May: Junior Country Championships
11th –  13th Jun: Men’s Country Championships
30th Jun – 3rd Jul: Junior State Championships

During these tournaments, we will need the canteen volunteer support of our membership. Please consider signing up during these tournament times and if you can offer an extra set of hands, these are the times where it is needed. Thanks in anticipation.

SPONSORSHIP NEWS

We hosted a 2021 Sponsor’s Day on Round 2, our first home round of the season, to recognise the contributions of our sponsors from last season that was cut short due to lockdowns. The day was well supported and we can’t wait to host the 2022 Sponsor’s Day later in the year on Saturday 6th August.

The club sponsorship program kicked off this year with several of our past spoonsors re committing to the 2022 season as a Platinum, Gold, Silver or Product Sponsor.

The Men and Women have secured a number of Premier League sponsors this year so far, sponsorship is only $275. We still have several players who are seeking sponsorships.

If your business or anyone you know would be interested in sponsoring the club or a Premier League Player please contact RJ sponsorship@footscrayhockey.com.au

ISPONSOR PARTNERS WITH FHC

CLUB SPONSORS 2022

Platinum Sponsor
QUBE Logistics

Silver Sponsor
Big 5 Fitness

Product Sponsor
Topline Embriodery

CANTEEN & HOCKEY HQ

HOCKEY HQ 

Are you a parent wanting to keep occupied while their child trains or a young adult looking to get some work experience around their school & training commitments? 

We are looking for some wonderful new volunteers for our hockey HQ to assist in running HQ Mondays – Thursdays between 5:30pm to 7pm. You will learn how to use a POS, stock control etc. If required a reference will be provided to any volunteer when they are seeking part time work.

If you are interested or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Karen Johnstone – Retail Director retail@footscrayhockey.com.au

OPENING TIMES

HQ is open when volunteers are available to cover the following times Monday to Thursday 5.30pm to 7pm.  Fridays & Weekends are based on availability.

CANTEEN

Sally is continnuing the role as our canteen manager this season.

If you need to enter the canteen, and are not a rostered volunteer, please first say hello to Sally, Karen or the canteen volunteers and ask to enter. We need to be mindful of our food safety obligations so to ensure the safety of everyone, please ask to enter.

The Stand Out Cup was held at Footscray recently and we thank all of the volunteers for their help and support in the canteen and HQ as well as around the facility generally, during that tournament.  We look forward to the Mens Country Champs over the Queens birthday weekend,

These events are a great supplement to the Clubs overall revenue and help keep our membership fees at reasonable levels.

SIGN UP TO A CANTEEN SHIFT VIA SIGNUP

Thanks to those who have used SignUp to select a time for their canteen duty, it is greatly appreciated. Every member (or parents of members) is expected to do a duty throughout the year. The only exception is those who pay the opt out fee of $100 or those already in committed club roles such as coaches, team managers etc.

For those that are yet to do so, we will begin the process of allocating slots to those who are yet to SignUp for their or their child’s required duty. Check at SignUp for available days and times.

OFF-FIELD UNIFORM ORDERS 2022

FHC is offering by order, the grey hoodies with large or small logo, black ghanda tracksuit pants, softshell jackets and cyclone supporter jackets this year.

Orders are due by 9pm Sunday 8th May via our online order form: FHC Off Field Uniform Order Link 2022

Sizing Chart: FHC Off Field Uniform Sizing Chart 2022

You can order up to 4 of each item per form. A deposit must be paid at the end of the order for for it be processed. Option to pay the full amount at bottom of form. Please note there is a 1.75% +.30c surcharge has been included in the price. Full payment is required before pick up.

Some sample sizes are available at Hockey HQ.

MILESTONES 2022

FHC will see some significant milestone games reached during this season. The games listed is how many games for that person to reach that milestone this season. We’ve already seen Andrew Shand reach his 500th at Round 2 this season.

1100 – 21 games Neil Coster

700 – 12 games Rodney Johnstone

600 – 6 games Wayne D’Souza, 14 games Nicole Virtuoso

500 – 4 games Harry Zac

400 – 10 games Oscar Allen, 15 games Phylicia Taylor, 17 games Lexie White

If you’d like to check out what tally you are on – head to the FHC website

Game Tallies – End of 2021 – Alphabetical Order

Game Tallies – End of 2021 – All Time Highest

Please contact president@footscrayhockey.com.au if you have any queries.

WOMEN’S UPDATE

The Women’s section is fielding 8 teams this season and have welcomed many new and returning members. The pre-season commenced in January and a full practice match schedule The introduction of once a month Tue night meals was a huge hit with over 45 ladies enjoying a bite to eat thanks to Angela Thompson.

Promising results over the first two rounds and our coaching structure all locked in for the year of PL Alex Shirly, RES Phil Frost, PA David Gorton, PB Tahlya Sleep, PD Helen Morton & Assistant Jim Morton, PE Red Karen Johnstone, PE Blue Jo Torr & Metro 1 Tania Bezzobs. The new re-structure of PE into North-West regions has reduced travel and we are able to field competitive teams.

We have a very healthy fill in list, if you’d like to be a part of the women’s section contact womens@footscrayhockey.com.au

A few key people to thank; Lynda Thomas, Angela Thompson, Karen Johnstone, Andrew Wiseman and all the coaches, team managers and helpers.

Look out 2022, this year is going to be a solid foundation for many years to come.

JUNIOR UPDATE

The junior section is as busy as ever, commencing the year with the delivery of hockey clinics to 12 local primary schools reaching over 2500 students. That in turn saw the largest turnout to the 4 week Come and Try program back at FHC that kicked off in Feb.

Preseason for the junior section has been well attended and we are fielding 11 Hockey Victoria Teams, plus our regular U6 and U8 program. It has been most pleasing to reignite the U10 Super League competition that FHC run on a Saturday morning at 11am as it had deteriorated due to COVID last year.

I’d like to sincerely thank all the coaches and team managers supporting our teams. U18 Mixed Issac Grimes, U16 A Shield Boys Les McAlinden, U16 A Shield Girls Georgia Hopkins, U14 A Shield Boys Nigel Toussaint, U14 A Shield Girls Mel Sanders, U14 District Mixed Simon Whittaker, U12 A Shield Boys Mitch Braiden & Kean Weeresekera, U12 A Shield Girls Damien Toussasint, U12 Boys Pennant Ryan O’Donnovan,  U10 A Boys James Gilchrist & Cindy Blay, U10 A Girls Alex Grosz. Thank you to all the additional administration helpers for the junior section.

Our U6 program is headed up by Julie-Anne Sheehan, U8 head coach is still  being confirmed and we are currently looking to secure head coach and team coaches for the U10 SuperLeague Program.

Where do we need more help? Those members and friends interested in helping out coaching on a Wednesday night @ FHC for U6, U8 or U10.

In particular calling on more U6, U8 and U10 SuperLeague parents to put their hand up to come out on the pitch to assist the head coaches. No previous experience required, learn as you go with the kids, help manage a small group through drills, skills and small game.

Practice matches are locked in for our shield teams and currently working on securing practice matches for our Pennant and District teams. Round 1 is on Fri 6th & Sat 7th May and we can’t wait to kick start a full season of junior hockey.

MASTER’S UPDATE

What a pleasure it is to be playing again and enjoying the game and the camaraderie that we missed so much during 2021!

We are really pleased to have netered a 6th Masters team in the Womens 35 B competition.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the Masters’ teams progress to date – some good results recently – of note our 60s Men’s side are on top after 2 rounds!

Men’s 60 – 1st
Men’s 50 B – 2nd
Men’s 45 C – 9th
Women’s 35 A – 7th
Women’s 35 B – 3rd
Women’s 45 – 7th

MASTERS REPRESENTITIVES

Thank you

A huge thank you to all of the board directors who helped to get this Bulldog Banter finalised.

Do you want to be the new Bulldog Banter Editor?

We would love to hear form anyone who would like to take on the role as Bulldog Banter Editor for 2022 (and ongoing if you’d like). Basic wordpress skills would be handy, however we have the ability to train a person to use wordpress and then support them with the creation of the Banter.

If you are interested, please email Mel Morton, general.secretary@footscrayhockey.com.au

Do you have any article suggestions?

We would love to hear from you. Please send through any suggestions to Mel Morton, general.secretary@footscrayhockey.com.au with the subject line “Bulldog Banter Article”