The 137th Annual General Meeting of the Fitzroy Football Club was held at Brunswick Street Oval last Sunday 13 February.
While most AGMs serve to only meet the requirements of constitutions in presenting reports and nominating directors, this meeting was special in also giving us the chance to celebrate some exceptional people in our community.
In 2021, nine members of our club received Honorary Life Membership, recognising 10 years of service as players, volunteers, coaches and directors. Congratulations to Dave Barnes, Ross Bartel, Toby Hudson Bevege, Nathan Ligris, Raph Lloyd, Bryce McAdam, Kai Menzies, Michael Pickering and Nathan White.
Longtime volunteer Dave Barnes had the room on the edge of tears as he spoke of the honour saying, "I never thought I'd be a life member of the Fitzroy Football Club, you don't know how much this means to me." Senior Men's player Nathan Ligris and former coach now Director of Recruitment and Player Wellbeing Michael Pickering also spoke beautifully on behalf of the life members. Pickers spoke about the club's culture and the people in our community.
"We're about making this place a really welcoming and supportive environment and also getting some good footy in and some wins along the way. I love being involved and I love the people I see are totally committed here."
And the love was certainly shared when it came time to farewell President Joan Eddy and Director Kate Nolan as they retired from the Board. For Michael Pickering, Joan was a big part of his coming to the Roys and we know he is not alone in benefitting from working with Joan.
"Joan's been heading up the show the whole time I've been here since when I came on board as a coach and definitely was one of the reasons I was keen to coach in the early days."
The emotion in the room was evident when our newest life members spoke and the tears spilled over as Joan and Kate gave their thanks and goodbyes. But thanks to the great thinking of incoming President David Leydon and our friends at Starsub Apparel, the tears turned to laughter when Joan's celebratory guernsey was revealed.
One for the poolroom!
While we're sad to say goodbye, Joan and Kate will not be strangers to the club and we look forward to seeing them on game days this season. We're also excited to welcome new directors to the Board and announce new positions for the club's leadership.
David Leydon was nominated and voted in as President at the Board meeting following the AGM with Gabrielle Murphy elected to fill the position of Vice President.
We welcome two new directors in Emily Andersen and Corbin Stevic and we look forward to re-introducing these returning Roys to everyone in their new capacities at the club in the coming weeks.
Read the 2021 Annual Report here.
View the full photo gallery from the AGM here.
