A lifelong Fitzroy fan, life member and long-standing Board member, Tom Sargant, has stepped down from the Fitzroy Board after 13 yearsoutstanding service for the Roys.
It is hard to know how to replace the man who has been a staunch custodian of the Fitzroy history and heritage, taking great delight each week in starting the BSO games with the Fitzroy song.
Tom started following Fitzroy when he was in Grade 4 (1975). I had toyed with Richmond (because they were winning at that stage), Melbourne (because of my brother), Essendon (because my mothers Uncle was the longest-serving club secretary… they named a stand after him at Windy Hill!), and North Melbourne (because of my father). But I settled on Fitzroy, because a mate of mine bribed me with a key ring. This was just before they were doing really well from 78 to about 88,Tom said.
Toms best memory of his Fitzroy fan days was the 1978 night grand final win, and my saddest (apart from the events of 1996), was the loss to Hawthorn in the prelim final in 1986 (a very close call with another one point loss to Collingwood in a first semi final)./p>
In terms of the Board role, Tom says one of the best memories is the initial phone call from Bill Atherton asking if he would like to join. I had been to a few games in about 2003 after seeing the jumper was still alive and started to ask a few questions about how the club was going. My second was my first Board Meeting and being at the same table as David McMahon, one of my heroes from the late 70s and 80s. Also hearing about the truth of the events leading up to what transpired in late June 1996…. who will ever forget!/p>
Tom says the biggest change since he joined the Board is that Fitzroy is back! We are back in business, playing footy at Brunswick Street and more profitable than some of our former brothers, and of course hearing the song loud and proud at the football./p>
He wants Fitzroy to be known as the original Fitzroy: that we have not gone and we are not dead, but we are back doing what the club first started to do 135 years ago./p>
In his Board retirement, Tom is hoping to see an A Grade Premiership for Fitzroy.
His other wish may not be so easily achieved! I would really love to see an acknowledgement by the AFL that we still exist and that we are an important part of the Football community and as much a part of the history of the great game as some of the other clubs that have a shorter history than we do!/p>
Toms great mate and Fitzroy Company Secretary, Bill Atherton, says Tom is a lifelong Fitzroy member. He joined the Board 13 years ago when we were just a sponsor of the Reds and the Juniors.
He helped steer the Club to its merger with the Reds in 2008. He has always been a very active director and I well remember the trivia nights with the Fitzroy Juniors, where he would attend with Pauline and baby John in the pram. But he is best remembered for organizing the playing of the Fitzroy Club song before all home games. Despite the worries of his professional civil engineering business, he always said that the 10 minutes before the team ran out, was his most nerve wracking moment of his week!
He has been a great contributor to the Board over his thirteen years of loyal and diligent service and will be sorely missed./p>
Thank you Tom from everyone on the Board and the Club. Lets hope we can repay you with that A Grade flag!
