RedRoy Mail - 6 April 2021

RedRoy Mail - your update from Fitzroy Football Club.

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Introducing our senior leadership groups for 2021!

Our leaders at the 2021 Season Launch. Photo: Phyllis Quealy.

Congratulations to our senior leaders for 2021 who have been chosen by their coaches and peers to lead the Roys this season.

We have a strong group of women and men across our club and the mighty FFC is in fine hands with these leaders at the helm.

It's exciting to see Jules Turner return to captain our Senior Men and we're thrilled to announce Cass Blake as our new Fitzroy-ACU Senior Women's Captain after Jess 'Lenny' Hayes decided to stand down from the position. We thank Lenny for all she's done in the role which has been nothing short of brilliant. And Lenny will still be a big part of our club, offering support to Cass and the leaders when needed.

Senior Men's Leadership Group:

Captain: Julian Turner
Vice Captains: Nathan Ligris and Jack Hart
Deputy Vice Captains: Max Ellis, Donovan Toohey, Ted Clayton
Well-being Leader: Ross Borland

Fitzroy-ACU Senior Women's Leadership Group:
Captain: Cass Blake
Vice Captain: Alexa Madden
Leadership Group: Hillary Collett, Caitlin White, Mia Sutherland

We'll announce the leadership groups across the rest of the Club later this week!

New Fitzroy-ACU Senior Women's Captain Cass Blake

New pricing policy for ground usage: update on negotiations with City of Yarra

A quick update on our negotiations with the City of Yarra on proposed fee increases for ground and pavilion use.

As you know, discussion of the draft policy was withdrawn from the Council meeting agenda. Thank you to everyone for your amazing support and endorsement of the work we all do as sporting clubs across the City of Yarra.

Since our last update in the Red Roy and media coverage on the club’s facebook page:

The Edinburgh Gardens Sporting Community (Fitzroy Football Club, Fitzroy Junior Football Club, Edinburgh Cricket Club and Fitzroy Tennis Club) has requested to meet with the Mayor and Councillors and relevant Council officers as a start to a formal consultation process on the policy and associated fees and charges.
We’ve been contacted by many media outlets with interviews given by President Joan Eddy, Director Gabrielle Murphy and other members of Fitzroy Junior Football Club and Edinburgh Cricket Club on TV, radio and press – and have attracted a huge social media response.

We will continue to ensure the value of sporting clubs recognised by the City of Yarra across the entire municipality, and we're looking forward to a collaborative consultation process to move this issue forward.

We will keep you informed of progress.

Welcome to our new Coaching Director, Phil Bunn!

The Fitzroy Football Club is delighted to announce Phil Bunn as the club's Coaching Director, a newly created position for Season 2021 as the FFC continues to drive for success.

Phil Bunn has over 30 years experience in football at a variety of levels from country football at Horsham through to AFL level.

He was recently helping out at North Melbourne VFL (pre-COVID) and has been a Recruitment Manager for SA/WA/Vic at Adelaide FC, the Victorian Recruitment Manager at Port Adelaide FC and the Development Manager/TAC Coach at Murray Bushrangers.

Phil is excited to take on this new challenge and bring his wealth of knowledge to our club.

"The role of Coaching Director with the Fitzroy Football Club offers me an ideal opportunity to return to the game I have a great passion for, and utilise my 30 years of coaching experience."

We are thrilled to have someone of Phil's experience at the Roys and look forward to having him on board for Season 2021! Welcome Phil!

2021 Player Sponsorship - a new tax deductible option!

As most supporters would know, there are considerable costs associated with fielding teams
to represent our great club. This includes grounds, trainers, coaches, footballs, insurance,
league fees and much more.

Many of our players are students with part-time work, or graduates at entry level jobs, and
finding the $295 to $430 for registration fees each season is a challenge.

To help ease this pressure, the club has established the Fitzroy Football Club Player Assistance Fund (supporting the Player Sponsorship program) to be used exclusively used to cover player registration fees.

Donations to the Fitzroy Football Club Player Assistance Fund are fully tax deductible.

These donation payments come to the club, and not to the player, so it doesn't breach the amateur status nature of the competition.

Through the club’s fundraising partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation (ASF), we
have introduced a new system this year that enables supporters to receive a tax deduction
for assisting FFC players to cover the cost of their registration.

The suggested donation amounts per player are as follow:

Team Player Assistance donation amount
Men’s Senior and Reserves $430
Women’s Senior and Reserves $315
Men’s Thirds $315
Men’s Under 19’s $295

If you would like to make a contribution towards assisting a player but do not want to pay
the full amount please feel free to do so and your contribution will be grouped with other
kind donations. It all adds up and is a great help for our players.

To assist a player, please complete the donation form here or download the PDF form here. If there is a particular player that you would like to provide assistance to, please note their name in the ‘supporter message’ on your form.

If that player has already been supported, we’ll get in touch with you to allocate your donation to another player’s fee.

For further information, please contact either Robert Olney (sponsorship@fitzroyfc.com.au or 0413 767 907) or David Leydon (clientrelations@fitzroyfc.com.au or 0408 998 849).

2021 Strategic Review

In 2020, the Fitzroy Football Club - incorporating the Fitzroy Reds - (FFC) faced the biggest disruption in its history when the COVID-19 global pandemic prevented the 2020 VAFA season going ahead. This significant event and the accelerated growth of the Club over the past decade makes it an optimum time to consider how best to strengthen the Club’s future as a sporting club of choice and a vital hub within the local community.

The FFC is undertaking a review during 2021 which will culminate in the development of a new Strategic Framework to guide the Club for the three years from 2022 to 2025. This Framework will be underpinned by annual planning for each of the three years.

The review process has been initiated by the Fitzroy Football Club Board of Directors to include input from Fitzroy members, supporters, players, sponsors, and other key stakeholders such as the City of Yarra, Fitzroy Junior Football Club and the VAFA. The review will seek to gather ideas and information about what the Club’s key objectives should be over the next three years, the strategies need to achieve these objectives and the more immediate actions that need to be taken to move the Club to a strong and secure future.

The review will acknowledge and build on the Club’s rich and strong history on and off the field, and its current position as one of the few remaining community clubs within amateur football and playing an important part of the Fitzroy community.

In 2021, the Club will further develop its focus on player well-being and development and the need for respectful relationships. These important programs will be important tools in transitioning players, coaches and officials back to football and in future years as the Club continues to strive to be the Club of choice for players, coaches, sponsors, supporters and members. Maintaining and enhancing the pathway between the Fitzroy Juniors and Seniors will be vital, along with keeping retiring players connected and offering former Fitzroy AFL and current Brisbane Lions supporters with new reasons to connect.

Over the next three to four years, the Club will also transition to new facilities as part of the Brunswick Street Oval redevelopment and this will need to be carefully managed to minimise disruption and maximise the move to facilities which best meet the Club’s future on and off field needs.

A consultation plan is now being developed to involve past and current players, members, supporters, volunteers and key stakeholders. This will involve a mix of individual and group conversations and the ability to provide written input.

The 2022 – 2025 Strategic Framework will be shared at the 2021 Annual General meeting later this year and made available to all Club participants and stakeholders.

The Toyota Good For Footy Raffle is Back!

It's back! Your chance to win some great prizes and support the mighty Roys!

In 2020, we raised a total of $5,700 which all went directly to supporting our Club. Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket!

We've now got the 2021 raffle up and running and we'd love to see FFC on the leaderboard and smash last year's sales to keep our club strong.

BUY YOUR RAFFLE TICKETS

All you have to do is:

Jump online and be in the running to win one of 10 amazing prizes, including a brand new Toyota.
100% of the proceeds go to Fitzroy FC.
Raffle drawn at 12pm on 10 September 2021 - let's get on that leaderboard!