Page 495 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized

Parkside Football Club 1897/2017

PARKSIDE FOOTBALL CLUB

th
The 99 Annual Report and Financial Statement

Presidents Report

It is in a somewhat subdued mood that I present the 99th Presidents report of the Parkside Football
Club.

The year started with an unprecedented departure of A grade players aided and abetted by a willing
F.D.L. This along with the retirement/unavailability or others left us in a vulnerable state and of
course this was manna for those with no other wish than to destabilise and undermine a founder
club of the F.D.L. But none the less we won the night series and the next nine games straight, but
there was a price to pay and our reserves paid that price.

I have nothing but praise for those players loyal to the club, who took the field undermanned and
were flogged week after week, but their efforts against St Albans will live in my memory forever, and
is an object lesson that discipline and team spirit will conquer in the long run in the face of adversity.

But back to the season that was it seems that the management of the club including its coaches is
not the right mix. For all intents and purposes we are as good as any side in the competition, so it
only boils down to motivation on the day so we must persevere restructuring the committee and
coaching staff alike that can provide such motivation.

I will not dwell on the departure of Robert Clarke suffice to say Robert has done exactly what the
committee employed him to do, and there can be no doubt to his dedication and his will to be a
hard act to follow, but life goes on.

Many thanks to all those people who gave freely of their time to keep our club on the field; I speak
of the Training/Medical staff of Vic McTaggart and Ray Barbour. The committee, Alan Emmett, Brian
Wilson, Pat McDougall, Paul Barbuto and Craig Watt although not on the committee, helped out
with finances when he could.

The selection team of Robin Coffey and Martin Fletcher.

To my wife Judith who laundered and ironed the clubs jumpers and warm-up jackets (this equates to
1100 items washed for the year) the benefit to the club is one jumper lost for the year, and the
guarantee that the clubs property will be on the field on the day and in good order.

Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider