Page 639 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized

Parkside Football Club 1897/2017

Presidents Report

It is with pleasure that I submit this report to the members/supporters and those concerned with
the welfare of the Parkside Football Club.

As we are all aware, the club was almost defunct at last year’s annual general meeting, with unpaid
creditors supposedly at $22,500. Within days this figure had already increased to $27,500. By the
time the new committee had completed its investigations, this figure had reached a staggering
$33,734 with no funds available or in sight to pay creditors.

It was at this stage that the now existing committee decided to give it a go and save our club. The
pledge was instigated and full details of it are enclosed in this annual report.

With regards to this year’s committee, I can only say thank you for the sterling effort put in by you
throughout this year. It amazes me how you were able to hold down a fulltime job, maintain sanity
in your own family life and devote the amount of time to the footy club that you all did.

At the start of this year we all gave a commitment to each other that it was a two to three year task
to get the club back on to a level footing. I believe in what we achieved this year, we are now looking
at possibly being one year ahead of our three year plan.

I make the comment that the two sides who played off in this year’s grand final were clubs that have
a "sports club" set up who generate income from poker machines and tab outlets. This income,
which is far in excess of ours, allows these sides to have a "football operations" budget of around
$100,000 compared to ours which this year was under $55,000. Hence they are able to offer
inducements that are well above our capacity. I will say though that it is this committee’s policy to
operate within its budget and not bankrupt the club to win a flag.

The future of our club will always remain clouded and be a struggle due to the following:

· Restrictions on raising income which needs to increase by 10/15% each year.

· Inability to have junior sides, i.e. u/18, u/16 which acts as a feeder to the senior sides.

· Location of our ground in relation to residential areas.

· Lack of future committee persons coming forward to take on the responsibility of running
our club.

The proposed residential development on the old Myers flat area is progressing, however you would
expect any benefit from it to us would be 5-6 years off. Another thought would be to investigate
relocating to the Carolyn Springs area where the Western Jets operate. The other points raised, I
leave open for your thoughts.

Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider