Many people make significant contributions over the life of a community football club. Most club honour boards focus on recognising the achievements of those who provide the on field entertainment, however good teams are built of good players; great clubs are built on great people. One such great contributor is Kevin Gill, who led the transition of West Preston from the YCW competition, into the Diamond Valley Football League (now the Northern Football League).
Kevin’s club contribution includes:
Played 206 games between 1971 & 1983, about 1/3 with Seniors & balance reserves.
Reserves B&F 1978*
Most Improved Seniors 1979*
Ran Players Trip 1974-1979
President 1980 -81
The following is refection from Kevin on a range of experiences he had in his time as player and President.
The transition from YCW to DVFL
During the 1980 season there was a growing discontent with the YCW comp from both players & supporters, it seemed doomed as clubs left to join other comps which meant we were having to travel all over Melbourne whereas previously A grade had been mainly northern suburbs dominated & YCW was seen as being difficult to attract new players to the club.
As a result we had a mid-season Extraordinary General Meeting in St Raphael's old club rooms where the vote was unanimous for the committee to explore other avenues for season 1981.
We contacted the Ammo's, the Panton Hill FL and the DVFL which had announced that they needed 4 new clubs to form 2 divisions in season 1981.We held another general meeting to table our findings and the DVFL was chosen as our most desirable outcome as the Ammo's meant starting in the very bottom grade and the PHFL was rumoured to be in trouble if Bundoora, Northcote Park & Reservoir were successful in also getting into the DVFL.
We applied to DVFL and towards the end of the season were advised we had been accepted. We then applied for a clearance from YCW which they rejected and meant we had to appeal to the governing body who granted our clearance.
A prerequisite of joining the DVFL was (then) to field juniors as well as 18s, Seniors & Reserves. With the help of Jim Millett, Judy Bambury & Tony Eley the junior body agreed to join us in the move.
The only regret about leaving the YCW was the fact that the Seniors were red hot favourites for the flag having only lost 1 game for the season and Mark Mellerick (captain/coach) having won the comp B&F but unfortunately we went out in straight sets. We drew the 2nd semi with Reservoir, lost the replay by a kick then lost the prelim narrowly to Nth. Melbourne who we had flogged just a few weeks previous.
Now reality started to set in as we made plans for our entry into DVFL next season. Challenges like increased affiliation fees, securing Moore Park as our permanent home as we shared it with Reservoir YCW and new jumper design just to name a few.
The benefits of the move flowed fairly quickly with things like sponsorship made a little easier and new young players attracted to the club plus there seemed to be new pride about the place.
Today, 32 years on I see the club entrenched in 1st division NFL but still facing challenges like all clubs with the flow on effect of ex AFL players filtering into the system inflating player payments. The need for home grown talent via the junior program is more important than ever before as a way of partly offsetting this phenomenon.
Great people make great clubs
Tony Ely, our resident historian and all round champion stalwart, provided some great insight on Gilly as a person.
….he is a great person, and has always been held in the highest esteem from the first time he set foot into the place. Regrettably, we just didn’t keep records prior to 1981 to be able to pinpoint any major awards or achievements, but suffice to say we were well served by this high calibre guy, who always conducted himself impeccably and was still able to enjoy the convivial atmosphere around the club.
My experience of Kevin has been of a very measured, well spoken, well versed person who has always had the best interests of the club at heart. He has a range of views on community football clubs and is very clear about the role clubs can play in building better people, as well as better footballers.
The respect from his peers is significant and what he says has weight.
Thank you for the leadership and influence you have had over what has now become a very formidable community club that values all its constituents.
You left the place better than you found it, Gilly, and for that we thank you.
Paddy McVeigh
Last Modified on 03/02/2015 13:22