Old Geelong Football Club

JAMES LEGOE

2021 will go down as a year that promised so much yet delivered so little for community sport.

The Old Geelong Football Club had made such a promising start to their season, only for everything to be brought to a grinding halt as finals approached. Five of our six sides were placed in the top two on their respective ladders, primed to bring some silverware back to Como Park. Alas, we can only reflect on the season with frustration and disappointment. The introduction of our Under 23 men’s side was a hugely successful initiative instigated by the Committee to enhance our feed into the club from school leavers of The Geelong College. Whilst our Under 19 team historically provided this pathway, the age restriction proved to be a challenge with eligibility only providing one or two years (at best) of underage football. The feedback and buy-in from the players has been overwhelmingly in favour of this becoming the new norm at the OGs, allowing many close friends to continue playing sport with each other (and year groups above/below) beyond school. Equally encouraging has been the continued development of our women’s program. Numbers have continued to grow and the improvement in standard every year reflects the time and commitment our coaches continue to put into the girls. Off field the Club goes from strength to strength with an active Committee looking to improve and enhance the OGs offering. Over the past 18 months we have established a Future Fund, primarily established with a vision to securing our Club’s future. Whilst in its infancy, we are very thankful to our founding members who have pledged $350,000 in donations. We intend to launch an official campaign in 2022 to ensure future generations of young men and women can enjoy a life of sport, camaraderie, and support beyond school.

Many other areas of the Club have suffered during the pandemic, including our thriving social scene and other sports such as netball, cricket and tennis. We are actively looking to resurrect these areas of the Club in 2022 as Victoria returns to freedom and encourage all recent and past Collegian leavers to connect with us on our social media channels (Instagram/ Facebook) or via email at oldgeelongfc@gmail.com. We see our Club as your alumni home in Melbourne and welcome your involvement in any capacity including sport (football, netball, cricket, tennis), career networking and mentoring, famous social events including annual ball and regular coterie lunch groups or assisting as a volunteer/Committee member at the Club. We are always looking for good quality people! To find out more about the Old Geelong Sporting Club, go to their website at www.oldgeelong.com.au.