Halls head U14s Play South Mandurah

With the season rapidly coming towards an end for another year, it seems only like yesterday that we started training for football and now we are talking about windups. The year has been a whirlwind and it has been a busy and exciting year at the club. A few of the things I would like to look back on this season.

The club has broken new grounds on several fronts this season, over 400 junior members, Auskick has over 150 alone, seniors continue to grow and now have over 50 playing members and an ever increasing list of non playing membership.

The club has played night football in the seniors, with this happening even before we get a league side on the park. In the PFL there is only three other clubs that have the facility to play night games and they all have been in the PFL a lot longer than us, so this is a great achievement and something that the committee is extremely proud of.

This week Saturday the 25^th July will have its first junior game under lights with 9’s blue and white playing a game between the reserves and colt’s game, an great opportunity for the younger ones to experience football under lights and also something that we will see if there is more opportunities next season to play junior games around the senior fixtures. To all that have been involved with the lights project (and there is too many to name) thank you very much for your support, it’s a great achievement for the club that has been done in a short period of time.

Also for the first time we have had the use of the top school oval, this gives us a great opportunity with the ever increasing numbers to keep our fixture home games at Merlin St, from those who have played on the top oval it would normally mean playing the game at one of the primary schools or give the game to another club to host. It is a good size in that it’s length is 10 meters long for 9/10’s games and only 10 meters short of the recommended maximum length for 11/12’s games. So we can play any game up to 12’s on it, also we have the boundary lines and goal square marked, so it gives the players the chance to get used to kicking out from full back, there wouldn’t be to many other grounds where that happens for the younger age groups.

The windups for each age group will be happening in the coming months, all the team managers will be getting the info out to the playing groups soon, but some dates just to keep free, Auskick to 12’s family fun day will be held Sunday the 16^th of August at Merlin St. 13’s to 16’s medal count and dinner at the greyhounds will be on Saturday the 19^th of September. The senior’s medal count and dinner will be held at the RAAFA at Meadow Springs on Friday the 18^th September.

Finally for this month I would like to thank ALL the volunteers that make our club run, from all the committee down to the parents that help out on game days. The club cannot function without everybody helping out in some way shape or form. So from myself, thank you all for making our club a great club to be in.

Yours in Football

Mick Lally

With the season well and truly under way, it is time to look at the club and how we are progressing. The membership numbers in the juniors have raised again, this shows that the club is still growing and that’s great for the development and progress into the seniors side of things. Kylie and Donna are doing a great job with running the Auskick and the club is extremely happy with the way things have been organised and run. The numbers have increased to over 150 which is the first time for the club. The junior’s teams are the same as last season, but we have a first in that this is the first season that we have fielded two 13’s sides.

On the seniors the colt’s team have won there first seven games and are sitting on top of the ladder, the numbers for the colts are great and we also have a significant number in the Peel Thunder colt’s team and another five in the train on development list. The future is looking rosy for the seniors with the number of quality players in this group. The reserves have also grown to have good numbers, something like forty on the list now, the boys are developing a great club culture and are enjoying there football. The success on the field has eluded them so far, but with some close games in the last few weeks, a win is just around the corner. The great thing for the club is watching this group grow and developing together, they enjoy each others company and with time learning how each other plays and their fitness improving with every game, there will be some interesting and enjoyable times ahead.

On a club level, the lights at Merlin St are now complete, I must thank every one who has given there time to make this happen. Some people who have really given up a lot to make it happen are Keith Allen, without  his electrical knowledge and planning experience the job wouldn’t even have gotten off the ground, Sparkies  Gary Brandis, Tim Dwyer and Mark Bluett, who have used there electrical trades to do all the wiring and fitting. Mark Haynes from Haynes Logistics for the prolong use of his factory unit and trucks, Colin Dalwood from National Plumbing for the back hoes when doing the trenching and Russel Coad from MIS for the welding and fabrication needed. To all we should be proud of what we have achieved for the club, this project if taken on by the private sector would have cost around 200k to complete, and with the efforts of the club volunteers we have installed these lights at around 100k. With the budget approval from council and a grant from the WAFC this has cost the club out of its own coffers about 5k, a great achievement and an experience by all involved to be proud of.

With that finished the next club project is the storage shed that will be going up in the next month, we have brought an ex display shed from Highline and it has already been dismantled by club volunteers and is sitting in Graeme Heals boat yard. Planning approval has been granted and the building licence not far away this project will require help from the club volunteers again to see it erected.

These are certainly good times to be involved in Halls Head Football Club.