Matamata Swifts AFC’s 2015 Annual General Meeting was held on Monday November 9, 2015.

The club is in a healthy state with a surplus of $8,459 reported on a six figure turnover.

For more detail please read the President’s Report and Club Development Manager’s summary, below.

The following people were elected to positions for the 2015/16 year:

Patron – Jack Poole
President – Julie Clothier
Vice-President – Malcolm Raynel
Treasurer – Mike Candy
Secretary – Debbie Sankey
Club Captain – to be filled
Junior Co-ordinator – Ronan Costello
Management Committee – Dave Mann, Dwayne Barlow

2016 playing subs have been kept at the same level as for 2015.

 

President’s Report

This season has been one of highs and lows with a lot of disruption due to the FIFA U20 World Cup. Whilst it was fantastic as a country to host the World Cup and watch the quality of football right in our own backyard essentially.  The “no play” days made the season a little disjointed.

As always I would like to thank our sponsors for their continued support of Football in Matamata. I need to make special mention of our new naming rights sponsors, that being Waikato Stud and Richardson Racing Stables. I thank them for their support of the Men’s teams. Challenge Matamata have continued with their sponsorship of the Ladies team and this season upped their contribution to allow us to purchase a nice new strip for the team.

The Club was successful in grant applications to the Lions Foundation, NZ Community Trust and COG’s. These grant monies allowed us to purchase new playing equipment and strip and also fund the position of Club Development Manager.

The Matamata Swifts continue to have positive working relationships with WaiBOP, WaiBOP United and the Matamata College. We also hosted one of the WaiBOP United Youth games.

It was fantastic to see the Club as a whole rally together at the Jamie Cox Fundraiser Day. The day itself brought a real carnival atmosphere to the double header game day.  It was a wonderful way to show our support to one of our own. It was great to see the turn out at the Lions Club Fert Drive which netted our Club a healthy $5000.

It was an extremely sad day for the Club losing Eric van Waveren to his battle with cancer. He contributed so much to the Club and was a great mate to so many of us.  At the request of his family, we had the absolute privilege of forming a Guard of Honour at his funeral and then host his wake at our Clubrooms. It was a proud day to be a Swift.  The Management Committee decided to retire the number 14 from the Matamata Swifts 1st team as a show a respect for Eric.

One of the hardest decisions the Management Committee had to make his season was relieving Chris Powell of his duties as Head Coach. This was not a decision that was made lightly. We were fortunate that Paul Richardson was able to take on the coaching responsibilities for both Men’s teams. The Club has secured the services of Paul for the next season. The 1st team finished 8th in the Premiership League and the Reserves 6th in the Championship League.  I would like to thank Denise Adamson for coaching the Ladies team this season. With a great bunch of girls for her to work with, the team brought home the Waikato Womens Plate Winner Trophy and finished a creditable 4th in the Waikato B Division.

The U19 team who attended the Napier Youth Nationals on Labour Weekend had a great tournament.  Winning 3 of their 4 games they placed 2nd in their pool.  I have had correspondence from Napier that next year there will be quarter-final play-offs for the Satelitte Draw, so hopefully we can do just as well and advance further.  Thanks to Paul and Richard for their coaching and management.

We had 9 junior travelling teams this season and about 50 kids attending Mini-kickers. A huge thanks to all the coaches and managers who volunteered their time for these teams. Also thanks to the Junior Sub-Committee for all the hard work they did bringing these teams together and managing all that is required to run the Junior sector of the Club.

Thanks also to the hard working crew who form the Management Committee. Especially Dave Mann for all the work and time he puts in on game days. I need also to mention Jim Church for the work he does line-marking the fields.

It is very satisfying being a member of the Management Committee and I have enjoyed my few years of involvement. I am not necessarily seeking re-election to the office of President and feel that it would be beneficial to the Club to have a fresh head at the helm.

Julie Clothier
President – Matamata Swifts AFC

 

Club Development Manager’s Summary

By way of an update, here are some highlights:

  • Football For All (FFA) after school programme for year 1 to 6 children was piloted in 2014 and continues in 2015. This programme has helped grow our junior base.
    • 2014: 58 children registered in total over terms 2, 3 and 4, of which 33 were non-club members. Sessions averaged 23 attendees.
    • 2015: 54 children registered for the term 2 programme alone, of which 13 were non-club members. Sessions averaged over 40 attendees. Six of 2014’s non-club members are now members. Eleven of 2015’s attendees were also new club members, who play Saturday football as well.
  • Matamata Skill Centre was established in 2014 for year 7 and 8 children. The pilot group (one session per week before school) was fully subscribed. The Skill Centre has continued in 2015.
  • School Holiday Camps in July and October 2014 saw numbers vastly increased on 2013. The April, July and October 2015 Holiday camps saw numbers consistent with previous years.
  • The Swifts Coaches Forum has been established, which is a regular opportunity for our club’s coaches to get together, listen to a high profile speaker, then discuss the game.
  • Production and adoption of a range of club policies, including Child Safety and Anti-Harassment policies, along with a Code of Conduct (adopted from NZ Football).
  • We gained NZ Football’s Quality Club Mark ‘1-Star Developing Club’ accreditation.
    • This accreditation is important because it gives us the assurance that we have our administrative house in order. We knew we were doing most things well, but the QCM process highlighted several areas we needed to tidy up, which we did. We now have a national level set of criteria to reference our operation.
  • Production and adoption of a Player Development Philosophy, along with a junior player code of conduct and a parents code of conduct.
  • A Strategic Development Workshop, which is the basis for setting the club’s future strategic direction, was held in December. Outputs have been encouraging, with a new operating structure adopted. This includes this identification of four key strategic action areas.
  • A full club events calendar for 2015 was compiled and published on the club’s website.
  • Successful grant and sponsorship applications.
  • Increased local media profile through production and distribution of editorial.
  • We are working with the Matamata Piako District Council and WaiBOP Football Federation on a facility development project, which is on-going.

Dwayne Barlow
Club Development Manager, Matamata Swifts AFC