David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 15 September, I attended the St George Football Association Gold Medal Dinner. It was fantastic night, with all the clubs of the St George Football Association coming together at a terrific venue. There are over 10,000 soccer players in the St George region. It's an absolutely critical part of our community. It was great to be there to present some awards, and also to chat with many of the local clubs in our area. There were people there from Forest Rangers, Lugarno, Renown United, Hurstville City Minotaurs, Carlton Rovers, Connells Point Rovers, and a whole range of other teams. It also great to chat to Craig Kiely, the very effective general manager of the St George Football Association, who put on this great event for the community. It was also particularly good to see Executive Chairman of the St George Football Association Sok Mallios there on the night. Sok has done an enormous amount for the football community over decades—many decades—and all of us who were there were very glad to see Sok, and to have the opportunity to acknowledge his tremendous service to the game.

On 17 September, I attended the end-of-season presentation for the Connells Point Rovers Football Club at Club Central in Hurstville. Connells Point Rovers are one of the largest clubs in the St George region, with more than 800 players and some 70 teams, from under-sixes all the way up to over-35s. The Connells Point Rovers play down at Poulton Park. The reality is that Poulton Park is not in as good a condition as it could be. That needs to change. It needs to be improved. I look forward to talking to the club further about that important issue. I thank Steve Matthews, the club president, Dave Haggett, the club secretary, and everyone else involved in that very active club for all their work.

On 15 September I attended the end-of-season celebration of the Bankstown District Amateur Football Association at the Revesby Workers Club. BDAFA oversees all the clubs in the Bankstown region, including the six clubs that are located in the Banks electorate: Panania Diggers, St Christopher's, Revesby Workers, Revesby Rovers, Padstow United and Padstow Hornets. It was great to see all of those clubs represented at the BDAFA awards. The volunteers were acknowledged for all of their efforts. Football is overwhelmingly a game of volunteers. People put in enormous effort, largely so that their kids have the best opportunity they can to play football, which is a very noble thing to do. I thank Shane Merry, the CEO, and Glenn Rufford, the chairman, for all their efforts at BDAFA.