Message from the President: Let’s make a play for road safety

Hi everyone,⁠
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SMFNC support TAC’s vision of no deaths or serious injuries on our roads, and that’s why we are asking everyone to actively participate in our TAC Club Rewards road safety campaign this year.⁠
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Everyone plays a role in road safety; we can only move toward a future where every journey is safe if we all play out part.⁠
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There are many factors which can cause driving to become unsafe and last year we focused on drink driving. Despite challenges from the pandemic, we still all came together and did an incredible job promoting road safety which saw us rewarded with $10,000 from TAC. This year we are highlighting distracted driving, and I am confident we can earn the $10k again.
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Keeping your eyes on the road is essential for safe driving. But when you look at your phone, you’re oblivious to what’s around you. In fact, at 50km per hour, even a 2 second glance at your phone means you’ll travel up to 28 metres blind.⁠
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​This is why we are asking all St Mary’s players and supporters to make a commitment to turn on do not disturb before getting behind the wheel by making a pledge here.

⁠You will also have access to an updated version of our road safety hub, and see us share tips and advice on driving safely in the coming weeks.

Despite it seeming like an easy task we do nearly every day, driving is complex and requires decision-making and total concentration. Mobile phones can be a physical distraction, by causing you to remove your hand from the steering wheel or a cognitive distraction, caused by lapses in attention and judgement.⁠
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According to TAC, drivers are 10 times more at risk of crashing if they are texting, browsing, or emailing on their phone.⁠
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So the answer is simple, turn your phone on do not disturb before getting behind the wheel.⁠
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​Thanks for your commitment to creating a safer community.⁠

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Stay safe,⁠
Mark Stanley⁠
Club President⁠

National Reconciliation Week: Actions for Change

Today marks the end of Reconciliation Week for 2022, so we want to share with everyone 22 actions to make change every day of the year from Reconciliation Australia.
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We know that everyone can’t put into play all these actions, especially all at one time, however here are a few simple ways you can start:⁠

17 players join the Push for Better challenge to support mental health!

The Push-Up challenge has officially kicked off today and we have an incredible 17 players signed up to raise awareness for mental health!⁠
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Each day, the players will do a different amount of push-ups based on a mental health statistic. ⁠
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The first one is 74 push ups to represent the 74% of pet owners that reported an improvement in mental health because of a pet.⁠
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Check out the below to see some pics of our very own SMFNC pets that we all love seeing around the club and at games!⁠
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While the boys have already smashed their $500 goal, please remember to keep donating here!
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Special thanks to Jack Dean for organising the team, and to all 17 players now signed up: Sam Mitrovski, Nick Dean, Tom Hardy, Dempsey Mills, Raygan Tate, Liam Fyffe, Samuel Pretner, Milan Todorovic, Dan Castagninini, Marcus Taranto, Adam Lucci, Cooper Bruce, Nick Gedge, Huon MacHibbon, Mitch Lee, and Lockie Potter⁠.

National Reconciliation Week: Meet Judhil Canendo

To mark Reconciliation Week, we spoke with Senior Women’s player Judhil ‘Juddie’ Canendo about her football journey as a proud Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander woman.

Originally from Yarrabah in Cairns, QLD, Judhil is part of the Kuku Djungan, Kaurareg and Yidinji (Wallabarra) tribe.

In 2019 she made the big move to Melbourne, and after looking for a way to stay fit and stay social, she has been part of our St Mary’s family since 2021.

However, her footy career started much earlier at 12 years old with the Pyramid Powers after being inspired by her grandfather.

“My grandfather and his brothers played it back in the day, and now me and some of my siblings play too.”

“We all love playing, and it’s a great way to connect with others and keep fit.”

She had an incredibly successful footy career in Cairns, even being selected to join the AFL Cairns Women and Youth Academy in 2016, and got to be part of the AFL Cape York House program, a purpose-built centre where teenage Indigenous girls can live and receive education, training, and of course improve their skills on the field.

Troy Bickerton, Senior Women’s Coach, shared how Judhil’s footy career has only continued to reach new heights as she moved into senior footy at St Mary’s.

“Judhil arrived at her first ever training session at St Mary’s in her thongs as she forgot to bring her runners and that there sums up Juddies off field persona.”

“Get her on the field though and she absolutely shines with outstanding natural talent and an innate ability to just find the goals.”

“Juddie’s voice at training booms over everything else and she always puts in 100%.”

“She is a dream to coach; she takes everything on board, always wanting to better herself.

“Judhil is an absolute asset to the Womens team where she is adored by her team mates, coaches and supporters.”

Judhil has always had a passion for her culture and has carried this into her career now working at an Inidigenous child care centre.

Identifying as an Indigenous woman and a Torres Strait Islander woman, Reconciliation week is incredibly important to Judhil.

“Reconciliation week means a lot to me as a woman that carries the identity of two cultures – Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander.”

“I love seeing all the cultures come together and gathering as one; sharing information about their families, but also stories from times like the stolen generation.”

“It’s so important that everyone acknowledges this week so all Australians learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements.”

“We all need to contribute to achieve reconciliation in Australia.”

National Reconciliation Week

Today marks the start of National Reconciliation Week, a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and learn how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Reconciliation week always starts on May 27 to mark the anniversary of the 1967 referendum when Australians voted to remove clauses in our Constitution that discriminated again Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

So what does reconciliation mean? Reconciliation involves building positive, respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians. These relationships will then help us close the gaps and achieve a sense of fairness and enhance everyone’s wellbeing.

We will be sharing more content throughout the week, and encourage everyone to participate in Reconciliation Week.

You can check out a list of events on this week here.

For more information, visit reconciliationvic.org.au

https://www.reconciliation.org.au/

SMFNC participates in TAC Club Rewards again in 2022!

TAC Club Rewards has now opened again, allowing all footy clubs an opportunity to receive up to $10k in funding to grow and improve their club by promoting road safety.

Last year, we were fortunate enough to be awarded $10,000 in funding through this program, and this year we hope to do it again!

Club President Mark Stanley is encouraging everyone to get involved in this campaign!

“Here at SMFNC, we are a community, and when we work together as a community we can have a meaningful impact and create safer roads not just for our Club but for all Victorians.”

“That’s why I encourage everyone to participate in road safety activities and events throughout the footy season this year.”

SMFNC joins Push for Better push-up challenge

Once again, some of our St Mary’s players are doing the Push For Better push up challenge to raise awareness and much-needed funds for mental health.

It’s completely free to join the challenge and 6 players are already signed up: Jack Dean, Raygan Tate, Liam Fyffe, Lockie Potter, Myles Guldon, and Nick Gedge.

The players will complete 3,139 push-ups over 24 days in June to represent the number of Australians who died by suicide in 2020.⁠

⁠There will be a different push up target each day based on a mental health statistic.⁠

⁠You can aim for 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the push-up target based on your own fitness levels and personal goals.⁠

⁠If push-ups aren’t your thing, you can always do sit-ups, squats, lunges, or a combination instead!⁠
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If you are interested, join the Burra team here!

SMFNC receives Change Our Game grant for women in sport

We are pleased to announce that we have successfully received a grant of $9605 from Change our Game.

⁠ In Australia, women are under-represented in organised sport and Change Our Game does amazing work to improve the participation of women and girls in sport. ⁠ ⁠

Committee Member and Women’s Team Manager Jessie Bickerton shared her excitement about receiving the grant.⁠ ⁠

“Our goal is to be a Club that champions women in sport, so we are so excited to receive this grant and have an opportunity to act on that goal.”⁠ ⁠

“We have put so much work in to getting our women’s team up and running, and our current women’s players are so passionate about the club and their team.”⁠ ⁠

“This will be an fantastic way to thank the players that have been with us for the whole journey, and hopefully encourage more women and girls to come along and join in.”⁠ ⁠

Stay tuned for more details on our women in sport event!

You can read the press release from Change Our Game here.

“It is volunteers like Liz that are the lifeblood of this Club” – Liz Mace’s St Mary’s Story

To mark National Volunteer Week, we spoke with long-time St Mary’s volunteer Liz Mace.

For those that don’t know, Liz has been organising our Thursday night dinners for the last 4 years, and you can also find her husband Wayne at the Blue Oyster Can Ban at every home game!

Liz and her family first became part of the St Mary’s community in 1994, when they joined the Junior Club after deciding it was a great place for her sons to start their footy careers.

In her time at the Junior Club, Liz, and her husband Wayne, took on various administrative roles, committee positions, and were even involved in organising social events like karaoke night!

Liz and her husband were awarded Life Memberships from the Junior Club in 2002 to recongise their tremendous contribution.

After joining the Senior Club in 2009, Liz’s passion for St Mary’s saw her jump straight in to help out which was much needed in the brand new Club.

While she has helped out across a host of jobs in her time, she has been helping out with Thursday night dinners since she joined. Initially helping with the cleaning, she has now been organising and preparing our delicious dinners for the last 4 years, and shows no signs of stopping even though her sons have retired from footy!

Speaking of her long-standing relationship with St Mary’s, Liz shared why she continues to volunteer at the Club.

“I just believe that you should give back to the community if you can, and volunteering somewhere you love certainly makes it a lot easier!”

“I love it at St Mary’s; it has a great atmosphere and there are terrific people here.”

Club President Mark Stanley thanked Liz and shared how valuable all our volunteers are to the Club.

“Liz is an incredibly valuable part of our Club, and it is volunteers like Liz that are the lifeblood of this Club.”

“Her dedication and generosity every week of every season, embodies what we value at St Mary’s, and there certainly wouldn’t be Thursday night dinners without her!”

“The selfless commitment of all our regular volunteers is incredible, and we cannot thank them enough for their support.” 

If you are interested in volunteering with Liz, sign up here!