Lyndhurst Football Netball Club are celebrating being announced as the FOX FOOTY Club Rewards 2016 Program of the Year winners and the 2016 Foxtel Community Club of the Year in their first year as a senior entity.
They won the honour through the club’s tireless support for their local community and their endeavours and support with charities, initiatives and campaigns. These include; Step Back And Think’s “Lace Up” program, The Fight Against Breast Cancer, The Beehive Foundation, and Livvi’s Place.
Speaking with Lyndhurst Football Netball Club President Andrew King, he believes that winning these awards are validation all the work that those around the club have put in.
“It is just good recognition and positive reinforcement that everything we are doing in club land is working well”, King said.
The club also has made massive strides with their affiliation with the Sri Lanka AFL team in the International Cup. King says that it is in the Lyndhurst’s best interest to appeal to and work with the multicultural area that surrounds their club.
“It is important to forge relationships with our international community as well, because in the Lynbrook and Lyndhurst area there are a lot of Indians and Sri Lankans along with other nationalities and cultures,” he said.
The final that the club was recognised for is the club’s development of youth through their all-abilities Auskick, their junior sides and also their junior girl’s teams. “In the 70 kids we have in Auskick of all abilities, we have a separate girls program with a pathway into further women’s football” said King.
Along with the junior girls’ team, Lyndhurst hopes to field a senior women’s side and have made steps to be a part of the SFNL women’s competition next year.
There are rewards that the club receives for winning these awards. These include sending 40 club members to experience “a day in the life of an AFL footballer” at the Carlton Football Club and also eight club members invited as VIP guests to the end of the season AFL coaches Association dinner.
Whereas junior players and the senior coaching staff will be the benefactors of the Carlton experience, senior committee members will be the ones deserving of the dinner, according to King.
“We see the Coaches Association dinner as a positive reward for some of our committee members to enjoy a very elite sort of dinner and a reward for all the hard work that the club has been doing,” he said.
It is a great honour for an SFNL club to win these awards and bodes well for the club in the long run as they are building something that can grow into a very strong club.
