CEO’S Update – Welcome to 2021!

On behalf of the Norwood Football Club, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year, may it bring to you and your family health and happiness and a successful red and blue year. Suffice to say that 2020 was a challenging year for the community in general, I would like to personally offer my sincere gratitude to each of our members, supporters and club partners who supported our “Fortis in Procella” program to ensure the survival of our club in those unprecedented times. A big thank you to all who continue their association with our club, either purchasing memberships, continuing partnerships or simply just showing your support.

The challenges of last year have culminated in several significant changes to our football club both on and off the field. We are incredibly excited as a club to finally have facilities to call home, supporting the values of our football club being inclusive, united, community-focused, one club, innovative and professional. The new facilities will also include additional support for the elderly and those with disability. It also boasts wonderful entertainment facilities both in our Wolf Blass Community Centre with a Premiers Bar and Norwood Function Room.

We intend to provide opportunities for all our members to frequently use our new facilities in relation to official club events. There will be several challenges that the club will be working through regarding COVID restrictions to ensure that we can operate and still cater for as many of our members as safe as possible. One of our biggest challenges we will face is access for members to use our rooms on match days given crowd restrictions. That said, we will do everything in our powers to ensure that each member has an equal opportunity to use our wonderful facilities.

Due to the redevelopment, our players and team officials have endured a tough few years where they have been interrupted with training, gym usage and everyday operations and have done a remarkable job. The completion of the build has seen an incredible upgrade of our players facilities including medical, changerooms, utilities, ice bath areas and meeting rooms. The redevelopment has also seen the inclusion of two changerooms under the Western Stand, new umpire facilities and a canteen to service our members.

We experience departures through retirement or simply as a result of player movement and wish all our departing players all the very best for the future and thank them for their commitment to the Norwood Football Club.

We are delighted to have attracted several interstate recruits and are excited by our developing players who have been Reserves or Under 18 Premiers over the last two years. We welcome back to the club Paul Puopolo, Henry Crauford and Jacob Kennerley. We also welcome Michael Knoll, Matt Vardanega, Mitch Cotter, Jai Larkins, Harry Boyd, Jackson Callow and Billy Haebich.

We also welcome new senior staff members to the Norwood Football Club. Firstly, our Senior Coach Jade Rawlings who comes with enormous AFL experience has a proven coaching record and has already had an immediate impact on our playing group. We look forward to what Jade brings to our team and our club. We also welcome Rob Harding to the Parade in 2021. The club will fill a new position this season ‘Football Services Manager’. This role will include both football administration combined with senior assistant and Reserves coaching role. We also welcome Matt Coady to the role of Venue manager. This is a significant role as we move into this new chapter of the football club, which sees us now have a fully operational function centre which holds the Norwood Function Room and Premiers Bar. I encourage all our members, supporters, and partners to embrace the function centre and utilise it to the best of their ability. Please feel free to contact Matt to organise your next event at the Norwood Football Club.

I would like to acknowledge the SANFL for the work that they carried out in the most difficult of seasons in 2020 and we offer our congratulations to the new incoming CEO Darren Chandler and we look forward to working strongly with the League into the future.

What can you look forward to in 2021?

• We will host all five AFLW matches in support of the Adelaide Football Club and the Women’s league.
• You will see an exciting brand of football which will be showcased across 18 rounds including a host of night matches at Coopers Stadium.
• You will see advancements in the utilization of our LED Screen and the AV throughout the entire venue.
• The club will boast bigger and better corporate facilities and offerings and we will be host to several events including festivals and community events.
• We intend to celebrate members nights every Thursday with team selection and club updates to keep our members informed regularly.
• There have been some upgrades to the Nor East Facility to ensure comfort for its patrons and we are excited about our membership offerings for 2021.

In closing, we have lots to look forward to in the immediate and long-term future and your ongoing support is critical to the club’s future success which we greatly appreciate.

Yours sincerely,

James Fantasia

CEO