Annual Report 2006

Our identified main goals for 2006 were fivefold:
o to keep four competitive men's teams on the pitch;
o to see our First Grade team play in, and hopefully win, the 2006 premiership;
o to retain the West End Trophy;
o to complete the club's renovations and to finance those renovations with minimum debt.

Each of these goals was achieved, despite a sluggish start on all fronts.
The first two months of the season were conspicuously difficult. Our renovations took longer than anticipated and we could not host any home games until the end of July. This had a negative impact on our results on the field, club morale and our profits over the bar. We had weeks with many players unavailable due to state commitments, work or injury. The clubrooms were broken into and the club lost cash and equipment to the tune of many thousands of dollars. At the end of July, our First Grade had only a 50% win rate. Fortunately, the tide turned and we finished strong; these early hiccoughs were soon forgotten.

We again fielded four senior men's teams and a women's team; we are the only club in SA to do so. Thanks go to all players, managers and coaches for their commitment. It is this commitment that led us to retain the West End Trophy for best club for the sixth consecutive year. The West End Trophy is proof that we remain the strongest club in South Australia in terms of participation and development of rugby.

We saw our First Grade remain as a close knit, loyal and successful unit and I applaud them for their hard work and their commitment to their rugby, their club and each other. I would particularly like to thank coach Rob Sadler and managers Hamish Cranna and Harry Clark for their work with the team. Season 2006 will obviously be remembered for their grand final success, but it should also be celebrated for strong performances in all grades. In addition to the glorious First XV, our Women's XV, Second XV and Fourth XV all played in finals and put in some good solid work which we can build on for greater successes in 2007.

The Club's renovations of the kitchen and showers are now all but complete, after a few years' delay! My eternal thanks to Mark Pickard of Direct Interiors, Calum Mackie of Waterproof Plumbing, Jim Denley and his team, Gordon Hazzard of Southern Plasterboard and to all the clubmen who assisted throughout. Their generosity of time, materials and funds has made all this possible. We now boast some very, very nice facilities which will stand us in good stead for years to come. Again, thanks to the generosity of a number of people, we have been able to fund the renovations with minimum pain. The government grant covered the process of demolition and much of the cost of the renovations was borne by the fantastic generosity of Mark Pickard. Nevertheless, we have had to find many thousands of dollars to pay for labour and materials and this has been done by in the main by careful belt-tightening and enthusiastic fundraising. My thanks to the senior committee for the former and the whole club for the latter (and in particular to the David Ludlow, the third grade and women's team for their fundraising efforts and to Peter Policki for his help gaining some cash sponsorship.)

Our juniors developed further with increases in player numbers and on-field successes, including all teams participating in finals (other than the Under 8s and Under 10s, whose competition does not include a finals series). Neil and Ann Bradley again outdid themselves in their management of the Junior ranks and I thank them. Neil has now retired from the management of the Juniors and he leaves us in an excellent position to continue the pattern of growth and improvement at which he has worked so hard to achieve.

We were fortunate to boast a number of SARU award winners in 2006:
o Andy Farquharson, winner of the Don Smith Medal for Best and Fairest player in SA in 2006, SARU's Trophy for Best Back in 2006 and the award for Best Player in the Physio Direct Black Falcons.
o Bec Manson, winner of the Edna Reilly Trophy for Best and Fairest women's player in SA in 2006.
o Kate Reynolds, winner of the Lito Fata Trophy for Best Women's State Player in SA in 2006.
o Brad McDonald, winner of the trophy for Best and Fairest Junior player in the SA competition.

Sponsorship continued to be a critical part of the club's income in order to keep subscriptions down and cover the growing costs associated with providing rugby and facilities to our members. Several business and people provided much needed cash or in-kind sponsorship in 2006, and special thanks must go to Physio Direct, Direct Interiors, One Steel, the Feathers, Coopers Brewery, Hygienic Pigging Systems, Orlando Wines, O'Connell Meats, Dulwich Bakery, Athlete's Foot, Champs Sport Store, GHD, the Mortar & Pestle Café, Ballroom Billiards and a number of individual benefactors.

Senior player numbers remained approximately static. We collected slightly more in subscriptions this year, despite giving discounts for early payment. There has been an improvement in the number of players paying their subscriptions across the teams, with particularly solid efforts from the First Grade and the Women. After a very slow start to the social season thanks to the lack of home games, we eventually saw some good nights at the club but recorded a drop in bar and canteen profits overall. Thanks go to Curtis Hale and Sue Thewlis who again provided great service behind the bar and at the canteen, which continue to be our greatest sources of income.

We were, as usual, dependant on a small group of dedicated volunteers who provided match reports, canteen services, line marking, ground set up and take down, cleaning and many other jobs to provide an enjoyable environment for our players and supporters.
Thanks to the senior committee:
o Kim Evans, President
o Graham Raymond, Vice President
o Sue Thewlis, Secretary
o Ian Barrie, Treasurer
o Tara Naige, Social Director
o Danny McCartan, Director of Rugby

Thanks also to Club Captain David Ludlow and Selectors, Ted Apted and Barry Nichol.
My especial thanks go to all those who perform the mundane, regular duties which keep the club going.
In particular, my undying admiration and gratitude goes to:
o Ted Apted for line marking, ground set up and take down, manning the scoreboard, managing the recycling and a thousand other thankless tasks;
o Neil and Anne Bradley for their work with the juniors but also for their help with managing the ground and the clubrooms.
o Sue Thewlis for running the canteen, and generally without whom we would all be lost.
o Rob Sadler, our First Grade coach and absolute stalwart of the club.
o Paul Horne, for his management of the website whether he's based in England, India or Adelaide.
o Michael Lowe, Bec Manson and Kate Denley, (and their team) who provide first aid and physiotherapy support.
o Denzil Church, who as an adjunct to his role as 2nd XV Manager also kept records of games played and players' injuries which made the processes of selection and finals qualification much simpler.

Full accounts and reports from the AGM are available to any club member who was not able to be present at the AGM in December 2006.

In closing, I thank the committee, coaches, managers and players for their support and hard work in 2006. The community of this rugby club is second to none and I am privileged to be a part of its continued success.

Kim Evans
President

Junior Rugby

The Junior side of Old Collegians prospered during 2006

We are the second largest Junior Club in SA. We continued our growth from 2005 with a small increase when most other Clubs went backwards. Where we do have a problem is in the age demographics.
We are very strong in the U8, U14, U16 and U18, but not very strong for those in between.

On the Coaching side we were ably assisted by:

U8s: Trisha Abbott and David Rowe,
U10s: David Pridham and Tony Wilkinson,
U12s: Tony Hervey and Matt Hodgson,
U14s: Simon Maklin, Guy Barrett and Wil Chattaway,
U16s: John Sullivan, Mike Campion and Jon Neate,
U18s: initially John Bell who had to give up during the year for work reasons and his position was taken by Jim Hartnet.

We would also like to mention the effort that our first grade coach put in advising the new coaches how to go about the coaching business. They were also supported by a number of parents as team managers. We thank each one of them for the part they played.

On the rugby side, the U16s won the Preseason 7s competition and the U12s the plate. In the home and away competition all teams showed progress and development through the series. All teams for which there were finals, made it to the semis. Unfortunately none made the grand finals. The Club had representatives in all State teams.

The following achieved State representation: Brad McDonald, Hugh Lord, Tom Nutt, Will Sadler, Jack Campion, Edward Lucas, Jamie Foster, James Neate, Alex Velarto, Nathan Linder- Patten, Daren Pinkerton and Stewart Nutt.

Brad McDonald won the Best and Fairest player in the Junior union. We congratulate him for that. He and a number of his team mates will be joining the seniors next year.

The annual Club scholarships this year were awarded to Hugh Lord from the U18s and Gary Bautz of the U16s, to attend the Brumbies Development Camp being held at the AIS in January.

The SAJRU voted to disband itself at the end of 2006 and its functions have been absorbed into the senior union. We have supported this move as it brings SA Rugby into line with the rest of Australia and provides support from the SARU where there was none previously.