Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Mornington Peninsula Football Netball League

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (10:12): On the weekend we had a massive grand final at Frankston’s Kinetic Stadium as the Chelsea Seagulls took on the Edithvale–Aspendale Eagles across a wonderful afternoon of sporting effort. We saw netball and football and the best parts of community come together. We had thousands that came, together with our federal member Mark Dreyfus, the federal member for Isaacs. As the member for Mordialloc, it would not surprise you, Deputy Speaker, that I wore the colours of the Chelsea Seagulls and the Edi–Asp Eagles. It is not my policy to fence sit, but when the Edi–Asp team brought home the flag, it was probably one of the more significant moments in those dying minutes.

I want to give a big shout-out to Verity Connellan, who is an outstanding leader in our community as president of Edithvale–Aspendale sporting club, bringing together a governance structure chaired by Graham Fountain, who has done a range of work as fire captain for Edithvale CFA. Under that board and leadership we have one of the strongest clubs in our community. Under the leadership of Michael Davies at the Chelsea Seagulls, we see the Chelsea Seagulls in their strongest form for many years. The governance structure there, the community outreach for football and netball and the junior participation see hundreds of kids across these two clubs participating in footy and netball in our patch. At Edi–Asp, a big shout-out to Kris Pendlebury and Leah Percy, who are the coaches of the year. Edithvale Aspendale Football Club is also division 2 club of the year. It is a great success and a testament to those leading our community clubs.