Michaels Ave
Pavilion Project

BREAKING NEWS

- CONSENT AWARDED

- BUILDING STARTED

We are still trying to raise funding to complete the project - find out more by clicking the above button

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 2022

Welcome back to both our existing members and families, as well as those of you who have decided to join our Club for the first time, as we prepare for, hopefully, a more satisfying season of football, after the Covid dramas of the past 2 years. We trust that your experience at our club will be an enjoyable one.

Although we got off to a great start in 2021, the Lockdowns experienced in the latter part of the season certainly caused frustration for both our members, and the Club. Your administration and coaching personnel still managed to provide quality experiences for our members, in spite of numerous roadblocks, so we need to acknowledge their commitment to the Club, and also to you, our members, for staying with us through these unprecedented times, with a vote of thanks.

With vaccination rates continuing to climb, it appears that some element of “normality” may return to football in 2022, but we will continue to be guided in our future actions by the Ministry of Health and the Government. There still remains uncertain times ahead and your Executive Committee must continue to plan accordingly.

But onto the forthcoming 2022 season and you will see some changes in personnel around the Club. Our Operations Director, Kelly Bolus has resigned to take up a similar position with Western Springs AFC, enabling her to be closer to home. Also, Dave Edmondson, our Premier Mens’ First Team coach has resigned, due to increased work commitments at his primary employment base, Macleans College. We would like to thank them both for their efforts and commitment in upholding the values of this Club.

In finding persons to fill those vacancies, we have been fortunate in securing people that have a previous history and empathy with Ellerslie AFC. Ashleigh Taylor will take on the Football Operations Manager role, and having started preparation for the new season last December, will be responsible for administrating our teams going forward. In addition, Ben Fletcher has also been appointed in a dual role, being the new Premier Men’s First Team coach, as well as filling a new Football Development Manager’s role, in order to bolster our resources and commitment in the Youth coaching space.

The Club would like to welcome these two highly qualified persons, and we are confident that they will both have a positive impact for our membership. Ryan Shiffman remains as our Director of Coaching, as well as Premier Women’s First Team coach, whilst Fred de Jong takes more of an overseeing role within the Coaching department, as Technical Director.

As far as Facilities are concerned, you would have already seen that construction has started on the new Amenities/Clubrooms Complex , which has been on the drawing board for some 17 years!!! Completion of the first stage of this build is scheduled for July 2022, with the Club still requiring to raise further monies to enable the internal fitout of the Upper Clubrooms level to be completed. If you can assist here with a donation, please go to the Homepage on our website and click on the “ESC Clubrooms Appeal” button.

The quality of the Club’s current, and proposed facilities has attracted the attention of FIFA, with the Club being shortlisted as a Team Training venue for the Women’s World Cup in 2023. A final selection decision on such venues is scheduled for early 2022.

With regard to the Club’s Strategic Plan, the events of 2021 severely curtailed the resources required to organize/participate in workshops that will enable a reformulation of this document for the next 5 years. However, it is your Executive Committee’s desire to move this initiative forward during the course of 2022. As our membership has said before, maintaining and enhancing the “Community Feel” of the Club remains uppermost in your Executive Committee’s minds and endeavours on your behalf.

To that end, I would like to reach out to our parents, guardians and/or members to invite you to participate in your Executive Committee. It is designed to be a governance body for the Club, and thus, expertise in HR, Business Planning, Finance and the like would be welcomed, as new perspectives can only assist the Club to be more sustainable in the future. Please make contact with the writer by email below if you would like to discuss this further.

In conclusion, a thank you to our various Committee Members for their respective time and energies, to our Sponsors and Charitable Trusts that provide much needed financial support, and to our various members/parents that give freely of their time to ensure that Ellerslie teams are visible in all competitions.

May I wish you all the best as you participate, support and succeed across the football fields of Auckland, under the red, black and gold colours of Ellerslie Football Club. Let’s just hope that we can all enjoy an uninterrupted season in 2022!!!

Kind regards

Mark B. Weipers

President

Email : markw@location.co.nz

December 2021