Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the 2013 Crichton Medal at Crown Palladium.
Tonight, we come together to celebrate the 2013 season after one of the most challenging and extraordinary years in the history of our great club.
The Crichton Medal is a special night – it is a chance for us to acknowledge the many outstanding achievements of the year and raise a toast to the best and fairest player of the 2013 season.
Champions like Reynolds, Coleman, Hutchison, Hird, Fletcher, Tim Watson and Jobe Watson have all inspired fans for generations and have their names etched in history as winners of this prestigious award.
At this point I’d like to acknowledge and thank some very important members of the Essendon family, for their continued support of our club.
Firstly, to our members, thank you for your loyalty and passion – you are the heart and soul of Essendon.
Thank you to our wonderful coterie groups
- Essendonians (Peter Hughes)
- Diamond Dons (Stephen Day)
- Red & Blacks (Paul Spallane)
- Lawdons (Tony Howard)
- Collins St Dons (Kevin Dale, Phil Pryor, Tim Donohue)
- Essendon Woman’s Network (Jane Grover)
- Emerging Leaders (Simon Davies)
And to our first 18, you are a special group – your great support and shared vision for the next generation of Essendon supporters is a critical investment in the future of our club.
I have every confidence that the High Performance Centre that you’ve helped create, will lead to the next golden era for our Club.
I would like to formally acknowledge and thank Ray Gunston. Ray took over as our interim CEO at a critical time for the club and has done an enormous job guiding the ship through a very complex and difficult situation.
Thank you to the very talented and hard working people in our administration and executive staff who have not complained about the events of this year but got on with job of running the club.
I’d also like to acknowledge and thank our former Chairman David Evans who is in the room tonight with his wife Sonya.
David, the leadership and fortitude you provided the Board and the entire Club, during your time as Chairman, should never be underestimated.
You brought great vision, compassion and strength to the role and our Club owes you a great debt for the time and commitment you gave all of us at the Essendon Football Club.
Another great Essendon person was recognised this year with Ron Kirwan becoming our Number 1 ticket holder – Ronny, thank you for your ongoing support.
I’d like to pay tribute to our loyal sponsors and commercial partners who have also been unwavering in their support this year.
In particular, to our co-major partners, Kia Motors Australia and True Value Solar, in a difficult situation you have been generous with your time and very supportive to the Club.
Three long-standing sponsors renewed their partnerships with the club this year.
Antler, represented tonight by managing director Sonney Roth.
And Yakult, represented tonight by managing director Kenji Ono.
And Toll, represented by Brian Kruger tonight.
Sonney, Kenji and Brian, welcome and thank you for your ongoing support of our club.
Thank you also to:
- Red Energy, represented tonight by Ian Graham
- Bendigo Bank, represented by Philip Stewart and
Aaron Hawkins - Adidas
- HostPLUS
- Jonsson Workwear
- Treasury Wine Estate
- Bosch, represented by Mark Blacker
- And Allied Pickfords
Tonight, is not a night to dwell on the recent ASADA investigation, but as the worst is now behind us, I believe it is important to give everyone here my thoughts on mistakes made during the 2012/2013 seasons.
As a Club we can’t point to any one person, event, or moment in time to sheet home the blame for the mistakes made, which ultimately led to significant sanctions against the Club and individuals.
The issues at the centre of the investigation were complex and evolved over a number of months, so it’s worth briefly focusing on what went wrong and why.
The Essendon football department structure in 12/13 was typical of most Clubs in the AFL, particularly prior to the Essendon investigation becoming public.
In early 2012 we had a strong football department that sought and was given pretty much everything it needed to achieve success. Corners were cut, budgets mostly ignored, policies and procedures invariably received lip service only.
We employed the wrong people in our high performance area in our search for success, and allowed them to operate in a poorly supervised manner.
Protocols and procedures were vague and resulted in blurred accountability throughout most operational areas of the football department.
In 2013 it was unanimously agreed by the Board that the Club had a problem and that we should self report our concerns to the AFL and ASADA immediately.
The two Essendon employees at the centre of the investigation left the Club and to this day, still have not been charged by any party.
Since the allegations against the EFC were first raised, the Club has lost three senior executives including Chairman,
CEO and Football Manager, plus we have seen the suspension of our Senior Coach and three of the coaching team.
So to say it’s been a difficult time for the Club is a gross understatement.
Our players who were playing for top spot during Round 17 were unable to play finals football, even though finishing comfortably inside the eight.
Just to keep the Club running and functioning normally each day has been very stressful and difficult to achieve throughout the course of this year.
But it is very important to note that we have come a very long way since self reporting in February.
We understand the impact our failures have had on the Club, its players, staff, sponsors, and on our supporters and members.
It is important that our members and supporters know that we are sorry for what has happened.
We must now channel our energy towards restructuring the Club and rebuilding our brand, to ensure these mistakes can never reoccur, and to build a stronger and successful Essendon Football Club for 2014 and beyond.
An important body of work is now underway to rebuild the Essendon brand. As part of this process, we will be ‘listening’ to our members and supporters to help shape the future direction of our Club. Already, we are in the process of conducting a series of research initiatives to ensure we understand the views of our supporters.
As of tonight, our members and supporters will be able to directly communicate with the Club via email Twitter.
We all have an important role to play. We are listening and we want to hear from you.
Many other things have already changed within the Club and these initiatives will continue, with plans well advanced for next season.
We have already implemented substantial reforms to corporate governance structures, people management procedures and medical protocols, to ensure our 2013 on field success will be underpinned in the future by a strong and efficient administration.
Whilst our on field performance for season 2013 was a very creditable 14 wins, it’s crucial we carry this momentum into next year. As a Club and a playing group we must not treat 2014 as a gap year.
Excitingly, the Club’s administration is scheduled to move from Windy Hill to Melbourne Airport later this month and the players will begin full training at our new home in November.
The official opening of the High Performance Centre has been scheduled for mid-November, with an exclusive open day for financial donors planned for December.
Building a facility of this quality and scale comes at a cost and the club has put in place long term debt for the first time in our history.
It’s important for our members and supporters to know the Club planned for this level of debt in its projected financial forecasting.
We have achieved over 70% of our total fundraising target for the new facility thanks in part to many generous contributions to the Flight Plan campaign.
However, the reality is we now need more help from our members and supporters to reduce this debt as quickly as possible.
Of course, moving our training base also means bidding farewell to our grand old lady, Windy Hill.
The facilities and grounds will be opened up for community use and the Essendon VFL team will continue to play home games at the ground.
The fitness centre, social club and the Bomber Shop will all remain and continue to operate as normal, while the admin building will soon have a new tenant.
Importantly, Windy Hill will always remain our spiritual home.
I genuinely believe that we have the talent and resolve in our playing and coaching group to evolve next year as a serious top four contender.
To James Hird, we know this year has been very challenging in many ways, but I also know you will come back stronger and better equipped to achieve success for the Essendon Football Club.
To Danny, Bomber and Bruce, you also have had to endure a tough and stressful year. Thank you for fighting hard and staying true to the club.
Unfortunately we are not in a position to announce our interim coach for 2014 tonight, although we are very close and hope to be able to give you details next week.
This year, we broke our all time membership record with over 56,000 members – our next challenge is to hit 60,000 members in season 2014.
History might remember the 2013 season for all the wrong reasons but we cannot and will not let the events of this year define our club.
We have 140 years of proud history, built on strong values and guiding pillars that have stood the test of time and will continue to remind us all that we are proudly Essendon.
Thank you and Go Bombers!
