Good Evening.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the 2014 Crichton Medal here at Crown Palladium.
The Crichton Medal is the players’ night and an important time to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the year.
I would like to begin tonight by addressing the ongoing ASADA investigation and the events of recent weeks.
As you are aware, the Board of the Essendon Football Club took the decision in June to challenge the legality of the joint AFL / ASADA investigation. The Board was unanimous in its decision to proceed with the challenge, based on strong legal advice that the investigation was unlawful and ASADA had acted beyond power.
The Judge however determined that ASADA acted within its charter and was able to effectively use the coercive powers of the AFL to conduct its investigation.
Our priority throughout this process has always been our players. As a result, the Board has decided not to pursue an appeal against the Federal Court judgment.
We are of the strong belief that if there is no appeal, the show cause process will recommence immediately and both ASADA and the AFL will undertake to move with as much expedition as possible.
It is therefore my recommendation to all of you here tonight and our supporters generally, that it is now time to accept the Federal Court’s decision and move on.
Our priority remains the welfare of our players and protecting their rights. Through no fault of their own, the players and their families continue to live with the uncertainty of this investigation.
Based on two years of extensive internal investigation plus re-examination of all the evidence and information available, we at the Club maintain our confidence, that neither harmful nor banned substances were given to our players.
We have incurred the most severe penalties of any AFL club. The Club, its members and supporters have all felt the pain of this stressful chapter of our recent history.
For the players’ sake, it is time for the Club and its Directors to place our collective energy and resources into expediting this process, and not stop until we have cleared our players’ names, once and for all.
Together, we should all be very proud of our players for the way they have conducted themselves under the toughest conditions imaginable in 2014.
Can I ask our playing group to stand.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have before you the players of the Essendon Football Club.
I want to say something to them – something from us all.
I don’t think that, anywhere in the country, you can find a finer group of young men.
- young men who have shown so much courage under adversity,
- young men who have had to come out to battle each weekend, facing so much outside pressure and distraction
- young men, who throughout it all, have shown extraordinary strength of character
Please put your hands together for them.
On the field, there is no doubt it was a very promising season, albeit one which produced a disappointing finish.
Our performance against North Melbourne in the elimination final exposed our biggest weakness,
our lack of consistency.
It is clear we have the talent to compete against the best teams in the competition, but it is also clear we have a lot of hard work ahead of us to become a serious contender when it matters most, in September.
There were many individual achievements and positives from the year worth celebrating:
Congratulations to Dyson Heppell and Cale Hooker – both named in the 2014 All Australian side, a wonderful achievement.
Joe Daniher and Jake Carlisle gave us an exciting glimpse of what the future holds for our forward line.
Michael Hurley had arguably his best season holding down centre half back, he was rarely beaten.
And it was great to see Joe Daniher and Zach Merrett both nominated for the 2014 Rising Star award.
In fact, we had 8 players make their debut in 2014 – congratulations to Jason Ashby, Ariel Steinberg,
Zach Merrett, Dylan Van Unen, Marty Gleeson,
Kurt Aylett, Arazio Fantasia and Paddy Ambrose all donning the sash for the first time.
I would like to officially thank Mark Thompson for his outstanding efforts in coaching the team during the 2014 season.
Bomber has endeared himself to the football public and played a pivotal role in the development of our team for the future.
We hope to be in a position announce exciting details about Bomber’s future role in the next few days.
I’d also like to acknowledge Simon Goodwin and wish him all the best for his new role at the Melbourne Football Club. Goody, it goes without saying you will make a fantastic senior coach in the years to come. Good luck from everyone at the Bombers.
Off the field, there are many significant achievements worth noting this year – in particular, the continued growth and loyal support of our membership base.
In 2014 we reached a record 60,646 members, over 4,000 members more than in the previous year.
We had the 4th highest membership in the AFL, the highest ever number of members renewed and we had more than half a million people attend Essendon games in 2014.
The unwavering support of our members is truly inspiring and something we at Board level don’t take for granted.
As a Club, it is our responsibility, as players, coaches and administrators to repay the faith of our members.
You are the lifeblood of our Club and collectively we must strive to be the most respected, successful and inclusive club in Australian sport – one that consistently sets the benchmark on and off the field.
Commercially, our turnover exceeded $64 million for the first time. Record sponsorship from new and existing commercial partners is very encouraging.
Importantly, our community footprint continues to prosper with meaningful programs and partnerships.
In particular, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of both the Dreamtime at the 'G and The Long Walk this year – two significant achievements unique to our Club and a genuine source of pride for everyone associated with Essendon.
One of the key foundations that enabled our growth this year and will continue to support our development is our magnificent new training and administration base, at the True Value Solar Centre.
As already discussed, the Club entered into a planned debt program to fund our state of the art facility. Thank you to the thousands of our members and fans who chose to donate to the facility.
We have reduced our debt from $5 million to $3.52 million– an excellent effort and one that is very much appreciated.
It is important to reiterate that any donation made to the club through our membership renewal is optional and any donation will go towards our new facility or football equipment.
I would like to finish by acknowledging and thanking some very important members of the Essendon family for their continued support of our club.
Thank you to our wonderful coterie groups
- Essendonians (Peter Hughes)
- Diamond Dons (Stephen Day)
- Red & Blacks (Paul Spillane)
- Lawdons (Tony Howard)
- Collins Street Dons (Kevin Dale, Phil Pryor, Tim Donohue)
- Essendon Woman’s Network (Jane Grover)
- Emerging Leaders (Simon Davies)
- Number 1 ticket holder Ronny Kirwan
- And to our First 18
We are extremely grateful for your continued support and shared vision for the future of Essendon.
I would like to formally acknowledge and congratulate our new CEO, Xavier Campbell. Xavier took over as our CEO at a critical time for the Club and has done an exemplary job guiding the ship through a very complex and difficult set of circumstances. It has been a baptism of fire to say the least but one that will hold him and the Club in good stead in the years to come.
I would also like to thank our Commercial Partners.
Firstly to our Major Event Partner for this evening – Bluestar Global Logistics – I would like to welcome Muzi and Khalil Eideh and thank them for their passionate support of our Club and tonight’s great event.
To our Co-Major Partners in Fujitsu General andKia Motors Australia – your support this year has been nothing short of extraordinary, and we as a Club are eager to repay the faith over the coming years.
To Philip Perham (Deputy Managing Director) and Dave Smith (General Manager Sales and Marketing) at Fujitsu, a special welcome to you being your first Crichton Medal as Major Partners of the Club. I thank you both for your commitment to our great Club.
To our Naming Rights partner in True Value Solar, I would like to thank Leon Siebel (Group General Manager) for his longstanding support of the Bombers. The True Value Solar Centre is not only a world class training facility for our players, but will also shortly be a world class energy efficient facility thanks to the support of Leon and his wonderful team at True Value Solar.
To our Official Apparel Partner in adidas, I would like to welcome Steve Castledine (General Manager) to his first Crichton Medal and, having only recently joined adidas, also to the Essendon family. Steve we thank you and your team for your tireless efforts in producing the best quality playing and merchandise apparel in the AFL.
To our Match Ball partner and dear friends at Yakult, I would like to welcome Mr Kenji Ono (Managing Director). As the longest standing commercial partner of the Club, your enduring commitment is much appreciated.
To another long standing partner of the Club, Antler, I would like to welcome Sonney Roth (Chief Executive Officer). Anyone who attended the Grand Final Comedy Debate recently will have experienced just one of the many great ways our partnership comes to life through the best looking handbags at an event I’ve seen in some time – my wife thanks you Sonney.
And to our Official Wine Partner, Treasury Wine Estates, I would like to make a special welcome to the team here tonight, represented by George Samios (Fine Wine and Global PR Director) and thank them for their support.
Further, to Sonney Roth at Antler, and to Iain Graham from Red Energy, we are thrilled to have very recently confirmed extensions to our commercial partnerships with your wonderful organisations. This vote of confidence in our Club and its future direction is very much appreciated, and we look forward to working with you both for many years to come.
Finally, as Chairman, I can promise you that the Board will work tirelessly to clear our players’ names and at the same time continue to build a stronger and successful Essendon Football Club for the future.
Have a great night.
GO BOMBERS!
