The 2019 Football season was again another successful season for GUFC with 1603 registered players, making up 131 teams, playing on 2 fields, and 2 satellite fields.

This makes GUFC one of the largest clubs in the SSFA and one of the largest Junior Football Clubs in NSW.  GUFC fields teams in practically all of the SSFA groups and divisions including:

U6, U7, U8, U9, U10, U11 & U12 Age Groups (Boys & Girls Combined)

U13, U14, U15, U16, U18 & U21 Age Groups For Young Men

Junior Women (JW), including JW12, JW14, JW16, JW18 & JW21

Senior Women (SW), including All-Age Divisions & Over 30’s

Senior Men including All-Age Divisions, Over 35’s & Over 45’s

GUFC take pride of all of our team’s efforts and enjoy watching our players have fun whilst they develop their skills and reach their highest potential in football.  We share their love of football and celebrate their remarkable achievements in 2019.

Congratulations to the following teams for their consistent high-performance throughout the season to achieve the following:

2019 Minor Premiers & Premiers:  15A, W18C, W30B2

2019 Premiers: 12B, W16C1, W18A2

2019 Runners Up: JW14D, 21A, SWE, AL05, 35A, 45D

2019 Semi Finalists: 12E, 13A, 16A, 16B, 21B2, 35D, AL2, AL7(2), AL9(1), AL10, AL11(2), AL13, JW12A, W14B,  JW16A1, JW18A1, W30B1, SWC1                    

GUFC entered teams into the prestigious State, Robertson & Bill Cullinan Cup Competitions:   13A, 15A, 16A,  18A, 21A,  35A, AL1, W16A/1,JW18A/1,JW18A/2, SWA.

A great achievement by our 15A for their efforts in reaching the NSW State Cup Final 2019. They displayed proficient football skills, and amazing teamwork. Well done to their coach and everyone involved, for their efforts.

Huge congratulations to our 15A for qualifying for Football NSW Champion of Champions (Coc) 2019. The boys were defeated in Round 3, we wish them all the best for the future.

This year GUFC celebrated its 60th Year Anniversary. All Our members received a complimentary commemorative training shirt to mark the milestone. To help celebrate our 60th anniversary, and the history we have with the Titans, GUFC decided to sponsor the Titan of the Year Award, with a trophy to be named the ‘Teal Cup’ and a small gift. Congratulations to the very first winner, Zac Mckenzie.

Our next project will be our clubhouse expansion. It represents our club philosophy:  Friendly, Family-Oriented and Community Focussed.

Our GUFC Football Academy continues to flourish, with the guidance of George Fernandez. It is really starting to show great progress, with numbers always growing. The Academy was introduced to enhance Football Skills for players of all skill levels.  Jon Long and the the SSFA also introduced a Coach the Coaches program, which is really starting to give coaches some help to develop our many players.

GUFC in accordance with SSFA, continues to use Shared Services. Many clubs are faced with a problem of having diminishing numbers of volunteers helping out to run the club. Shared Services assists clubs to cover many of the jobs that need to be done.

GUFC is totally operated by volunteers consisting of the committee, coaches, managers, parents, family members and other stakeholders. The Club exists, runs and flourishes due to their planning, dedication, and self-less and tireless efforts. 

We thank each and every one of our volunteers who make “everything happen” each week.

GUFC presents two awards annually to our much appreciated volunteers:

Giant of the Year – outstanding services by a volunteer committee person

President’s Award – outstanding services by a volunteer

Congratulations and Many Thanks to:

Paul Worthy recipient of the 2018 President’s Award, for spending many years assisting the club on the Committee, both as General Committee Officer, and Executive Committee Officer. Paul is currently the club Vice President.

Mel Opperman recipient of the 2018 Giant of the Year Award, for her years of dedicated service as a Committee Officer, initially as General Committee and currently as Sponsorship Officer.

At our AGM last year, Life Memberships were awarded to Lisa Brown, Cherie Donoghue, Mark Hildebrandt, and Anthony Severino, for many years of dedication and commitment to GUFC.

Congratulations to Michael Blumor, who this year received a SSFA Merit Award, for many years of dedicated service to GUFC. Michael has been on our committee for 14 years. In that time, he has predominantly been our treasurer, and currently our very popular Barman.

Lisa Brown was awarded the inaugural Bill Charlton Fair Play Perpetual Trophy.  This was an initiative by the SSFA, where the nominee needs to have shown an act of fair play or goodwill during the season, which stood out to a club, other than your own. Well done Lisa, a thoroughly deserved award.

We would like to express our gratitude to our Sponsors for their steadfast commitment and support of GUFC throughout the 2019 season. 

We also thank the SSFA. The support from Jeff, Matt, Jon, Brooke, Jo, Barbara, Mel, Julie and Kim is truly amazing.

Lastly we thank the Referees, Council and other Clubs for ensuring players enjoyed football every week during the 2019 season.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a wonderful summer. 

ANTHONY SEVERINO

PRESIDENT