It was with great honour that I received life membership of GUFC at the end of 2018 alongside three other extremely hard working executive committee members in Anthony Severino, Cherie Donoghue and Lisa Brown.
When I began coaching my daughter’s Under 5 girls side it didn’t take long before I felt the urge to contribute more and so joined the committee in 2007 hoping to ensure women and girls were looked after at GUFC. In the ensuing years I met and worked with some awesome people, played with great mates and coached some terrific players from Under 6’s to 21’s! I have had the opportunity to be a Head Coach, Vice President and Registrar at one of the biggest clubs in the Shire and in doing so worked alongside some great people including the three others who received life membership in 2018 as well as previous life members who likewise have made significant contributions to GUFC’s success.
Anthony Severino has been on the committee for over a decade and in the last 3 years in the difficult position of President. Not only has he been President but he continues to coach all three sides his children play in and has done so for a decade. Anthony’s love of the club and ability to involve others in the club are second to none.
Cherie Donoghue joined the committee in 2009 and the following year took on the difficult role of secretary. In recent years Cherie is the face behind both our amazing website, newsletter and Facebook page. Each year 1000’s involved in GUFC utilise our website to be up to date with the latest club news and the quality of our website is largely due to the tireless efforts of Cherie.
Lisa Brown also joined the club a decade ago and it wasn’t too long before she took on one of the registrar roles at GUFC. Lisa does a truly amazing job each year to ensure over 1500 players are registered and some 130 sides formed. When the first ball is kicked in Round 1 Lisa has already spent countless hours resolving all registration issues and does so without fuss. In recent years registration has become even more complex with online registration and Lisa ensures every player is registered successfully.
All three of these life members play a crucial role in the running of GUFC and thoroughly deserve their life memberships and it was an honour to be nominated alongside all 3 of them.
Yours sincerely
Mark Hildebrandt