What a start to the 2011 season for the Hurstbridge Football Club. Off the field the club has copped some criticism from outsiders claiming the rise to Division 2 will make it hard for Hurstbridge to win a game in the seniors. They were well and truly silenced come Saturday night.
It was a very big day at the club as not only was the club celebrating its rise to Division 2 it also ran its inaugural President Lunch which was hosted by our new football manager Russell Humpfrys. Other speakers included President Mark Donnelly, Bendigo Banks Darryl Brookes and the headline speaker, Richmond’s coach of the century – Tommy Hafey. Special guests included from the NFL – Delwyn Berry and Tony Topp and local councillor Lewis Brock.
The lunch was witnessed by 80 people which is a fantastic turnout and the club looks forward to hosting another Presidents lunch in Round 18, the last home and away round of the season.
The star of the lunch, Tommy Hafey, gave a fantastic speech mainly focussing on the importance of football clubs in the community and the importance of sponsors keeping the clubs running. There were some very humourous moments in Tommys speech which we’ll keep to those who attended the lunch, but Toms passion of life and football is as clear as it was from when he first became involved in this great game.
At 2pm the clubs proudest moment of the day came when the 2010 premiership flag was unfurled in front of the Hurstbridge faithful, and we were all honoured to see Tommy Hafey rise the flag up for the Bridges. Tommy could be heard saying how much it was a proud moment for him and club as he raised the flag – one of those great moments in football.
If we havn’t pumped the bloke up enough it must be mentioned that Tommy stayed for the entire day and watched the Bridges upset Mernda by 15 points in a high scoring thrilling game of football. Welcome back to Division 2 Bridges and we look forward to many more wins this season.
