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Morningside AFC are 72 years strong this year, and on Wednesday we celebrated a fantastic day with all our community as we laid out our future vision for the Club at the 2022 Season Launch Breakfast on Wednesday 23rd of March.
(Special Credit: to Mark Button Photography for photographing the season launch)
The Club is seeing fantastic growth across the board with female representation experiencing exponential growth after reintroducing female teams in 2018. With a record breaking 14 female teams competing in the upcoming season.
It was fantastic to be surrounded by our sponsors and club officials, including My First Gym, Impact Labels, AMJ, All-sports Physio and our longest standing sponsor Downtown Toyota, with a fantastic 37 year partnership as of this year. Since our Toyota Dealer Brisbane's Sponsorship deal, we have seen great success with 9 Senior QAFL premierships and 2 Women's premierships, which really speaks of our commitment to each other and the fantastic partnership.
Our Stakeholder Relations Manager, David Diamond spoke on the Morningside "Siders4Life" culture. He said a "The Siders4Life" values are our DNA which drives us to excel on and off the field, he continued, “(Our Club values) are extremely important as we bring through the younger generations and instil those values to them.”
The Club Chairman, Paul Mazoletti walked us through 3 projects Morningside AFC will be focusing on facilitating into the future.
1. Finishing a bore and tank project in order to automate irrigation and cut major costs on water supply
2. Finishing off the back oval restoration so it is ready for the increased games to come
3. Actively working on securing more green space within the Morningside District to support the growth of the Club.
Special guests Tracey Squires CEO of AFL Queensland and Greg Swann CEO of Brisbane Lions AFL Club attended the breakfast and spoke during a Q&A session on how their plans will affect local Brisbane AFL clubs.
Ms Squires was thrilled to attend and during Q&A outlined AFLQ’s commitments for 2022.
Two main focuses were outlined, female participation and umpires/volunteers.
Ms Squires emphasised the importance of creating a pathway for women into AFL just as Morningside Panthers continue to do so.
Ms Squires also explained that stories that had been relayed to her of women changing in their cars as because of lack of space or facilities for women at their local AFL club – so therefore it has become a primary focus of the AFL to rectify.
Greg Swann outlined that 26 of the 29 Brisbane Lions women's team are in fact from QLD, meaning local Brisbane AFL clubs are instrumental for the future of top tier women's football.
Mr Swann said “Hearing how many junior teams are coming up, (women’s representative sport) is only going to get stronger and stronger.”
The Panthers are excited to see what season 2022 will bring to both our men's and women's teams. We would like to thank our sponsors especially for their fantastic support, once again this coming season.
You can help support the Club as we gear up for round one by entering the GOOD FOR FOOTY RAFFLE. Win a car and support your Club. Downtown Toyota have been so kind to donate the first $500 into the Raffle. To grab a ticket visit the link below. It's a pleasure to be sponsored and supported through all these years from Downtown Toyota throughout Brisbane.