With Christmas and New Year holidays rapidly approaching we wanted to release registration dates for 2009 as early as possible. More details will be published in due course.

We strongly recommend attending the earlier dates and at each designated session please come early to avoid disappointment.

At Lilli Pilli FC we like to register as many young players as possible early on, to help organise teams and grading.

Thursday 29th January 2009 6.00 to 8.00 pm
Saturday 31st January 2009 3.00 to 7.00 pm
Sunday 1st February 2009 3.00 to 7.00 pm
Wednesday 4th February 2009 6.00 to 8.00 pm
Thursday 5th February 2009 6.00 to 8.00 pm

#1. 15 Premierships and 16 Minor Premierships - If you measure success in numbers, we had over 1520 players registered across SSG and all forms of competitions this year. 43 (out of 77) competed in semi finals, 16 won minor premierships and with 20 teams battling through to the grand finals, 15 teams achieved the ultimate prize of premiers, which was a simply outstanding result. Congratulations to our 2008 Premiers, the 10As, 10Bs, 11Ds, 12Ds, 13Cs, 13Ds, 14Cs, 14Ds, 15A1s, 16As, 18As, JW13As, JW21As, AL3s, AL13s, and of course to all other teams that participated this year.

#2. 15A/1s Capture the MBF FNSW Champion of Champions - Congratulations to our 5 teams participating in the Champion of Champions this year (U10A, U15A/1, U16, U18 and JW14A/1). The 16As made it to the semi final and were still in the game deep into Golden Goal Extra time. They were beaten by the eventual champions. The 15A/1s had no such trouble. Midway through the second half of their Final, they lifted a gear and put away 3 goals to secure their first CofC title after a number years of participating in the competition.

#3. 53 Teams participated in the revamped Small Sided Games Format - With the FFA keen to see the nation wide format adopted at grass roots level, I was pleased that Lilli Pilli FC participated in the formation of policy and guidelines in the Sutherland Shire. We'd like to congratulate the Association and in particular the Coaching Committee on this initiative as the players, parents and supporters had an absolute terrific time with this new style of football. Special recognition should be made of Ken Bowrey, Mark Mogridge and Geoff Nilson who took on SSG with great enthusiasm.

#4. Lilli Pilli successfully competed in Conference League for the first time - The Club entered a full squad into the Football NSW Conference League with its home base being Seymour Shaw No1. This was a new venture for the Club and represents an existing development step and provides further opportunities for players who wish to experience an alternative path with their football. The lads achieved success on the park with our Reserves team achieving a hard earned minor premiership and our First grade team having a strong run home just missing out on a semi final spot. Congratulations to Ron, Ross, Gary and Billy and the squad for their tremendous efforts.

#5. Our first full season at Woolooware High School - The club operated out of three venues this year, Lilli Pilli Oval, Glenn McGrath Oval and Woolooware High School (WWHS) and this presents us with constant joy and plenty of challenges. We'd like to thank and recognise the assistance and support we received from Woolooware High School and Sutherland Council. We were able to introduce night football at WWHS which allows some options particularly when demands of State Cup require some flexibility with the draw for our JW teams. We were quite disappointed when one of the WWHS fields became unplayable early in the season and would like to thank RSL for assisting our overflow onto Solander. A big thank you to Gail and Neil Purser for their dedicated assistance with Woolooware High this year.

#6. We had numerous teams who battled hard under difficult circumstances - It was very pleasing that the strong results mentioned above were achieved over the full range of Saturday and Sunday Competitions, all ages and grades reflecting the depth of the club and some truth in grading. Contributing to these results is the quality and commitment of a growing array of hard working coaches. A big cheer to the many teams who competed in their competitions under difficult circumstances, sometimes its a lack of numbers, an unfortunate call which decides a key game or two. We have some teams who bravely took the pitch each week rarely (if ever) taking away any points. These team also did us proud in 2008 and the memories I personally have of our 15A2 team's battles against strong opposition will stay forever. Our depth in the Under 15s is further demonstrated by the tremendous year the 15C1s had our 15C2 were also a team up against it through the year. They kept motoring on and we're proud of their achievements also. I know there are many such tales across our great club. The character and goodwill of Lilli Pilli FC is alive and well. I'd also like to note that an LPFC side made the top 5 in every grade of the Under 18s.

#7. 15 Our All Age (and older) ranks continue to grow strongly - Our O35B, 35C and 45B teams were amongst those which battled hard in 2008. Our AL3s continued their winning run, as did the AL13/1s. Lilli Pilli FC's 2007 champion 21A team took the field in 2008 as AL1s and they had many excellent results against the top teams suggesting there is much more ahead in 2009. The AL7/1s and AL7/2s exchanged plenty of friendly competitive banter through the year and the 7/1s ended up on top when the dust settled. We're expecting the Milkyshake boys to come with great flare and dedication on the football field next year. Congrats to all the AL teams for another big year in the green and gold.

#8. A new Life Member was awarded this year - The Clubs AGM was held in early August. The highlight of the meeting was the awarding of Life membership to our Seniors Registrar Val Forsyth. Val has worked tirelessly on the committee for ten years and this award was richly deserved and widely applauded. Congratulations Val, we're enormously appreciative of all of your efforts over the years.

#9. Girls and Women's football continues to rise with dedicated coaches - In Season 2008, 20 LPFC teams competed in Junior and Senior women's competition in the Sutherland Shire. A highlight was the efforts by an outstanding array of coaches across our women's teams this year. Mark Parsons, Ross Birdsall, Mark and Rob with the 14As, Richard Collier, Keith Eve, John Houston, Steve Vials, Grant Taylor, Steve Mailey, Bill Lianos, Robert Reis, Laurence Hensby, Peter Bergin, Peter Liddy, Steve Pisani, Dave Grumsen and Ron Griffiths represent a remarkable group with well over a hundred years of coaching experience amongst them. These coaches dedicated their efforts towards their respective women's teams in 2008. There are many experienced and highly credentialed amongst them. We will continue to encourage and support participation in coaching programmes in the years ahead. Our next mission will be to develop some women coaches.

#10. We are seeing the fruits of a talented and dedicated committee - Our committee, sponsored by the Caringbah, rarely gets a break. Even in the offseason there are chores, sponsors and plenty of administration to deal with. From registration, through to the very last Champion of Champions game, we have volunteers at Lilli Pilli who are managing the largest weekend football club in the country. A particular thanks from me to Steve Willett our Secretary and to Dave Paget, Gary MacFarlane and Lisa Mogridge whom help me oversee and make sure such a wide variety of tasks get done around our club. Thank you also to Neil, Mark, Val, Sharon and Helen who each take on critically important roles each year and participate actively in the development of policy at LPFC. Our wonderful treasurer, Helen Evans is handing over the baton to Christine Fisher in 2009. Thanks Helen for your financial guidance and dedication over the years

#11. Our Inaugural Golf Day was held - This year we had our inaugural golf day at Woolooware Golf Club which as enjoyed by many members and associates. These days take a lot of organisation and special thanks to Frank Bova, Greg Henson and Lisa Mogridge for their efforts. It was a great reminder that our club is made up of many people with a wide variety of interests. As we prepare and pursue the final steps to constructing our revamped clubhouse at Lilli Pilli Oval, this corporate and small business help and support will be crucial. Thank you !

#12. Another busy and successful year for our website - The Club's website remained extremely popular and continued to be the principle tool for communicating with our members. To ensure people come back to get their draw, see their results, find out what's happening in their club. Our extremely busy Webmaster, Stuart, received 2843 emails in 2008, the website received 400,000 + visits and 2,000,000 + hits. It doesn't get harder than that and every year we see the expectations of our club's membership increase. Many want information and details instantly and it is a good time for me to remind everyone that our committee is made up of volunteers and our standard of information flow is best practice. We'll continue to improve too.

#13. Sponsors play a crucial role and deserve our custom - These platinum sponsors are important to our club. They assist the club in managing its expenses and help us provide fresh equipment and facilities for all teams. Thank you to our Platinum sponsors Peter James Realty, Sportsworld Indoor, National Australia Bank, Network Video, Best Fresh Farm Markets, Ladyhill, Parraweena Smash Repairs and Callaghan Collision Centre. A big thank you also to the many team sponsors whom have helped in various ways and importantly sponsored many teams utilising the tremendous range of teamwear now available. Thank you also to Impco Systems, Hunts Marine Metropolitan Physiotherapy, Lilli Pilli Gourmet Butchery, Ben Cox Automotive, Shangri-La Chinese Restaurant. Our Conference League initiative was supported this year by Caringbah Bizzos, LJ Hooker, CBC, Eclectic, Ginns electrical and Impresson landscaping. Many thanks to you all and we welcome your participation in 2009.

#14. Seniors Night with plenty of challenges - We picked a difficult weekend to hold our seniors night this year. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season the Cronulla Sharks would make the semi finals. Obviously the Sharks club didn't as we had a booking, but close to the season end, we needed to find a new venue. The Sutherland United Serviceman's Club were a great help and the night turned out great. We competed with top shelf Premier League, A Wallabies Test and the Sharks' semi final. A big thank you to Leonie Stannard for the organising and to all the Life Members (George Hughes, Bob Manning, Graeme Sawtell, Grace Petty, Ray Petty, Leonie Stannard, Gary Macfarlane, Dave Paget and Val Forsyth), each of the participating teams and committee who joined us.

#15. A great support base supporting a great club - I want to share a big thank you to the club's support base. Its our aim to be a vibrant component of the local community and the time and efforts of the hundreds of people who coach, manage our sides, man the canteen, cook on the BBQ, set and take down fields, support and encourage our kids is fantastic and greatly appreciated. We also value the partnerships we have with the local schools and other sporting bodies such as cricket and netball, and assist when we can with other community groups.

Enjoy your summer and we'll see you next year,

Greg Storey
President - Lilli Pilli FC