President's Update - August 2008

The year is flying past and we are rapidly heading to the finals series, unfortunately the Dees won’t be participating this year.  With the final round in sight we are all looking forward to the closure of a season that may well see the Dees finish on the bottom of the ladder.

 

Whilst there was some sweet justice in getting over the West Coast Eagles in round 20 at the MCG, our loyal WA Dees supporters eagerly await for this to happen on the hallowed turf of Subiaco or as we affectionately refer to it now as “The House of Shame” for the two local teams.  To hear the Melbourne theme song echo around Subiaco and to witness the opposition supporters leaving in their droves will start to ease the pain of our years of continual suffering, not to mention the underlining pleasure in seeing the underdog team taking it up to the rich clubs who foster in captive markets whilst calling for the demise of the same weaker opposition clubs. If ever we want our club to succeed now is the time we need to help.

 

As we say farewell to some of the great servants of our club over the next few months and we welcome aboard the new it’s clear all has not been lost.  There is an air of excitement at the club, change brings about new enthusiasm and the exciting group of young players who along with some new arrivals over the next few months will develop and bond together to take our club forward. We look forward to watching them in their development and aspirations to success.    

 

On the local scene our annual Western Demons raffle with the major prize of a trip to this years AFL Grand Final draws to a close this weekend. The winning ticket will be drawn this Sunday at our game day telecast at the Irish Club. Best of luck to everyone in the raffle draw and our thanks to all our members who purchased and sold raffle books, we are truly grateful. As you are aware this is our major fund raising activity for the year, sadly this year we have only managed to break even with the raffle. Maybe this reflects the position of our club, and with the local clubs not making it to the finals either, we certainly have been restricted in gaining sales from their supporters also. We will need to carefully consider this activity before undertaking it again next year. It is so costly to purchase the packages to an event like an AFL Grand Final and then run the risk that we may not generate enough raffle ticket sales to cover the costs. I welcome your input to this matter.

 

When the team travelled to Perth to play the Dockers we presented the football club with a cheque for $4000.00 at the Friday night “Dine with a Demon” function. This presentation to the club was part of our 2008 commitment to fund the teams game day and training days snack and nutritional bars requirements The committee have agreed to forward an additional $1000.00 as part of this support to our team and to take our 2008 contribution for this support to $5000.00. We have also agreed that the Western Demons will forward $1000.00 from funds to assist the club with its debt demolition reduction objectives as our small part in helping the club to clear it’s crippling debt position.    

 

As we watch the battle for the 2008 premiership flag over the next few weeks and as we inwardly desire for the mighty Dees to be a part of future finals campaigns we must realise that it is up to all of us to play our part to help make this happen, Your challenge is what part will you play in making it happen in 2009?

 

Go the DEES.

 

Roger Wingate

President

Western Demons