To our members, friends, families, and partner organizations,
I have officially stepped down as President of AFL Quebec as of today. I came on board as President of the Quebec Saints in July 2011 to assist with the growth of Australian Football here in Montreal. For those of you who...
[continued from newsletter] don't know this was an exciting challenge. Juggling decisions, organizing events, games, activities, connecting with local groups and leaders in other organizations to help grow our league.
In 2012 transformed into AFL Quebec and we grew from a membership base of 20 in 2011 to a massive 40 this year! We increased the number of games that were played last season from nine regular season games in 2011 to 16 regular season games in 2012. I'm very proud of these achievements and being part of making a difference to footy here in Quebec.
This year you might not be aware but for the first time we ran a Kids Footy Camp for half a day at our regular training ground at parc Jarry. We had 20 kids from Camp de jour St-cesaire attend and learn footy for the first time. Then afterwards the kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing cricket with the Pirates of St-Lawrence Cricket Club "Argh matey!"
With all this being said I am optimistic of the future of Australian rules football here in Quebec. There is a great opportunity for Aussie rules to be part of future sports programs in schools and eventually be recognized by Sports Quebec in the coming years.
However this won't happen overnight so I leave you with my final call to arms. As you have seen the newsletters throughout this year 'Bringing Australian Football to Québec' has been the motto and something I always think about week in week out. I'd like to ask everyone next year to continue this, whether it be asking a friend to come down for a kick at training or helping out on game day. Football will only continue to thrive with 'you' behind it.
I will be continuing of course to play footy here in Montreal in case you are wondering and you will definitely see me around again. :)
All the best and take care,
Neil Koch
Last Modified on 13/06/2014 06:08