Thank You Jenny & Greg Clarke!
Last weekend at our club presentation day, we were able to recognise the service of Jenny & Greg Clarke to our football club. Jenny & Greg are Life Members of our football club & after this season intend to retire their service to the club, which has spanned many, many years! The Hornsby Berowra Junior AFL Club has benefited enormously from their years of service and the club is undoubtedly a better place thanks to their efforts!
Jenny & Greg’s involvement with the football club spans 23 years, starting in 2000, when their eldest son (Matthew) commenced in Auskick; and has extended through until now, some 8 years after their youngest son (James) finished playing at the club. In the early years, they assisted as volunteers with the Auskick program over a period of 3 years. In 2011, Jenny joined the club committee & was Registrar from 2011 – 2014. Their eldest son (Matthew) was Ground Manager at the club from 2012 – 2014 and both Greg & Jenny spent a lot of time helping him in this role. They retired from the club (for the first time!) in 2015, after their youngest son (James) finished playing at the club. They came back in 2016, simply because they couldn’t stay away! Jenny was Registrar again from 2016 – 2022, whilst Greg was Ground Manager (ably assisted by Jenny) over this same period. There wouldn’t be anyone at the club who has spent as much time as these two at Rofe Park over the years. They would regularly be there at the crack of dawn & often still there as the sun went down on Sundays during the football season, and frequently there at other times as well!
Other than their formal roles outlined above, they have counted, sorted & labelled countless jerseys, ordered uniforms, sorted equipment, helped out in the canteen, done the ground markings, organised 4 club trivia nights, looked after all the club records, and have answered innumerable enquires & questions from parents, team managers, coaches & committee members! Jenny & Greg would also spend time in the off-season preparing for the next season!
The work of Jenny & Greg over the years is not just acknowledged by our club. They are well recognised & respected by those working at AFL Sydney Juniors as stalwarts of our club and also for their contribution more broadly to Junior AFL in Sydney. This was formally acknowledged in 2016 when they were both awarded with AFL Sydney Juniors Meritorious Service Awards.
Jenny & Greg have been recipients of various awards over the years at the club, which recognise their service, including:
2011 President’s Award (Jenny)
2013 President’s Award (Greg)
2014 Awarded Life Membership (Jenny & Greg)
2016 Service to the Club Award (Jenny & Greg)
This year, the club fittingly renamed the Service to the Club Award as the Jenny & Greg Clarke Service to the Club Award. At our recent presentation day, Jenny & Greg were also awarded with NSW Community Hero Awards by The Hon. Matt Kean MP for their service to the club over the years.
Jenny & Greg are greatly loved & respected by the Hornsby Berowra Eagles community. They leave behind enormous shoes to fill & will be greatly missed by everyone at the club. On behalf of the entire Hornsby Berowra Eagles Junior AFL community, thank you for your enormous contribution to the club! Whilst you may be stepping away from your roles at the club, we hope you still might be able to visit us occasionally at Rofe Park….you might even get the chance to actually watch some football now!
