As the year draws to a close it’s time to thank the wonderful Goal Diggers committee, without whom GDFC would not exist. Please read this document, as it’s so important that we, a team run by the members, for the members - appreciate what goes on behind the scenes. Every committee member volunteers hours of unpaid time each week to ensure GDFC not only exists but keeps on improving as the years tick on by. Let’s thank them.
Meet the committee:
Club Secretary: Millie Paterson (She/Her)
Membership Secretary: Gaia Laidler (She/Her)
Mat Ches Squad Manager: Ciara Robinson (She/Her)
Mat Ches Experienced Rep: Leah Kahn (She/Her)*
Mat Ches Academy: Martha Godfrey (She/Her)
Treasurer: Alex Rawn (She/Her)
Treasurer: Yessica Ortiz Mejia (She/Her)
Inclusion and Diversity Officer: Chloe Morgan (She/Her)
Inclusion and Diversity Officer: Katy Covell (She/Her)
Social Secretary: Beth Miles (She/Her)*
Social Secretary: Ellen Robinson (She/Her)
Fundraising and Grant Secretary: Rachel Field (She/Her)
Social Media Secretary: Jess Keating (She/Her)
Marketing and Design Secretary: Anastasia Kuchta (She/Her)
All Ages Officer: Emma Magnus (She/ Her)
*stepping down
What can YOU do to help the committee?
Say thank you to them for the time they give to the club
If you can’t make training or fixtures, always follow these three simple steps
Let us know ASAP (preferably not on the day)
Change your event RSVP from YES to NO
Leave a comment
Read the newsletter - all the information from the committee is contained in this
Read everything in our “documents” section in the app
Answer our membership surveys
Help at training: remember your bib for life, move goalposts, pump footballs, clear away equipment, take footballs home for storage etc.
Whilst many uncertainties about 2021 exist, one thing is certain: the committee will continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes. So please do all you can to make their lives easier. We are a team run by the members for the members, so let’s act like one in every way. GD! FC!
A THANK YOU TO INDIVIDUAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
WHO HAVE STEPPED DOWN DURING THIS BLOCK
It’s time to say a big thanks to some important committee members who either stepped down at our summer elections or are stepping down in January. They dug deep for GDFC and we wouldn’t be where we are today without them. Please thank them when you see them.
BETH MILES
SOCIAL SEC: AUG 2019 - JAN 2021
Social Sec Beth has been such a natural at this role. Shortly after she and Gaia organised the iconic Portugoal tour, Beth joined the committee. Beth was responsible for many wonderful socials but the most iconic had to be the February karaoke night which ended at The Queen of Adelaide. The attendance was amazing, the atmosphere was great and the singing was... It was such a lovely social because a large number of new members joined the night and the spirit of the social, led by Isy and Beth, was so welcoming.
Beth then spent the rest of the year as Social Sec during this pandemic - that in itself is a huge ask. During lockdown 1 Beth and Isy hosted Wednesday evening games and chats - ensuring that whilst we remained separate, we felt together. Beth then took the lead on organising our 5th Year celebrations - she emailed countless venues, looked round several event spaces, created an event blurb, gained a beautiful event illustration by Maddy Hartle and had everything in motion for the announcement of an AMAZING celebration… but then the lockdown rules changed. Even though the event couldn’t go ahead it is so important to thank Beth for all of this work and hopefully, thanks to Beth’s organisation, we can celebrate our 6th birthday in style.
In her recent perfect pairing with Social Sec Ellen Robertson, Beth has been responsible for GDFC’s fantastic BinGoooal and stunning Quizmas socials. It is so hard to master a zoom social, as so much work goes into the organisation and it is often hard to gauge the reception - but Beth has kept digging and has given us reasons to smile during this strange time.
We will thoroughly miss Beth on the committee but we are thrilled that she will still be gracing us with non stop TUNES at MOZF. Thank you Beth!
ESTHER JONES RUSSELL (SHE/HER)
TREASURER AND THEN CLUB SECRETARY: JAN 2016 - AUG 2020
Since the start of GDFC (almost), Esther has been on the committee and her devotion to the club has been amazing. She was part of the much needed fundraising team and thought of many ways to raise cash for the team - from kit sponsorship, to raffles and sweep-stakes.
In the later stage of Esther’s committee involvement, she became Club Secretary and was incredible at this role. Esther always acted on member feedback, an example of this was our move to becoming a members only club. Esther professionally presented member feedback at our 2019 AGM and then collected the votes which were unanimously in favour of this change. Her work creating the presentation alone took over 40 hours. Esther then worked with Hil on the introduction of our outreach membership spots, to ensure that as we moved to becoming members only we also worked on making our membership more inclusive.
Esther truly embodied the GDFC ethos and as Club Sec steered GDFC in the right direction. From overseeing our “info” inbox to working on bigger projects - such as the first official committee re-election. Esther created job descriptions for each committee member and opened up their roles for a re-election which all the members could stand for and vote on.
Not only was Esther an incredible asset to the committee for YEARS, she also did even MORE work for GDFC outside of the committee. This included her role as co-chair of the award winning Festival Of Football in the summer of 2019.
HANNAH WRIGHT (SHE/HER)
TREASURER: FEB 2017 - AUG 2020
It is no word of a lie when I say that without Hannah Wright the club would not be here. This is for many reasons but mainly due to the fact we would be broke. Hannah was an integral part of creating a membership payment system which was both accessible but also financially secure - before Hannah arrived we completely lacked this structure. Hannah created this stability by being able to make financial forecasts and work out exactly what we needed to raise from membership fees, additional fundraising events and sponsorship. She also ensured we had enough money in our reserves so we could afford to make the move to a larger pitch .Without Hannah there is no way we would have been able to afford Haggerston 11s Astro pitch. Hannah also democratised the committee structures by giving each team their own budget. This was an extremely important move because we moved away from a top down structure and allowed each committee member to gain more control over their department.
Hannah’s list of contributions to the committee are not simply financial, she also founded the award winning Festival of Football in 2019 and was the brains behind our move from Facebook to the Team App. This move involved Hannah researching a multitude of apps in order to find an app that was suitable for us in every way. She then spent hours every week overseeing the membership payments and the membership waitlist. When Hannah left the committee we divided her role into three separate roles, that alone shows how much Hannah gave to GDFC.
HIL AKED (THEY/THEM)
INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY OFFICER: FEB 2019 - MARCH 2020
In one year Hil worked their socks off, ensuring that the structures of GDFC changed for the better. Hil gave so much to the role, a role which requires a lot of emotional labour, energy and sensitivity. Even when departing from the committee Hil made sure they did so in an extremely thoughtful way. They not only took the time and energy to explain the reasons why it is so important to have two Inclusion and Diversity Officers at GDFC - but they also gave an amazingly thorough handover to the new team: Katy Covell and Chloe Morgan.
Throughout their time in the role, Hil was responsible for many important changes at the club. They ensured we said our names and pronouns at every match and every training session. They changed the structures of GDFC so they were less top down - this included the introduction of committee re-elections and votes from the whole membership. Hil was also responsible for the introduction of our membership outreach spots. These consist of a set number of spots reserved for those that are under-represented within our membership: trans womxn, people of colour, non binary folk, those over the age of 40 and those from lower socio economic backgrounds.
Additionally in April they organised an Anti Racism and White Privilege Workshop, led by RDJ Consulting, for the committee to attend. Edi and Hil also led a workshop for the entire GDFC membership about White Privilege in the summer. Thank you Hil, your work made GDFC so much more inclusive and you taught us the importance of always working hard to do better.
ISABELLA WILSON (SHE/HER)
SOCIAL SEC: MAY 2018 - JUNE 2020
Social Sec Isy, oh so warm and oh so welcoming, many believed she was born for this role. Where to start? Nugs. Isy was the goal behind our free post training food at not one, not two but THREE pubs within walking distance of Holloway School. From The Castle Bar to the Boston Arms to the Prince Edward - we always knew we could look forward to a tasty bit of warm food after a chilly evening at training. Isy would call up all the nearby pubs and, using the gift of the gab, common to many ESFJs, negotiate the best deal for us goals. Thank you Isy!
Isy was not only committed to leading everyone to the pub each week and welcoming every new goal in sight - she also gave birth to a multitude of sensational socials: stunning MOZF GDFPres, multiple Ghoul Diggers Halloween Drinks, the iconic Rowans Bowl social, two GDFC Sports Days, GDFC Karaoke and many many more! Isy was always thinking of innovative and inclusive socials and her event descriptions were a sight for sore eyes.
Thanks Isy for all the amazing socials, the amazing event blurbs and the amazing Social Sec notices. And the nugs.
LEAH KAHN (SHE/HER)
TEAM MAT CHES - SEP 2018 - JAN 2021
Leah was a fantastic member of the committee for over two years. She joined the team as Squad Manager, at a time when we were run via Facebook. This role required you to almost live on Facebook, because you were in charge of updating the team lists for all of our many squads. Leah was extremely on it with this and very patient with last minute drop outs etc. After a year as Squad Manager, Leah moved into the role of Fixture Sec. This role required you to liaise with all of our many leagues and be on top of everything - from last minute fixture changes, to requests for friendlies, to determining how many teams we should enter into each league.
Additionally our 11s league is run by the teams involved, so Leah was in charge of either booking a pitch or a ref for every 11s game. Leah also organised all the 11s friendlies for our academy team in 2018/19 - offering them a chance to play 11s when no beginner level league existed. In 2020 Leah became Mat Ches Experienced Rep and oversaw all the fixtures and event posts for this ability group. Plus during lockdown Leah kindly volunteered to manage all of our zoom events - creating links and liaising with the event hosts. Thank you Leah!
ps if you ever want to buy Leah a drink to say thanks, make sure it’s an Aperol Spritz
POLLY SIMPSON (SHE/HER)
TREASURER AND THEN TEAM MAT CHES: JAN 2018 - AUG 2020
During her time on the committee Polly was an absolute rock, doing endless, thankless work behind the scenes. Polly started her role at a time when we didn’t have the Team App and we were not members only. This meant that her life as treasurer involved a large amount of pay to pay payments at training - both via izettle and cash. It also meant she was in charge of a large amount of payment chasing. Busy times for Polly!
Prior to 2020 GDFC was managed using a Facebook group, the first 60 to like our weekly training post gained a spot. Latecomers commented on the post in order to join the waitlist. Polly was in charge of the post and the register. She was so thorough, so hard working and so patient. Three times on a Wednesday Polly would send the coaches the updated training register, highlighting any last minute changes through the clever and clear use of emoticons.
Polly then joined Team Mat and was in charge of the fixture and training posts. This was before the recent addition of Team App timed posts, so Polly had to make sure she was available at the exact time a post went up, this required HUGE dedication. Thank you Polly!
Luckily for us, whilst Polly is no longer on the committee, she can be found behind the decks at MOZF as the one and only Matilda Chez.
A THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING COACHES
It’s also so important to thank our coaches - they are the faces of the club and they are the glue that keeps Goal Diggers together. You need a unique mix of passion and patience to be a GDFC coach because on top of the usual coaching responsibilities you implement our non ability based ethos. At training this means creating drills that aim to please all members and at matches this means giving everyone as close to equal playing time as possible, focussing on positive words of encouragement and celebrating a loss like it’s a win.
Meet the coaches:
Senior Coach: Josh Pugh (He/ Him)
Senior Coach: Ciara Monahan (She/ Her)
Keeper Coach: Chloe Morgan (She/ Her)
Coach: Kitty Burne (She/ Her)
Coach: Amy Lester (She/ Her)
Junior Coach: Liv Amos (She/ Her)
Junior Coach: Annie Gallagher (She/ Her)
Junior Coach: Dora Dixon (She/ Her)
It’s also important to recognise that our coaches all have other jobs too, so their dedication to GDFC on top of their other working commitments is outstanding. The fact that we always have a minimum of two coaches at each training session is not by chance. It is due to the behind the scenes coordination by our coaching unit. Another behind the scenes insight is the fact that throughout the first lockdown Coach Josh had weekly meetings with our Junior Coaching team to mentor them through life as a GDFC coach. It is this sort of devotion to the club, coupled with the solidarity created by this togetherness, that creates such an amazing coaching unit.
What can YOU do to help the coaches?
Say thank you to them for the time they give to the club
If you can’t make training or fixtures, always follow these two simple steps
Let us know ASAP (preferably not on the day)
Change your event RSVP from YES to NO
Leave a comment
Give our coaches feedback on what you want from your football sessions
If you’re a captain read the “GDFC Matchday” document created by Coach Josh, in the documents section of our app
Thanks again to the committee, to the coaches and to you for reading this document.
Bring on 2021, we go again!
Lots of love goals,
Fleur “FC” Cousens xx
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