The A Reserves, D1’s and Brett Jones Colts were winners with the 4’s drawing their match.

It is fair to say that the A league is under the microscope given their display on Saturday and to say they face considerable challenges to resurrect their season is an understatement.

They say football is played 90% above the shoulders and at the moment the A Grade is not playing cohesive football which could be considered disciplined or smart.

I can only plead to the A Grade to dig deep and play the type of football which won them the game against North Beach.

Pride is very important and we need the A Grade to deliver the type of football expected at A League level.
There are no more excuses – play for the North Fremantle jumper with pride and show some leadership because as a club we are judged by our A Grade performance.

GLENN

It is fair to say that the A Grade has been in winning positions in all games this season but only against North Beach did we show our potential. It goes without saying we believe our senior team will rebound but we need all players to show the passion for the jumper and the Maggie spirit – something that has been the constant ingredient in our success in the past.

Given the poor start to the season it is now time for A Grade players to step up to the mark and represent this club with the pride it deserves. This week there will be a great deal of commentary from various circles on how we can arrest the present slide. Ultimately only the players and the coaching staff can turn things around.

The other grades continued their good form over the weekend with only the 4’s going down. The A Reserves, the D1’s and both Colts all had convincing wins and are well entrenched in the top 5 at this early part of the season.

I look forward to changing fortunes next Saturday and all 7 sides registering wins. GLENN

Smith’s umpiring career started part-way through 1973 as a central umpire with the WA Amateur Football League, leading to him umpiring the 1974 A Colts Grand Final and the 1975 B Colts Grand Final.

He then joined the WA Football League’s central umpiring panel, umpiring colts and country football. In 1980 he took up goal umpiring in the WAFL, Country and Sunday Football Leagues and umpired his first WAFL League game in 1984.

His umpiring skills were quickly recognised leading to his first State game in 1985 and his first grand final in 1987, a feat he repeated in 1991, 92 and 94. In all he umpired in 210 WAFL games. It was a natural progression to the AFL where he umpired 109 games, including two finals at Subiaco Oval and three at the MCG before retiring in 1999.

While doing the hard work on the track, Smith played a key role in the WAFL Umpires’ Association where he was treasurer from 1988 to 1994 and also in 1998 and 1999. He was assistant treasurer from 2000 to 2005. In 1993 he was made a life member of the WAFL
Umpires’ Association and in 1998 a life member of the AFL Umpires’ Association.

He was further recognised by being named in the umpiring team of the 90’s and the umpiring team of the half century. In 2000 he became the umpires’ coach in the WA Amateur Football League.

For his outstanding efforts, Smith was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 1998.

In 2005 Smith had the rare honour of being selected to travel with the All Australian Under-23 Amateur Football team to Ireland where he co-umpired games of Gaelic Football compromise rules in international games against Irish selection teams.

Retiring from umpire coaching in 2006, Paul Smith was approached by the North Fremantle Amateur Football Club. He took over as team manager of the A Colts. The following year he became treasurer, a position he holds until today where his considerable financial acumen is held in high regard.

For his outstanding work at North Fremantle he was voted Clubman of the Year in 2009 and 2010.

Many times at Colts matches when the call goes out for a goal umpire, Paul Smith still puts up his hand. Little do the Colts players, or others, realise they have one of Western Australia’s greatest goal umpires in the history of the game calling the shots.

Tonight (Wed 9th May 2012) the WA Amateur Football Club thanks Paul Smith for all his work and has great pleasure in announcing he has been inducted into our Hall of Champions as a High Achiever.

Great news with all three colts teams registering victories on Saturday. Welcome back to Damian Clancey who coached the WCE colts for the first time this season. The A Reserves won a close encounter while the 3’s and 4’s had good victories. Six from seven this week so we are close to a clean sweep Important game against Maddington this week as the A Grade look to get their season back on track.

Good luck all teams.

GLENN

On the football side of things, the A Grade victory over North Beach was exactly what was needed for this playing group and hopefully provided the self belief to match it with the best this season.

The Phil Scott Colts were very slick against North Beach and are looking good at this early part of the season. Unfortunately, the A Reserves after leading most of the first 3 quarters, ran out of legs in the final 20 minutes.

Elsewhere, the 3’s were comfortable winners over University as were the Brett Jones Colts. However the 4’s and the WCE Colts went down.

The sponsors/life members were very successful with the 100 club generating a better than anticipated financial result. Many thanks to Peter Grosser on his efforts in organising the day, Baden for hosting the function, Ben for running the bar and Chris Harris for his presentation on the colts’ strategy.

ANZAC day is a significant event in our Club and thanks again to Baden and Peter Grosser for organising our participation at the wreath ceremony and parade in Fremantle.

Good luck all teams next week.

The A league gave Swan Athletic a first quarter start of 5 goals and added to the situation by being inaccurate in front of goals. There was a glimmer of hope when North got to within 6 points in the third quarter but missed shots in the final term and relentless pressure by Swan Athletic saw the promoted team overpower North to run out convincing winners. I would suggest coaches and league players need to learn from this week’s game very quickly given next Saturday we face the League’s most successful club in the past decade – North Beach.

Congratulations to Tully Misich & Trent Barrett on wins with their new charges. Well done also Harry on the A Colts demolition of Swan Athletic and Kevin Murphy and the WCE Colts on their first up win.

Next week is Life Members and Sponsors day at the Gil and hopefully we will take the games up to North Beach and build a fortress at Gil Fraser this season in terms of opposition teams.

Good luck to all sides.

Pre Season training has been under way now for a few months and we are all set for our upcoming scratch matches. This year we have seen a few new faces at the club and we have only lost a few players from last year. We also welcome back some handy players who missed all or most of last season through injury.

The introduction of new coaching staff has been a breath of fresh air and everyone involved is looking forward to the season starting and beginning our climb back up the ladder after missing finals for the last 2 years. It won’t be easy, but the hard work that everyone is putting in, is a good start.

On behalf of the Management Committee welcome to the 2012 season and no doubt it will be one of enormous  anticipation given the three premierships in 2011 and our desire to compete in the A Grade finals after 2 seasons of narrowly missing the playoffs.

The 2011 season saw us field 8 teams, with 4 playing finals and premierships in the D Grade and D Reserves along with the Brett Jones Colts. Again in 2012 we are aiming for 3 Colts teams and 4 senior teams which will mean each week we will see 150 players put on the North Fremantle colours.

On the field, Scott Misich has been re appointed as A Grade coach for his 5th year and is focused on playing finals in 2012. There is no doubt that he has both the passion and experience to bring success this season. He will be ably supported by Tully Misich (A Reserves) with Chris Harris again leading the Phil Scott Colts. Premiership coach James Matkovich will continue with the Brett Jones colts. The 3’s will be led by experienced coach Victor Riseley and the 4’s will be guided by Trent Barrett.

2012 represents 92 years as an amateur club for North Fremantle one of the oldest amateur clubs in WA. On behalf of the committee we hope to see you down at the club during the up coming season to enjoy the anticipated success in 2012.