Longwood Football Netball Club confirmed the news late last week that current AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon would visit the home of the Redlegs as a special guest at the team’s annual President’s Luncheon.
Redlegs Stadium will serve as the backdrop for this prestigious appearance as Shepparton East comes to town in a round 10 match on Saturday, June 21.
In making the announcement, Longwood shouted out sponsor and club ally Alistair Ewart as an influential figure in getting this remarkable deal done.
As you can quite well imagine, of course, club president Ricki Shiner was more than a bit pleased with the coup.
“Alistair was a big part of it. He has Winning Edge Presentations down in Melbourne, who do a lot of work with the AFL and their clubs,” Shiner said.
“I spoke to Andrew about community football and he showed some interest in coming up to see what it’s all about.
“We had our luncheon last year and Alistair had really been pushing me to run an event like that, so we’ve certainly stepped it up a notch.
“It’s eye-popping when you see something like that. You think they’ve got a fair bit on their plate, but I’m led to believe that community football is a big passion of Andrew’s.
“Being a passionate football follower, I know if my club was running something like that, I’d try to get down there.”
Dillon has a quarter-century of work within the AFL’s corporate realm under his belt, from representing the league as its legal counsel following his 2000 appointment to succeeding Gillon McLachlan in the top job in October 2023.
Navigating the sport’s reccovery from pandemic-era financial challenges is a major item of business, particularly at grassroots and rural level.
By that token, Shiner sees the upside in Dillon’s appearance giving locals a chance to speak to the man at the top on those issues.
“It’s a rare experience to be able to get close to someone like that, where there’s probably nobody more important,” Shiner said.
“It’s important to hear their thoughts on football and where it’s going because, in regional areas, there’s a lot of questions around that.
“It’s a hard thing running a football netball club, so it’s interesting to gauge his thoughts and see what he learns from coming to us.
“The AFL does cop some flak for what they give back to clubs, but it’s good to see him taking time from the schedule, doing something where it’s as much interest to him as the people who have him there and see what he’s got to say.”
