Top honour: Rochester Football Netball Club president Justin Cleary accepted the AFL National Community Club of the Year award on behalf of the club during the AFL grand final week festivities. Photo: supplied
Rochester Football Netball Club president Justin Cleary was rubbing shoulders with some of football’s elite on Friday at the AFL Grand Final Parade.
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Cleary was there as a result of the Tigers being named the inaugural winners of the AFL’s National Community Club of the Year.
Rochester was one of 30 national finalists, identified from the 2500 AFL community clubs eligible to win the award, which carried with it a three-day grand final week experience that included a spot in the grand final parade, the glittering breakfast event and the match day itself.
Cleary officially accepted the award at the official AFL function on behalf of Rochester, which he said was a gratifying experience.
“It was very humbling and very rewarding for our club,” he said.
“It was a great honour to be able to accept it on behalf of the club. It was a tremendous moment.”
The Tigers president also took part in the parade, where he bumped into Brisbane star and Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale, as well as Collingwood captain Darcy Moore, both of whom recorded video messages for the club.
Hands on the cup: Rochester Football Netball Club president Justin Cleary presents the AFL premiership cup to Brisbane Lions legend Jonathon Brown and Richmond AFLW player Katie Brennan at the Footy Festival. Photo: supplied
“That was nice wasn’t it,” Cleary said of the stars recording messages for Rochy.
“There was a lot on. I had some media things on Thursday. I actually got to present the premiership cup on stage at the Footy Festival to Jonathan Brown and Katie Brennan from Richmond.
“I had some media with the AFL, which I think they’ll produce some sort of film or something with later on, and then the parade was pretty surreal, really.
“It was very strange almost to be in that, but again a great way to represent our club and highlights the good work we did post-recovery last year.
“It was a fantastic way to keep Rochester front and centre of people’s minds because Rochester is still recovering and needs all the support it can get.”
The privileges didn’t stop there for Cleary, who was given tickets to the grand final and even had access to the hallowed MCG turf before the game.
“We were lucky enough to go (to the grand final), I was lucky enough to take my wife,” he said.
“We had access to the brunch beforehand and then we even actually got to go on the ground briefly when the players had come out for an early warm-up, so to be awarded that opportunity was sensational.”
While the award was fitting recognition for the efforts of the club in Rochester’s time of need, Cleary said there was still a big role it could play in the town’s ongoing recovery.
“There’s a number of roles we can fulfil,” he said.
“One is we’ve got a really strong voice, so we can promote the need for Rochester’s recovery and help vocalise where we need support.
“We can help in the community together through various events that will run, and we’ll still have things going in the off-season planning for our 150-year celebrations, and we will be committed to do the same as we did last year.”
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