SPOC Football Club | February 2025

We welcome all our supporters for what will be a terrific season in 2025. Your club has been busy in the off season and we are excited for what lies ahead this year for our SPOCCO's.

With our senior group, we worked hard to retain over 90% of our list from last year and we have added substantially to our group with several new recruits - Henry Nelligan (Norwood), Jesse McKinnon (Victor Harbor), Tom Rundle (West Adelaide), Scott Bedford (South Adelaide), Lucas Di Sotto (Adelaide Uni) and Ted Newman (Sturt).  We are delighted to welcome back several former players and by working actively with the School, we have landed a large group of school leavers to bolster our playing depth.

On the coaching front, we welcome back A Grade Coach Mike O'Leary, Sam Walters as B Grade Coach and Harry Bond will take on his first coaching assignment with the C Grade. To support the 3 coaches, we have added depth and expertise in the coaching ranks welcoming former SANFL and Crows player and administrator Andrew Payze as a specialist coach, along with Peter Thatcher, who’s been with Norwood junior program for a number of years. Michael Barker continues as A grade assistant and he’s joined by Dave Rabbit who returns after a year away. Committee member Justin Stewart-Rattray is also heavily involved with the coaches, spending many hours assisting at training each week and fulfils a number of coaching-support  and game related roles during the season.

The players have been in training since prior to Xmas and are determinedly building towards kicking off the season on April 5. Their mood is buoyant and positive team spirit abounds.  All good signs for the season ahead.

In other exciting news, we are pleased to share that, partnering with Wilderness Old Scholars Association (WOSA), we will launch a SPOC women’s team for the first time.  The team will be part of our Club, as our fourth team affiliated in the Adelaide Footy League. They will play in their own uniform and be known as the Wildy Lions and they will be a vital part of our club.  They will play on the Wilson Oval home ground during several home fixtures, they will join our events and attend weekly Presentations. We’re confident that this new influx of players and supporters will be extremely positive for our Club and broader SPOC community.  Please support them when you can on a Saturday.

This is our seventh consecutive year in the top division in the Adelaide Footy League, which is equal second longest period in our 97-year history - equal to a period in the 1970's and behind 10 years in the 1930's! This is a testimony to everyone in the SPOC footy community pulling together, not to mention hard work from volunteers and of course the resources and funding to make it all happen.

In addition to success on the field, we strive to provide an off-field environment in which our players have opportunities to flourish. We support them with the best coaching, supported by the best medical, physio, training and strength & conditioning programmes.We offer players mentoring, counselling and mental health support programmes.  We leverage our extensive business and career networks to offer players career development, job seeking & support and career networking.  We also offer a fun social life, courtesy of our long-standing partnership with the fantastic team at The Maid Hotel, where our whole community is most welcome and encouraged to patronise.

This success comes at a worthwhile though considerable expense and we need financial support from numerous supporters and Sponsors of all types. With that in mind, we’ve just released the 2025 True Blue and True Blue Player Sponsor membership program and the 2025 Sponsorship Program. Contact the Club  spocfootballclub@gmail.com to request a Membership pack.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at our games and the various events held through the season.

Regards,
Guy Roberts
SPOC FC Chair

SEASON LAUNCH ON MARCH 29

The club’s Season Launch event will take place on Saturday March 29 at The Maid, one week before Round 1.

Full details will be released in the near future, so until then Save the Date for what is always a fun evening.

For those keen to make a day of it and get a taste of SPOC footy before the season starts, a trial game at Mt Barker is taking place on the 29th.  Details about the time and location will be released in March.
 

THE 2025 FIXTURE

The 2025 fixture has been released by the Adelaide Footy League and in a twist, rather than finish the season at Port Districts (as was the case in 2023 and 2024), this year we head to Port to take on the 2024 Premiers in round 1!

Thanks to a great pre-season, successful recruiting and an exciting group of school leavers, all Men’s grades are looking stronger in 2025. The A grade claimed a win over Port last season they’ll head to Largs with the confidence to get the job done in round 1.

Following round 1, there are 2 bye rounds to accomodate Gather Round and Easter, before the season continues with the Anzac round at home on April 26.

There are also 3 ‘quad-headers’ on May 10, May 24 and June 16 when WOSA play at home on the same day as the men. These will be big days at the club with the B and C grade both playing at 12:15pm, the A grade at 2:15pm and WOSA playing at 3:15pm.

And each Saturday from April 5, all 4 teams will head to The Maid on a Saturday night for Presentations.

Full details of the fixture for SPOC FC and WOSA can be found at https://www.playhq.com/.  You can search for the Men’s games under St Peter's OC in Division 1 and WOSA under St Pete's OCW in Division 5 of the women’s competition.

TRUE BLUE AND PLAYER SPONSOR MEMBERSHIP

Our True Blue members are the heart and soul of the SPOC footy club, providing valuable financial support to help provide the high quality coaching, physio and training services and training resources required to compete in Division 1.

Our True Blue Members also provide the vital physical (and vocal) support to help players deliver their best on game-day.

Benefits include a free beverage of choice from the bar at home games and a True Blue member cap.

A True Blue membership is $375 for the 2025 season.

Our True Blue Player Sponsors receive all the benefits of a True Blue and provide the added financial support to the player of their choice (on a ‘first elected’ basis) by covering the Season Fees of their nominated player – a significant show of support for young men who are generally students or early in their working lives.

The cost of a True Blue Player Sponsorship is $550 and in addition to the benefits included in a True Blue membership, there’s additional recognition in the newsletter and a Player Sponsorship ‘thank you’ certificate featuring a photo of the sponsored player.

With numerous official events held every year that offer Member discounts, as well as match-day benefits, it’s a great group to belong to.

If you would like to join as a True Blue or True Blue Player Sponsor, you can EFT you payment to the club using the bank details below:

SPOC Football Club
BSB: 015 010
Account: 605 000 572

Alternatively, you can contact Marty Palmer via martin@thepalmergroup.com.au or send an email to spocfootballclub@gmail.com to request a Membership pack.

BECOME A CORPORATE SPONSOR IN 2025

The club Sponsors make a significant contribution to the financial operations of the club, with a mix of cash support and products and services used in fundraising activities and raffles.

It’s an unfortunate reality that it’s very expensive to run a footy club these days and we simply couldn’t do it without the generous support of our corporate sponsors and True Blue members.

We’re delighted that a number of corporate sponsors have already signed up for the 2025 season including:

The Maid

Duttons

McMahon Services

Palmer Hospitality Group

Klemich Real Estate

Pitcher Partners

The Physio Society

Stellan Capital

Saint & Scholar

Taylor & Holmes Catering.

If you or a company you know are interested in signing up as a Corporate Sponsor for the 2025 season, please contact

Guy Roberts via email at guyroberts@gradvisory.com.au or

James McGill via email at james.mcgill@chathamcapital.com.au to request a copy of the 2025 Sponsorship program.