Football South Coast strives for one strong voice

Arwen, the first child of Football South Coast deputy chair Nicki Bowman and husband Roger, wailed away as chairman Eddy de Gabriele and Football NSW president Jim Forrest yesterday unveiled the six people tasked with unifying football in the Illawarra.

The din became so much that Mrs Bowman – the first woman appointed to a senior board position at regional level in NSW – had to take little Arwen out of the football offices at the Fraternity Club as the formalities continued.

WCFC junior president Martin Littler, IFA vice-president Milco Stojanovski, ex-TAFE NSW and Tourism NSW director Ray Tolhurst and specialist director Steve Di Pietro join Mrs Bowman and de Gabriele on the board, which is charged with bringing nine interest groups under one banner.

More members will be elected from the men’s, women’s, junior and futsal streams of the game, along with non-voting members from the South Coast A-League bid and Illawarra referees’ association.

Mrs Bowman hoped Arwen’s liveliness at the announcement was a sign of things to come from the board.

“I hope they both have immensely successful lives,” she said.

Mrs Bowman jumped at the chance to join the board despite the twin demands of first-time motherhood and a career.

“This and Arwen and my day job make it a big challenge,” Mrs Bowman said.

“Unification is about giving the game one strong voice, rather than several small voices.”

“This is too important for me to let it slide, I’ve been part of the unification process since it started so when the opportunity came up to apply for a board position I did think about it at some length because it is a big commitment in terms of time and energy.”

Football South Coast’s first board meeting will be held in August and it is hoped the new group will be running the sport in the Illawarra by next year.

Source – Illawarra Mercury (Joel Ritchie)
23/07/09
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