Bright Electorate Clubs

Mr SPEIRS (Bright) (15:26): Today, I would like to take the opportunity to recognise a few sporting achievements of clubs within my community which have occurred over the winter period. I want to congratulate the Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club on being named South Australian Club of the Year at Surf Life Saving SA’s Red and Yellow Ball, held at Adelaide Oval on 19 August. This is a phenomenal achievement for the club, recognising its strong leadership, healthy culture, commitment to developing its young people, strategic planning, and desire to do things differently. This is a great family club which has now achieved the state’s top lifesaving accolade.

As many would know, I have worked very closely with Seacliff over the past year as we partnered to pioneer South Australia’s first accessible beach. The Beach for All access pathway is rolled out by Seacliff lifesavers on patrol days and it has given many people access to the water’s edge for the first time in their lives and is an initiative which would never have been possible without the club’s drive, commitment and energy for the project.

Congratulations to Seacliff club President, Andrew Chandler, on his admirable leadership of the organisation and his determination to drive continuous improvement across every aspect of club life. I wish Seacliff all the best as they now go forward to represent South Australia at the national surf lifesaving awards, held in Sydney on 22 October 2016.

The Red and Yellow Ball also saw a number of other awards given out and I would like to congratulate Seacliff Park resident and Seacliff surf club mum, Jacinta Day, on being named Nipper Parent of the Year. The ball saw the announcement of South Australia’s inaugural Surf Life Saving Hall of Fame. Local recipients included Dwayne Thuys of the Seacliff surf cub and Di Wallace-Ward of the Brighton surf club, who were both inducted in the hall of fame under the ‘surf sports’ category.

A range of national medal recipients were also announced and it was Brighton which did well here. Clayton Sibbin, William (Billy) Jackson, Christopher Parsons, Bruce Hosking, David Lucas and Kylie Ellison all received national medals, recognising their long and determined service to the surf lifesaving movement. Moving on to another successful sporting club, which I am privileged to be the vice patron of, I want to take time this afternoon to congratulate the Brighton Bombers Lacrosse Club for another exceptional season, culminating in them securing the men’s senior premiership on Saturday 17 September and the women’s premiership a couple of weeks prior.

Huge congratulations to the men’s premiership team, including Matthew Fuss, Kevin Donadio, Tobias Raymond, Ross Hamilton, Eben Lok, Clinton Barker, Scott Cannon, Jason Baker, Tyler Leeming, Douglas Shinnick, Hamish Mathwin, Jack Woodford, Thomas Polden, Leigh Perham, Jake Rosenthal, and Byron Pridham. And of course the women’s team: Hayley Fuss, Molly Wolf, Beth Varga, Melissa Williams, Bronwyn McLeod, Zephyr Williams, Hannah Nielsen, Mikayla Varga, Bella Pickett, Amy Wells, Kirsty Faulder, Hannah Mathwin, Colleen O'Malley and Monika Klus.

The Brighton Lacrosse Club is ably led by the president, Jason Webb, and his 2016 management committee, and I would like to congratulate them on all that they have achieved in that club, not just in 2016 but also in previous years. It was great to have the Leader of the Opposition attend on the afternoon and assist with handing out the premiership medals. I think he was there initially to support East Torrens Lacrosse Club, which is located in his electorate, but he realised where the glory was that afternoon and headed over to the Brighton tent as the game progressed. Plaudits to East Torrens Lacrosse Club, who made their first senior grand final since 1986 and, while they fell short, they put up a valiant fight and that made for a great game to watch.

Finally, turning to local football, I would like to congratulate Hallett Cove resident Sam Bromilow on leading the Flagstaff Hill Football Club C-grade team. Sam's exceptional captaincy skills no doubt had a significant impact on the team's culture and their ability to secure the C-grade flag this year, so congratulations to Bromo.