End of Season Football Event

The Newington College Football Community came together to celebrate another great season at The Smoking Goat restaurant in Abbotsford.

It was a night to reflect on the year that was and celebrate great football and continued development of our boys. It was an opportunity to listen to the boys talk about the football tours and tournaments that had been undertaken this year including the European Football Tour, Kanga Cup in Canberra and IBC Cup in Adelaide.

Our audience was captivated by a number of guest speakers including Mr Rale Rasic OAM – the first coach to take Australia to the World Cup Finals in 1974.

Along with Mr Rasic, we were fortunate to hear from former Newington 1st XI captains – Sam Mehmet (ON 2016), Alexander Iannuzzi (ON 2015) and Nicola Kuleski (ON 2014).

The students were inspired by the farewell speeches of this year’s Captain of Football, Jacob Nastasi (12/PR) and Andrew Wang (12/FL), the 2nd XI Captain. Both young men spoke with great pride and passion about their football experiences and of their respect for our outstanding team of coaches led by Mr Brian McCarthy.

Mr McCarthy presented a wonderful summation of an outstanding season with a collage of photos and videos from all football teams at Newington. By way of thanks, the boys presented a video tribute to thank him for his extraordinary dedication to their development and the program.

The NCFA Executive and our End of Season Sub Committee would like to thank Mr McCarthy and his dedicated team of coaches for a truly memorable year. All teams were extremely competitive and provided tough competition across the season.

Congratulations to the Senior Boys who were victorious in the Pre-Season Plate and the IBC Cup in Adelaide. They were also co-winners of the GPS competition and runners-up in the CIS Cup.  

Finally, a sincere thank you to all our families and friends who attended the night of celebration (some 235 in total) – without you, it would not have been a success!

The Football program at Newington has never been stronger, and we look forward to continuing to build on its success in 2018!

AFL End of Season Function

Over 80 people attended the inaugural AFL supporters group End of Season function, including special guest Simon Wilson from AFL NSW, senior coaches Rev Geordie Barham and Dion Zissis (ON 2014) and Wyvern coach Neil Brunton.

Parents and players were able to reflect on a fantastic first season of AFL in the senior school at Newington and hear some of the exciting plans for 2018. Each player received a commemorative medal as a memento of the inaugural year and the team captains presented the coaches with a Sherrin signed by all the players to thank them for their time and support.

Thank you to the AFL Organising Committee of Vicki Ditcham, Bev Walsh, Kate Macdessi, Heidi Cummins and Rohan Miller for organising the day. Looking forward to season 2018.

Cross Country End of Season Event

Cross Country held their End of Season dinner in Prescott Hall which celebrated a very successful running season for the group. Captain of Cross Country, David Charlton (12/MA) taking on the role of MC for the night gave an inspiring speech about dedication to the sport of endurance running. He thanked the the leaving Year 12 students for their commitment. Running is a great way to balance and release all of the tensions of studying and maintain fitness throughout the final year of school. 

Congratulations goes to Angus Beer (10/ME) and Bailey Habler (7/MO) who were interstate representing Newington at the 2017 Australian Cross Country Championships and couldn’t attend the function. 

Thank you to the Cross Country Organising Committee and Bill Smith President, Cross Country Association for making the night a special occasion for endurance runners.

Looking forward to the running season in 2018.