Longwarry Football Club president Annie Van der Heyden.Ken Moore had a chat to Longwarry’s bubbly president Annie Van der Heyden after the Crows’ seasKen Moore: You must be pleased with that win?
Annie Van der Heyden: It was absolutely fantastic. Every one of those 21 boys put in 100 per cent right down to the final siren and they deserve to walk away with the four points.
KM: What’s this about the money on the bar tonight?
AV: I’ve made a presidential decision that there will be no individual awards, we will award five, four, three, two and one votes for the B and F but the five awards will be put over the bar as a team reward. It would be unfair to pick out best players so we will split it fair and square over the bar.
KM: You must cherish victories like this for all the hard work you put in?
AV: Absolutely! I was just saying to the boys, I’m only 27 years old but I can’t remember the last time we beat Buln Buln twice in the one year, it’s just fantastic. We have another tough one against Nyora at Nyora next week and that’s going to be hard, followed by Kooweerup and Cora Lynn, so we should hopefully be able to cement fourth spot.
KM: Is it daunting being president of a club involved in a maledominated sport?
AV: Not at all, because I grew up being a tomboy living on a dairy farm and, not having many girls in the town, it was a case of hanging out with the boys or hanging out on your own. So I grew up being one of the boys and it was quite easy to fit in.
KM: How did you get involved in football?
AV: Because the netball and the football follow each other I got interested in the boys, social functions and drinking, then joined the social committee and this led to the general committee, treasurer and last season president.
KM: What does the future hold for Longwarry?
AV: Hopefully we can play in the finals across all grades and, looking at it optimistically, bring home four flags. If not we will continue to set ourselves up for next year and hopefully build on whatever we achieve this year.
