Welcome to Season 2009.

I hope that everybody had a happy and safe Christmas and New Year and that you were able to have a break and get refreshed for another year.

I thought that before Christmas our playing group looked in great shape and that our preparation to that point had been very good.  To be as far advanced as we are has been reassuring that we are heading in the right direction.  The boys start back at Coopers Stadium on Jan 7 and it will be great to see as many as possible drop in and check on their progress over the coming weeks.  For those looking for a drink while watching training unfortunately Premiers Bar will not open until early February but when it does we have committed to putting in the time and effort to make the bar as warm and welcoming as possible and to feel like a “footy club”.

My New Years Resolution is to commit to a regular and informative blog!!!  And if I don’t I hope to hear from you about it.  However it must be said that we will only release information when we can.  The grapevine at Norwood is a pretty good one and I don’t apologise for not been able to keep up with it or not commenting until fully able.  The integrity of our club is far more important than keeping up with any gossip and grand standing.

We are also looking at again upgrading the website and committing to regularly supplying content that is regular and informative.  You will notice that the first part of this is the upgrading of the forum and that it will “stand alone”.  My thanks to everyone who helped with this.

Just before the break the administration returned to Coopers Stadium, finally!  This has been a big job but handled well by the staff, those who assisted us and particularly John Kassara and his team at Tagara Builders.  My thanks to everyone.  We still have a few final touches to make but we will be open again from Monday Jan 5^th.  I think that you will agree that this was an important step for the club.

Also before the break you will have seen that the council have committed a significant amount towards a possible upgrade of the lights.  This is a terrific opportunity for the club to finally be able to make a major improvement with our lighting at the ground.  Last year we spent $30,000 cleaning and installing new globes for the first time since 1996 after having it explained to us as simply as “imagine not washing your car head lights for 12 years!”  The result was noticeable with the lux reading improving from 230 to 340.  We are aiming for in excess of 500 lux with the installation of the new lights which will be great for football at Norwood.  This is a major task and we look forward to working on this with the council.

Once again pre season starts again this week, trial games begin at the end of Feb and round one at Coopers Stadium at against Port at the end of March.  It wont be long and footy and Norwood will be back.

Dominic Shepley - Chief Executive Officer