TANUNDA Football Club president Danny Westhoff passed on the club’s top job to vice-president Kym Underwood at last week’s AGM, stepping down after three years in charge.
Westhoff has been affiliated with the Tanunda Football Club since his playing days in the early ’90s, and with his three sons playing their junior footy as Magpies as well, the club has been central in his life for decades.
“I originally came over in 1993 to play, and probably ended up playing around 200 A-grade games for the footy club,” he said.
“My three boys went down to Centrals, so we were away from the club for two or three years, but once we came back I wanted to figure out how I could get more involved.
“My wife and I thought we might try and get on the committee, and it just happened, so I spent a couple of years in that role, and so did my wife who was also the treasurer and secretary.
“Not too many people put their hands up for president, so three years ago I took the job on and I’ve quite enjoyed it.”
Westhoff won his first and only flag with the club as a player in 2002, but added to the trophy cabinet as president when Tanunda won the A-grade flag in 2019.
He said the A-grade success was a great accomplishment, but after taking the presidency in 2017, the big picture became far more important.
“It’s always great to be successful on the field, but off the field there’s so much more to it,” he said.
“The perils of country footy are something that take getting used to – trying to find sponsorship, and obviously people want to be involved with clubs doing well, so winning does help.
“But it’s not all about winning, we’ve got over a dozen teams with the men and women, from seniors down to under-nines, and obviously you want your senior team up and going, but it’s more important to get your culture right.
“It stems from the little kids looking up to the big kids, and the big kids looking up to the big fellas with wanting to play footy for their town.”
Westhoff said he won’t miss being required at the ground at 7am, but is still keen to lend a helping hand when needed.
“Things like having to worry about if we’ve got enough beer for the day, or running up to the bakery when we run out of pies and pasties, that kind of stuff I’ll happily hand off,” he said.
“People will still see me behind the bar, or doing something around the place to help – I’m definitely still going to spend a lot of time here.
“I do get emotional sometimes when I think about this club – I’ve been here for 30-odd years, my boys came through this club, the missus played netball here… I like to think that I just did my job and now it’s time to float away into the sunset.”