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Hot off the press! Check out all the latest in club news throughout the year by reading below.
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The Tahs are a social bunch and the Juniors and Old Boys will have a great list of social functions for 2024!
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INTERIM ARRANGEMENTS FOR SENIOR CLUB
Wednesday, 31 January
The Waratahs Rugby Union Club has appointed a Working Group and an Interim Seniors Committee to manage the immediate operations of the club.
The formation of the Working Group and the Interim Seniors Committee follows the adoption of two resolutions by a Deferred Annual General Meeting held on Monday, 15 January.
Club President, Matt Dumbrill, advised the Deferred AGM that recent events resulted in the club not having an active committee nor player base for 2024. This included the 2023 Annual General Meeting on 17 December when no nominations were received for management positions for 2024.
Matt said the two resolutions adopted by the Deferred AGM were:
1) to form a Working Group to facilitate commitments by The Waratahs to play in two early 2024 women’s competitions – the Women’s Beach 5s Rugby and the Women’s Summer 7s; the working group to receive a budget to manage participation in the two competitions.
2) to form an Interim Seniors Committee to work with the Juniors committee to facilitate the transitioning of affairs of the Senior Rugby accounts into the Juniors Club.
Matt said the club won the Newcastle Beach 5s at Nobbys Beach during the Australia Day long weekend and is committed to the Summer 7s in February. The Working Group is currently managing commitments.
He said the Interim Seniors Committee would report back to a General Meeting of members later in 2024.
Members of the group and the committee are:
Working Group (Women’s Beach 5s/Summer 7s) – Bianca Gudrunacolo, Morgan Freeman, Minah Mauli, Frank Ngungutau, Emma Rumbel and Tanaya Williams.
Interim Seniors Committee – Ken Beveridge, De-Anne Chatillon, Matt Dumbrill, Bronwyn Kroon, Mark Queenan, Greg Taylor and Tanaya Williams.
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December 2023
NEW FACES ON JUNIOR COMMITTEE
The Waratahs Junior Rugby Union Club will see a number of new faces on its committee after the election of office bearers at the 2023 Annual General Meeting last night.
De-Anne (Dee) Chatillion returns as President after being elected unopposed while Bronwyn Kroon is again Treasurer with Jo Wells remaining as Canteen Co-ordinator for the 2024 season.
The new faces include Tayler McShane as Registrar, Chris Thornton as Public Officer and Jade Veyt as an additional Canteen Co-ordinator with Chris Grieve, Cohen Smith and Joanne Wells elected as committee members.
Other appointment include Bronwyn Kroon as the club’s delegate to Hunter Junior Rugby Union, Jo Wells as Sponsorship Co-ordinator and Green and Gold Rugby as Social Media Co-ordinator.
Dee said the positions of Vice President and Secretary were to be filled with the two vacancies to be discussed at the Junior Committee’s first general meeting next Monday (11 Dec) at 5.30pm at Hamilton North Bowling Club.
“The committee will be working hard in the next week to promote discussion about filling the positions and we are confident of making progress because of interest already being shown,” said Dee.
A number of coaching and manager positions received nominations at the AGM and appointments include:
Coaches:
· Girls Under 15s Coach – Ernest Staszek
· Girls Under 13s Coach – Dee Chatillon
· Under 11s Coach – Cohen Smith
· Under 8s Coach – Chris Grieve
Managers:
· Under 11s Manager – Jo Wells
· Under 9/10s Manager – Bronwyn Kroon
Dee said the Juniors were confident of fielding an Under 15 Girls team and an Under 13 Girls team in 2024 in addition to Under 8s, Under 11s and other teams.
“Overall, we had a good year in 2023 with the Primary Schools Gala Day, a Rugby Development and Skills Program over four weeks at St Philip’s Christian College, Coaching Days for local schools and having four teams in the just completed Spring 7s being among the highlights,” said Dee.
“The Juniors are in a sound financial position which reflects the work of the Junior committees in the past few years and also the support we are receiving from our sponsors, parents and supporters.
“The new committee is committed to working quickly on plans for next season and we’ll be communicating some of our initiatives in the New Year.”
The initiatives include Beach 5s in January and pre-season training with a Get into Rugby session starting at 5pm on Waratah No.2 Ground on Wednesday, 31 January.
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August 2023
2023 SPORTS LUNCHEON - A SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Many thanks to all the Old Boys and club supporters who attended the 2023 Sports Luncheon in early August.
It was great event with big turnouts by our 2013 First Grade Grand Final team and also those teams from the 1973 Grand Final teams.
Former Wallabies second-rower, author and journalist, Peter FitzSimons, gave a great overview of his many and varied highlights in Rugby as our guest speaker and spoke passionately about the importance of club rugby at grassroots level.
A total of 11 teams who played in Grand Finals in 1953, 1963, 1973, 1983, 2003 and 2013 were recognised at the function and a special vote of thanks go to former players like Ron Harvey (one of the club’s Wallabies) from the 1953 First Grade premiership team and Bill Ormandy and Paul Murphy from the 1963 Third Grade Undefeated Premiers who attended.
A highlight of the function was a special award from the Old Boys’ Association to Anika Butler from The Waratahs Women’s team who has travelled huge distances in playing rugby this year. Anika is one of our backline stars, plays for the Hunter Wildfires, represented Hunter in the New Country Championships in Tamworth, was selected in the NSW Country Women’s training squad and has just been named in the NSW Country Women’s Corellas team to contest the Australian Rugby Shield in Brisbane. The award has been provided to help Anika meet some of her travel and accommodation expenses.
The Waratahs Rugby Club and the Old Boys’ Association also would like to thank Steve Allen from Thomas Allen Wines, Paul Murphy from Churchills Carpet Court and Lion (Tooheys) for being our luncheon sponsors.
Congratulations to all those who were successful at the auction and also you our raffle winners. It was a memorable function and once again, many thanks for the support.
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ANIKA SELECTED IN CORELLAS
Monday, 24 July
Congratulations to The Tahs winger/centre, Anika Butler, who has been named in the NSW Country Women’s ‘Corellas’.
Anika was selected in a 36-player NSW Country Women’s training squad after the recent Country Championships in Tamworth where she played in the championship winning Hunter side.
Anika attended recent training camps in Sydney and has just been selected in the final squad of 28 players.
The Corellas will contest the Australian Rugby Shield in Brisbane in late September.
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December 2022
MATT TO LEAD TAHS IN 2023
Long time player and club supporter, Matt Dumbrill, is the new President of The Waratahs for 2023.
Matt was unanimously elected to the position at today’s 2022 Annual General Meeting. He was previously Treasurer of the club and takes over from Alex Robson who stepped down.
Four people have joined the general committee as members. They are Chris Grieve, Ken Grieve, Theresa Mauli and Tanaya Williams.
The positions of Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary remain vacant and filling the positions will be a focus for the new committee.
The AGM was informed the club was in a sound financial position and had a number of people lining up for coaching and manager positions for a men’s team and women’s team which the club aims to enter in the Hunter Rugby Union’s respective 2023 competitions.
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