After another year of ground breaking firsts and milestones achieved AFL Quebec’s 2013 Season culminated in a fantastic Awards ceremony held last Saturday night the 16th November. Breaking away from tradition, this year’s ceremony was held at a downtown function hall with food been catered for the 100 or so people in attendance.
All guests were greeted on the night at the red carpet by resident AFL Quebec paparazzi Nick Switzer and had their photos taken as they entered the banquet hall for the evening. Proceedings kicked off at 7.00pm when MC for the night Rob Gordon introduced Margo Legault who presented a brief summary of the Year that had been in AFL Quebec. The first award up for grabs on the night was that of Volunteer of Year, which was justly awarded to Aimee Legault, who without her, many AFL Quebec highpoints of the year would never have happened.
The next awards on offer were the Coaches Award, which saw Kelsey Martin walk away with Montreal Angels Coaches Awards and Giordy Watkins walk away with that of the men’s. Toby Campain then received his Anthony Williams Medal for leading goal kicker, in a season which saw him bag 27 regular season goals for the Old Port Dockers.
Next up Rob Gordon presented both the Men and Women’s Rookie of the Year to fellow Laval Bombers. Robyn Graham scooped the prize on offer for the women and having narrowed down the men’s nominations to three – Matthew Priess, Simon Auger and David Boulerice, it was the latter who was called up on stage to receive the award.
Having been presented with their 2013 Premier Medals earlier in the night, the Laval Bombers were again winners with both Zac Strevens and Chris Wienand picking up the Southern Cross and Fleur de Lys medals respectively, for their Best on Ground performances in the Grand Final.
Then it was the turn of what is fast becoming the most exciting category of the awards night; AFL Quebec 2013 Team of the Year (pictured). Having leaked a hint of the team earlier in the week there was much excitement in the room as people waited to see if their predictions for the Team were accurate and indeed if they had made the team itself. The Interchange was Old Port Dockers heavy with three of the four coming from the Docklands club, namely first year sensation Matthew Priess, Mr. Consistent Randy Andrada and the Tackle Queen herself Mimi Eboka. The final interchange spot was given to the enigmatic and fiery Irishman Marty Lawless of the Montreal Demons.
2013 Premiership Winning Coach of the Laval Bombers Paul Fairbrother was handed the role of head coach after a stellar season at the helm of the Bombers. The backline was made up of Laval Bombers speed merchant Bogdan Rotaru and for a second year running West Island Eagles Margo Legault in the pockets with the ever rock steady Old Port Dockers Ed Duff controlling goings-on from the full back position.
Moving on to the centre of the field saw the flamboyant Clement Coste of the Montreal Demons selected at on ball, complimented perfectly by selection of the gritty Matt Payne of the West Island Eagles as the other on baller. Southern Cross Medal Winner Zac Strevens of the Laval Bombers rounded up the midfield selection with his inclusion in the team of the year in the ruck.
At the business end of the field, saw yet another Bomber, in first year rookie, Simon Auger selected at forward pocket. The team was capped off with two more Australians, with Demons head Coach Luke O’Farrell selected at forward pocket and 2013 Williams Medalist winner, Toby Campain slotting in at full forward.
And so the ceremony moved on to the biggest awards of the night, 2013 Montreal Angel of the Year and 2013 AFL Quebec Best and Fairest. Angels Head Coach and herself a former recipient of the honour, Aimee Legault stepped up on stage to present the top accolade in women’s footy in the province, to one of the most decorated players in Quebec Footy history, Margo Legault. Adding to her two time Team of the Year selections, hall of fame induction and Team Canada selection to name but a few, Legault can now call herself the best female footy player in la belle province.
And so we moved on to the last award of the night, 2013 AFL Quebec Best and Fairest. Voting was tight all through the night with the lead having swapped many times between multitudes of players, and with a couple of players having made a late foray towards the top, the top accolade could have gone anyway. But alas it was Laval Bombers Bogdan Rotaru who pipped West Island Eagles Matt Payne by just two votes to walk away as 2013 AFL Quebec Best and Fairest.
As the ceremony wound down, there was one last surprise tribute to be handed out, when Ronan Shaughnessy became the fifth inductee into the AFL Quebec Hall of Fame. Shaughnessy follows in the footsteps of great names such as Luke Anderson, Dani Anderson, Anthony Williams and Margo Legault. While the Hall of Fame is not an obligatory honour every year, the Irishman’s contribution to the growth of footy in Quebec has been fantastic and his induction is very much deserved.
AFL Quebec would whole heartily like to thank all those involved in helping to make this the biggest awards night to date;
- AAFQ for kindly providing the facilities and equipment needed to host such an event.
- The Organising committee of Aimee Legault, Margo Legault and Ronan Shaughnessy.
- Rob Gordon for being MC on night and for preparing a fantastic awards presentation.
- Jen and Fred for their excellent bar service and hospitality on the night.
- Emily Legault for making the beautiful Team of the Year awards and Video Presentations.
- Tony Cunningham, Bogdan Rotaru and Simon Auger for the before and after clean-up.
… and finally to all our members, players, supporters, and your partners, family and friends. Without you there would be no AFL Quebec and none of this would be possible. Thank you.
Awards Night Summary:
AFL Quebec Best & Fairest – Bogdan Rotaru (Laval Bombers)
Montreal Angel of the Year – Margo Legault (Montreal Angels & West Island Eagles)
AFL QuebecRookie of the Year – David Boulerice (Laval Bombers)
Montreal Angel Rookie of the Year – Robyn Graham (Montreal Angels & Laval Bombers)
AFL Quebec Coaches Award – Giordy Watkins (West Island Eagles)
Williams Medallist (Leading Goalkicker) – Toby Campain (Old Port Dockers)
Volunteer of the Year Award – Aimee Legault
Southern Cross Medal - Best on Ground Australian – Zac Strevens (Laval Bombers)
Fleur de Lys Medal - Best on Ground Canadian/World – Chris Wienand (Laval Bombers)
Premiership Winners – Laval Bombers
Last Modified on 13/06/2014 05:53