At TAFL AGM held on the 2/11/08 Mr. Gerry Griffths was bestowed life membership for his tireless work and dedication to the TAFL. This is the first time this honour has been awarded.
Below is the nomination from Mr. Graham Nuttall and seconded by Mr. Graham Brown.
Gerry has been a driving force of the Tamworth Australian Football League from its inception in late 1996 in readiness for it's first year of operation in 1997.
Gerry identified himself as wanting to get involved in starting the League in Tamworth when a call went out through the media seeking support from people in the Tamworth community to get involved.
He didn’t just get involved, Gerry took on the role of President of the Committee that then became the Tamworth Australian Football League Inc.
In the early days, Gerry and his wife Veronica and family Matt, Mageurite, Evan and Emily took on many roles including umpiring (field, boundary and goal), playing (Gerry still has the scars and memories of a crunching tackle under the ribs requiring hospitalisation), running the canteen, tribunal and the many meetings required for conducting a successful competition.
After a couple of years of the local Tamworth competition, Gerry was behind the expansion of the competition to include a team from Armidale followed by a team from Gunnedah and then teams from Muswellbrook, Narrabri and Inverell.
The TAFL was the only growing League in Australia in 2005.
Gerry was in no small way responsible for this growth pushing through times of some resistance to change but always acting in the best interest of Australian Football’s development in the New England North West of NSW and that of the TAFL.
I would go so far to say, that without Gerry Griffith’s commitment and dedication since that night in late 1996 when he took up the reins, the Tamworth AFL would very likely not have survived let alone grown to what it now is.
In nominating Gerry Griffiths to become the first Life Member of the Tamworth AFL Inc, I also would like to recognise and thank his family for supporting his involvement as they have and for their continuing involvement both on and off the field.
