This weekend we celebrate a great personal and club milestone as Norm Elliott plays game 300 for the Mighty Friars joining Anthony Carbone and Pete “Bomber” O’Brien as the third Friar to reach this milestone. However it would be folly to purely look at Norm’s impressive playing record with respect his contribution to the club. Since his debut with the club in 1994 Norm has been a ‘total Friar’ by playing, coaching and serving on the committee over 18 years having represented the club on the field in each of those years. Along the way he has been an integral part of many developments to improve the club and so many people have benefitted from his outstanding leadership.
His playing record is made up of 29 senior games, 182 in the reserves and this week will be his 89th game suiting up for the Thirds . If the great man can find his way forward this week and kick 3 goals, he will register his 200th goal for the club also. Norm is currently the playing coach of the Thirds, following on from his earlier success in taking them to the 2005 and 2007 Club XVIII flags also as playing coach.
My personal benefit of Norm’s contribution to the club though is his efforts on the committee. He has been a terrific confidante to me to assist in setting policy and planning and giving me a great background to workings of the club in the times where I was not directly involved. Part of this time was where Norm was responsible for the development of many policy and procedure documents that we still base many of our operations on today. To be able to put in this level of effort means getting plenty of support and would be remiss not to recognise the contribution of Norm’s wife, Yvette who has also been a significant contributor to the cause of the Mighty Friars.
So if you have the chance on Saturday get up to the Friars and see Norm in the early game and pay tribute to great part of our club! And there is no late game so the bar will open early to celebrate the achievement.
Well Done, Norm!
Last Modified on 10/09/2012 07:17