Valley Spirit shows out in bushfire appeal: Page 2

Thanks to our sponsors

We had a wide range of sponsors and donors who freely pledged goods and materials to help us maximise the fundraising.

These included:

·         Antony Sherer at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Ascot Vale.
·         Dave Hutchison from Duncan’s.
·         The Committee of the Moonee Valley Sporting Club, representing the bowls, football and bridge sections.
·         Brumby’s Moonee Ponds for the bread.
·         Steve Radford at Dorr’s Fine Foods for donations, including meat for the barbecue.
·         The Moreland Moonee Valley Umpires Association with umpires Ray Musgrove and Pat Campbell.
·         Player Vicki Moore with a microwave prize for the raffle.
·         Player Amit Chaudhary with an imported bat for the Twenty20 man of the match.
·         Coach Lou Raffaele with a signed Steve Waugh bat for the raffle.
·         General Meat Traders with meat for the barbecue.
·         The Ansaldo Family Fruit Stall for fruit and ingredients for the salads.
·         Our Women’s players for their salads.
·         Tony Gleeson and the Carlton Cricket Club for the match balls.
·         Bob Sciacchitano for donation of drinks.
·         Cr Jim Cusack with Council products for the raffle.
·         Players Kane Harding and Steve Gentilin for organising the jumping castle.
·         Bocca and Buddha for milk and fruit juice.
·         Campbellfield Gas Supplies.
·         The Thorneycroft Family.
·         Thanks also to our curator, Ian ‘Spider’ Beel for preparing the pitch.

Pictured at top: Umpire Neville Webb-Johnson watches intently as Moonee Valley's Steve
Gentilin bowls, with former Valley batsman Glen Courts backing up.
Next: Sixths bowling sensation Mark Madden updates the scoreboard, as Moonee Valley grinds
relentlessly towards the winning score.  

Our connection with the fires

Moonee Valley player Bryce Peter-Budge lost two grandparents and an uncle in the Narbethong fires. Bryce attended and was able to see the level of support from his team-mates.

The family home of player Heath Webb-Johnson was also damaged by fire at Kinglake. Heath’s dad Neville, a former top-class cricket umpire, took an end in the Moonee Valley v Rest of the World match.

And Heath’s mum cleaned us out in the raffle, doing very well at the prize table.

Heath also announced the Man of the Match and presented the bat to the winner Raj Aiyappan of Moonee Valley, after the judging was done by a panel headed by Murray Walker.


Pictured here are our women's team members with Essendon MP Judy Maddigan. L-R: Back - Ros Brelis, Judy Maddigan, Jan Moore, Vicki Moore, Jenny O'Brien, Carolyn Tan, Belinda Tankard.
Middle - Nicole McLachlan, Sam Lawson, Adele Walker, Tanya Intagliata, Tien Ha.
Front - Young guns Amelia Radford and Jacinta de Niese.  

Support from our players

A number of Moonee Valley players were tireless in their support and organisation of the event.

It would be impossible to name everyone who made a significant contribution, but some that spring to mind are:

·         Firsts captain Mark Gauci, who was the impetus behind the event, organised the players from all the clubs and organised
       donations and virtually the whole benefit. ·         Darren Nagle for his efforts in organising that the event ran smoothly.
·         MVSC president Garry Noonan for organising the liquor licence at short notice.
·         Bob Sciacchitano, Allan Cumming, Phill King, Joe Ansaldo and Peter Fenaughty on the barbecues.
·         Tien Ha and Kim Johnston in the canteen.
·         Vice President Jim Polondis for being everywhere.
·         Ryan Fairclough, partner Kate, Paul Comino and others in the bar.
·         David Bell as scorer for the turf game and David Carew, John Brelis, Steve Radford and others at the women’s game.
·         Greg Sorenson for his photography, with photos also from Jim Polonidis.

Shown above: Some heavyweights past and present - L-R: Moonee Valley president Charlie
Walker, Firsts captain Mark Gauci, past president Darren Nagle and past captain-coach Rex Bennett.   


The appeal

We decided to donate the proceeds to Cricket Victoria’s bushfire appeal, which has been established to buy equipment and help restore facilities for clubs in the fire-ravaged areas of the State.

The big hits

Mark Gauci ran a sponsorship fundraiser based on the number of sixes hit in the turf match, with people nominating how much they would pay for each big hit.

The eight sixes hit in the match was below expectations.

Senior player and Under 10 coach James Clarke did likewise for the women's game, sponsoring each boundary for $5, and as a result coughed up a respectable $35.

Checking the number of sixes hit above are L-R: MVCC coach Lou Raffaele,
scorer/one day player David Bell and Ninths captain Paul Comino.


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