Sport
Shepparton Swans servant Maree Williams receives AFL Merit Award for her dues paid at Princess Park
There is merit in lending a hand — just ask Maree Williams.
Last Friday, the ardent Shepparton Swans volunteer was recognised as a national winner during the AFL Victoria Community Football Awards at IKON Park.
Williams was heralded under the community banner, receiving the AFL Merit Award — given to volunteers who have provided 10 or more years of outstanding service to community football — for her servitude at Princess Park where she wears many hats.
Often it’s that of a chef; running the canteen and cooking Thursday night teas.
Other times she dons an organisational cap — sorting out the players’ jumpers to make sure they’re ready to run out on game day.
But when she set the table for dinner at the clubrooms a few weeks ago, Williams was handed an unexpected — albeit deserved — surprise that caught her completely off guard.
“A couple of weeks ago we had a Thursday night tea down at the footy club and Jarrod (Sutherland), our president, announced that I’d won it,” she said.
“And then the GVL came in with a life membership.
“It just blew me away because I’m not one to grab accolades, I like to hide behind the canteen or wherever I’m working. It was just amazing.”
With about three decades of dedication to the Swans, it was a fitting reward for the Goulburn Valley League to bestow life membership upon Williams.
She’s been there through thick and thin.
Lately, it’s been more of the latter after the 2022 floods razed the club’s field and facilities, tying one hand behind Swans’ volunteers’ backs with clubrooms and amenities replaced with containers and porta-coms.
It hasn’t dented Williams’ spirit, however, and it’s her bulletproof attitude that likely landed her the AFL Merit Award in the first place.
“It’s been amazing, the players, committee, the parents of the players and so forth are very supportive of our area — and so are visiting clubs,” she said.
“They’re aware of what we’re going through once they come to us — beforehand they’re very sceptical thinking they’re going to operate out of a tent or whatever, but we’ve been able to get two containers from council to run the bar and the canteen.
“And then the AFL have come good with these rooms for the players and visiting players and also the netball.
“It’s quite manageable, but of course, it’s nothing like having you’re own clubroom.”
Despite the tricky working conditions, the Swans are thriving on the field.
Improved senior finishes in tandem with two junior grand final berths and healthy Auskick numbers in 2024 shows the club isn’t hamstrung or hampered by its environment, but humming along while working with what is available.
It takes people like Williams to make that possible, but in her own words, she’s far from the only optimist at Princess Park.
“That comes through with the family, but it comes from the top as well,” she said.
“Jarrod is very supportive of trying to get everything going as much as we can, so the committee follows on and it goes on to the players, parents and supporters around.”
Shepparton Swans wasn’t the only club from the Goulburn Valley to scoop an accolade on awards night either.
Rumbalara Football Netball Club’s Beck Dean received the AFL Victoria Diversity Ambassador of the Year, while Ben Trevena from the Echuca Moama Rockets All Abilities side was named AFL Victoria’s Disability Inclusion Ambassador of the Year.
Meanwhile, Goulburn Valley Football Umpires Association head Andrew Moore beat out the pack to pick up AFL Victoria Community Umpire Manager of the Year.