VAFA farewells Nick, Matt & Lana

Brett Connell

On behalf of the VAFA Board and Administration, I would like to advise of recent staffing changes.

Nick Armistead (Head of Media), Matt Dervan (Manager – Umpire Operations) and Lana Ryan (Media, Marketing & Events Co-ordinator) will all be leaving the VAFA to take up other roles outside of the VAFA.

Nick Armistead joined us in 2015 and has been the mainstay of the VAFA Media team across his six and half years. Nick started as Media & Communications Coordinator and has since risen to his current role of VAFA Head of Media. Working across all aspects of our media and publications, Nick quickly took a shine to the more creative aspects of VAFA Media, namely VAFA TV and VAFA Tragics, and as the social and digital aspects of media grew, so did his role.

Nick’s appetite for promoting and celebrating the VAFA in every aspect of the Association is second to none, increasing the VAFA’s social media presence to unprecedented levels. Nick leaves many legacies, some of which are the VAFA Media Days, VAFA Club Media Awards, coverage of the VAFA Ireland, Perth and Adelaide Tours, For the Love of the Game Podcast, the Club in Focus Podcast Series, livestreaming of VAFA matches, new-look weekly radio broadcasts on RSN Carnival and cutting-edge video content across the VAFA website and socials that saw the VAFA and Nick personally recognised by AFL Victoria at their Media Awards events.

Nick will be joining the team at Racing.com. We wish him well in all of his future endeavours and thank him for his time, energy, and dedication to the VAFA. Nick’s last day will be Friday 3 December.

Matt Dervan joined us in January 2020 after a brief part-time stint with us across 2016-2017. Matt brought a high-performance mindset to the VAFA Umpiring area as well as the VAFAUA. He built strong relationships across the UA Members and clubs and has set a new direction for VAFA umpiring. In difficult COVID-19 circumstances, Matt has developed an umpire strategic plan, reviewed the umpire coaching structure, and established a recruitment plan focussed on clubs, universities, players and umpires ready for implementation.

Matt will be joining Cricket Victoria as Regional Cricket Manager (Outer West). We thank Matt for his time at the VAFA and wish him all the best. Matt’s last day with us will be Friday 26 November.

Lana Ryan joined us in January 2020 and assisted across the areas of marketing, media and events, more recently focusing on the media and marketing aspects of the business. Lana’s industrious nature, friendly vibe and diligent approach to her roles made her a key member of the VAFA Administration Team.

Lana will take up her role with Arup as Marketing Consultant in January 2022 and her last day will be Friday 17 December. We wish Lana all the best in her new role.

In light of the recent announcements the VAFA will take some time to consider our current structure and settle on the best model moving forward to service the Association, its clubs and umpires.