VAFA Board changes

A number of VAFA Board positions were resolved following the VAFA’s Annual General Meeting held at Elsternwick Park last Thursday evening.

Frank Dunell, having served as Treasurer in 2024 as a Board appointed Director, withdrew his Director nomination ahead of the scheduled Director election. This resulted in the remaining three candidates, Joan Eddy, Matt Scholten and Mark Hibbins, being duly elected to the VAFA Board on three-year terms.

Joan Eddy, serving on the Governance and Community & Club Support sub-committee since, had been filling the casual vacancy left by Alistair Ewart. Matt Scholten was serving as a director on the Commercial sub-committee in one of the Board appointed positions for 2024.

Mark Hibbins, having served as a Football sub-committee member in 2024, now joins the VAFA Board as a Director for the first time.

Vicki Durston, a member of both the Finance sub-committeee and Governance sub-committee in 2024, also announced her resignation from the Board effective 11 December 2024.

This leaves the Board with a casual vacancy to be filled, along with the annual appointment of two Board appointed Directors for 2025.

As required by the Constitution, the Board met following the Annual General Meeting, and Paul Newton as President, and Sarah Delbosc and Ivan Delac as Vice Presidents, were reappointed to their respective roles unopposed.

The VAFA Board of Directors consists of:

• Paul Newton, President
• Sarah Delbosc, co-Vice President
• Ivan Delac, co-Vice President
• Joan Eddy
• Nicole Hall
• Mark Hibbins
• Martin Kelliher
• Matt Scholten

VAFA President Paul Newton stated at the AGM, “the Board wishes to publicly express its thanks for the significant contributions made by both Frank and Vicki during their time on the VAFA Board. Both have served the VAFA well during challenging periods, and we wish them both the very best with their future endeavours”.

Paul also took the opportunity to acknowledge the retirement of Anthony Amad after 19 years of service on the VAFA Board. “Anthony has served the VAFA with distinction over that period and I’m sure will continue his connections to our many VAFA Clubs for years to come.”

“We congratulate Joan and Matt on securing their Director positions and welcome Mark onto the Board.”

“Early in the new year the Board will assess our skillset matrix against our strategic goals, and look to appoint Directors to the one remaining casual vacancy and two Board appointed positions, as deemed necessary.”

“In the meantime, I take this opportunity to thank all our Member Clubs, the Life Members Association and the Umpire Association, for their ongoing support, and wish every in our VAFA community a safe and happy festive season.”