20 August 2019
AR Advisors strongly believes in giving back to the community. With so many sports fans within our team, sporting sponsorships are a natural fit for us. AR Advisors is a proud player sponsor of one of our very own accountants – Matt Hill – who plays League for the North Fremantle Amateur Football Club.
But this isn’t your ordinary amateur footy club. It has a rich history and story behind it, and was even the feature of a Channel 9 news story in 2018.
The North Fremantle Amateur Football Club, affectionately known as the Maggies, is the oldest WA club still playing in amateur football. With a 99-year strong history, the Club was part of the WAFL from 1901 to 1915, but then the First World War saw a number of members leave, who sadly never returned.
In fact, no other club had so many members killed or maimed during the war, ultimately forcing the club to close. Thankfully, the club re-emerged as a community club, and Matt says this community spirit is one of the main reasons he chose to join as a player about three years ago.
“It’s really family friendly, with a tight-knit team culture. Most of my closest friends are part of the club and it has a great community feel.”
But that’s not to say Matt doesn’t take the game seriously. In fact, he used to play for East Fremantle in the WAFL Reserves. However, after suffering a broken ankle and a string of related injuries, Matt decided to give it up and join an amateur league instead.
While it’s definitely less intense, Matt (who was awarded Best and Fairest at the club in 2018) says there is still a strong sense of competition that he enjoys. “While it’s happy and social most of the time, things get a lot more competitive once the ball is bounced on game day.”
This competitive spirit has seen the team secure a spot in the finals for the 2019 season.
As a player sponsor, AR Advisors provides a donation to the club that contributes to covering costs such as umpiring, facilities upkeep, equipment, electricity bills, and all the other things that are required to keep an important community club such as the Maggies ticking along.
And it’s not just the players that benefit. According to Matt, “amateur clubs live off sponsorships, but the funds don’t just help me or the club, they support the broader community. We get locals coming down to watch the games and the club is an important community centrepiece for the families of the players as well.”
We wish Matt and the club all the best in the upcoming finals and look forward to continuing to provide support that will help this club with such a rich history continue to play an important community role into the future.
To read more about AR Advisors’ other sponsorships, please click here.