By Rob Askew

The future of women’s football at The Gap looks rosy, but fans of the club should not get too excited … just yet.
This was revealed at a meeting of the minds when the first women’s sub-committee gathered at the club on Wednesday night.
For those of you who do not know, we, who all play football at The Gap, are members of the Pastime Club.
The Pastime Club consists of three sub-sections: junior football, senior men’s football and women’s football.
Women’s football consists of all the players and their parents who are participating in all female teams.
Each section of the club is expected to administer itself and contribute to the broader club through its sub-committee.
Women’s football has traditionally had the best organised and most successful committee.
However, with sudden retirements two to three years back the women’s sub-committee ceased to function.
Women’s football has been run by the experience of Rob Askew, Gai Stephenson and Glenys Wilkinson by focussing on the core things that need to be done.
Of course, we have willing people who do great jobs such as David Newbery, who produces the newsletter, Di Crowe our equipment officer and Robyn Kennedy for agreeing to take on a couple of fundraising projects this year.
However, we lack the organisation that you get with a decision-making body like a committee.
This is of course unsustainable because if someone leaves the hole is too big to fill.
Despite that, women’s football at The Gap has flourished in recent years with record numbers and lots of success on the field.
We are now seeking to re-establish the women’s committee so that we can become an even better club and community resource than we already are.
Progress was made at the meeting with new people agreeing to join the committee and some for taking on specific roles.
Our utmost thanks go to Laura Brunning for agreeing to be the new secretary and registrar understudy, Gai Stephenson for agreeing to continue as registrar and for receiving and distributing Football Brisbane information, Simone Hare and Alex Nelson for taking on the role of organising presentation night and to Katie Hall and Lara Boon for taking on responsibilities pertaining to match day presentation.
And well done to Elizabeth Musgrave who has agreed to be a part of the committee.
Our thanks also to David Newbery for this superb newsletter which keeps all our members informed about what is going on within the club and what our wonderful teams are achieving.
We were also encouraged by some of the possible solutions raised to some of the procedural challenges that lay ahead of us in terms of setting up the fields and pulling them down and ensuring the facilities are left in great condition.
It was an encouraging start but we need more people to step forward and take on the roles that are needed to make our club truly great.
Specifically, we need people to take on the role of overall co-ordinator.
This person will ensure that meetings are held regularly and run them and ensure that various items are being done by the people doing them.
We also need a treasurer, someone to seek sponsorship, an equipment officer (for 2009), someone to co-ordinate fundraising, two delegates for the Pastime Club committee (one from the senior side and one from the junior side) and a fixture controller.
As you can see there are only a few positions left so if you have the skills and think that you can help with these roles or feel you just want to contribute, please come forward.
The more people we have the less any one person has to do. It is as simple as that.
We just need people to take the first step.
Participating to improve my local club and provide a quality community resource for young girls and women has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done so give it a go. You won’t regret it!
It is great to be making these moves to ensure our future from the strong position we are in at the moment.
We have record numbers, successful competitive teams and a great crop of very promising young coaches coming through the ranks.
We can only improve from here and the sky is the limit if we get well organised off the park.
If you are interested, contact Katie Hall on 0401 355 456.

A feather in Ruth’s cap

The Gap Premier League player Ruth Blackburn was unavailable for the game last weekend against Ipswich but no-one minded.
Ruth was in Canberra preparing with the Junior Matildas.
The 16-year-old was named in the under 19 Junior Matildas squad.
Ruth, a member of last year’s championship winning Gap team has been with the club since she was 11 years old.
She played for The Gap under 14, Youth, Premier Reserves and Premier League teams.
“She is a versatile attacking player who can play anywhere in midfield or up front,” director of coaching Rob Askew said.
“She is a wonderful athlete with a real competitive spirit.
“We are looking forward to having her back on her return as injuries stretch the squad … although we do accept that we now may lose her altogether.
“Currently we do not see much of Ruth as she has a training access arrangement with the QAS.
“With this arrangement she trains with the QAS but does not have a full scholarship.
“Players with a full scholarship are not allowed to play with their clubs but must play for the QAS who, this year, are participating in the under 15 Boys Rebel Representative League.”
It would come as no surprise if Ruth receives a full scholarship and is lost to The Gap for the season.
“It will, of course, be sad not to see Ruth around so much as she is a great club person but we would be happy for her as we feel she has the ability to play at the Olympics and World Cup and the QAS is the pathway to national team presentation,” Rob said.
“We hope that Ruth can play at the next World Youth Cup, which will mean that a Gap player has played at three of the four World Youth Cups played so far.”
Previous World Youth Cup players from The Gap include Elissia Canham and Ellen Beaumont.
And Pam Grant has been to the big one – the World Cup.
Good luck, Ruth – the club is right behind you.