South Barwon puts on a show to honour legend of the club
DAVID Boyle reckons Richard Holz deserves a bronze statue at McDonald Reserve.
Instrumental at South Barwon for the best part of 17 years, Boyle attributes much of the club’s success to the retired president.
So to commemorate his legacy, the Swans will host Celebration for Richard Holz this weekend.
Former greats will return to the club on Sunday, including Carlton assistant coach Dale Amos, Geelong defensive coach Matthew Scarlett, Essendon brothers Paul and Mark Corrigan, North Melbourne defender Scott Thompson and first-year Cat Tom Stewart. Fitzgerald, and outgoing cocoach and goalkicking champion Clinton Wells.
The celebration is the brainchild of Boyle, who was Holz’s right-hand man for 10 years.
“People were discussing ways to thank him for his contribution and talking about naming medals or best-and-fairests after him, or the clubrooms named after him,” he said.
“And while he deserves a bronze statue out the front, it’s still not the same as a public recognition of what he’s done for football
“The idea was to do something on the presentation night, but Noel O’Dwyer suggested that a few people would like to come along, so we made a day of it and we’ve got AFL Barwon commissioners and past president coming along.
“The day is a pat on the back, public acclaim for the amount of work that the man’s done, not only for the club, but the community.
“When he took over in 2000, the club was in a bit of debt and his first task was to reduce the debt and take the club forward.
“We also only had six teams in 2000 and we’ve currently got 37. The YMCA juniors at Belmont Common were disbanding and he wanted to get as many kids as he could in South Barwon jumpers.
“That was the catalyst — getting juniors in the under-10s, 11s, 12s, 14s and 16s — to South Barwon. And most of our senior players have come from that system.
“It was his personal relationship with the players that kept them there.”
Holz was the inspiration behind recruiting legendary local football figure Fitzgerald, who led the Swans to their first flag in 2001.
He was an advocate a second under-18 competition and delivered more than $2.5 million in funding for infrastructure and surface upgrades, but his most commendable work was in rallying support for former coach Casey Tutungi, who was left a quadriplegic in an on-field accident in 2013.
“He worked tirelessly for three months to make sure that everything was covered off,” Boyle said.
“And we had the highest cover in the league for that type of incident. Not even AFL Barwon had that level of cover.
“We had 500 people turn up for a function for Casey and Holzy was strong in his work with Geelong Football Club and Lorne Football Club.”
The Celebration for Richard Holz will include visual tributes from Geelong chief Brian Cook, Amos, Paul and Mark Corrigan, Tutungi and former Swans coach James Garvey.
The function will run from 1.30-4pm. RSVP to David Boyle on 0428 446 015.