Boniface a tireless worker for Winton AFC
You could argue Wendy Boniface is more essential to a Southland football game than the ball itself.
The mother of two has been a tireless worker for Winton AFC and football in Southland for more than 15 years after she became involved as a mum on the sideline.
She’s been president, secretary, manager, coach, groundskeeper, admin worker, barbecue hand and anything else that needs to be done.
Her son, Kieran, took up the sport aged 7 and she went along to support him.
A year later, in 2000, Boniface would become president, mainly because no-one else put their hand up.
Her first year as president was a big learning curve, but luckily for her she had a very good secretary, Adele Waymouth, supporting her.
‘‘I was just the voice really and she did all the work. I was the sounding board.’’
Waymouth had done the work for a number of years and knew the ins and outs, Boniface said.
It was only a junior club then, with mixed girls and boys up to the age of 16, she said.
In 2001 she took up the game aged 43, joining the women’s practices at the Waihopai Club to learn something about the game.
‘‘I went to practices really to learn something – to know about how to be a coach.’’
You can coach without play- ing, but it was played, she said.
‘‘It was good because I could go to women’s practices on Wednesday and take a kids session on Thursday and just use the same drills, only downsized a bit.’’
Teaching kids at practice and seeing them put the knowledge to
easier
if
you use in games Boniface said.
When she was secretary for Winton in 2008 Boniface organised the addition of a senior women’s team to the club. It was a big year in 2009, when a men’s team was also formed. The club, after much work, became incorporated in November that year.
was
rewarding,
Boniface carries out various secretarial duties, on top of which she is chief keeper and distributor of the gear between seasons.
Along with monthly meetings and assisting to organise club events, she orders the new gear for the club, marks out the field, helps with fundraising and sells the club socks.
For the past five years, Boniface has also organised and manned a fundraising barbecue at the grounds each Saturday morning, which she continues throughout terms one and four for the summer primary touch competitions in Winton.
In 2008, Southland Football recognised her work awarding her the Muriel Matheson Salver for contribution to football in Southland.
In the past year, Boniface has become involved in a working committee based in Dunedin looking at ways of improving women’s football across the southern region. She is the women’s representative on the Southland Football board of management and has been since about 2007.
What is the secret of her organisational skills? ‘‘Retirement. I don’t go out to a day job,’’ she said, laughing. ‘‘I’ve just got more time to do things.’’