By Trevor Jackson
The South Australian National Football League (SANFL) has announced its 2021 Statewide Super Volunteer of the Year award finalists, with North Gambier’s Stephanie Contin among the eight volunteers to vie for the top honours.
Contin was nominated by the Tigers for the tireless work she does across three leagues, including the Western Border, Western Border Junior and Limestone Coast women’s competitions.
The list of undertakings by the North secretary is extensive, from her work on the committee to ensuring the guernseys are clean and ready to go.
There is no job that seems beyond her, but it is her pure passion that is evident when talking football.
As for being among the final eight for the overall award, Contin was grateful for the recognition, but found it hard to believe she was actually a finalist.
“It’s crazy actually,” she said.
“I don’t know what to say really, I just do what I do.
“The recognition is lovely but I almost just want to shy away from the spotlight really.
“I just do it as a mum.
“I could rattle off a million other people who seem so much more deserving of the recognition.”
It appears the chance to be named volunteer of the year has been building for many years and Contin’s love of the game came from a young age as one of five siblings.
“My three brothers have played footy all their lives and done well, so I have always been around football,” she said.
“One brother went to Glenelg early, another brother went to Glenelg and won an Under 19 premiership and was drafted to Richmond.
“I have five sons and now a daughter and have been a part of North Gambier for about 13 years.
“I just love it.”
That love of the game came to a head when the Limestone Coast women’s competition began, which provided a chance for Contin to play the game as well.
But once again it all came back to a volunteer’s role in some form.
“I have always been around the club and you just help where you can,” she said.
“The biggest thing for me was when the women’s league started up and North put a team in.
“I wanted to have a crack myself, so I played the first season.
“I have been involved since it started and wanted to help out as much as I could.
“Now we are trying to develop the junior girls competition and that is a huge passion for me as well, getting the junior girls Glenelg academy up and running.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting football the last two seasons, Contin has used her skills to help keep the Tigers on top of all new developments.
That began last year, despite her sixth child being due.
Her work at Bruhn Limestone takes up much of her time, along with her children, the family home and of course football.
Where does she find the time?
“I don’t know, I just do,” Contin said.
“They say if you want something done ask a busy person.
“It is just finding those little holes, how you can tie things in together … there are thing in the junior league that tie into the senior league.
“As a senior club committee member, that ties into coordinating the junior footy club.”
Contin’s passion for the game is truly astonishing, whether it be the Under 16 girls, keeping the Under 18 boys in the game at an awkward age, or “the sleepless nights, the early mornings, sitting on the side of the road with Michael Mourbey doing player registrations” which all come under the volunteer banner.
More recently with the COVID-19 changes, Contin’s passion has shown no boundaries, stretching past just the Tigers to help ensure other clubs and competitions can remain viable.
“The last year with COVID I jumped on the junior Western Border league just for a bit of club assistance at the time,” she said.
“I just wanted to see the kids out playing and give them some normalcy through all this madness of COVID.
“There have been a lot of changes, changing grounds, changing times, helping other clubs, because it is not just about your own club, it is about the success of whole leagues.”
That success has been tested through the COVID-19 pandemic, which is something that concerns Contin.
“I think the toughest thing COVID will show if there is an end to it, is who have we lost to footy, who did we lose to junior sport because it stopped?” she said.
“I say junior sport because there won’t be senior sport without keeping the juniors going.
“Adults can process that information way better than kids.
“Kids just see it as ‘I want to go to footy training’.
“If we don’t keep focusing on that I think there are kids we will lose to footy.”
