Life membership is the highest honour which can be bestowed upon a Williamstown CYMS Sports Club player, member, director, or volunteer. Life members are inducted via a process which includes nomination by the club’s committee, and a subsequent endorsement by the life membership sub-committee.
As such, on behalf of the Williamstown CYMS community, we wish to acknowledge and extend a huge congratulations to Rod Ford on his nomination and induction to life membership of the club.
Rod has been awarded life membership in recognition of the massive contribution he has made to the club. Rod was the Vice-President (Football Operations) of the footy club for seven years, a period in which he oversaw the club’s growth from five to eight teams. With Rod at the helm, we created and grew our inaugural women’s team, and won six premierships across the club. During this time, the senior men and women, as well as the under 19 teams, were all promoted up multiple divisions.
Rod has always been an outstanding role model for players and supporters alike. He represents the club with dignity and integrity, and is a friend and mentor to many. He built and maintained excellent working relationships with the Williamstown Juniors FC, Williamstown Football Club, FIDA Seagulls and Williamstown Super Rules Clubs, as well as our controlling body the VAFA.
These strong relationships led to Rod playing a major role in the development of the “Football Williamstown” player pathway, which facilitates the successful transition from junior football to open-age in the local community. The large number of Willy Juniors and CYMS players listed at state-level clubs in the NAB and VFL leagues are in large part due to the success of this pathway.
Rod is the second person, along with Caine Bergin, to have been awarded life membership at both the Williamstown CYMS and Williamstown Juniors Football Clubs. His sustained contribution to community sport, particularly football in Williamstown, has been immense over decades of volunteering.
Rod’s contribution to both the WIlly Juniors and CYMS football clubs has contributed to putting in place a strong foundation for our recent successes, and his steady hand in navigating us through the difficult Covid years places the club in a strong position to continue to grow into the future.
The Williamstown CYMS Football Club extends a very big CYs congratulations to Rod for this richly deserved honour. We thank him for his many years of service and dedication to our club, as well as the greater Williamstown sporting community.
