New North Shore president Maryian Szponar speaks on big issues facing the club
North Shore is no longer in survival mode, it is in rebuild mode. And Seagulls president Maryian Szponar says everything is on the table — even leaving the Geelong league. He opens up in an expansive interview.
Pictured: Will Milsome (Vice), Jacob Sammut (Co-Captain), Abbey Watt (Coach), Edwina Wilkens (Netball Director), Maryian Szponar (President), Mark Hounslow (Coach), Harry Purcell (Co-Captain), Brad Tregenza (Vice), Eliza Kramer (Secretary).
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North Shore Football Netball Club’s future flashed before their eyes.
Numbers dwindled after the loss of a host of key players departed and the situation escalated when North Shore failed to meet AFL Barwon’s parameters.
It got to the point where AFL Barwon issued a stern warning that there may be no North Shore in the Geelong league in 2025.
The Seagulls rallied the troops with dozens of players registering – now up to 65 registered players in total — and AFL Barwon put the ball in their court: go into recess, or forge ahead.
“When you look at it there, if they shut the club, the players that we had there, they’re going to want to play footy somewhere. So they go away, right?” new president Maryian Szponar told this masthead.
“So if they go away, it’s going to be hard to get them back again. So instead of looking for 20 players, you’re going to be looking for 60 players.
“North Shore has won 11 premierships in the GFL – the most out of anyone. They go into recess, you’ve lost all that history – it’s all gone. Recess isn’t the way to go.”
Szponar stepped in as president just days before the club made the call on their future.
A life member since 1980, Szponar first played for the Seagulls at the age of nine and served as president in 1990 for four seasons.
He helped set up their dynasty, employing Ron Watt and Glenn Keast who went on their premiership coaches.
Three decades on, he is back to breathe life into a club that has been on life support.
“All my friends are there, it’s a great club, and basically North Shore set me up for life in regards to my work ethic and my personality.
“I didn’t like what I was seeing, basically.
“Talking to a lot of people, I’ve had my finger in the pie for a long time as a bystander, and a lot of the stuff that was happening, when I read the thing to AFL Barwon I thought, ‘That’s not us’.
“And I thought to myself, I’ve got a bit to offer and I’ll put my hand up.”
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Szponar doesn’t want North Shore to just survive, as he feels it has done the past two decades. He wants it to thrive and become a community hub again, as it was back in the 90s.
Corio MP Richard Marles announced a $4 million election promise on Saturday to revamp North Shore’s facilities, and it is understood the Liberal National Party also plan to invest in the club if they win power.
One of Szponar’s big tasks is setting up under-15 and under-18 sides to regenerate the club from the ground up.
And if things go pear shaped on-field in the seniors and reserves, all options are on the table – even leaving the Geelong league.
Relegation is a reality facing the club if either of the top two Bellarine sides in the club championship model – currently Geelong Amateur and Torquay – wish to be promoted.
But Szponar said the Geelong and District competition would be his preferred option at this stage
“Preferably GDFNL. We really haven’t discussed that at a committee level, it’s more been just talking about it, but officially we’ll probably start getting into that in the next probably month or two, to see where we want to go,” Szponar said.
“In the background we’ve got a satellite group looking at what’s required and what’s not required, I’m leading that group with another five or six people, so that we hit the ground running and have a B plan just in case we need to affiliate with another competition.
“There’s a lot of people that have blue and gold through and through, they don’t want to go out of the GFNL.
“But if the club’s going to fall over and you can’t run the place, it’s a case of survival mode, isn’t it? At the moment, we’re not in survival mode. At the movement, we are in rebuild mode.
“That’s another thing, over the last 20 years, the club itself has been in survival mode rather than setting plans.
“What I’m trying to do is get the club rooms up and running, get counter meals running, make it a hub of the Northern suburbs again.”
On the recruiting front, North Shore will target players who want to be there, rather than the interstate stars they have signed in recent years.
“Instead of going after VFL players and interstate players and you name it – they lost their focus on where you get a good footy club — and that’s by getting young kids. One pointers, not three pointers into the place,” Szponar said.
“If you’re going to fly people in and you’re going to have people from interstate, it’s not sustainable. You can’t do that, it costs you money,” Szponar said.
“The thing that got up my nose was the only real person that’s stayed around the club in the last 20 years is Jason Davenport, and the only reason he left, he was like Ronny Watt, he is a career footy coach.
“And they are the sort of people I want, the people that are going to hang around and support the club and be part of the club and the fabric of the club, rather than fly in, fly outs that leave you for dead.”
“So the main option is get born and bred people from the area. I reckon there is four clubs in Geelong that are running on the North Shore model from the 80s and 90s: South Barwon, St. Mary’s, Newtown, they’re all running on the model of getting kids into the place.
“I want to make it a home built experience. I want them to be here because they want to be, and not pay them to be there because they have to be to get paid.”
‘SIX WINS AT LEAST’
On the field, new North Shore coach Mark Hounslow has his hands full.
“In three weeks we have picked up heaps of players – and they’re reasonable players, they’re not just names and numbers,” Szponar said.
They may be reasonable footballers, but are they reasonable GFNL footballers? That will become clearer in their hellish first month against Colac (away), Bell Park (away), Leopold and South Barwon.
Many of their new signings are coming straight out of juniors or reserves footy, or have taken multiple years off.
They should be applauded for helping out the struggling Seagulls in their time of need, but concern will heighten across Geelong again if they get belted week in, week out.
But Szponar believes North Shore is capable of notching half a dozen wins – four more than last year – with matches against the bottom six to be prioritised.
“I don’t want to put our gun players on the track playing against St Marys etc, and get beat by five or six goals and get three injuries,” Szponar said.
“And if we play Lara the next week, we’ve got three of our best players injured and got no hope of winning.
“We are trying to set the parameters of the club at the moment to get six wins at least.
“I’m quite comfortable with where we are at the moment and I am confident we will go all right. I’ve heard rumours about other sides in the competition, their list isn’t as big as ours.”
In netball, North Shore was unable to get a B-side up this season but will field C, D and E grade sides as the club continues to build under hardworking netball co-ordinator Edwina Wilkens.
OPEN BOOK
As rumours swirled around North Shore folding, AFL Barwon issued three requirements to North Shore in mid-February.
By the end of February, the Seagulls needed to provide written confirmation they could field seniors and reserves teams in 2025, have a minimum of 60 registered, and have a sufficient number of players contracted.
Szponar believes they were “micromanaged” by the strict criteria but he understands why AFL Barwon got on the front foot.
“At the end of the day we are part of their competition and they have got a job to do,” Szponar said.
“The most that I was worried about was we’re not the only club that’s got an issue, but we’re the only one that’s been micromanaged.
“And since I’ve taken over, I’ve spoken to all the hierarchies in AFL Victoria etc and I’ve got no real dramas with AFL Barwon and that, in the way they’re handling it.
“I’ve coached footy and been part of footy for a lot of time. Everyone’s chasing players up until the first bounce, even the first bounce on the Thursday night, they were handing out jumpers, organising clearances.”
North Shore has kept its distance from AFL Barwon during its struggles, but it will be a different story under Szponar.
“When I had this meeting with all the hierarchy, I said you are quite welcome to come and sit in on our meetings, you are quite welcome to shadow everyone in what’s going on,” he said.
“I’m an open book, I like trying to treat people the same I want to be treated.”
The low numbers on the track that plagued them during the pre-season seem a world away now.
“The numbers aren’t really worrying me – that’s the least of the problems now,”
“We will field two sides no problems, and just listening to people around the club, they said the seconds are a lot better than what they were last year, so that tells you something when you’re talking depth of the club.”
The future of the North Shore Football Netball Club will be on the lips of every local footy fan across the Geelong and Bellarine.
But no matter where Seagulls play their footy next year, they are in good hands with Szponar at the helm.
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