The Big Q&A with Palm Beach Currumbin AFC President Anne Cornish
Stalwart. The word is thrown around a fair bit but it’s the perfect way to describe Anne Cornish’s impact on the Palm Beach Currumbin Football Club.
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Stalwart. The word is thrown around a fair bit but it’s the perfect way to describe Anne Cornish’s impact on the Palm Beach Currumbin Football Club. After moving to the Gold Coast 15 years ago, Cornish has been one of the main reasons behind the club’s progression from a Pineapple Cup side to a QAFL premiership winning force.
I know you’re from Melbourne. So when did you fall in love with AFL?
From the day I was born. I didn’t have much choice. My dad was a Western Bulldogs supporter but he worked Saturday’s and back then all of the games were played on Saturday so he didn’t have the time to take us. My uncle was a dedicated Collingwood supporter so he used to take us every week so I quickly fell in love with it all. I got to be a part of the cheer squad and everything.
Did you ever think about playing growing up? Although I’m imagining the pathways weren’t exactly there for you at the time.
No they weren’t. I don’t know if I would of but it just wasn’t an option anyway when I was a teenager. I was probably too old by the time it became a bit of a popular thing for women to do. Even then, I’d just had my children at that time when some of my girlfriends started playing. I just don’t know that I would have had the time to do it. I don’t know if I’d do it if I was that age again now.
Why did you move to the Gold Coast?
Primarily for work and for lifestyle purposes. I was commuting a lot back and forth to Brisbane but I didn’t want to leave in Brisbane. And we had family here as well so it made sense.
Your son Tyler and the family were obviously on the lookout for a new footy club. What led you to Salk oval?
When we moved here, we moved into the Palm Beach area. We sort of ummed and aahed about joining Coolangatta or Palm Beach because we had friends at both clubs. But the decider was that my husband went to Palm Beach and my brother in law was the coach at Palm Beach and it was the closer club.
Although we’ve come leaps and bounds, Queensland doesn’t exactly compare with Melbourne as an Aussie rules heartland. What was the state of play when you first arrived up here?
It was definitely worse than it is now. I think now it’s got far more credibility but when we moved, being from Melbourne, we lived and breathed AFL so we didn’t understand why people up here didn’t! I think it’s because of the options like AFL is probably a third rung behind surf life saving and rugby. Some weeks we’d have a game up on the Sunshine Coast and boys on the team would ring in and say they couldn’t play because the surf was good. But that was 15 or 16 years ago so it’s improved a lot.
After a couple of years, you and your husband Mark got involved in the junior committee. What pushed you guys to go from spectators to making real change at the club?
I felt that the junior club at the time, it was going well and they had great volunteers but they were lacking numbers on the committee so I had some ideas that I thought could improve the club. Instead of complaining and carrying on about it, I’m one of those people who gets in there and does it. So I offered to get involved and leapt in. After about two years on the junior committee, I could see that Tyler was going to move quite quickly up to the senior club, he went up at 15 rather than 17-years-old. They had a spot on the senior committee and asked me if I’d like to be involved so I went in blind.
From there you spent seven years on the senior committee and won the club administrator of the year award in 2016. How did you then make the move to President?
I was sort of doing the job anyway by default. Not because of any bad reason other than the current President at the time, Glenn Spencer, was working away so I sort of took on the role by default. I enjoyed it and thought I was a good administrator and I was accepted as a woman into the President’s group and the boys club. I felt comfortable with it. Glenn eventually decided it was all too much and his son Max (Spencer) got rookie listed by the Suns so he wanted to follow him around. I thought then was my time. A few years before Glenn actually resigned, he’d offered to because he’d had enough and had been a volunteer for many years at Palm Beach. But all I could think was ‘I’m not sure they’re ready for a female President here and it appeared to come across as a bit of a boy’s club. It took me doing it by default to realise that that wasn’t the case. I’m one of the outspoken Presidents but I’m still respected.
You’ve also become a mother to interstate recruits, putting up several players in your home over the years. What did you get out of that experience?
Just the passion for the game and the love of helping boys out when they move interstate. A lot of the time they come from a family environment and to move up here knowing no one is quite scary so we try make that move a bit easier. If I do lose them, I usually lose them to other girlfriends, not to living with mates! Quite a few of the boys I’ve had for three or four years. Up until recently, there was seven of us, so my family and three billeted boys. And we also had some boys from the Solomon Islands as well as part of the AFL’s national program which was lovely and a great cultural experience for both.
You’ve given so much to the club but so has your family. Your son Tyler plays in the senior side. Your husband is still heavily involved and your daughter Casey volunteers and cooks meals for the boys after training. Is the club like a fifth family member?
Absolutely. Both my daughter and son would say the club’s probably above them! We’re all involved which is great but I do probably spend a lot of time there. But it’s only for six months of the year. They are definitely my other family.
After the 2017 Grand Final, the club probably had one of its darker days when players were caught doing burn outs and serious damage to the oval and cricket pitch. How does a president go about responding to such a public incident?
It was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I don’t think there’s been too many Presidents that have had to deal with that sort of media hype. What happened was terrible and never should have happened but the aftermath of that was pretty horrific and something I’d never dealt with before. I was getting hurling abuse at me, anonymously of course. I’d never really dealt with the media at the level either. I’d always done interviews after the game when it was for a good thing like winning a premiership but this was the other side. It was quite hard and a week of my life it took away dealing with police, council, the media, the committee, the players and social media. I wasn’t trained for that but we got through it.
You’ve said that the SEQAFL Division One 2013 premiership was one of the highlights of your life. What made that one so special?
Just the lead up to it. We’d worked so hard and it was my fifth year there. In the years before, I think we’d been in the Grand Final three of the four years and lost. So when we finally won it was a sigh of relief that all that hard work had come to fruition. With five minutes to go, someone came up to me and said ‘we’ve done it,’ and the tears just started flowing. The boys dedicated that Grand Final to me so it was really nice and extra special.
Did last year when all three senior teams made the Grand Final top it?
It was very special. I don’t know about topping it but to see them all make it made us very proud. Obviously we had the two losses in colts and reserves so I was sitting on the losing side while they did the winners presentation but that’s all part of footy. But then we took out the senior one so that was pretty special.
Where would it rate it the QAFL side did the three-peat this year?
Wow. That would probably top 2013. That would have to be one of the best times of my life, obviously I’ve got children and a husband! I think it would be amazing to achieve three in a row and that might just be my curtain call. I think four is greedy but three is a great achievement. The hat-trick seems to be the magic number and I don’t think it’s been done before. Anything that hasn’t been done I’d like to do.
Since you’ve joined the club, you’ve seen the club play in 15 grand finals, winning eight. Have the club approached you to sign you on for life?
They haven’t at this stage. This is my 10th year in an official capacity and that’s the criteria, you have to do 10 years so we’ll see what happens next year. It’s not up to me it’s up to other committee members.
With the Suns set to enter the AFLW in 2020, are there any aspirations on your end to field a senior women’s side that could see the first PBC player drafted into the league?
That's exactly the way we’re heading. We have a succession plan and this year was probably going to be a bit soon and our juniors would be too long but we’re aiming for 2020. We want to be the place to be where girls come if they want to get drafted into the national league.
What do you want to be your legacy at the club when you do one day call time?
I want my legacy to be that Palm Beach is the club that everyone wants to go to on the Coast. That’s where I see my legacy. We get lots of walk ins and people ringing and people asking about the culture. One of the other Presidents said one day “if you could bottle that culture, we’d buy it.” I can pinpoint what it is but I guess we have gender equality on the committee and we look after the boys as well as treat them as players. It’s a real family culture.
Anne Cornish
Nickname: Mumma Lion
Born: Melbourne
Day job: Records and information management
Roles at Palm Beach AFC:
-Junior committee member
-Senior committee secretary
-Club President
-Homestay family for interstate players
Family
-Husband Mark: Masters player
-Son Tyler: QAFL premiership player
-Daughter Casey: Club volunteer
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