VAFA 2019: new president George Voyage leads the VAFA into the new season
George Voyage is a VAFA man from top to toe. And he’s also the new president of the amateurs, the competition he joined as a player almost 50 years ago.
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George Voyage’s introduction to amateur football was the sight of a man sweeping out the changerooms.
It made a lasting impression.
It was 1970 and Voyage had presented at Caulfield Grammarians for a game.
As he walked in for his first training run, a fellow he came to know as Keith Meier was cleaning the rooms.
With a band of helpers, he did other things besides: put the padding on the goalposts, ran the canteen, was the timekeeper and team manager.
“He was the first person I met when I went there, and I thought that was terrific,’’ Voyage said.
“But as I travelled around to more and more clubs, I recognised there was a Keith Meier everywhere. Our association was full of Keith Meiers, selfless people with wonderful spirit and they would pass on the baton.’’
Voyage said a Supreme Court judge cleaned the rooms at another club. Asked why he did it, the judge replied: “Well, I played here and others did it for me, so now I’m doing it for you.’’
“So what you have in the VAFA is this kind of ethos, thousands and thousands of people who value their association with our football clubs, be it at a district club, an alumni or a school or a university group, community group, whatever. The loyalty and selflessness are extraordinary,’’ Voyage said.
Almost 50 years after that first training session at Caulfield Grammarians, Voyage is the new — and 19th — president of the 127-year-old VAFA.
Asked if it was the pinnacle of his association with the amateurs, he said he had enjoyed “every aspect of it’’, as a player and coach at Grammarians, as a representative coach and as a board member.
He still marvels at the fact that people travel all across Melbourne to train and play, to umpire, serve as officials or act as volunteers, “for those intangible benefits of camaraderie, fair play, respect and team spirit’’.
“Nobody gets paid. We’ve got people giving up their time and contributing at every level,’’ he said.
Describing himself as a “battler’’, Voyage played a lot of senior football with the Caulfield club and had two stints as senior coach.
He said with a laugh that he was a member of that large group known as the “Sacked Coaches Association’’. Both times he was let go after the club made finals!
Voyage later coached the representative team, but there was no sacking this time. He stood down when he joined the board in 2008.
Voyage’s maiden voyage in VAFA coaching brought a loss to NSW Country. The next nine matches were won, including against the Southern league at Clayton when the Ammos kicked four goals in the last five minutes to pinch it.
He is passionate about the “Big V’’ — “It’s great to give our men and women the chance to play representative football’’ — as he is about women’s football.
It kicked off in the VAFA three years ago.
“It’s had a fantastic impact on our clubs,’’ he said.
“We’ve gone from no players and no teams to this year probably close to 90 teams and 4500 registered players. It’s fantastic because we want to be an inclusive association.’’
Voyage said he envisioned being president for “three to four years, providing I do a good job and I’ve got the confidence of my board and the association’’.
The competitions would “always be at the forefront of our thinking’’, he said.
He’s also keen for the upgrade at VAFA headquarters to extend to improving amenities for spectators and facilities for umpires.
“We’ve got over 680 umpires we need to house, for their training and meetings. They’re a very important part of our association,’’ he said.
As is the history. Voyage would like to see it displayed in a museum, “because so much of Melbourne is wrapped up in our association’’.
As with the past few years, a string of former AFL players will enter the VAFA in 2019. To judge from comments on social media, the issue of former league footballers joining amateur football ranks rankles a few in the amateur scene.
“Over the last 15 to 20 years our amateur-status guidelines have been modernised,’’ Voyage said.
“We’ve got parameters now that allow a player like Jarrad Waite to come to the association. As long as everything is done within the rules, we welcome players like Jarrad Waite.
“We had (ex-St Kilda star) Stephen Milne go to Beaumaris and he made a wonderful impact. He was terrific around the club, played with such enthusiasm in our rep team. He was outstanding, and players like him help raise the bar.’’
While Voyage is well known for his ties at Caulfield Grammarians and the VAFA, he also has lasting links with Melbourne cricket.
He was a wicketkeeper-batsman of hall-of-fame standing at Sub-District club Brighton and captained lower-grade teams and was chairman of selectors at Premier club St Kilda.
“I love both sports,’’ he said.
“But certainly with my position at the VAFA football has taken a step ahead.’’
FORMER VAFA CEO MICHAEL SHOLLY ON GEORGE VOYAGE
“I became a Victorian selector when George was coach, and he always got the best out of his players. He’s a really passionate guy, and there’s no one more passionate about the VAFA. Loves his sport, loves the amateurs, loves his cricket and he’s a diehard enthusiast. He’ll enjoy any conversation at any time with any person about cricket or footy.
“When you’re coaching a rep side it’s not about strategy, it’s more about an emotional attachment, so he was able to find an element of a person or a story of a player who had tried to get in the team or something that was relevant to the people who had come together as a unit. And he was always good at identifying someone in the group who couldn’t play or was injured or just missed out … was always able to find a theme that players from 20 different clubs could relate to.
“But the coaching of that rep side is only part of it … he’s devoted hours upon hours to the competition through almost 50 years.’’
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