In the second of our ‘Life Member’ tributes, we look at the amazing contribution Terry Lucas has made to the BFC. Terry was presented with Life Membership at the recent BFC Best & Fairest Awards.
Terry’s tenure at the club started in 2005, first as a runner then the following year as coach for the U9s, which his eldest son Matt played in. Since then, he has been a multiple premiership coach at Junior level, took the U19s Premier to a VAFA Grand Final and helped steer the club through the Beaumaris Sporting Club disaster and Covid. Throughout these tough times Terry was stoic and resilient. An outstanding Club President and arguably the be the most influential individual in the Beaumaris Footy Club since the turn of the century.
When Terry took over the Presidency in late 2017, he could not have foreseen what lay ahead. The Beaumaris Sporting Club was heading down a deep financial hole, which threatened to take the three sporting clubs with it. However, thanks to Terry’s leadership and his business acumen he was able to negotiate a way forward based on the model used previously by the 3 clubs. It was a long and protracted process, but there was no way Terry’s football club was going to be compromised or suffer because of the poor decisions of others. All was starting to look good, then Covid hit. Again, Terry’s leadership came to the fore. He kept in personal contact with the club’s key sponsors, he send out messages of positivity to the footy community and conjured up ways to raise important funds when the restrictions were eased. He basically ran the club raffle from his home office, selling tickets and chasing down prizes and raised $30,000 in the process. Coming out of Covid the club went straight into ‘Reverse Draw’ mode and along with VP Greg Diamond, raised a similar amount. Those monies raised helped pay for utilities, insurances, cleaning, maintenance and offset debt. This was Terry Lucas in action.
Terry guided the club through these enormous setbacks and back to being a successful club once again, launching a thriving Women’s Program, seeing the Senior Men’s team become a formidable force in Premier B and delivering a strong financial performance to get the club back in the black and most importantly, ensuring the whole BFC community had a place they could call home again, in its clubrooms. We were a footy club again.
Terry’s relationship with sponsors was a key part his presidential legacy. He nurtured relationships with our key stakeholders and worked tirelessly to maintain their commitment to the club, especially during Covid. His ‘destination’ piece for all our sponsors, written in one of the club’s newsletters was typical Terry, “if you’re after a car, then we highly recommend Mercedes-Benz Brighton and don’t forget to mention the BFC”….and so on.
Terry is an incredibly tenacious and passionate individual, someone who gives absolutely everything to anything he does and importantly, Terry has a passion for young people. One of his great legacies is the enormous influence he has had on the young men and women in this community as a dynamic mentor and a highly respected role model. His values come very much out of his father’s textbook who was a highly regarded and respected club official at the Oakleigh Football Club for decades. Terry’s push for upholding values can be seen on the boards around the club, which remind everyone of the importance of respect for team mates, club officials, supporters, the opposition, the club rooms and importantly, the umpires.
Away from the committee room table, Terry has been a fabulous coach in both the Junior and Senior sections of the club. At Junior level, Terry’s teams have played in six Preliminary finals and won two Grand Finals. His ¾ time speech to the U13s Boys team in the 2022 Grand Final was as memorable for its passion and emotion than any parent on hand had witnessed. Fired up, the boys went on to win the game. In 2013, Terry delivered an impassioned speech to his U13s team prior to the start of the game that turned around a 53 point loss to East Sandy in the first semi to a 15 point win in the Grand Final, against the same team. Terry has a way of motivating people. His son Josh played in the 2013 GF, while son Chris played in the 2022 GF.
At Senior level, Terry coached the U19 Premier team for two years in VAFA’s top U19s competition, the best in the state. In 2015, he took his young side to the Preliminary Final and then in 2016 to the Grand Final, which he narrowly lost to St Kevins after losing his two key forwards to injury the week of the grand final.
During Terry’s tenure as President he presided over two Senior VAFA premierships, the 2018 Senior Men’s Premier B Reserves, in which his son Matt played and the club’s inaugural Women’s Premiership in Division 1 in 2022.
Above all, Terry is a committed and devoted family man and nothing gives him more pleasure than seeing his children succeed on and off the sporting field. Not only has Terry coached all four boys, he now has the pleasure of watching his daughter Ava play in the U13s. His wife Janelle has also taken up Team Management of Ava’s team.
Current Club President Nick Heath added the following comments, “Terry has contributed 18 years of outstanding dedicated, passionate, volunteer selfless service to the BFC in various important roles: 14 years as a coach; 8 years as committee member; 5 years as Senior President.
Terry’s reign as President was during a particularly challenging period of: substantial clubrooms change; the introduction of Women’s Football; pandemic impact; and creating a “One Club” culture – all negotiated with aplomb with the club in excellent shape both on and off the field.
Most importantly, Terry’s positive mentoring of all the players he has coached or has had involvement with, has bestowed on them all a lifelong legacy that will ensure they have acquired well rounded life skills, exemplified by his mantra - “through football, better citizens”.
Terry has been an outstanding influential contributor to the BFC and he can be very proud of his BFC footprint that will live on through those he has touched along the way.”
In 2021, Terry accepted the “Medal of Courage’ award on behalf of the Club for its stance against racism and inequality. In accepting the award from the Anti-Defamation Commission, Terry said he was “humbled and proud to receive such an honour on behalf of the Beaumaris Football Club. Prejudice and racism have no place in society, let alone sport. Our club stands firm in upholding high moral values and the promotion of equality, unity and respect.”
That sums up Terry Lucas – a man of honour and a well-deserved recipient of a Beaumaris Football Club ‘Life Membership’.
Footnote: The Editor would like to thank Matt Petering and Nick Heath for their input.
Go Sharks!
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