The Sports Council dinner is the social event of the school calendar year.
The dinner serves two very important functions. The wider school communities get together and have a good night out, and along the way, funds are raised to support sport at the College.
We celebrate sporting success. The crowd is wined and dined and entertained. At the end of the evening, the Sports Council have a sizable amount of money to put towards sport at the College. This year the dinner was held in the College Chapel. All agreed it was a wonderful venue. This allowed the Council to have more control over the meal and refreshments. Again, everyone agreed the catering was of a high standard.
Grant Edward spoke on behalf of the Sports Council. He welcomed the 220 strong crowd and thanked everyone for their support. He went onto highlighted some of the achievements over the year. Grant was careful not to identify individual sports, but the audience was well aware that our 1st XV had created history last season along with our rowing squad at this year’s Maadi Cup. The Sports Council are equally focused on participation were very proud that the College can boost a provincial wide high of 94%.
Although Keith Quinn was booked to speak this year, he was belatedly called away, and we were very fortunate that Warren Alcock stepped in and did a great job. After playing over a hundred senior games of club rugby in Dunedin, Warren became a lawyer and then progressed into becoming a player manager for professional sports people. He had an interesting story to tell through a question and answer session with Paul Allison.
Final figures are not in yet to identify how much money was raised this year but we do know that over the past five years over $100000 has been raised. Every cent is going back into sport at the College with a focus firmly on coaching. We look forward to next year dinner with a reminder that the event has sold out every year for the past four years; be in quick to secure tickets for 2018.