By Tyler Lewis
Dave Mason is one of the cogs that form the beating heart of the Nar Nar Goon Football Netball Club.
Like many volunteers, Mason has been at the club for a long time and has performed various different roles.
Some easy, some hard.
“I have been involved or around the club since my young bloke started footy in 2005, back in the under-9s I think it was back then,” he said.
“I had my daughters in netball as well, but they dropped out of that.
“A committee member, I manage the bar, I have done running, time keeping, just general maintenance when things need fixing down at the club, when something needs fixing, I just get in and do it.
“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily the most fun role I have had at the club, it is a lot of work.
“It isn’t just behind the bar, you do the ordering, delivery and then you have Thursday night, home game days, functions and then you’re back there first thing Sunday cleaning up after everyone as well sometimes,” Mason said.
The club holds a dear place in his heart as it was there for him when he felt a little bit out of the loop.
“It is the community spirit,” he said.
“When we first came down to the district, I didn’t know anybody, my wife knew school mums and things like that, but I went down to the club and that’s how I met people in the area.
“I have always said, it is a good family orientated club, it has a family feel about it.
“We welcome and encourage that; at the moment we have a lot of juniors coming through and that is very promising to see for the future of the club,” Mason said.
Some of the best achievements a player can achieve is best afield in a premiership, or winning the best and fairest in a premiership season.
Then perhaps the award Mason holds with him as his favourite moment at the club is the volunteers equivalent.
“Definitely would’ve been 2010, the senior’s grand final,” he said.
“I was helping out behind the bar, but I was also the 2010 Club Person of the Year.
“I am sort of pretty quiet, I don’t like great accolades, I go about my business quietly, we have a great network of volunteers down at the club – certainly people that have been at the club a lot longer than me.
“They all do their bit and do it very well.”
Mason was rewarded with the Best Clubman award in a premiership winning season in 2010 and was able to celebrate that phenomenal year last weekend, when his beloved club celebrated that particular season a decade on.
