Plenty of off-field effort goes into making sports a success and one of New England’s own has had his name put up alongside some of the state’s most influential sportspeople.
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The Nomads’ Neil Dunn is a finalist in the Volunteer Director of the Year category at the NSW Sports Awards for his contribution to getting the junior North West AFL, formerly known as Tamworth AFL, competition up and running.
Dunn started a committee to form a local competition after his son expressed interest in playing Australian Rules Football only to find there was nowhere to sign up.
The annual awards ceremony on Thursday night in Sydney will feature some of Australia’s best including cricket captain Steve Smith, Olympian Jessica Fox and the NSW Swifts.
Last year, Dunn was awarded the North West AFL’s Volunteer of the Year and went on to win the NSW/ACT AFL state volunteer.
He said he was honoured to be considered alongside some of the state’s best names.
“I am going to feel quite out of place among all those elite sports people considering I have never been much of a sports person myself,” he said.
“The nomination for me highlights the fact that groups of people can work together to create something fantastic for young people in our region. In this case NSW AFL worked very hard to help a small junior AFL committee to create a new competition that gave approximately one hundred kids the opportunity to have a go at the great game of AFL.”
“To be recognised for bringing these people together is a really nice feeling.”