Ian played football for over 45 years. He played in England, New Zealand, Western Australia and West Pymble. He started playing for West Pymble Football Club (WPFC) in 2002 and due to injury retired from playing in 2013.
Ian started coaching at WPFC in 2004 with his son Andrew’s Under 6 team. Since then, he has coached every age group between U6 and All Age. Between 2004 and 2017, Ian coached 34 teams. In 2023, Ian coached the West Pymble FC Women’s Over 35’s and the MAA Division 3 squad (which has been promoted to Division 2 in 2024).
In 2006 Ian took on his first Age Coordinator role with WPFC. He has continued in Age Coordinator roles in both Juniors and Women and from 2015 – 2017 held the position of Youth Coordinator looking after U13-U18 Mixed competition teams.
Ian was Club President of the WPFC from 2008 to 2011 and was also Club Secretary during one of those years. He continued to coach teams during this time. In the 4 years that Ian was President, he guided the Club through to accreditation as a Good Sports club, oversaw the Club’s move to MiniRoos and also introduced the Football Australia ‘Play by the Rules’ programme.
Ian has also been an active Referee. He responded to the request for more referees in 2003 and was often seen refereeing Premier League games and many other age groups. Ian remains an active and qualified Referee and remains a nominated WPFC Referee. Ian has also performed the Referees’ Coordinator role for WPFC over most of the years he has refereed and has an impressive track record of recruiting, many younger Referees in particular, as match officials for NSFA fixtures.
Ian was nominated to become the WPFC representative on the Northern Suburbs Football Association (NSFA) Mens All Age Committee in 2013. He continued in this role until 2017.
Ian became a member of the NSFA Board in 2016. During 2016, Ian became the Vice President of the Association and in 2017 became the President of the Association – a position he held up to and including 2023. Ian served on the Board for the maximum 8 years (4x 2-year terms) which is the maximum allowed by the NSFA Constitution.
Ian was nominated and unanimously inducted as a Life Member of WPFC in 2015 and the NSFA in 2023. Ian is a true gentleman and a role model to all who know him. We thank Ian for his outstanding contribution to grassroots football in the NSFA and for his leadership of the Association for many years.