Derek Harwin migrated to Australia from England arriving on the 30 December 1950.
In the early years of the Asquith Soccer Club, Derek would wander down to the park to watch their games as he was a local resident. He soon became an enthusiastic supporter of the Club. In the early days of clubs, most people who became avid spectators and supporters were soon encouraged to take on a Committee position within the Club. Derek soon became involved beginning a long association with the Asquith Club. Derek helped develop the Club by serving as Club Secretary, Team Coach/Manager, Social Secretary and many other roles.
Derek would often volunteer as a stand in player when a team was short in numbers. Derek was known to take on any position within the Club when it was vacant. Derek in his career performed the maintenance work for Black Stump Restaurants, so naturally it was he who organised the great steaks for the weekend BBQs. This helped raise money for the Asquith Soccer Club. His long standing active participation within the Asquith Club resulted in him being nominated as the Club’s first Life Member in 1980.
During his time at the Asquith Soccer Club, Derek would regularly serve at meetings of the Ku-ring-gai and District Soccer Association’s Protest Disputes and Disciplinary Committee (PD&DC). Derek also joined the All Age Committee. In 1980, Derek held the position of the Afternoon Registrar/Recorder. He also held the role of All Age Registrar/Recorder from 1986 to 1989. These roles involved handling vast numbers of photo IDs to be stamped and filed. There were sometimes large numbers of late registrations which entailed the collecting of monies that were passed on to the Treasurer. This was usually done at his residence, and with some clubs it would not only be late in day but sometimes late in the evening.
As a member of the Association’s All Age Committee, Derek was involved in the running of the Cup and Finals Competition days, catering at Gala Day and helping to organise the Annual Presentation evenings held each year.
In 1989, Derek was honoured with Life Membership of the Ku-ring-gai and District Soccer Association (now known as the Northern Suburbs Football Association). Derek’s love of football remained with him until his death in February 2024. We thank Derek for his early work at both Club and Association level as one of the pioneers of football in the district.
Derek as Manager of an early Asquith Soccer Club team