St Mary's Amanda Flynn shortlisted for EWN Community Award

St Mary's Sporting Club Female Football Director Amanda Flynn has been recognised as a finalist for the Essendon Women’s Network Community Award.

The Community Award recognises women who work in a volunteer capacity in the industry, and who make a significant contribution to the game and their community.

EWN Co-Chair Lisa Egan said this year's nominees are all deserved.

“The EWN was delighted to receive such a large number of nominees for this year’s Awards, and choosing the finalists was no easy feat," Egan said.

"The quality of nominations shows the incredible depth of talent within the Aussie Rules community, and women making incredible contributions to their clubs and leagues at all levels. The EWN is proud to again host the Awards which were first presented in 1998."

An independent judging panel consisting of the 2022 Fujitsu General Australia Football Woman of the Year Kelli Underwood, pioneering journalist Corrie Perkin and AFL Commissioner Simone Wilke will select the winners.

View the nominations for Amanda below.

EWN COMMUNITY AWARD – FINALISTS

Amanda Flynn

Amanda is the Director of St Mary’s Sporting Club Female Football section and works tirelessly in all aspects of football administration, planning and logistics to ensure the success of our female program. She was involved in creating our club's first Female Football Strategic Plan aligned with the AFL Womens Football Vision 2021-2030. She has championed the female football program and this year we have a record number of 8 teams and are the only club in the Geelong region to have a female team in every age group from U9s to Seniors.  This year we have a record number of 192 female footballers. 

Amanda has worked tirelessly to ensure that our club is an inclusive and positive space for all women and girls involved in our football program. In 2021, she implemented a mentoring program to link senior and junior players.  Seniors spent time training and mentoring juniors as well as attending each other’s matches.

Amanda established a Scholarship with a portion of every senior female football club membership apportioned towards supporting a worthy young female player who may need financial assistance to participate in football. Further, Amanda organised the Pride Round games over the last 4 years.  This included a whole club Pride Education session this year with a facilitator to discuss the importance of inclusion and diversity.