The Confreres are the Coterie Support Group of the Hawthorn Football Club, founded in 1961 by a small, keen group of Hawthorn members. Today, the Confreres are one of the league's longest established coterie groups with a history of strong financial support of the Club.
The Confreres are a group of mostly business and professional people brought together by a great love for the Hawthorn Football Club and a desire to be more involved with the Club.
Fundraising is an important aspect of the Confreres’ role in support of the Hawthorn Football Club. In addition to providing a sizable annual financial contribution to the Club, the Confreres have donated various items of equipment to the Football Department over the years as well as sponsoring the Players’ Room at Waverley.
To find out further information on the Confreres or how you can become involved visit http://hfcconfreres.org.
What is the Confreres’ Player Auction?
The Confreres have been running the Player Auction since 1992. In 2007 the Player Auction was merged with the Hawthorn Football Club’s Main Event and this has helped the Confreres to continue to be successful in their goal to support the Club financially.
The Player Auction is simply a major fundraiser that allows our supporters to have a vested interest in how the players perform throughout the season - by “investing” some funds before the Home and Away Season starts in the hope of getting a return on their money by way of dividends at year-end.
How the Player Auction Works:
The Concept
- 47 players will be auctioned in 20 lots.
- 11 players will be auctioned individually, and the remainder will be sold in groups of three, four or five.
- The lots may be purchased by an individual or by a syndicate. A table may form one syndicate or it may have several syndicates of differing sizes.
The bidding process
- Each person attending the Main Event will be issued with a Smartcard with their name on it.
- If a person wishes to bid, he/she should insert their Smartcard into the top of one of the two handsets on their table and follow the instructions on the handset screen or as follows:
- Step One: Insert your Smartcard into the top of your handset with name facing upwards.
- Step Two: Enter the lot number using the numeric handset and then press the blue button to enter. The highest bid will be displayed.
- Step Three: To place a bid, press the blue button, then key in the amount you wish to bid, without commas (press ‘C’ to cancel or amend the amount).
- Step Four: Once you have entered the correct amount, press the blue button again.
- If your bid is the highest, the display panel will reflect this. If your bid is less than the current highest bid, the display panel will tell you that the current leading bid is held by another guest.
- To bid on another item, simply press ‘C’ and follow the above steps again.
- Screens around the room will display the highest bid on each lot and the name of the bidder.
- Minimum opening bids will apply - $2,000 for single lots and $1,000 for multi-player lots.
- The minimum bid increase will be $100.
- The bidding system will open at the commencement of the event and close during the dessert break. Bidders will be given a five minute warning that the bidding is about to close.
Incentives to bid
- An incentive of $1,000 will be paid to the bidder who pays the highest price on the night. If the maximum price is paid by more than 1 bidder, the incentive will be split among all those bidders. This incentive will be paid out at the end of the season, at the same time as other dividends.
- A “Lot Raffle” will be held, with a prize of $1,000. The purchaser of each Lot will be eligible to participate in the draw at the end of the night. This prize will be paid out at the end of the season, at the same time as other dividends.
- The successful purchaser of each lot will be presented with an “Award” in recognition of their purchase. The “Awards” will be presented at the end of the evening.
Payment for Lots purchased
- The successful bidder for each lot is expected to arrange payment in full for all lots purchased before he/she leaves the function. Credit card facilities are available.
- Should the purchase be made by a syndicate, it is the responsibility of the person performing the bidding to ensure payment in full is made for the purchase. He/she must inform the Confreres of the amounts payable by each member of his or her syndicate.
The Pool
- 50% of the total amount bid on the night will be allocated to the pool to fund weekly dividends, with a guaranteed minimum pool of $35,000.
- In addition, for every dollar bid over $70,000, 66 cents will be added to the pool.
Weekly Dividends
Dividends will be declared on all Premiership season matches of the season.
The Pool available for dividends will be divided 22 ways to create a weekly pool which will be spread among the buyers of the five best Hawthorn players each week. The 4th and 5th Best Players will each be allocated $100 from the weekly pool and the first 3 best players will be allocated a percentage of the balance, as follows:
Best Player - 55% of the balance of the weekly pool
2nd Best Player - 30%
3rd Best Player - 15%
4th Best Player - $100
5th Best Player - $100
Minimum dividends based on the minimum guaranteed $35,000 pool - will be:
Minimum weekly pool - $1,590.90
Best Player - $765
2nd Best Player - $417.27
3rd Best Player - $208.63
4th Best Player - $100
5th Best Player - $100
* Note: dividends will not be paid out until after the conclusion of the Premiership season.
Best Players Selection Process
- The order of the best players is as chosen by the Herald Sun journalist covering Hawthorn matches each week
- The first five Hawthorn players nominated by the journalist will be considered the Best, 2nd Best, 3rd Best, 4th Best and 5th Best players for that match.
- The votes to determine the 5 Best Players will be those appearing in the edition of the Herald Sun that provides the first full coverage of each Hawthorn game.
- Weekly results will appear on the Confreres website http://hfcconfreres.org from the Tuesday after each game, commencing from Round 1.
Event: The Main Event
Date: Friday 19 March 2010
Time: 6.30pm-12.00am
Venue: Grand Ballroom, Hilton On The Park Melbourne
192 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne
Dress: Lounge suit
Tickets: $185
Don’t miss your chance to be part of history, for further information and booking details click here.
