Clint Bartram was awarded the inaugural Ian Ridley Club Ambassador Award at last Thursday’s Best and Fairest, capping off another big year for MELBOURNEfc in the community.

This year, our Club visited over 10,000 children throughout more than 100 schools, as well as countless local footy clubs and Auskick Centres across Melbourne, Victoria and the rest of Australia.

For players, these visits provide an opportunity to give back to the game and to those who provide support at every level, as well as to the next generation of fans and players.

The Club Ambassador Award has been created to recognise players who not only understand the importance of our Club’s contribution to the community, but also embrace these opportunities and represent MELBOURNEfc in a positive way at all times.

Bartram was selected ahead of five other nominees in Russell Robertson, Brad Green, Nathan Jones, Lynden Dunn, and Aaron Davey, who visits remote communities across Australia to promote the work of the Fred Hollows Foundation.

Once again, the Club was pleased to support our five Community Partners – Berry Street, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund, Heart Foundation, Prostate Cancer Foundation Australia and Breast Cancer Network Australia – and throughout the year, our joint activities with these partners provided plenty of highlights.

Four of our players visited the Berry Street Foster Care Camp in Anglesea for a day of beach activities with Berry Street foster children and their families.  Many of the families at the camp do not get to take a holiday very often, and Demons Lynden Dunn, Clint Bartram, James Frawley and Nathan Jones were welcome guests.

In July, Club President Jim Stynes and over 30 players played Santa for a day at the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation’s Christmas in July, distributing presents to the hundreds of homeless, disadvantaged people and their carers.

At our last home game of the year, MELBOURNEfc and Richmond again fought it out for the Berry Street Cup, with pre-match entertainment provided by a team of Young Demons members and a team of Tigers taking each other on in a pre-game tug-of-war.

Richmond may have taken the points in the tug-of-war, but as is the case with all of MELBOURNEfc’s community activities, the kids were the real winners.