The Lions raised the money from a special Three Codes Luncheon held earlier this year which saw the Club partner with the Brisbane Broncos, Queensland Reds and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland.
Together, these organisations hosted an event featuring the coaches, captains and players from all three codes mingling with and presenting special personal and sporting achievement insights to a wide range of business guests.
Brisbane Lions CEO Michael Bowers, Lions ruckman Jamie Charman and
AFL Queensland Club Development Officer Trent Ryan joined members of the
new Rochedale Ravens JAFC and Rochedale State School students for the official cheque presentation on Wednesday morning.
"After careful consideration, we elected to give our share of the luncheon proceeds to the Rochedale Ravens on Brisbane's southside, to assist them during their critical establishment phase," Brisbane Lions Chief Executive Michael Bowers said.
"At the Lions we don't just 'talk the talk' about supporting the local community. When we heard that Rochedale were starting their own junior Aussie Rules club after all their Auskick participation success, we thought this would be a great and practical project for this sizeable donation."
"Establishing a new club can be a pretty hefty challenge - so every dollar helps. And we thought working closely with AFL Queensland to invest in solid long-term infrastructure would be our way of really supporting grassroots AFL footy in our very own backyard."
"Perhaps another Jonathan Brown, Luke Power, Simon Black or Jamie Charman will come from the Rochedale Ravens - and the Lions played a proud part in making that happen."
The Rochedale JAFC held their first Annual General Meeting on November 23 to inaugurate the new club with an interim committee of nine volunteers who are working on their constitution, start-up budget and operations. They will field teams in the Brisbane Juniors competition from Season 2010 in the U8s to U11s categories to start with.
The club will be heavily involved with schools from the local area including three which already have representatives sitting on the interim committee - Rochedale State School, Rochedale South State School and the St Peter's Catholic Primary School.
Work is already well underway on the club's oval which will be shared between the junior footballers and the Kuraby Cricket Club.
