2025 AGM - Award Recipients - Glenelg Football Club

The Glenelg Football Club hosted the 2025 Annual General Meeting this evening, reflecting on a memorable season 2025, and celebrating the people who help make the Club what it is.

The Glenelg Football Club would like to formally congratulate this evening’s award recipients, and thank them for their ongoing contribution to the Bays.

Life Membership Recipients

Marc Cesana

Marc has served the club with exceptional dedication for 14 years as Club Doctor (1999-2013), a role that has extended far beyond the boundaries

of training sessions and game day responsibilities. His commitment has consistently gone above and beyond what could ever be expected in an official capacity.

Players have relied on Marc not only in formal settings, but after hours, in times of personal need and in moments when support and care were required urgently.

This has included late-night consultations, after hours medical advice and ongoing personal support.

During my ten years in my role at Glenelg, I have seen first-hand Marc’s willingness to open his own home to players to discuss scan results, rehabilitation plans, potential surgical pathways and recovery processes-demonstrating a level of care, trust and personal investment that is rare.

Marc has given an extraordinary amount of his time and expertise to the GFC. He is a great servant of the club and his passion for Glenelg is genuine and enduring.

He has also been a long-standing member of the club.

Kerry Donovan

Kerry Donovan has been a volunteer at Glenelg FC for two decades and during that time he has been head property steward – a position he held for seven seasons – under-18s team manager and women’s team timekeeper among other roles. He was AJ Wadham Club Person of the Year in 2012, an award his wife Tina – who Kerry introduced to the club – has won a record three times. Kerry’s son Mark also volunteered at the Bay for 13 years and Kerry recruited Rob Searles to the club.

Rob Searles

Rob Searles, an invaluable contributor over many years, started as a property steward in 2007. Rob became head property steward in 2015 before in 2019 taking on the role of league team manager while still performing the role of head property steward. From 2015-19 Rob built the lock-up wire cages and shelving in changerooms for the men’s team, away teams and our women and juniors teams, some of it at his own expense. Rob continued to perform the roles of league team manager and head property steward until early in the 2025 season when he suffered a cardiac arrest at training. Rob’s dedication came to the fore as he was back performing property steward duties late last season. Rob was last year’s AJ Wadham Club Person of the Year, along with Tina Donovan.

A.J Wadham Volunteer of the Year Award Recipient

The club was also proud to announce Steve Newport as the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award.

A dedicated volunteer of the club for many years, Steve continues to give generously of his time and energy. In recent seasons, he has devoted countless hours to membership packing, supported game day operations, and been a familiar and friendly face running the Past Players and Officials drink van. His reliability, humility, and unwavering commitment embody the spirit of the Glenelg Football Club and make him a truly deserving recipient of this honour.

The club extends its sincere thanks to all members, players, volunteers, sponsors, and supporters for their dedication throughout 2025. With strong foundations and a united community, Glenelg looks forward to building on this year’s achievements in the seasons ahead.