Sharon Brennan typifies every football club’s ideal volunteer; not only embodying characteristics of a tireless worker with adept organisational skills, but more importantly displaying an enduring love for her work at Gungahlin United.
The 60-year-old has been involved with Gungahlin ever since she volunteered as club secretary 16 years ago, and today remains one of their longest serving volunteers working at a leadership-level capacity.
In contrast to her recent years spent in football, sport did not originally feature significantly in Brennan’s life prior to joining Gungahlin’s ranks.
“When I was at school I played a bit of hockey, that was about it,” she said earnestly. “Soccer really wasn’t played that much, I don’t remember [it] being available as a sport when I was at school.
“It really was just my daughter coming home saying, ‘I want to play soccer’ and us going, ‘Yeah cool off you go’, and that was it.”
Following her introduction to football, it was only a matter of time before Brennan was drawn to increase her involvement at Gungahlin, motivated by a desire to assist the club where possible.
“Neither of my daughters had ever played soccer before,” she said. “They started playing, so I was like, ‘This is great, she wants to play a team sport, I’m going to get involved and help support her.’”
“I also knew clubs always struggled to get enough volunteers for things… even though my kids hadn’t been involved in team sports, and I thought you know what, I’m going to enjoy watching her playing more if I’m actually involved as well.”
Having made the decision to volunteer, Brennan actively sought a position that could best utilise her skillset, with the initial intention to stay for a short-term period.
“My plan was, whatever I did, just stay as long as my daughters,” she recalled. “I first stepped into, would you believe, club secretary.”
“I reached out, the president contacted me and said, ‘What sort of role are you looking for?’ ‘What are your skills?’ and at that point in time I was actually [working] as a secretary for a couple of consultancy forums, so feeding into that role was kind of natural for me.”
In true volunteer fashion Brennan, having joined the club initially in a solitary role, began to pick up other responsibilities, all the while cementing her status as a valued member of the Gungahlin United staff.
“By the time my daughters finished playing, I think at one point I had five different roles; so I was secretary, volunteer coordinator, fundraising coordinator, points registrar and I was a team manager as well.”
Having accumulated many years of service for Gungahlin, Brennan couldn’t help staying on for more after her children had finished playing for the club, due to her recognising the importance of voluntary work in her life.
“Once I started, I just loved it, it was great volunteering,” she enthused. “I had two daughters at home, part way through that I became a single parent, and I worked full-time, but I just loved it…it was for quite a long time a real happy place for me in that volunteering.”
Additionally, Brennan’s rationale for staying on at the club was credited to her personal involvement in the sport, and the overall community supporting Gungahlin.
“It was the people but also, when my daughters stopped playing a friend talked me into starting, so I played for three years,” she said. “I played my first game of soccer at the age of 48.”
Now the 60-year-old’s role is reduced to simpler responsibilities, centring around the junior age groups rather than the seniors.
“Club registrar,” she described. “I look after all the registrations for the club on PlayFootball, I also look after Dribl.”
“Each team does their own Dribl but I’m sort of the go-to person…people register and I approve that, they then flow across to Dribl, I have to approve that, and then actually put them onto the team.”
While she has given so much to Gungahlin United through her countless hours put in, organisation and love for her work, one achievement that Brennan has helped initiate at the club sticks out as her proudest.
“It’s a bit of a personal thing for me,” she explained. “Last year…and it will happen next year, I actually got the club involved in the Play in Purple for pancreatic cancer.”
“I lost an uncle to pancreatic cancer five years ago, and also my best friend’s mum six months after my uncle… to get the club involved and get so many of the kids out on the field in their purple socks, was just great.”
“We did purple cupcakes as well and all that kind of stuff… I think we baked nearly 300 cupcakes, my friend and I had a lovely time and we had purple icing up to our elbows.”
“Coordinating all of that, getting all the orders in, it was good, to me that was a very important thing to do, and we are a community club, so that’s all part of being part of the community.”
On the flip side of her voluntary life, Brennan works part-time in an admin role for a private business, while her increasingly limited free time is spent on more modest activities.
“I actually cross stitch, would you believe,” she said. “Up until stuffing my knee up last year I was pretty keen on doing lots of walking, [but] at the moment all I have time for is to do a bit of cross stitch and that’s about it.”
After over a decade of service to her volunteering as well as her occupation, Brennan still remains motivated to continue at Gungahlin, with her focus set on contributing to a quality life experience for the next generation.
“Look, I’m always willing to help out with anything,” she said. “Sometimes I put my hand up too much and do get a little bit overloaded, but you know I really enjoy it, and it’s just honestly so rewarding.”
“I think the main thing probably now that really keeps me going with it is just watching the kids, you know…seeing the smiles on their faces, and watching them grow and develop through the sport.”
“Even though my kids aren’t playing anymore there’s always a new group of kids coming up, and if I can help them and get them passionate about the game and getting out in the open air… I think playing sports and being part of a team really helps kids with that sort of stuff, and you just see so many more people with mental health issues.”
Words: Sam Watson