By Jonty Ralphsmith
Two figures instrumental in increasing sport participation numbers have taken out the joint sportsperson of the year award for the City of Greater Dandenong (CGD).
Parkfield Cricket Club president Dave Swierzbiolek and Springvale Districts Football Club president Sean Francis took out the honour publicly announced on Australia Day.
Swierzbiolek was nominated by councillor Tim Dark who noted the family-friendly culture of the club.
“Dave has done a lot of work to increase female participation in sport, particularly cricket and build that camaraderie to get them involved,” Cr Dark said.
“He is absolutely one of the best people at getting people involved in sport.
“Parkfield Cricket Club is consistently one that stands out in the municipality, they operate on a different structure, they get local people involved.
“Boys and girls come down to play cricket and parents also get involved.”
Alongside Parkfield men’s player Shane Cooray, Swierzbiolek was the key individual behind the growth in women’s cricket at the club.
Underlining the work that has gone into individual development, the female team started up in the 2017/18 season and there have since been many Bandits play premier cricket including: Nilakshi Perera, Su Hewawasam, Tracey Kroon (all Dandenong), Nimnadi Dahanayake (Carlton) and Kamya Mishra (Melbourne).
From the Bandits’ inaugural team, five played last weekend for the club.
Parkfield also had Perera, Mishra and Mannat Chadha represent Vic Country at the under-18s national championships last month.
Swierzbiolek, the coach of the women’s second XI team, has promoted inclusion by overseeing a nickname change from the Bears to the Bandits which signaled the start of a unified era for the club.
He also ensured the female sides have their own identity, playing with a purple strip in their uniform.
While Swierzbiolek worked closely with Cooray in boosting female participation at the club, he is credited with leading the initiation of the under-18s female team which ensures sustainable numbers for the seniors.
First XI captain Stephen Cannon highlighted the work he does to boost enjoyment and participation, something which is always clear when Swierzbiolek speaks to Dandenong Journal.
“He’s done a lot of work getting support behind the masterplan,” Cannon said.
“He’s brought the (Noble Park United) soccer and cricket club closer together – the two committees work well together to share the ground.
“He’s done that much, you only remember the big-ticket items but he’s always working on something at Parkfield and he always takes on a lot of things to council.
“As soon as there’s a Sunday available he’ll swing it so our young guys have the opportunity to play, he got the women’s seconds playing under lights – a lot of people would put it in the ‘too hard’ basket but he’s happy to put the work in.”
Swierzbiolek has liaised with the council about the Parkfield Reserve masterplan which, among other benefits, will eventually deliver a double story clubroom for the Bandits.
Francis, meanwhile, has overseen the rapid growth of the Dees’ netball program.
After getting it off the ground in 2018, there was eight teams last year and already in 2023 the club has more than 100 netballers registered prompting hopes of further growth.
Francis took over as president ahead of the 2017 season and has led a changing of the guard at Springvale, which has also increased participation numbers for footy.
The club had an under-19s program in 2017 and 2018 and while that has since been discontinued due to a lack of numbers, many of those players have graduated into senior teams at the club
It enabled Springvale to field three senior teams last season, something likely to again occur in 2023.
“He’s done it by creating an environment people want to be around. He didn’t just have a vision when he took over to be a better football and netball program, he had a vision for us to be better people,” said life member and club legend Tony Cooper.
“He’s been able to increase sponsorship by increasing the value to sponsors and made us a lot more active on social media.
“Then there’s the hands-on stuff he’s done – sometimes he’ll be there 7am and locking up on a Saturday – it’s exceptional leadership and he’s never asked anyone to do something he wouldn’t do.”
The work of both winners to increase sporting participation in the municipality has been vital.
Just 49 per cent of residents in Greater Dandenong meet physical activity guidelines – 24 per cent lower than the state average, according to the sport and active recreation participation survey 2019, by the CGD.
The survey also revealed there is a significantly low level of junior and female participation in CGD, with cricket, football and netball the eighth, 12th and 13th most popular physical activities respectively.
“I think Sean is a standout local sports leader in the community,“ said councillor Sean O’Reilly who nominated Francis.
“He’s one of the best advocates and organisers of sports I have come across in my 10 years in council, he has a good practical approach in his dealings with council and tries to get any issues resolved in the interests of local sports.
“Every club succeeds or fails on the quality of its leaders and Sean has put in a lot of energy to build both male and female participation in sport in the area of Springvale.“
Swierzbiolek and Francis both delegated praise for their recognition, though multiple people within each club said the external praise was long overdue.
