Leading Cat appointed AM in King’s Birthday Honours List

ONE of the leading figures at the Geelong Football Club during their triple AFL premiership run has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in this year’s King’s Birthday Honour’s List.

Gareth Andrews received the honour for significant service to the AFL as an administrator, to men’s health, and to the community.

“I was very honoured, more than anything,” Mr Andrews said of his AM.

“It’s a different sort of recognition, I guess, it’s a validation of maybe doing something differently.”

Born and raised in Geelong, Mr Andrews played 167 games for both Geelong and Richmond (including the 1974 flag) and was an administrator at both clubs.

Cats fans will know him best as the club’s vice-president for 15 years, including under Frank Costa and then Colin Carter during the glory years of 2007, 2009 and 2011.

“We were the handbaggers [before then]; never quite making it,” Mr Andrews said.

“We had fantastic leadership by Frank and Colin, but as well as that, we had a very strong and united board, and that made a hell of a difference.”

Mr Andrews is a life member of the AFL, the Cats and the Tigers, and the AFL Players Association (AFLPA), the latter of which he helped co-found in 1973.

He said the then-VFLPA was “all about trying to get a better deal for players as much as anything else” when he and Geoff Pryor started it 50 years ago.

“We were never to know it was going to reach its importance; it’s the second-most important body in AFL footy today.”

He said the Life Again Foundation, the men’s mental health social enterprise he founded in 2012, was in some ways a continuation of that journey.

“It’s doing something for other people, recognising that men struggle, and we’ve got to realise we don’t struggle alone.”

FLAIM Systems founding researcher and serving firefighter Dr James Mullins was also appointed an AM, for significant service to science and to the community through an emergency response organisation.

Across the Geelong region, awardees of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) include:

• Michelle Challis, for significant service to science, and to the community through an emergency response organisation, including with the Lions Club of Geelong and the St John of God Geelong Hospital Auxiliary
• The late John Devine, for service to Australian rules football, and to the community of Tasmania, including a time as both a player and a coach for the Cats
• Dr Kaye Rodden, for service to conservation, including with Landcare, Friends of the Barwon and the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, and
• Robert Gartland, for service to the community of Geelong, including with the Cats, where he is a life member and former vice-president; his long interest in the history of Kardinia Park; and with Anam Cara House.

Anyone can nominate any Australian for an award in the Order of Australia. If you know someone worthy, nominate them now at gg.gov.au