AS A mother living in Pakenham, Sharon Temby always expected to wind up supporting her kids wearing the maroon, blue and gold – the colours of the Pakenham Lions.
But seven years ago, as she enrolled her youngest at Officer Junior Football Club because “he didn’t like Pakenham”, little did she know how life-changing that decision would turn out to be.
If there was a “best and fairest” for mothers then Sharon, 41, must be a contender.
As a student, nurse, wife, mother and head trainer at both the Officer juniors and ROC seniors, but most importantly, as president of the ROC football club, Sharon is the proud “mum” of more than 60 boys.
Such is the bond Sharon has formed with the players that they refer to her as their second mum, while for Sharon, the players at ROC are “her boys”.
Being one of only two female presidents in the 31-team Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League doesn’t bother Sharon – not even when she receives official president emails addressed to “him”.
“I don’t take it personally, I’m a female in a man’s world,” Sharon said.
“But I think I’m doing all right.”
Sharon’s rise to presidency was a rapid and often accidental affair.
It began as a parent helping out with first-aid at junior level and finished up with the serendipitous appointment as president of a football club.
Originally, Sharon was “placed” into the position of ROC vice-president because no one else stood up but soon Sharon became the face of the football club when former president, Marty Long, became ill.
“I was driving to Wonthaggi for work for another 11-hour day and I remember receiving this email from Marty. I pulled over and I thought, ‘I wonder what this could be’,” Sharon said.
“I opened it and my heart just stopped. He had resigned.
“I thought someone will definitely take over because I have way too much on, and I didn’t know the first thing about running a football club.
“I thought to myself, I’m just a female in a man’s world.
“So I went along to the meeting, and I looked around and there were no new faces that would step in and I asked, ‘what are we doing about this president situation?’
“And they answered, ‘We’ve already got one, it’s you’.
“What else can I say … I love the place.”
It is this love that led Sharon to head the ROCtion and other fund-raising nights that returned the club to profit after years of debt.
All the while Sharon has retained her initial role as “one of the mums”.
On game days, in between filling the drink bottles, slicing the watermelons, strapping the seniors and massaging the reserves, Sharon seeks out the opposition president and apologises in advance for regrettably not having enough time to attend the president’s luncheon.
Sharon promptly returns to the changerooms, making sure “her boys” are being looked after.
“As much as I’d love to stand there and have a snack with the presidents and have a bit of lunch, my love is with my boys on the field,” she said.
“My duty is to still make sure they are OK.
“As president of the club, I want to see us get those four points and I’ll yell and scream the song afterwards, but for me, as head trainer, a win is coming out of a game injury free.
“At the end of the day, they are human beings with lives and families and commitments away from here.”
But in the same breath, Sharon will describe how her life, family and commitments surround the ROC footy club.
On the fridge at her Pakenham house is a small magnet of four bears dressed in different football colours saying, “Football is life, nothing else”.
Sharon says she loves this magnet, but the only problem is the bears aren’t wearing the ROC colours.
Her passion for the royal blue and white was on display at a sponsors’ lunch where, while waiting for coach Greg Tivendale to arrive, she spoke about her reaction after a game against Keysborough four weeks ago.
“I hate public speaking but here I was standing in front of all these people, most of them I didn’t even know, filling in time by being nice and thanking everyone for coming,” she recalls. I had run out of things to say so I told them the story of how I cried after the Keysborough game.
“I just thought we were going to win …
“It started with the reserves losing and to see Marc Latham and the real club boys with tears in their eyes, you can’t be human if it didn’t tug at your heart strings.
“And when the seniors lost I remember walking back in the door, taking one look at them all and pouring my heart out.
“I went around the corner where no one could see me and I just cried and cried and cried.
“I can’t tell you why I cried so much, but I just thought we were going to win that game and to see the emotions of grown men, that raw emotion after the match, you can’t help but feel for them.
“I told everyone this at the sponsors’ lunch and everyone was silent … thank goodness Greg walked in after that.”
Five years ago, Sharon was in charge of a prosperous papercraft business with dreams of going even bigger.
Now, she has sold the business and returned to university to complete her nursing degree – a lifelong dream that she said would never have eventuated if it wasn’t for ROC.
“I had no idea how much that decision to bypass the Pakenham football ground and head to ROC would impact on my life,” Sharon said.
“As hard as it’s been, there has never been a day where I wanted to throw it in.
“If I could have an extra five hours in a day … or five hours sleep, that would be all I ask.
“But I’ll do it all again next year if the club wants me. I’ll be president for the next 10 years if the club wants me, I’ll just do whatever I can to help that club and everyone down there.”
