SOCCER
FRANKSTON Pines is the Metropolitan Club of the Year.
The local outfit won Football Victoria’s prestigious award at a gala function at Crown Palladium last week in front of 1000 players, coaches, referees, administrators and volunteers.
It was official recognition of the efforts of an all-female executive who have guided the club from the brink of insolvency to financial stability.
“There’s an immense feeling of pride knowing how many clubs that would have been in the running and to find out you were selected makes everything worth it,” Pines president Liz Diaz said.
FV noted that the club’s leaders had demonstrated exceptional governance, leadership and sustainable management through a commitment to transparency, accountability and long-term planning.
While returning Pines to proper financial governance the administration also has rebuilt its women’s and men’s senior programs, further developed its all-abilities program and continued to strengthen its junior wing.
“To make football accessible the club maintains some of the most affordable registration fees in Melbourne’s south-east,” Diaz added.
“Registration includes a training kit and full playing kit which helps every player feel part of the club from day one and fosters a strong sense of belonging.
“Our coaches have all had police checks and we are committed to the state government’s 11 Standards of Child Safety.
“All of our volunteers have Working With Children accreditation and we have appointed a member protection officer, we complete regular volunteer training and have revised all our policies.”
Pines also have connected with the local community in a unique way.
Monday is the club’s community night and players of all ages, parents and committee members take turns at picking up bread from a local bakery then bringing it back to the Monterey Reserve clubrooms where it’s sliced and packaged and offered free to locals.
“We have people from all backgrounds come through our doors including some that are homeless,” Diaz said.
“I have always been strong on giving back to our community because if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be the club that we are today.”
Earlier this year Pines hosted a Community Day attended by more than 350 people bringing together 14 community organisations, Victoria Police and the CFA.
“This initiative strengthened local partnerships, increased awareness of football participation opportunities and reinforced the club’s role as a community hub.”
Amidst all of this it would be easy to lose sight of what has taken place with the senior men’s program.
Plagued by player walkouts and a coaching merry-go-round in recent times Pines became one of the easybeats of the State Leagues.
There was a glimmer of hope for future success when the seniors were promoted to State 2 in 2022.
Since then watching Pines has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
Relegated from State 2 in 2023, relegated from State 3 in 2024 then recording a double relegation last year due to a competition restructure this once proud club was sent nosediving down to State 6.
Enter Al Baldwin and Chris Sanderson who had worked together at Mount Martha and have a long-standing friendship.
“We had a meeting with Pines and they pretty much signed us up straight away,” Baldwin said.
“It’s probably taken a season for them to properly understand how we work and for us to understand how they work but we’ve all hit it off very, very well.”
Head coach Baldwin and assistant Sanderson started from scratch but immediately looked at a number of Mount Martha players they could lure.
“We got a few from Mount Martha then we just built, built and built,” Baldwin added.
“The biggest thing we were trying to build was a culture of blokes than don’t just nick off after training and games but hang around and mix with everyone at the club.
“Right now we’ve got a senior squad and a reserves squad with no dickheads.
“We had a few but we got rid of them during the year and in the second half of the season the boys began to gel really well.
“I really wish there had been another four or five games in the season because we were starting to look good together.”
During this year’s rebuilding phase using existing players to network played its role.
Top scorer Kenny Akalan brought down his mate Said Uygur and goalkeeper Nic Ambor arrived at a similar time.
But there were major setbacks with captain Jack Carter suspended for eight weeks and Howie Anderson unavailable for five weeks.
Pines ended up in eighth position in a 12-team league with seven wins and six draws while the reserves finished 10th with five wins and four draws.
More importantly the great slide had been halted and a springboard put in place.
“I’d love to get another winger in as well as an old-fashioned hold-it-up centre forward and a no-nonsense centre back,” Baldwin said.
“With this year behind us we’ve got a head start and there are things we can work on a lot like defending from set pieces.
“We were better in that area in the second half of the season but what we found is that a lot of lads with NPL (junior) backgrounds can’t head a ball properly and I find that bizarre.
“But I couldn’t be more proud of the lads.
“Being in construction I got a few sponsors in but most of the lads went out and got their own sponsors which paid off their rego.
“None of them got a cracker but they all bought in to what we are doing and you only have to go there on Thursdays to see that the whole place is buzzing.”
Baldwin has set a lofty target for next season and is confident it can be achieved.
“Right now we’re 100 percent looking to get promoted next year and I’ll be very, very disappointed if we don’t especially the way we finished off last season.
“Coaches who say they just want to be really competitive shouldn’t be coaching in my book.
“You’ve got to try and win the bloody thing otherwise what’s the point?
“We’ve got a few bob and I might have a modest budget – travel money, that sort of thing – and we might be able to attract a couple of players.
“They’ve got to be good characters though.
“I’m not bringing in anyone who might upset the applecart. No way.”
In other news Skye United has released the results of its women’s players’ player of the year awards.
Former Southern United star Alex Jones won the players’ player award for Skye’s State 3 women’s side with Charlotte Doran and Abby Johnston joint runners-up.
Sophie Clarke won the players’ player award for Skye’s State 5 women’s side and Madison Plompen was runner-up.
First published in the Mornington News – 29 September 2026
