The Syd Barker Medal dinner is usually a chance to celebrate the players, but for a brief moment on Friday night, one man received some overdue attention for all the work he’s done for the club behind the scenes.
Peter Scanlon was awarded life membership of North by outgoing chairman James Brayshaw, for his efforts in keeping the club alive through some of its darkest times.
“I get a lot of great North Melbourne people come up to me, from all walks of life,” Brayshaw said.
“They’re always very gracious, and they always say things like, ‘JB I just wanted to say thanks for everything, you’ve saved our club.’
“The reason I know that sentence not to be true, is the man who actually saved our club is here tonight.
“Back in 2007, when the decisions were made around whether we were possibly able to remain at the North Melbourne footy club based out of Arden St, or whether the strain had broken and we needed to head north; the real truth has always been, that without the towering backing of Peter Scanlon, it didn’t matter what else occurred or who else was involved, there would have been no option but to relocate.”
But Scanlon’s generosity didn’t stop there. Once North had refused to relocate, there was still a number of issues to sort out.
“Back in 2008, we needed $15 million to build our long overdue facility,” Brayshaw explained.
“We had a significant shortfall in building equity and Peter, on behalf of his beautiful family, donated $2 million at that point.
“He then, through his incredible foundation, established and ran The Huddle, which most people in this room know is a ground breaking, envied and multi-award winning community program that’s not only the best within the AFL, it’s also the best within sport in this country and has been awarded so.
“We were then faced with funding issues around our football department in 2009/10. At the time we were a long way behind the best in the competition.
“Again Peter, on behalf of his family, was generous enough to make up the shortfall so that we could fully fund and run what is now an unbelievable footy department.
“In the nine years I’ve been chairman of this club, Peter has contributed upwards of $10 million to the running of this club and its programs.”
Not only has Scanlon contributed directly to the club, he also had an influence in other times of need.
“Every single time we as a footy club, or I as a chairman, have approached Pete with a problem, or maybe to attend a meeting when we knew City Hall would be at their least co-operative, Pete was there immediately,” Brayshaw said.
“Believe me, in a couple of those meetings with City Hall, when we knew the disco dancing was about to start – when we walked in that room with the great Peter Scanlon, the air suddenly went out of the room and the AFL’s whole demeanour changed.
“It’s very easy to stand out the front of anything with confidence when you have someone like Peter Scanlon standing behind you.”
Brayshaw’s final message about Scanlon was directed at the Kangaroos’ fans.
“The most astounding thing about this man is that never, in the nine years I’ve spoken about, has he ever asked for anything in return.
“Whenever any North Melbourne member or supporter makes the pilgrimage to Arden Street, before they walk through the doors, they should pause for a second and quietly thank Peter Scanlon.
“Without him, there simply would not be a North Melbourne Football Club.”
