FOOTBALL/NETBALL
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
CLAIRE Marks is a real workaholic at Morwell Football-Netball Club.
The Tigers legend organised yet another successful Pink Ribbon Round at the weekend, an initiative that has become synonymous with the Gippsland League club, while also recently becoming just the third Morwell netballer to celebrate 300 games.
The latest breast cancer fundraiser raised the best part of $20,000 for Breast Cancer Network Australia.
Marks has driven the Pink Ribbon Round and brought it into existence back in 2017 after her mother was diagnosed with the disease.
“After she was diagnosed, the charity became a bit more personal for me,” she told the Express.
“When our club was looking for a charity game, I sort of pushed for the pink round.”
Consistently with support from both club members and local businesses, who jump on board as name sponsors of each game on the day, the Pink Ribbon Round also included a major raffle, signature cake stall and barbecue, with all profits going to the BCNA.
Morwell and its annual opponent for the round, Leongatha, also conduct a ‘cash for goals’ initiative, where the clubs donate $100 to the charity for every goal scored by its respective teams in the senior football and A Grade netball matches.
The Parrots have bought into the Tigers’ efforts and have featured in the marquee round since 2019.
“It’s amazing, on a personal level, I love that we are able to fundraise for this charity each year,” Marks said.
“Even for the club, I think since we started hosting the day, obviously there’s been quite a number of other families and members of our club community that have been diagnosed and touched by somebody with breast cancer.
“We’ve been able to increase how much we’ve raised each year from our first year, so that’s also been really positive.”
Prior to the latest event and the standout figures that came from it, Marks suspected that across the nine iterations of the charity sports event, the club has raised well over $30,000 for BCNA.
Back in Round 2, Morwell celebrated Marks when she reached her 300-game milestone in a 13-goal win over Sale.
A true stalwart since her arrival to the club, Marks moved across from Boolarra at the age of 17 with her sister and fellow Morwell 300-gamer, Rachel Tatterson.
“The teams were already picked when we came out, but we had sort of someone advocating for us to get a spot in the A Grade side, and we haven’t looked back since,” Marks said.
The siblings, along with the other member of the exclusive triple century group, Courtney Garth, have all competed in a blistering period for the Tigers on the netball court.
All three were a part of Morwell’s first-ever A Grade premiership in 2014, and then added two more at either side of the pandemic in 2019 and 2022.
Marks described the special day as an honour to be able to be listed alongside her sister and her best friend.
“The lead-up was good to the game. I’m doing a coaching and playing role this season, which is quite busy and kept me quite distracted during the week,” she said.
“But, I was inundated with messages and phone calls in the two days leading up to the game, which was really nice, and then we were able to get a win on the court in the actual game too, which was a bonus.”
In a place Marks describes as her “second family”, she has filled out the club’s honour board, undertaking a number of roles both on and off the court, to go along with plenty more accolades as the Tigers’ revered goal attack for close to 20 years.
Accompanying her three A Grade premierships, Marks also celebrated early B Grade premierships in 2009 and 2010, and has earned multiple club best-and-fairest and league team of the year distinctions.
She has also served as netball president, umpire coordinator, matchday umpire, lead organiser of the Pink Ribbon Round, and currently coaches Morwell’s B Grade side.
