By Amelia Barnes
For Alanna Diamond and Eliza Heywood, it’s hard to imagine life without Rosedale Football Netball Club – and the local community wouldn’t be the same without them.
The friends have contributed a combined 33 years and counting of volunteer service to the Gippsland-based club, in addition to decades of representing them as players in the North Gippsland Football Netball League (NGFNL) and its previous iterations.
Already Rosedale FNC Life Members, the pair have now been recognised by the wider community by receiving NGFNL’s highest honour, Life Membership.
Heywood’s netball playing record in the NGFNL is unmatched. From 1982 to 2015, the born-and-bred Rosedale resident played across B to D Grades in 539 total matches – a league record – and was awarded C Grade Best & Fairest or Runner Up awards on four occasions over the span of 15 years.
The mother of three took up roles in coaching, before joining the Rosedale FNC committee in 2010 where she has volunteered ever since.
Heywood currently coordinates the canteen, managing weekly club dinners that typically serve around 80 members. “It keeps the club all integrated – the footballers, the netballers, and even the parents of the young kids,” she said.
Volunteering around 10 hours a week before each home game, Heywood said it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why she does it – not because it’s a burden, but because “there’s so much I get out of it.”
“It’s about the friendships, the feeling of belonging and being able to contribute to the club that has looked after me and my children,” Heywood added.
Diamond is one of the NGFNL’s newest Life Members, with an illustrious playing career of 435 games since 1985, including seven C and D Grade and Best & Fairest or Runner Up awards of her own achieved from 1990 to 2015.
She continues to play on occasion now, even travelling to Canberra to play netball in the Australian Masters Games for Gippsland Racers in October.
Diamond first joined the Rosedale FNC committee while still playing as a 20-year-old, before returning in an official capacity in 2011.
Currently the club’s secretary, she’s been described as the “backbone” of Rosedale due to her infectious passion and unwavering commitment to the community.
“I worked in town, played sport in town, and met my husband in town… I’m very invested in our little town and community,” Diamond said.
“We’re very community-minded and very passionate about the club doing well and being a great space for everyone to come.”
On top of her full-time job, Diamond puts in an estimated 15 to 20 hours a week at Rosedale as part of a wider volunteer effort to keep the club running.
“She’s a wiz – I’ll tell you that. Her NGFNL membership is very deserved,” said Heywood of Diamond.
Not much happens in local netball without Diamond knowing about it, but she had no idea she’d been nominated for an NGFNL Life Membership. It wasn’t until her biography was being read aloud at the league’s Grand Final Dinner in September that she realised who was being recognised.
“It was a lovely surprise… The people around me did a great job,” she said. “I was blown away, honoured, and felt privileged to be in this position to give back and to be recognised. You certainly don’t do it for those reasons.”
Diamond was sitting next to Heywood at the time, who had been awarded her own NGFNL Life Membership one year prior. “We’re two peas in a pod… and to have two women in the club acknowledged is pretty special,” Diamond said.
Together, Diamond and Heywood have helped make the Rosedale Football Netball Club a pillar of their community, showing how friendship and volunteer service can shape a club’s legacy.
Find out how you can begin your volunteer journey
