Previous Club Honours
It was fitting that for the first year Gil’s daughter Lianne was awarded the Chalice for her dedication to coaching, playing and her volunteer role at LFC despite the ordeal of losing her father.
The Gilbert Merlo Chalice
The Gilbert Merlo Chalice is awarded to honour the memory of our past President who championed ladies football at LFC and the NSFA. The Chalice is awarded annually to celebrate outstanding achievement in girls/ladies football. This could be an individual female player or a female team. ‘Outstanding achievement’ is not necessarily about winning, but rather about commitment and passion for women’s football at Lindfield FC.
Clive Solari, who stepped in as president upon Gil’s passing recalls, “The idea of the Chalice first came to me when I was in the church for Gil’s funeral. Much of Gil’s eulogy was about his amazing achievements for LFC and I remember thinking that the club must celebrate this great guy. So I set myself the challenge of designing the Chalice. A rewarding yet emotional process.”
Past recipients are:
2015 Lianne Merlo
2016 Sarah Jenkins
2017 W35D Matriarchs Team
2018 G12 Kerr Team
2019 Gabriela Tonazzi-Field
2020 G18A Diamond League Team
2021 Season Cancelled due to Covid
2022 Jann LaForest
2023 Tace Dawson
2024 Charlotte Taaffe
2025 Diana Sullivan
Victor Vitorovic Volunteer of the Year Award
Volunteers are the lifeblood of LFC. We could not operate without the many people who selflessly give so much of their valuable time and energy to making our Club the best it can be and ensuring our footballers are out on the pitch every week.
Most of you know Victor, our Lindfield Sports Centre Manager, what you might not know is that he is one of our valued Life Members, has been involved at Lindfield FC for well over 20 years and has covered every role possible - sizzling many sausages along the way! Victor started as a manager of his son's team and eventually went on to lead our club as Coaching Director. He was also a founder of the Lindfield Sports Centre, initially volunteering his time as manager.
So we have named this Volunteer award in honour of his exemplary service to LFC.
Past recipients are:
2023 Jonathan Mah-Chut
2024 Claire Bernard
2025 Adam Brown
Danny Hurwitz Coach of the Year Award
Coaches are integral to the success of every team, whether they are volunteers or paid LFC Coaches. When someone has made a huge difference to their team or an individual player’s game, we like to highlight their dedication and hard work.
This Coach of the Year Award award is named after Danny Hurwitz who had the amazing foresight and drive to look at things differently and implemented the basis of our very successful coaching model today. You can read more about Danny’s innovative approach and LFC history in the Local Legends writeup.
Past recipients are:
2023 Emmanuel Rosas
2024 Frank Newman
2025 Tom Pittman
Coaching Director Award
This award for young emerging coach of the year is selected by our Coaching Director with nominations made by the coaching team. It recognises that our coaching program is built on bringing talent through from our existing members, mostly young and upcoming players.
Past recipients are:
2023 Jasmine Wells & Griffin Hourigan
2024 Tom Greeley & Sid Prasad
2025 Lily Dimitrov-Johnson & Ming-Lok Sun
Club Spirit Award
There are many stories that normally go unheard by the wider club. The Club Spirit Awards aim to recognise our quiet achievers, the amazing people who make a difference and exhibit the essence of Lindfield FC. Their contribution may be ongoing or it may be one amazing story.
Past recipients are:
2017 Carlos Cocaro
2018
2019
2020 Anthony Meagher & Marius Papi
2021 Season Cancelled (COVID)
2022 Adrian Jobling & Richard Cutler
2023 Kate Boardman & Mal Smith
2024 Mardi Keen & Dan Bowes
2025 Andrew Baillie
