No Monk-ey business here: Shepparton United president is determined to see her club back on top

The president may have played for the football or netball side and has a kid or two in the junior ranks, but how common is a president who has an active presence in the junior ranks, men’s and women’s football and netball?

It’s a rare sight, but at Shepparton United Football Netball Club, that’s precisely what it has in its president, Rebecca Monk.

Growing up at Katamatite, Monk and her family’s lives were constantly intertwined in their local sports club.

Monk remembers her parents having key roles and consistently volunteering to help their club in any way they could.

“My parents were always heavily involved in committees and doing things on game day, so I have always been around community sport,” Monk said.

“That was our life on Saturday and Thursday nights.

“Grew up on a dairy farm, so we were very much grassroots football and netball.

“Going to play, then coming back to milk the cows, then heading back to the clubrooms for tea that has been very normal for my life.”

Monk’s love of the sport grew from playing junior netball and, even while studying at university in Melbourne (now a qualified dietician), she would regularly travel back home to play netball.

The Demons president joined Shepparton United in 2009 and played on and off for the club throughout the following decade, during a successful period for the Demons.

“I was fortunate enough to play in four B-reserve premierships and, in total, I only dropped about seven games, I think, in over 100 games wearing the United dress,’’ she said.

“I was very privileged.”

Later in her playing career, Monk made the transition to United’s women’s football team in the Northern Country Women’s League.

A stoic and reliable backline player, Monk said she prefered to rely on her leadership and guile rather than the physical traits she had early in her netball career.

“In recent years, after having children and taking some time away, I have taken up football and literally just got off the phone with the interleague coach who is desperate for a full-back ... Well, I like to think not completely desperate, but desperate enough for this Sunday’s game for me to get a call-up,” she said.

“More these days it is my voice and connection to the team is what I bring rather than natural skill and ability.

“I think that is potentially what I try to do in my role as president as well.”

As a part of United’s women’s football team, Monk has had a front-row seat to the development of female football in the region.

The Northern Country Women’s League has grown this season to eight clubs (from five) and the Youth Girls’ competition to six (from five); Monk said that although growth was good, it presented difficult challenges for female football regarding infrastructure and time allocation.

“Our club, just standalone in our situation, we already share a ground with another club (Shepparton) in the GVL, so when we start taking on a junior program and a women and youth girls program, we have to outsource where we can train and what nights we can train,” she said.

“Because we are competing for the facilities with not only another club at Deakin, but within Shepparton and all the other sports, whether it is soccer or rugby, junior football, women’s football, the umpires.

“There’s not quite the facilities, I don’t think, to meet the demands to provide an environment for training and game day and making sure we have umpires and volunteers as well to support that growth.”

Thanks to her experience playing netball and women’s football, Monk is connected with those aspects of the club and with her son Aubrey (nine years old) being part of the junior ranks, she has that area ticked off as well.

But how has she formed a relationship with the men’s football sides, the final pillar of the club?

As a dietician she has worked closely with the senior and reserve sides to create a professional environment regarding the players’ nutrition standards.

“With the GVL football side, an element I tried to work on, which was part of my profession as a dietician, was to build a nutrition program in my first season,” she said.

“I started with the senior football side while also trying to change the culture, so bringing in and introducing the fruit at half-time and then also milk drinks for recovery at the end of the game rather than the traditional Powerade or a beer.

“Credit to the players because there is often resistance to change; they have really embraced it and they now do it across all playing groups.

“I was able to build some great relationships.”

When Monk’s time in charge eventually does draw to a close, don’t be surprised to see her down at Deakin Reserve every second weekend, helping out in any way she can, just like her parents used to do all those years ago.

“I see all the people that I have met along the way and all the people that I am still meeting through the journey at Shepp United as a second family,” she said.

“The important thing to know (about United’s culture) is everyone has something to contribute.

“Just to make sure that everyone feels part of the story and part of the journey (of the club).”