In Review
2007 Season 2008 Season
History Of The Club
It all started in 1963 when the local Headmaster of the Albany Creek Primary School – Hec Wolter – approached a couple of newly arrived “Albany Creekers” with the concept of a sporting club. Hec has spent his life as a schoolteacher, senior master and finally at Albany Creek as Head Master – bearing in mind there were only a total of 40 studets in a maximum of five grades. Hec had been involved at his past schools in Union, League, Aussie Rules and Cricket and reached a point where he made a decision that his final sporting venture would be for the children to play the one true game - English Football. He approached Terry Smith and Gerry Archer seeking their assistance to coach the boys of the school. The foundation had been laid and the path identified.
Many boys in the district aged 4-10 started training each week in Gerry and Terry’s back garden and in 1964 the Albany Creek Junior team entered into the Junior Football Competition. It was Terry who arrived at the name of Albany Creek Excelsior or A.C.E.for short.
Gerry and Sheila Archer remained active in the Club for many years and are proud of their foresight to foster an environment for the youth of Albany Creek.
The growth of the club has been solid over the past 20 years but moreso the past 10 years where the game started to establish a strong identity in Australia. In 2006 ACE fielded 56 Junior Teams and 5 Senior Teams. In 2007 the club experienced the biggest growth on record leading to 63 junior teams and 5 senior Squads making ACE the largest Football Club on Brisbane’s northside with over 760 male and female players spanning the Junior and Senior ranks.
Continued growth over the years had placed considerable strain on overall facilities and in 2007 the Committee established a strategic plan to invest, improve and expand the infrastructure of the club to allow futher growth. The first phase of the expansion commenced in late 2007 with the construction of a canteen at Brendale that opened for business at the start of the season. With council assistance the muddy car park at Wolter Park was surfaced and landscaped. The Wolter Park club house was extended providing an area to accomodate sit down meals, the grandstand was roofed and the change rooms were renovated, making Wolter Park one of the best facilities for
The second phase in 2008 included new lights, new goal posts, 3 water tanks and an underground irrigation system for Wolter Park. At Brendale we installed and underground irrigation system for the Rooball fields and resurfaced the main field. A new $618,000 modern clubhouse facility was constructed at Brendale which incorporates change rooms, toilets, handicapped toilets, a merchanside store, a first aid room, a gym, bar and a magnificent eleveated viewing area which can accomodate up to 400 people. This initiative was achieved through the dedication and hard work of a very committed group of committee members and club members. Volunteer work contributed $87,000 to the construction. Local business and businesses associated with the club contributed $73,000, the club contributed $120,000. We received voluntary member donations of $8,000 and a further $330,000 from Federal and Local Government grants. The $120,000 contribution made by the club was raised through fund raising initiaitives and value added programs that were run by the committee eliminating the need for additional funding from members. The final aspect of Phase 2 was a magnificent bitumen carpark at Brendale which provides in excess of 100 carparks to our facility. Combined effort of Phase 1 and Phase 2 contributed over $850,000 to the clubs balance sheet
Phase 3 of the strategy includes further investment in infrastructure and the expansion of fields. All members of the commmittee are committed to these initiaitives that will ensure the club is able to grow and offer modern professional facilities to our player, members, coaches, managers and supporters.