Bruce Tonkin

What is your history with football? <ul> <li>I grew up on the Eyre Peninsula where football (of the soccer kind) didn't really exist.</li> <li>In 1996 I spent a year in Argentina, where I had little to no interest in the sport. I know. It's embarassing.</li> <li>It wasn't until my son got involved with his local club (Nairne at the time) before I got involved playing futsal.</li> <li>A few years later I was invited to be part of the first Woodside Warriors Seniors team. This continues to now where we play in the Collegiate Soccer League.</li> <li>I also continue to play futsal on Friday night at Hahndorf.</li> </ul> What is your favourite football moment? My personal football highlight was taking a team of footballers into the Inverbrackie Detention Centre for a couple of games against some very talented immigrants. In fact, one of them had represented Sri Lanka in their National Team. To suggest that we were very much out of our league is an understatement, but they didn't care. All they wanted was a connection to the outside world, albeit brief. It was touching. What is your favourite AHJSA moment? My son has been involved in the AHJSA since he started at Nairne in 2010. His involvement lead to trying out and being accepted in the Reps system in 2016. In 2019 he was selected to represent Regional SA in Singapore. Justifying the price to send him to Singapore was going to be difficult, however I'm glad we did. I'm also happy we went the extra effort to go together as a family. We couldn't really afford it at the time, but it ended up being one of those things that we won't forget. What does being involved in the AHJSA mean to you? I guess I'm not one to sit on the sidelines and not get involved. What are your personal aspirations for being involved? I'd love to see football grow in the Adelaide Hills. We've got a lot of great venues run by some fantastic people. The potential for growth will come from both ends of the age spectrum though. More development and more Under 8s over the coming years would be healthy for the future, however more opportunities for parents to get back on the pitch will set a good example for their children. It's healthy for them too.