Commentators Club
About
The Commentators Club
Our Story
The Commentators Club luncheon was formed in 1997 by Australian Rules tragic Neville 'Nifty' James.
The concept was simple. To gather a small group of friends and hold a long lunch in Melbourne and celebrate all things AFL the day before the biggest sporting day of the year - the AFL Grand Final.
Soon after Geoff 'Joffa' Donohue agreed to assist Neville with the lunch given the loud call of 'lets do it again next year' heard following the success of the inaugural lunch held with just 30 friends. Very quickly through strong AFL and other talent connections the entertainment included in the lunch program improved and the luncheon rapidly grew with friends wanting to book tables and in turn invite their friends.
The Commentators Club quickly outgrew its original venue and had to move to a high quality venue capable of producing a very high quality luncheon for up to 400 people. This growth all occurred via word of mouth .... it pre-dates Facebook by six years!
Managing a luncheon of this scale doesn't happen by chance and we're grateful to have expanded the organising committee over recent years to include newer directors, Anthony 'Fatty' Sinclair, Duncan 'Dunx' Savage. They do a great job making our event the best AFL Grand Final luncheon in Melbourne.
Finally, we owe a lot of gratitude to our sponsors, donors and of course our guests who keep coming back.
Our Vision
From 1998 onwards the Commentators Club has managed to generate funds in excess of what the luncheon costs. The easiest decision made was that we should 'invest' profits from the luncheon into a different grassroots charity each year.
On behalf of our guests we've donated over $400,000 to a range of great (some lesser known) charities including: The Sacred Heart Mission, the N.I.C.K Foundation, TLC for Kids, Disabled Wintersports Association, FareShare, STREAT, 20th Man, The Y-House Foundation and SleepBus to name a few.
Grass Roots Charities
Professional Event
Great Entertainment
Value
Our Logo
Designed by our in-house expert, the Commentators Club logo was conceived to modernise our brand as well as hold onto the past. Previously microphone imagery was used to signify our "commentator" aspect, with the new logo carrying this forward using two "C's" to signify a person (in black) holding a microphone (in white).
The C's also represent the coming together we as the Commentators Club believe we facilitate. Coming together of friends, coming together of community, coming together of charity and coming together of a vision for a better future.
We would love to hear what you think about our new logo.
