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 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 i
t 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! 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 $250,000 to a range of great (some lesser known) charities including: The Sacred Heart Mission, the N.I.C.K Foundation, TLC for Kids, a HART Walker device for a child; the Holland Foundation; Starlight Foundation and the Disabled Wintersports Association; FareShare; STREAT; 20th Man Foundation to name a few. 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 and Brendan 'Brenny' Smith. 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. If you haven't been to a Commentators Club luncheon then you're missing out! Cheers,
The Directors
