WANGARATTA City FC has taken out the Football Victoria Regional Club of the Year award at last Friday’s inaugural 2024 Victorian Football Gala.

The best of the best converged on Crown Palladium, with over 800 players, coaches, referees, administrators and volunteer from across the state to come together to recognise the truly exceptional in the sport.

While the Devils were told they were merely a finalist for the Regional Club of the Year award, club president Kristy Mellor said a bit of subterfuge had occurred.

“They were a bit sneaky, they said we were a finalist and invited us down, then we were the only ones who went down – we’d already won, they just hadn’t told us that,” she said.

“It was a really nice surprise on the night not to know, that was quite nice.

“It was shock more than anything - I know the club has done a lot of different things this year which really focussed on the community and increased participation for juniors, lots and lots of different things, but you don’t always know what other clubs are doing.

“Clubs are always running something new, a new MiniRoos or raising awareness with a breast cancer round – there are lots of clubs doing lots of things, but I knew we’d done a lot of stuff but I wasn’t really expecting to win the award.”

Mellor said it was heartening to receive recognition of all their hard work over the years.

“Over a number of years we’ve been working really hard at Wangaratta,” she said.

“We started with our MiniRoos program, that’s been going absolute gangbusters for about eight years, we’ve had 250 kids a year for that long, apart from COVID.

“This year, things just came together – we were planning to do a new strip, our cultural jersey project came into fruition this year, we ran lots of different workshops for young people around quality in sport and what that looks like, it’s something we’re really passionate about.

“It is great recognition not just for this year but for a number of years we’ve been working really hard at the club.”

While the season may be over, the future burns bright for Wangaratta City FC.

“I think we’re just going to go from strength to strength, to be honest,” Mellor said.

“Next year I can imagine there’ll be increased participation again – football is a growth sport in Australia, and I can’t really see it slowing down.”