The magnets click into place one by one. A silent yet powerful ritual unfolds inside the main hall of Sandringham Soccer Club. Scores are aligned, numbers adjusted and the league table updated every Thursday evening. It is one of those jobs no one notices until it is not done. 

But for 88-year-old Gerry Conroy, it is something he has shown up for week after week, year after year. 

“I made it a kind of hobby,” he says simply. 

It started decades ago in the 1980s, when his sons were young boys kicking a football around. Gerry began helping a junior coach at Sandringham Soccer Club. What started as lending a hand slowly became a lifetime woven into the fabric of local football. 

“I used to help him out for a couple of years,” Gerry recalled. “Then it just kept going.” 

From Doncaster to Box Hill, from East Richmond and back to Sandringham, Gerry followed football the way some people follow a calling. Coaching, managing, cleaning clubrooms and washing jerseys – whatever the club needed, he did. 

“At no point did he ever say no,” says Douglas McNaughton, Gerry’s close friend of more than 25 years. 

Doug would know. As the former president of Sandringham Soccer Club for 17 years, he relied on Gerry constantly. 

“There was always something to do,” Doug says. “Go to the council, organise this, fix that. Gerry, would you mind? And he never said no.” 

A life shaped by football 

Long before Sandringham, before Australia and even before adulthood, football had already found Gerry. 

Growing up in England during the Second World War, Gerry was just three years old when his father took him to his first football match at Bloomfield Road, home of Blackpool Football Club. 

“He put me behind the fence and said ‘stay there’,” Gerry says with a chuckle. “That’s how I got introduced to football.” 

The game never left him. 

He continued playing throughout his younger years until injuries and knee problems forced him to stop at 28. But stepping away from playing never meant stepping away from football itself. 

Instead, he built much of his life around it. 

At Sandringham, Gerry became more than just a volunteer. For years, he coached the junior girls, helped the senior teams and handled countless jobs behind the scenes to keep the club running smoothly. 

In 1999, he was named Clubman of the Year. He is also the only person in the club’s history to receive life membership twice. 

“The club gave me another one for some reason,” he says modestly. 

“There’s no one else who has done more for this club than him,” Doug says with a grin. 

Every Thursday, without fail 

These days, Gerry’s role is simpler but no less meaningful. 

Every Thursday, he arrives at the clubrooms to update the league board. 

“Just to see the colour,” he says. “Everybody’s satisfied that we’re up to date and know how the teams are performing.” 

It may seem like a small task, but it represents something much larger — routine, purpose and connection. 

Together, Gerry and Doug carefully line up the magnets and scores each week, making sure the board is neat for the weekend matches ahead. 

Friendship woven by football 

If football is the constant, friendship is the thread holding everything together. 

Gerry and Doug’s bond has been built over decades of showing up for the club and for each other. 

“I worry about this man a lot,” Doug admits with a laugh. 

One day, Gerry did not answer the door. Calls went unanswered. Doug panicked. 

“I thought something had happened,” he says. “I even called the cops.” 

Minutes later, Gerry casually appeared around the corner. 

“I was never so glad to see him in my life,” Doug says. 

For Gerry, the club became more than just football. It was where his sons played, where weekends were spent and where life quietly unfolded over the decades. 

When asked what he is most proud of, his answer is simple. 

“Being part of this club,” he says. 

At 88 years old, Gerry no longer coaches and cannot drive long distances anymore. Yet every Thursday, he still shows up. 

Still adjusting the numbers. Still part of the rhythm of the club.