TWO new life members were inducted into the WA Country Football League (WACFL) hall of fame at the launch of the 2016 Landmark Country Football Championships on Friday night.
Cathy VanderWeide and John Morton were presented with medals in front of a big crowd at the Subiaco Football Club, at Leederville Oval.
Cathy, who was nominated by the Hills Football Association, was surprised to receive the award and said it was a great honour.
She was president of the Great Northern Football League for four years and the first female senior league president in Australia.
Cathy has also been a WACFL executive member, the first female to do so.
Being passionate about the game she always wanted to get involved but admitted that wasn't easy in the early days.
Husband Barry responded with "over my dead body" when she first floated the idea but over time she was able to convince him she was serious and the rest is history.
John was nominated by the Ongerup Football Association.
His list of achievements include being president and life member of the Newdegate Football Club, president and life member of the Lake Grace/Kulin Football League, president of the Great Southern Council from 1996 to 2014 and a driving force behind the Regional Districts Team at the Landmark Colts Carnival.
John said football was more than a game for young people in the country and he had a passion for developing young players.
While proud to receive the award, he admitted to being a bit embarrassed to receive it in front of Friday night's crowd.
"I've got some great friends here tonight, I am really proud," John said.
Another highlight of the evening was the announcement from naming rights sponsor Landmark that it has increased annual sponsorship of the carnival from $60,000 to $100,000.
This was the 42nd year the company had supported the carnival, an achievement that Landmark key account manager regional Steve Wright was proud of.
He announced Landmark had also struck a new sponsorship deal that would run until 2019.
WACFL general manager Joe Georgiades said changes were made to this year's carnival to increase player participation.
This included Geraldton, Wongan Hills, Kalannie, Bunbury, Mount Barker and Narrogin hosting the regional round in June before the finals were held last weekend.
Joe said it was hard for the modern-day country player to get too much time off work and the format change would help them play representative football.
He also said that the WACFL needed to be more proactive in the next 10 years to ensure country football was sustainable.
