After some concerns earlier in the week, Saturday April 21st dawned bright and sunny for the New York Magpies 12th annual ANZAC Day event. Once again held at the Frying Pan on the Hudson River in New York, around 550 guests were treated to a fair dinkum downunder lunch, games, live performances and an official ANZAC Day Ceremony hosted by the voice of Australia in the US, Drew DeCarvalho.

While guests enjoyed the spring sunshine and a few Coopers around the Frying Pan NY auction celebrity and New York Magpie Duncan Schieb kicked off the days entertainment, hosting the LIVEAFL.TV handball competition which saw a season pass to LIVEAFL.TV and Collingwood merchandise awarded to one winner and $100 worth of MooLife vouchers to the other. The handball competition was followed by an energetic  performance by Laura Bowman with Level 2 which featured a mixture of original songs and some well known covers.

With the rumbling of stomachs commencing, Pie Face kicked off service of a variety of mini meat (and vegetarian) pies as well as sweet pies and the occasional, elusive ANZAC biscuit. The MooLife Group salads also proved popular with the bacon laden Cow salad disappearing particularly quickly! Lunch was enjoyed by all while listening to a great performance by Hurrah! A Bolt of Light! which got the crowd rocking and at one point even Keith the Koala hit the dance floor.

As the sun dipped into the horizon Drew DeCarvalho hosted a traditional ANZAC Day service which featured Sitash performing the Last Post and Rouse, the Ode and a Minutes Silence as well as Kath Byrnes, James Rodgers and Laura Bowman with the Australian, New Zealand and United States national anthems respectively. The Magpies were pleased to be joined for the service by Australia’s Consul General in New York, Philip Scanlan and his family. Finally, The Telephones headlined their second ANZAC Day in event in a row and had the crowd revved up for the end of the night.

Photos of all the festivities courtesy of Magpie Rob Donner can be found here.

By all accounts the event was a great success and the New York Magpies would like to thank all involved in making the day what it was including the Frying Pan/Pier 66 Maritime, Pie Face Bakery Cafe, Balance Water, Coopers, MooLife Group, LIVEAFL.TV, Toby’s Estate, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Australian Bar and Restaurant, Eight Mile Creek, Nelson Blue, Drew DeCarvalho and the Collingwood Magpies.

Men’s Coach Glenn Ormsby has spoken to FiveAA night-time presenter Peter Godfrey about all things AFL in New York. Ormsby also provided Godfrey’s Adelaide listeners with some details of the Magpies upcoming ANZAC Day function.

Audio of the interview can be found here.

As part of the recently held Annual General Meeting, Nick Walker, the current secretary of the New York Magpies, was elected President replacing Ed McCormick who had held the position for the past 3 years. McCormick will remain involved with the Magpies, supporting Walker and the rest of the management team. Other long-standing Magpies management team members Jonathan McClelland, Adam Mantzaris and Ojas ‘Juice’ Desai also stood down from their positions as Treasurer, Operations Manager and Recruitment Manager respectively to be replaced by Paul Devlin, Brad Davis and Bryan Caine.

Walker, who said he was ‘honored to be accepting the position which has been held by many Magpie legends’ paid homage to the departing management team members for their work over many years and welcomed the new members to the committee.

Aside from the new Treasurer, Operations Manager and Recruitment Manager, Glenn Caldwell will step into Walker’s former role as Secretary while women’s co-ordinater Andrea Casillas adds another hat to her collection becoming  Vice President. Magscene editor Christina Licata has added Webmaster to her list of responsibilities and Myles Walkington has added Events, Marketing and Sponsorship to his NYCAFL commissioner position.

All other positions were confirmed with Glenn Ormsby and Lina Staropoli remaining as coaches of the Magpies and the Lady Pies respectively, Chris Norman running Merchandising and Tom Thompson retaining responsibility for Alumni.

Many others also put their hands up to assist with the task of running the New York Magpies, particularly with events, marketing, sponsorship, recruitment and the Magscene/website as the Magpies look forward to 2012.

Jack Taylor, Dan Lehane and Christina Licata won the major awards for season 2011 at the New York Magpies Presentation Night which was held on Saturday the 5th of November at club sponsor The Galway Hooker. Long serving Magpies Jonathan McClelland, Michael Payne and Ojas ‘Juice’ Desai were honored with life membership at the cocktail event which was well attended by Magpies, their family and friends.

Taylor, Lehane and Licata picked up their 2011 season awards for their strong efforts over the New York Magpies full slate of games while Nick Stone, Brad Davis, Brett Smiley, Ben Collins and Siobhan McHale were rewarded for their performances at the 2011 USAFL Nationals held in Austin, Texas in early October. A full list of the award winners can be found below.

• 2011 Men’s Most Valuable Player – Jack Taylor
• 2011 Men’s Most Valuable Player – American – Den Lehane
• 2011 Lady Pies Most Valuable Player – Christina Licata
• New York Magpies Life Membership – Jonathan McClelland
• New York Magpies Life Membership – Michael Payne
• New York Magpies Life Membership – Ojas Desai
• Magpies of the Year (Best Clubperson) – Matt Barlaz & Myles Walkington
• Nationals Most Valuable Player – Division 1 – Nick Stone
• Nationals Most Valuable Player – Division 1 American – Brad Davis
• Nationals Most Valuable Player – Division 3 – Brett Smiley
• Nationals Most Valuable Player – Division 3 American – Ben Collins
• Nationals Most Valuable Player – Lady Pies – Siobhan McHale
• Men’s Rookie of the Year – Bryan Caine
• Lady Pies Rookie of the Year – Rosie Richards
• Golden Boot – Andy Brennan
• Mark of the Year – Mike ‘Wolfman’ Speilman
• Goal of the Year – Scott McMaster
• Lady Pies Most Improved – Autumn Ervin
• Coaches Award – Walt Lin
• NYCAFL Most Valuable Player – Walt Lin
• NYCAFL Golden Boot – Andy Bowen
• Rob Oliver Medal – BOG in State of Origin – Jack Taylor