The Clarence Valley Sports Awards (CVSA) celebrates its 10th year on February 8.

But it is merely a brief chapter in a long history of recognising homegrown sporting talent in the Clarence Valley.

The Daily Examiner (DEX) Sports Star of the Year Awards started in 1960 when lawn bowler Jack Clark was named the inaugural winner.

Under the stewardship of larger-than-life sports editor Max Godbee, for decades the awards became something of an institution in the Clarence Valley.

However, after Godbee’s retirement and changes in priorities at the newspaper, the awards eventually faded away after 2008.

After a five-year hiatus, a concerted effort from a dedicated few, including then Deputy Mayor Craig Howe, revived the legacy.

The plan was to create a committee made up of Grafton and Lower Clarence sports council members to run the awards, with the support of the media and local businesses.

“I floated the idea at both the Grafton and Lower Clarence sports councils,” Mr Howe said.

“Bruce Carle came on board straight away.

“We then approached the DEX for support, and things moved from there.”

Bruce Carle, Terry West, and Paul Dougherty representing the Grafton Sports Council, Tim Ryan, Hariet Woodrow, and the late Bruce Green from Lower Clarence, the DEX sports team including Matthew McInerney and myself, and Howe, were the founding committee members.

The first committee meeting was held on January 15, 2014, and on February 5, cricketer Carly Leeson and tennis player Taylah Beckman were announced as the first Junior and Senior Sportsperson of the Month winners.

By March, Grafton Shoppingworld had jumped on board as co-naming rights sponsor, and Jetts Fitness for the Sportsperson of the Month.

“I then went to Council for permission to move the Clarence Valley Sporting Wall of Fame from the Grafton Sports Centre to Grafton Shoppingworld and away we went,” Mr Howe said.

The inaugural CVSA were held at the South Services Club on November 14, 2014.

Gold Coast Titans duo Luke Douglas and Anthony Don were special guests, while former Olympic canoeist and two-time winner of the DEX Sports Star of the Year Award, John Felton, presented the inaugural Max Godbee Award for Contribution to Sport in the Clarence Valley to Grafton Basketball identity, the late Roma Brotherson.

“Max Godbee was and will always be a legend in Clarence Valley sports journalism,” Howe said.

“We felt it was very important to pay homage to what he did for sport.”

Olympic sailor Andrew Landenberger and Lower Clarence’s Jim Baird were added to the Wall of Fame, while Australian Masters Over-50s hockey representative Michael Russ was named the Jetts Fitness Senior Sportsperson of the Year.

The committee structure and revising of the awards from a weekly to a monthly event aimed to bring long term viability and sustainability to the awards, and 10 years later this still rings true.

The formula, which included printing the monthly winners on the back page on the first Wednesday of each month, went virtually unchanged right through until DEX ceased printing in June 2000.

The lack of a printed media platform and Covid-19 restrictions threatened the very existence of the awards.

But the resilient committee persevered, and on November 14, 2020, the awards were held to an audience limited to 100 people at the Grafton District Services Club (GDSC), helping restore a sense of normality as the first major post-Covid-19 event in the Clarence Valley after the Grafton Jacaranda Festival had been cancelled weeks earlier.

The Clarence Valley Independent stepped into the void in 2022 while Clarence Media and Loving Life FM 103.1 have helped expand the multimedia coverage of the awards.

With co-founders myself, Bruce Carle, and Tim Ryan, as well as Chrystal Davies from Grafton Shoppingworld still on the committee, and the likes of Lynn Rudder, Tim McMahon, Tracey Moran, Emma Pritchard from the Clarence Valley Independent, and Damien Fisher from Loving Life FM 103.1 on board, the 2023 CVSA and Celebration of the Decade of Sporting Heroes is shaping up to be our biggest and brightest presentation night yet.

But the biggest challenge the committee continues to face since the end of dedicated sports coverage in a daily newspaper is sourcing nominations for Sportsperson of the Month.

I have compiled all monthly and annual nominations for the majority of the past 10 years, and in recent times my knowledge of local sport and where to find suitable achievements has helped fill the void more often than I’d like to admit.

These will be my last awards as I prepare to leave the region, so now more than ever the awards will rely on community support.

The best two ways you can continue to support the awards is by liking the Clarence Valley Sports Awards on Facebook, and by alerting the committee of local athletes achieving at state, national, and international level via email to cvsportsawards@gmail.com

Bill North

Chairman, Clarence Valley Sports Awards