Max Carroll has been named the CMFNL’s 2021 identity of the year at a recent league presentation event.
Carroll, hailing from Pyramid Hill in a family of five boys, football has always been at the forefront of his family’s mind.
A modest player, his greatest contribution to the game has come from his passion and commitment to the development of football in every element imaginable.
Specifically, this comes in three domains; as a coach, as an umpire and as a general ambassador for the game in this region.
He has a distinct raspy and fast paced talking style and can be seen on all football fields as an umpire or around the Alan Garden Reserve giving up his time every week.
Max arrived in the Central Murray Football Netball League in 1994, playing reserves for Nyah-Nyah West United.
Max was a school teacher and after continuing to play his first few years at Pyramid Hill, he eventually made the move to the Demons.
There, he took on leadership roles, including coaching the Colts, joining the social committee and became the Auskick coordinator.
A job change and first child brought Max to Tyntynder in 1998, where he continued to play and remained involved in social functions, volunteering and leadership.
Perhaps his most significant contribution began as his children started to play football, which was when he decided to get into umpiring.
Max has been a Central Murray Umpire for over 15 years, umpiring at every level and consistently umpiring senior football as both a central and goal umpire.
He has umpired countless finals, including reserves, colts and junior grand finals. He has also umpired interleague, women’s, night series and school football.
His contribution to the Tyntynder Football Club has been vast.
A senior committee member for many years, Max has also been junior president and coached at every level of the juniors from Under 11’s through to Under 18’s for over ten years.
A successful coach, Max won three premierships in that time; however, the most important part of his coaching style and approach to junior football was his ability to incorporate juniors from all different backgrounds and ensure fun, fairness and the development of good character.
This led Max to being voted the Youth Coach of the year in 2012, which saw him nominated for the Australian Football Coaches Association Stan Alves Youth Coaching Award.
His countless hours volunteering for the club (timekeeper, boundary line marker, club umpire, interchange steward, barman, MC for club functions) saw him win Tyntynder’s Rust Award for Club Person of the Year in 2015.
He can still be seen mentoring current junior coaches and focussing on their skill development and notably, Max still marks the lines for the Alan Garden Reserve every Friday.
Max’s contribution has not just been at club level, having also been an interleague umpire on many occasions.
He has coached junior interleague for the CMFNL Under 13’s, 15’s, 16’s and 18’s.
Max was also a boundary rider for 99.1 Smart FM Football in the mid-2000’s, played Super Rules football for over 10 years and has consistently been involved in coaching school football teams and is an AFL school’s ambassador.
He has been involved in the running of Auskick at Tyntynder as well as at NAB Auskick Gala days and has run football days in pre-schools and primary schools.
All facets of football have been touched by Max, as documented already.
But most of all, he is someone who will consistently go above and beyond what is required to ensure those around him are included and are provided with a fair opportunity to be involved in sport. No amount of praise can go into the effort, time and commitment Max has put into football in the region.
Congratulations to Max on this wonderful achievement.
