The opportunity to play with a Richmond legend was what drew Michael Psaila to St Albans Football Club.
As a 24-year-old in 1986, he ventured down to Kings Park Reserve and pulled on the jumper, week in week out, while listening to Robbie McGhie calling the shots from the coach’s box.
Psaila’s timing proved impeccable. What followed was a golden run of success for St Albans, with the Saints claiming five premierships in the next six years.
From there, Psaila was hooked for life and his involvement in the local game now spans 30 years.
“It was just a great era for the club,” Psaila recalled last week.
“We had a lot of great players. We all got along and we did whatever it took to win flags and be successful.”
When his playing career ended in the mid- 90s, Psaila went on to coach both seniors and juniors at the Saints.
From there he transitioned to the club’s committee, where he had two separate terms as club president spanning 10 years.
As well as his work at club level, Psaila also had a big impact on shaping the WRFL as it’s known today.
After expressing concerns about the direction in which the competition was heading, he put up his hand to help set things right.
Post-Saints, he went on to advise the league, eventually serving on the competition’s board.
For his outstanding commitment to the St Albans Football Club and his passion for local football, Psaila was selected late last year as a life member of the Western Region Football League.
“It was pretty humbling when it was first suggested,” he said. “Obviously, I’m tremendously honoured; it’s a great league to be involved in.
“In all the years I’ve been in football, both at St Albans and the WRFL, I’ve made a lot of friends and to be given a life membership is a great honour.”
Psaila said the lifelong bonds he had formed stood out as his career highlight.
“That’s the best thing about football, the friendships.
“It started with playing footy with some of these guys and then it progressed to coaching.
“I coached seniors and then juniors. That was the greatest joy I had in football, coaching the juniors.
“Working with the kids was terrific.”
Psaila was one of two WRFL legends to be awarded life membership this off-season.
Joining him, officially, as a league great is Sharyn Grima, a stalwart at Sunshine Heights Football Club for more than 30 years.
“I thought it was great that she got made a life member,” Psaila said.
“I’ve seen all the work that she’s done for her club and the help she’s provided for the league, and I’m very happy to get it at the same time as her.”
Both Psaila and Grima will be officially recognised at the WRFL season launch in coming weeks.
