Thank you and goodbye – President Nathan McLean’s resignation

Dear Footscray Rangers community,

It is with both pride and sadness, that I write to formally resign as President of Footscray Rangers Football Club, effective 1/10/2026.

In 2017, I sat down at a pizza shop with a group of friends, and we dreamed about what it would be like to create our own soccer club. What has grown from that idea is something I could never have fully imagined.

Together, we have built a club of 27 teams, more than 450 players and a community of well over 1,000 people. We have created opportunities for women and girls, junior players, refugees, multicultural communities, people with disability, and people who may never previously have believed that organised football had a place for them.

We have introduced All Abilities and Refugee programs, grown women’s and girls’ football, created pathways for young people and built a club identity that I believe genuinely reflects the best of Footscray: diverse, resilient, welcoming and proud.

We have also been recognised in incredible ways, as the public face of the Miniroos for the past two years, Football Victoria’s 2024 Community Inclusion Award winners, Football Australia’s 3 Star Club Changer Status, recognised in the Guardian, Herald Sun and Westsider publications, collaborating with ChrisMD and a range of the worlds biggest YouTube stars, and working with some of our countries biggest brands including Cobb Lane, Barbarian Brewing Co, Royal Stacks and CLIK Collective.

We have done this while often working with limited resources, inadequate facilities and the constant challenge of making something meaningful from very little. Yet time and again, our members, volunteers, coaches, players, families and sponsors have shown what can happen when people are prepared to believe in something bigger than themselves. My hope for the future, is that through the collective power of our community, that we make the Hansen Reserve pavilion redevelopment come to life, our young people deserve facilities that are safe, accessible and reflective of the positive impacts we make on Footscray and surrounds.

I am particularly proud that Rangers has become known not simply for the football we play, but for what we stand for. We have demonstrated that a community sporting club can be ambitious while still being kind; competitive while still being inclusive; and proud of its culture while continuing to make room for new people, new ideas and new possibilities.

There have been difficult moments, as there always are when you are trying to build something that matters. But I leave knowing that Footscray Rangers is stronger, more visible and more capable than it has ever been. The foundations are in place for the next generation of leaders to take the club forward. I am thrilled with the quality of the people we have attracted to our clubs leadership and coaching positions, I’m very excited to see the future of the club and what these new leaders will bring to our community.

To every person who has volunteered their time, coached a team, set up fields, washed jerseys, driven a player, attended a meeting, supported a fundraiser, worn our colours, or simply believed in us: thank you. This club has never been the work of one person. It has been built by a community of people who chose to give their time, energy and heart to one another, in service of the idea that football is for everyone, we just need to make a little room.

Serving as President has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I will always be deeply proud to have been part of Footscray Rangers, and I will always believe in its future.

With gratitude,

Nathan McLean
President
Footscray Rangers Football Club