Shimmon Leaves An Indelible Mark

Ever since 17-year-old Todd Shimmon donned the No. 19 jumper and booted three goals in his first appearance in the Claremont colts side, against South Fremantle at Claremont Oval in 1982, has he been a dedicated and passionate Tiger.

He has been a wonderful stalwart of the club in a variety of roles for 27 years and now all at Claremont bid him a fond farewell and wish him all the best in his move to East Fremantle as the chief executive officer of the Sharks.

He is accepting a new challenge in life with his customary enthusiasm after leaving an indelible mark at the club where he has served in the role of general manager and CEO for 14 years, a record term in the 89-year history of the club.

“It’s sad, but I have made some lifetime friends at Claremont and it was time for a change,” he said. “The timing was right to give someone else the opportunity to fill the role as CEO.

“Claremont will always be my club and the special club that I hold dearest to my heart.”

A loyal and devoted servant, Shimmon, a rover, wingman and centreman with the Tigers colts in 1982 and 1983, went on to act as the lone runner for the colts for the next six years while he continued his playing career for nine years with Applecross in the Sunday League and one year with Willetton.

In 1985 and 1986 he was team manager of Claremont under-age development squads and twice accompanied sides on trips to Melbourne when members of the squad included Don Pyke, Ben Allan and Phil Gilbert, who went on to be Claremont league premiership players and AFL stars.

Shimmon progressed to be Claremont’s league runner in 1999 and 2000 and he started work as Claremont’s football manager on March 13, 2000. He continued as football manager in 2001 and 2002 and was also the club’s general manager in 2001-02-03-04 before he assumed the title of CEO in 2005.

The colts lost the 1982 and 1983 grand finals to South Fremantle, but under Shimmon’s stewardship Claremont won two league premierships and four each in the colts and reserves, as well as the Foxtel Cup and the Rodriguez Shield five times.

In 1983 Shimmon (whose father Keith played in Claremont’s league side in the mid-1950s) finished second to Dean Toy in Claremont’s fairest-and-best award in the colts. He also was runner-up to South Fremantle’s Derek Collard in the Medallists Medal as the fairest-and-best player in the WAFL colts competition that year.

In 1999 and 2000 Claremont had significant $100,000 losses before in Shimmon’s first year at the helm the annual loss had dropped to $59,415. And then the club showed a profit of $29,772 in 2002. It is to Shimmon’s credit that since then Claremont has been financially viable.

In the past ten years Shimmon has been a driving force in planning for the $16.5 million redevelopment of the club’s premises in Davies Road and the overall redevelopment around the oval.

“This will ensure that the Claremont Football Club will remain financially sound for the next 40 to 50 years,” Shimmon said.

Shimmon has always been a strong proponent of the philosophy of developing and promoting the home-grown product at Claremont.

Ken Venables, Claremont’s president from 2004 to 2013, formed a marvellous liaison with Shimmon during that period. “Todd was football manager when I joined the board and we certainly enjoyed a very good friendship and relationship,” Venables said. “He was wonderfully diligent and dedicated and he goes with my personal blessing and with my best wishes for many years of happiness at East Fremantle.”

Shimmon said that he thoroughly enjoyed Claremont’s overall success on the field at his time in charge and added that the major highlight was the 2011 grand final when Claremont beat Subiaco by 56 points to clinch the club’s eleventh league premiership. An enduring legacy of Shimmon’s reign is that he helped to promote the club’s culture of developing within. He paid special tribute to John O’Connnell, Ken Venables and Ken Casellas, whom he described as his three great mentors.

Few men have had such an impact at the Claremont Football Club as Todd Shimmon. He will be sadly missed.