Vale Glen Roland
Thanks to South East for the photo. A perfect photo of Glen.
For Glen Roland, a Big Man with an Even Bigger Heart
Some news stops you in your tracks.
The sudden passing of Glen Roland, President of South East United Football Club, is one of those moments.
A young man taken far too soon.
A man with a family who adored him.
A football person, through and through.
And a club leader who carried more than most people will ever see.
Today, my heart is with the South East United community and most of all with Glen’s family, his loved ones and the people who will now have to work out how the world continues without him.
Because the truth is, when you lose someone like Glen, it is never just the loss of one person.
It is the loss of a whole centre of gravity.
Football is not just a game
This is one of the reasons I write.
Because from the outside, football clubs can look like something simple.
A weekend hobby.
A bit of sport.
Eleven players, a referee, some goals, a few cheers.
But anyone who has lived inside a club knows the truth.
A football club is a community.
A football club is belonging.
A football club is family.
A football club is the thing that holds people together when life is hard.
And sometimes, heartbreakingly, it is the thing that people pour themselves into right up until the end.
Glen was more than a President
South East United has shared the sad news of Glen’s passing, and their words were true.
Glen was far more than a President.
He was one of those club leaders who doesn’t just “hold the position”.
He holds the whole club.
The organising.
The worrying.
The meetings.
The emails.
The quiet planning nobody sees.
The constant pressure.
The responsibility.
And still, he showed up.
A leader driven by love
I spoke with Glen not that long ago.
And what I saw was not ego.
Not status.
Not politics.
I saw love.
He loved his club.
He loved his people.
He cared deeply about what South East United could become and what it could offer the players and families who belong there.
He was ambitious too.
He wanted South East to grow, to be taken seriously, to earn its place.
He was worried about licensing and whether the club would be granted the opportunity to step up.
That matters.
Because licensing is not just paperwork.
It is not just systems and boxes and policies.
For clubs like South East United, licensing is the difference between being told “you are welcome” or being told “you do not belong here”.
And Glen cared because he knew what that outcome would mean to his people.
That was Glen.
Ambitious, driven, determined.
But underneath it all, motivated by love.
The hidden work of volunteer presidents
Volunteer club presidents don’t get applause.
They don’t get press conferences.
They don’t get an annual wage.
What they get is the late-night phone calls.
The complaints.
The constant stress.
The weight of being the person everyone expects to fix everything.
They carry the club on their shoulders and then go home and try to be a parent, a partner, a son, a friend.
They do it out of duty and out of care.
And when that kind of person is suddenly gone, it leaves a hole that is hard to describe.
Because they weren’t just a name on a committee list.
They were the engine.
Vale Glen
It is a terribly sad day.
Glen Rowlands was a big man with an even bigger heart.
He mattered to South East United.
He mattered to Tasmanian football.
And he mattered, most of all, to his family.
To Glen’s loved ones, I am so sorry.
There are no words that can meet a loss like this, but please know that the football community feels it with you.
And to South East United, I know your grief will be deep, because your gratitude will be deep too.
Rest in peace Glen.
You will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.
Love from Ken and Victoria