29 September, 2022

Sadly, we have to report the passing of Wyoming FC Life Member, Leonie Best, the wife of WFC icon Kevin Best and one of the hardest-working and most effective administrators for Central Coast football at both club and association levels for nearly three decades.

Beginning as manager of the Wyoming U6A team of 1972, Leonie joined the Club Committee the following year before taking over as Registrar in 1974 a position she held for a total of 10 years overseeing the growth in player registrations from about 150 to almost 600.

Leonie also gained the distinction of being Wyoming’s first female premiership-winning coach taking the club’s 1975 U9A team to the title.

In 1980 Leonie became a Life Member of the Club, joined husband Kevin as the first of four husband and wife WFC Life Members. Both would later go on to be awarded Life Membership of CCF.

Leonie’s two children had outstanding football careers. Her son, Stephen Van Dorp, played a total of 14 seasons with Wyoming FC, both in junior and senior teams; while her daughter, Lisa Power nee Van Dorp, is one of the club’s highest achievers having represented the Central Coast, Northern NSW and Australia. Lisa was one of the inaugural members of the WFC Hall of Fame.

Like a number of other Wyoming officials during that period Leonie graduated to CCF where she became a long-serving member of the Association’s management team. Between 1986 and 1988 she served on both the Judiciary and Publicity Committees before taking over as CCF Administration Officer and Company Secretary from 1989 to 1997. In 1992 she received an Australia Day Award for her contributions to football.

On behalf of everyone at the Wyoming Football Club we pass on our sincere condolences to husband Kevin and children Lisa and Stephen and their families.