The Committee of the Old Xaverians Football Club has approved five new Life Members.  

In doing so, it has acted on the advice of the Life Members Sub-committee, which sought the opinions and views of the existing Life Members on the nominations presented to them.

Each of this quintet has given outstanding service to the OXFC both on and off the field, and I heartily congratulate them all on their elevation to Life Membership.

The five are:

Nick Bourke who played 105 games in Red and Black between 1985-89 and 1994-95.

He served as a forward scout for Tim O’Shaughnessy in 1998, then took his talents to the VAFA, where he served as Big V Coach, as President, and as a Board Member. He is a VAFA Life Member and a Big V Legend.

He coached the Reserves to the premiership in 1995, then took over as Senior coach in mid-1996 with the threat of relegation very real. The team’s recovery was almost instantaneous, and the Seniors won their second flag on end. Nick coached again in 1997, and again the Red ‘n’ Blacks won the premiership, with Bourke awarded VAFA Coach of the Year.
 
With his former premiership player Dom Berry, Bourke returned to coach Old Xaverians in 2013 and again, the Old Xavs won the premiership.

Nick is the elder brother of OXFC Life Member Matthew Bourke.

Ben Coughlan played 150 games for the club between 1993 and 2002.

An U19 premiership player in his first year, he went on to be a four-time Senior premiership player between 1996 and 1999, when he was the team’s vice-captain.  

‘Boggers’ represented the Big V three times and was also twice a Reserves premiership player.

Ben is currently on the OXFC committee, having previously served between 2008 and 2010.

James Lowe played 194 games with the Red ’n’ Blacks over 12 seasons between 1985-89 and 1991-97.

He captained the Reserves to premierships in 1995 and 1997.

More recently, he served as U19 Team Manager in 2018-19, and has performed the same role for the U23s since 2022.

James McDonnell played 207 Games over 15 seasons in 2000-2004 & 2006-2015.        

He was the leading goalkicker in the VAFA U19 competition in 2000 and 2001, and was a premiership player and represented the Big V in the latter year.

‘Malla’ was a member of the 2003 Senior premiership team, and won the club’s 2011 Reserves Best and Fairest award. He later represented the Crocodiles with great distinction, winning premierships in 2012, 2013 and 2014, kicking 92 and 91 goals in 2013/14, respectively.

He was an assistant coach to the Seniors in their premiership year of 2009 and was for several years a very active committeeman.

James is the elder son of OXFC Life Member Peter McDonnell.

Adam Sassi played 166 games over 11 seasons from 1992-2002.

He was a Big V representative and third in the OXFC Best and Fairest in 1994, then was a four-time Senior Premiership in 1995, 1996, 1997 and then again in 2000, when he was runner-up in the Best and Fairest.

‘Sass’ coached the U19s in 2003-04 and returned there in 2020-21 as an assistant coach. In 2022, he was that team’s fitness coach and, for the past two seasons (2023-24), has served as the club’s Senior Strength and Conditioning coach.

‍