By Mikayla van Loon
Croydon Junior Football Club was announced as one of 151 recipients of a TAC Club Rewards Program grant having been a big supporter of the road safety round earlier in the year.
The club received a $10,000 grant to be put towards whatever is needed; equipment, uniforms or new facilities.
Croydon JFC president Travis Rowan said a focus of the committee was to develop a junior girls side, so this funding would be used to help support that goal.
“Being able to put it towards the girls team is one of the main things. We want to attract the girls because we’ve never had a girl’s competition before,” he said.
“So whether we put that out there as free registration, whether it’s free uniform or socks or shorts, just to encourage those girls in.”
Mr Rowan said supporting the TAC round in the future was something the club and committee wanted to continue, so this funding would also help to ensure costs of hosting such an event would be covered.
“We’ve got a couple people involved in the club who are police officers so there was a big push by them. We had special jumpers made up for captains of each side that just had the number zero on them.
“Then it was just about pushing it out there and getting the parents to talk to kids and ask the kids about it. So as a result we have been able to bring it to everyone’s attention and we’ve been able to get that grant which is greatly needed.”
Although Mr Rowan said the recognition from the State government and the TAC was great, sharing that message of road safety was the real focus of the club.
“Our top age kids are 14 or 15 years of age, so they’re close to getting onto their learner’s permit. So I think that’s probably one of the big things is you want the kids to be aware of road safety,” he said.
So far this year, 187 people have lost their lives on Victorian roads, with 106 of those in regional areas – a concerning increase on the 78 regional deaths at the same time last year.
Road safety authorities are also deeply concerned with the rise in young people dying on Victorian roads, with the number of lives lost in the 18-25 age group currently at 34, compared to 25 this time last year.
Roads and Road Safety minister Ben Carroll said local sporting clubs were the backbone of the community and the TAC rewards program was a great incentive to spread the message around road safety.
“We are proud to support the long-standing partnership between the TAC and AFL Victoria, which provides a platform to educate hundreds of thousands of Victorians on road safety issues through local sport,” he said.
TAC Head of Road Safety Samantha Cockfield also said it was encouraging to see football and netball clubs taking on the responsibility of passing on the importance of sensible driving behaviours to younger people.
“It is encouraging to see the commitment from Victorian football and netball clubs to educate the community on road safety and their actions will undoubtedly have a lasting and positive impact on the lives of their members,” she said.
