Sport
29 November, 2024
Clubs get significant rewards
Five clubs from the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League (MCDFNL) have recently received funding for their efforts in promoting local road safety.
The Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC) $600,000 Club Rewards program encourages community clubs to participate in their mission to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on roads.
MCDFNL clubs Carisbrook, Dunolly, Harcourt, Lexton and Talbot were recipients of up to $10,000 for their efforts, while the Maryborough Football Netball Club have also benefitted from this year’s program.
For Talbot Football Netball Club secretary Matt Green, road safety remains an important and personal issue.
“About 20 years ago we lost one of our players to a road accident so it’s a cause very close to our heart at the club,” he said.
“We have a number of young people at the club, players in particular, who do a lot of driving from a farm in the Ballarat area.
“They have to do a lot of travel to games, training and club functions so we want to make sure that everyone is driving safely.”
In 2024, 260 people have lost their lives on Victorian roads, down three percent from this time last year which finished with the highest number of fatalities in 15 years.
With over half of road fatalities occurring in rural Victoria this year, Mr Green said it’s vital for local sporting clubs to spread awareness.
“I think it’s really good for the wider community to see clubs are leading the way and promoting this messaging,” he said.
“It doesn’t just affect the club, it affects people around it in the Talbot community as well as Maryborough and Ballarat — the word gets around so it has a flow-on effect.
“Each year on TAC’s Road Safety Round, usually around the end of July, our footballers and netballers commemorate it by wearing TAC armbands.
“We put up posters with road safety driving messaging, we also run buses to Maryborough and Ballarat for our functions so people don’t have to drive.
“Even coming to games players will carpool because some of them like a drink or two after the game so there will be a designated driver for them.”
The club has been a recipient of the program for a number of years, which according to Mr Green makes a huge difference in making big projects possible.
“Every little bit helps — last year it was $1800, the year before it was $5000 [and] when they ask us what we want to put the funding towards, each year we say we want to save for an electronic scoreboard,” he said.
“We have been saving for that for upwards of five years [so] each grant we get no matter how big or small is being put towards that.”