Sport
20 September, 2024
Soccer club takes steps in building community footprint with new futsal grant
After the success of an in-house test tournament last season, the Maryborough Soccer Club is hoping funding for its official futsal tournament launch will help parachute bigger and better things for the club going forward.
The club shared more than $42,000 in funding from the Central Goldfields Shire Council, which was announced at Monday night’s council meeting, receiving $2430 to help build their futsal championship, alongside other sporting community organisations such as the Bealiba Pony Club, who received $3000 for a new safe riding area, while the Maryborough and District Horse and Pony Club received $3000 for a sustainability project.
Outgoing Maryborough Soccer Club president Garry George says their successful grant hopefully leads to greater successes for the club going forward, which includes a permanent base.
“We’ve talked about getting this off the ground for a couple of years now, and I’ve not wanted to do it unless we knew we could deliver, so we have been laying the groundwork over the last couple of years,” he said.
“We haven’t really got many revenue streams, in terms of bringing in money — we don’t have our own ground, so we’re not able to raise funds through a canteen or bar, so we do kind of rely on grants, but to be successful with this is a big boost for us, and I think the game of futsal is a real benefit to this community.”
George is hoping for big participation numbers in their first tournament, and early signs suggest that there is enough interest.
“Working at the local high school, I do teach a lot of kids who play football and netball some futsal, and they love it,” he said.
“It’s accessible to players of all sports, you don’t need to get 11 players for a team, it is only five a team, so it’s easy to get the numbers, there’s a lot of transferable skills.
“It’s something you can pick up — you don’t have to have played soccer all your life to play futsal.
“I’m expecting that when we get this competition going, a large part of the participation, we expect, will come from footballers who might want to keep their fitness up over the summer.
“It’s not strictly aimed at the soccer community, we want to get new people in, people that haven’t been involved with soccer or have been put off by the big numbers, to come in and have a kick.”
The in-house tournament last season was successful for the club, allowing them to bring in new recruits, the appointment of coach Jack Schafer and overall growth, with new families participating at the club.
George and the club are grateful for the grant, saying it is a step forward in further discussions in ensuring the club can be more sustainable, which will be needed to compete against teams based in Ballarat with greater resources.
“Everyone has been fantastic and supportive. People at all levels of council do concede that the situation should be better for the club, and we have probably earned the right to have a home ground,” he said.
“We’ll see what happens with the council elections and things like that, but I’m optimistic.
“Much of the chat we have, and the communication and corres-pondence, they are making the right noises. We are feeling more upbeat as things go on.”
That includes their juniors, who were very competitive in the under 14 competition this season, finishing sixth, while George says the club isn’t far off boosting their numbers to field a reserve team.
“We had a great bunch of juniors. The key will be retaining them, and that’s part of the challenge when the facilities aren’t up to scratch,” he said.
“We do risk losing players to other clubs, and that’s something we have suffered from in the past. But we have really good growth in the junior section.
“To have two under nines this season was phenomenal, the under 14s played some really good soccer and were challenging for finals until the end.
“We also aren’t far off being able to field a reserve team, which would really grow the club as well, and we have appointed a futsal coordinator this year, in Johno Melton, which is a new role, so it’s something we are serious about.
“Having those lower numbers on a team makes it a game where we can get enough participants to make a good viable competition.”
George is hoping the creation of the futsal championship, alongside the growth of the club, will be a legacy alongside the hard work of the current committee within the club.
“Down the track, if we have a good year or two with adult futsal, we will look to open up another night where we open it up for juniors, maybe we can get a women’s specific competition, or perhaps a competitive or social event. It will depend on the numbers as things pan out,” he said.
“We are really optimistic, we have a great bunch of players, the families of the junior players have bought in, and will be hungry to grow the club.
“A couple will join the committee as we transition into the new year, so that augers well too, and brings fresh energy and new ideas into the experiences we have on the committee.
“We see the futsal championships as a partnership. We want to grow the game of soccer, but if we can do things that get people out there exercising, socialising and having a healthy lifestyle, and pick up a few players out of that, everyone is a winner.”