[Local Football] Two local football clubs have been given a financial boost to assist with getting their seasons up and running, courtesy of Minister for Sport grant funding.
Both the Avoca Sharks and Kincumber Roos FCs recently scored grants with Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch, delivering the good news.
Roos President, Scott Barker, said his club would be spending their $2,500 to refurbish their canteen with a new food preparation bench and sink.
“With COVID food preparation, safety and handling has never been more important and this is something the club has been wanting to do for a long time, so we’re very grateful for this funding,” Barker said.
According to Barker, the refurb project will kick off once council approves plans.
The funding was a much welcome boost for the Roos, who’ve been working hard in the hope of one day seeing a major overhaul of their facilities.
“We have been talking about getting work done to our facilities for years and have been saving up to contribute to the development of a new clubhouse, so getting to do this refurb is very exciting for us.
“It gives members the feeling that things are happening,” Barker said.
The funding also builds upon a $2,000 grant the Roos received earlier this year.
Barker said that funding had been put towards developing a coach’s clinic for the Roos’ volunteer coaches.
“A lot of our coaches are just mums and dads that have volunteered because they want to support their kids or the club, so we put the clinic together so they can feel more confident in their decision making.
“We think it’ll be a great boost for them and for development of grassroots football on the Coast,” Barker said.
The Sharks picked up a $1,687 grant and, like the Roos, they’re spending it on canteen upgrades.
“We’ve used the funding to buy a new freezer and to get some new shelving installed.
“We also needed to replace the battery in our defibrillator and those aren’t cheap, so the funding was really appreciated,” Sharks President, Justine Martin, said.
With the 2020 season coming with a hefty price tag due to COVID-19 restrictions, Martin said the funding had been most welcome.
“We’re really grateful to be getting a full season of play but it hasn’t been cheap.
“We’ve had to hire hand sanitiser stations, get special signage, set up contactless payment and jump through a few other hoops, so Adam’s grant was a big help,” Martin said.
With around 850 members, the Sharks are the Coast’s third largest football club membership wise and according to Martin the next big thing on the Sharks’ wish list was securing their own home ground.
The club primarily uses the grounds at Erina High School as their base of operations and utilises Fagan’s Park at Point Clare as a backup, but with this setup not practical for all members Martin worries players might look to other clubs with more fixed arrangements.
“We would love to work with council on securing a permanent home ground that caters to our needs.
“We know council can’t just magic up green space just to accommodate us, but there’s a lot of grounds that are underutilised that we would love to call home,” Martin said.
Dilon Luke