Presidents Message for 2021

As we approach the beginning of our 2020 Football season I’d like to warmly welcome all those that are new to our Club and to thank all those that continue with the Club year after year. I feel that now is also the perfect time to communicate my vision and ambitions to you about the future of our Club and how I’d like to steer that future.
Value statement:
At Moreland City FC we believe that success is not only measured by our on-field results but also by the culture and atmosphere at our Club. Above all we want to foster an environment that is simply driven by a ‘love of the game’.

Vision for Our Club:
One of the most important parts of our Club is our senior men’s NPL team, whose performance we rely on to keep us competing at the senior NPL level and to give our MiniRoos and Juniors an ambitious football pathway.
ALDI MiniRoos continues to be Football Victoria’s marquee program and the leading junior introductory program within Australia, with over 227,000 boys and girls playing. As a Club we need to not only better manage our MiniRoos program but we also need to make sure our MiniRoos’ integration and transition into our junior football program is as positive as possible.

The vision I have for our Club is to have a fully integrated football playing community starting at the MiniRoos and Junior level all the way to senior NPL.

We know that Clubs that do this well develop more successful players. It is vital therefore that the entire Club not only throw its support behind all of our youth programs but also our senior teams, especially during home game days. Young players grow into more successful players when they have developed in an atmosphere where they have watched and aspired to be like their Club’s senior players.

So if you are able to attend or support senior games in a volunteer capacity our senior teams would love to have you there supporting and cheering them on, making their playing experience all that more exhilarating.

A new study by Professional Footballers Australia (the PFA) has identified crucial factors that set Australia’s ‘Golden Generation’ of footballers apart in a bid to create a framework for talent management and development going forward.

This study found that “crucial factors included unstructured and informal play – such as playing backyard soccer – at a young age, an early exposure to senior football, and connection to a particular club.”
“The report shows that the process goes much deeper than just coaching, facilities and style of play but to building a deep culture and connection to the sport we all love” and the most critical part of that connection is your connection to your Club.

Girl’s and Women’s Program:
Our Club is passionate about developing a successful and thriving girl’s and women’s soccer program over the next 2-3 years that is in line with the Government’s “Changing the Game: Increasing Female Participation in Sport Initiative” and both Football Federation Australia (FFA) and Football Victoria (FV) participation initiatives.

The FFA has stated that their “aim is to ultimately increase female participation in the game; players, coaches, administrators and referees to reach 50:50 participation by 2027.”

As a Club we will strive to implement these participation initiatives starting with an aggressive drive to recruit coaches and introduce at least 1-2 exclusively girl’s teams for 2020. We hope that our Club community gets right behind us and assists us in this drive by volunteering to coach if you have the necessary skills and experience right through to referring players and spreading the word.

Our Community:
At Moreland City FC we pride ourselves on providing a great community environment for our junior and senior players. Contributing to our community is what drives us so we value any support that our community and Club members can give back to us.

Volunteers:
Our Club is almost entirely self funded through the contributions made by our members and our sponsors. Running an NPL football club like ours means we rely heavily on volunteers contributing their time and effort week in and week out in order to provide our players and wider Club community with a comprehensive and enjoyable football experience.
We therefore ask that all our Club members consider ways that they may be available to offer assistance to help keep our Club growing and thriving into the future.

Working to Ensure you have a Great Experience:
One of our aims into the future is to make sure our players and members have a positive and enjoyable experience at our Club. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve how we do things so if you have any positive suggestions that can help us in any way we’d love to hear from you.

Please Support us in Promoting our Club:
Any way that you can help us promote our Club is always greatly appreciated. As part of that we seek your support in helping us to share our content on social media platforms, especially when looking to recruit new coaches, players or publicise our fund-raising events.
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Pedro Fric
President
Moreland City Football Club