By JARROD POTTER
CRANBOURNE Junior Football Club is ensuring its attitude is only on the field this season, with policies and plans in place to enhance the club’s image among the South East Juniors league.
Under the guidance of a new committee since the start of last season, the last two years have seen the Eagles veer drastically from the ways of old.
The club’s new zero-tolerance policies in regard to parental and player behaviour has seen a number of people shown the door or leave the club, with the Eagles now giving 220 kids a game every week across 11 teams.
“We’ve lost two teams to culture issues – that’s fine – it’s a shame to lose the kids, but we don’t want to lose kids to parent politics,” Cranbourne JFC president Kris Fawcett said.
“Don’t want to involve the kids, so they’ve gone to other clubs.”
Culture issues will be a thing of the past, with the club’s zero tolerance policies to help boost the reputation of the Eagles.
“We’ve basically got a zero-tolerance in regard to parental and player behaviour and an anti-bullying policy in place,” Fawcett said.
“All players when representing the club – need to respect the club – kids can still have personalities and have fun, but we don’t want that ratbag culture.
“We kicked two kids out last year for fighting – they were fighting in front of canteen, parents and other clubs.
“With the older age groups, we’ve implemented a uniform policy – black pants, blue shirt and to act and look like a team.”
Another way the club has deviated from the script is the lack of grading at Cranbourne JFC, allowing friends to play together and not being too fussed about the best 22 always lining up in the firsts team.
“We’re trying to get kids to play in their own age groups and we’re not really hard and fast on grading,” Fawcett said.
“What we found is that it created a lot of angst, now we’re letting kids play with mates and parents join in together and the teams are just as good.”
Sponsorship numbers have increased with the better environment at the club, with a dozen businesses signing on to support the Eagles in 2013 and all of last season’s coaches have returned to maintain continuity at Cranbourne.
Maintaining and building relationships with the Cranbourne Football Club at a senior level and with the Cranbourne Youth Girls side is important to the CJFC as well. A mascot program for under-9s running out with the seniors and inviting the Youth Girls to become a bigger part of the club at Camm Reserve is also important for Fawcett and the committee.
Speaking of Camm Reserve, the City of Casey has helped provide $200,000 worth of upgrades to the facilities, bringing them in line with the best in the region.
Fawcett said all these aspects rested upon four main pillars on which the club would stand going forward.
The Eagles will be: fair and equitable to all players and parents, give every player the opportunity to develop as a footballer, offer a pleasant experience for players and people to watch or play football in a non-aggressive environment and to make the club and the colours proud every time they are worn.
“There are a lot of people that spend a lot of time and put a lot of energy into the place, we don’t want it to become a chore, we want it to be fun,” Fawcett said.
“We’re always open and welcoming to new players and getting players a game.”
Any players in the Cranbourne area interested in playing for the Eagles can contact president Kris Fawcett on 0434 336 525 for more information.
