Mt Pleasant FNC on funding program and road safety

One of the biggest funding programs benefiting grassroots footy in Victoria is back in 2023, with community clubs given the opportunity to share in $600,000 of investment through the Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC) Club Rewards Program.

AFL Victoria has spoken to a number of community football clubs about what the program means to their club and how they’ve benefited from the program, with applications in 2023 open until August.

Melissa Nihill, Secretary of Mount Pleasant Football Netball Club which competes in the Heathcote District Football Netball League, discusses her club's involvement in the program.

1. What motivated your club to get involved in the TAC Club Rewards Program? (e.g. Personal experience with road trauma, raise awareness for members, helping juniors)

We recognise that most members will know someone personally who has been involved in road trauma, and throughout our club history we have lost several people to car accidents. We do not want anyone in our club now to be another road statistic. We think that by involving kids in our application and publicity of the Rewards Program that this will teach them valuable lessons about road safety well before they can drive which will hopefully shift generational mindsets about driving and will hopefully reduce the road toll when they start driving.

2. How does the message of road safety connect with your clubs values?

Our club does not have official values given we are a country grassroots club, however our unspoken values all revolve around COMMUNITY. We are a small farming community footy club that has existed for 135 years because we have always put community first. Football/Netball clubs are vital in ensuring the physical, mental and social health of our members and players. We see it as our role to be leader in our community and to look after our mates, promoting and reinforcing road safety messages is a simple way for our club and its members to look after our mate and ensure we do not lose anyone in our tight knit community to a road accident.

3. What has your club been able to do with the funds you’ve received in the past?

We have been fortunate to receive funding on two occasions with the Rewards Program. These funds have all gone towards a detailed plan for two new netball courts, with the plan submitted to the Campaspe Shire in the hope that funding will be provided to the club for the new courts through specific government grants.

4. Do you have any tips for clubs who are wanting to engage with the TAC Club Rewards Program?

Get a small team of volunteers together to brainstorm ways you can creatively promote road safety messages and have fun with it. Get your footballers and netballers involved in delivering/recording the road safety messages and put them on social media or posters around your club. Putting the effort in to reinforce road safety messages could change the driving behaviours of some of your members and keep them and others on the road safer, and could win your club some money too.

For more information on how your club can get involved, like hundreds of other clubs around Victoria, go to https://www.aflvic.com.au/tacclubrewards 

Mt Pleasant FNC supporters