A plan to tackle the dwindling participation numbers in football across the lower Mid North Coast is underway, after a group of concerned individuals met at the Tuncurry Forster Football Club on Monday evening to address the issue.
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The group's main goal is to encourage greater participation in soccer across the region and to help Football Mid North Coast (FMNC) come up with strategies to achieve that outcome.
Tuncurry Forster Football Club president and FMNC board member, Lance Fletcher, was tasked with setting up the advisory group after he raised concerns with FMNC head honchos, Mike Parsons and Bruce Potter.
"People who had been involved in football in this area for the past 40 to 50 years had been coming to me raising their concerns about the drop-off in numbers in juniors and seniors," Mr Fletcher said.
Our junior numbers have been dropping substantially, not just during COVID, but over the past few years.
- Lance Fletcher
The group is comprised of a dozen people and is made up of coaches, committee members, former National Soccer League players and dedicated individuals, all from the Great Lakes, Manning and Gloucester, as well as Mr Fletcher and Mr Potter.
And while Monday night's meeting was primarily held to see if a positive outcome could be achieved, Mr Fletcher said everyone involved walked away feeling good about what was discussed and the direction they had agreed to take.
"It went exceptionally well," he said.
"I was very impressed with the input."
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Mr Fletcher said one of the key strategies the group agreed upon was that the Zone Premier League (ZPL), which was abandoned in 2020 due to a lack of teams, needed to be promoted among clubs.
He believed this would ensure greater retention of junior players and fill a crucial gap between the more social Men's Southern League and the highly-competitive Coastal Premier League.
"It is vital that our juniors can aspire to playing senior football," Mr Fletcher said.
"We've got to try and encourage the top teams in the southern league to come over to the ZPL. There are 12 teams in that competition, that could come down to six or eight and still have a strong competition."
Mr Fletcher said the idea of establishing an under-20s competition, which would serve as a stepping stone between the under-18s and ZPL, was also discussed.
"Ultimately this advisory group will put forward suggestions for the board to consider and hopefully adopt," Mr Fletcher said.
"We will also encourage clubs to put forward ideas as well."
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And while the group is focussed on countering decreased participation in football, Mr Fletcher believes it's a problem facing a lot of sports.
"This process is about our game of soccer but we are also acknowledging across all sports that we need more participation, more parents getting back involved in junior sports," he said.
"COVID has certainly put a speed bump in the road of success but getting out into the outdoors, appreciating the volunteers who give up their time to be on committees and promoting a healthy life away from devices will certainly help in these times."
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