Hello Rovers Families,
Last Sunday was a wonderful day for Anzac Day. The sun was out. Kids were running around and I saw a couple of games at Castlefield, including my son’s U11 game.
After his game, Seb and I made the pilgrimage into the MCG, to see the big Anzac Day clash between the Pies and the Bombers. As always, it was an amazing day with 78,000 passionate spectators allowed into the ‘G’ to watch the game.
As those who have been lucky enough to attend an Anzac Day game at the ‘G’ would know, it is absolutely spine-tingling when thousands of faithful fans are completely silent when the Last Post is played and our National Anthem is sung. We are such a lucky country to be able to attend sporting events at close to capacity, when around the world so many countries are back in lock down.
This leads me to the expectations around crowd behaviour at SMJFL junior football matches. There have not been any reports of poor behaviour from Hampton Rovers spectators or families (big thank you from the Committee). However, the SMJFL have advised that there has been evidence of poor behaviour during the first two rounds of the season from spectators.
I would have thought that off the back of the year we had last year with no footy, that everyone would be appreciative that footy is back, and we need to just enjoy it and allow the kids to have FUN. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.
A reminder to all HRJ parents: it doesn’t matter what grade or age group you child is playing in, we are not playing for sheep stations.
- This is just a game
- The players are children
- The umpires are human – they may be volunteers, and may be children themselves – and their decisions are to be respected
- The officials are volunteers
- This is NOT the AFL
- Clubs are rated by umpires in regard to their behaviour (good, fair and poor). Poor ratings can result in a financial penalty to the Club.
- Poor spectator behaviour will not be tolerated by the Club and the Committee will come down hard on breaches with sanctions, in particular any spectators that enter the field of play.
While the Hampton Rovers families have been great over the first two rounds, given the concerns of the SMJFL, we felt it necessary to remind everyone of the Club’s expectations. Thank you for your support.
For the upcoming weekend, the SMJFL have re-graded many teams and we are hoping there will be a lot more competitive matches.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and lots of FUN at their kids’ game.
Go Rovers
Rohan Bardwell
Junior President
