“It’s bigger than the game.”
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When you strip community sport to its bare bones, it’s the mighty sense of family that binds everyone from top to toe together like butcher twine.
Two clubs that especially recognise family as the lifeblood of football and netball are Tatura and Shepparton United, which contest the Family Care Cup at Deakin Reserve on Saturday.
The drive behind the occasion is to give a voice to the vulnerable and open dialogue channels about family violence, an issue that is sadly prevalent in communities like ours throughout the country.
Tatura vice-president Simon Pogue said he was proud to have been involved in the initiative since its 2014 inception.
“Tat footy netball club is very proud to still be doing this. It was initially a league-wide initiative with Family Care between all the clubs and we’re (Tatura and United) the only ones still doing it,” he said.
“It’s a highlight on our calendar, we play each other twice this year; we play for the Family Care Cup for the winner of the senior footy and the Family Care Shield for the winner of the A-grade netball.
“From a wellbeing perspective and a community organisation, we recognise that we need to be role models and lead the way in terms of our behaviours.
“Unless you’re having those conversations, you’re not going to learn, you’re not going to progress and you’re not going to be able to deal with an issue like family violence.”
Football netball clubs are all about talking.
Whether its a pre-training yarn between players about their day, a three-quarter time rev-up or a post-match chat in the rooms, the value of conversation is pivotal on the oval and courts.
You can’t call for a pass without opening your mouth.
And you can’t fix a problem without having a discussion.
The power of speech is something familiar to Shepparton United president Rebecca Monk.
“I know I’ve been fortunate to have been vulnerable and have a conversation with some of the players,” she said.
“It’s about building that sense of community so that we can all talk with one another and learn about different people we can connect with and normalise having that conversation rather than keeping it hidden.
“If they can be there and if they feel supported, that might be the one person we can connect with and help get them out of a situation — and that will make a huge difference.”
Someone with his boots on the ground, supporting victims of family violence on a day-to-day basis, is Family Care’s Allan Mitchell.
Mitchell works for The Orange Door, an arm of Family Care that caters to adults, children and young people who are experiencing or have experienced family violence.
He was rapt to have Tatura and Shepparton United’s backing for another year.
“It’s great to align with these two clubs and the value of doing this, especially it being the 11th year,” he said.
“The more that we reach out to community groups, the more people get used to the conversation and understand just how common the problem is.
“That awareness will help the conversations become more normalised and then making the individual more prepared to have those conversations and hopefully leads to some positive action.”
Saturday’s occasion is all about finding a voice.
However, Mother’s Day falls on the day after the Family Care Cup match and, as Pogue indicated, provides another reason to stop and reflect.
“Sunday is Mother’s Day, and when you think about your mum, your wife or partner, your kids, grandparents, aunts, nieces; everyone in some capacity has a female role model in their lives,” he said.
“We should all turn our minds to what sort of impact would family violence have on those people closest to you.
“That would be a self-evident answer that it would be horrific, and therefore we need to have a conversation with other people but also ourselves about why that would be acceptable for everyone else — it’s not acceptable.”
The underlying message of the Family Care Cup is a deep one.
But on the surface, it’s football and netball that will draw the masses to Deakin Reserve on Saturday for what’s shaping as a fantastic battle.
In the senior football, both United (0-4-1) and Tatura (1-4-0) desperately require four points to shoot up the ladder and the Family Cup Cup provides an extra impetus to fire up.
Over on the netball courts, the fifth-placed Bulldogs and fourth-ranked Demons hold identical records, pointing to a tightly fought clash when push comes to shove in the Shield match.
Sports Journalist