The importance of community sport and why its return is pivotal
Walking through the doors at De La Salle football club in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern East you are greeted by what you see at many football clubs, a celebration of former premierships and past great players. A football club with 250 members in 2019 and competing in the Victorian amateur football association the club had a slightly up and down season in 2019. Club president Mathew O’Callaghan describes the lack of football this year “as a big gaping hole in his life.” Mark is in his second year as president of De La Salle old collegians football club, follows his father who served two terms as president in both the 1960s and 1970s. Mark describes it as “having a strong family connection to the football club,” in which he has played and is now a member of the committee. “The footy club at this time of year is just a big part of my life and other people are probably very similar,” O’Callaghan reminisced.
Speaking with Mark, you can simply hear his passion for the club and what it means for him, it is clear this part of his life missing has become incredibly challenging for him. According to Robert Putnam in his text the collapse and revival of American community, places with higher social capital are safer, better governed and more prosperous than those places with lower level social capital. The football club provides a social setting for the group which is important for the idea of community especially living in the hustle and bustle of a big city. Sporting clubs create social capital and in turn improve the areas in which they run and provide an outlet for people, who otherwise may fall to drugs or crime. Whilst being separated from each other throughout Covid-19 has been particularly challenging the playing group have found ways to stay in contact and push each other to stay fit. The group have utilised Strava which records players running times and where they have run which O’Callaghan says has created a “quite a bit of interaction and banter.” The club has created podcasts to provide the members a platform to remain engaged, whilst it is only in its infancy, it allows players and non-playing members alike to remain in close connection with the club.
Norman Szostak is an ultimate clubman, growing up in Daylesford meant sport was vital in Norm’s life and always supporting your club either in cricket or football. Norm had begun his pre-season for football and was forced to stop once the government lockdown was brought in. Szostak was moving into a coaching capacity this season and was excited for the challenge, “its almost like going through a breakup,” Norm chuckled, “imagine you see your girlfriend two to three times a week then all of a sudden you can’t catch up with them, you have that disconnect.” For Norm, much of his life and the lives of many others revolve around playing football and cricket in an almost continuous cycle that has been broken.
Sitting in his South Yarra cricket club top, Szostak had just returned from training with some teammates for cricket which was still 4 months away from starting, it is clear that you cannot keep him away from sport. “I’ve been working out in my garage a bit and going on runs…looking forward to going back to training, I was going to step into more of a coaching role, so I was excited for that.” For people such as Norm football clubs become apart of their lives, they play for 15 to 20 years of their adult life, then move into either a coaching capacity such as Norm or in a committee facet such as O’Callaghan.
Whilst being away for sport throughout Covid-19 has been challenging for both O’Callaghan and Szostak, both men have utilised the time positively for themselves. Szostak has utilised the time away from football to take stock of his life and make improvements on his health, “I’ve actually taken it really quite well, I’ve given up smoking in the last six weeks… I don’t mind a beer or 3 on a Saturday so I have found myself not drinking as much.” More time away from the club has given Norm the ability to consider issues to health such as smoking. Working consistently and then playing football, many players do not have the time to consider how their habits effect their lives. O’Callaghan has found himself spending more time with his children, “I’ve got four older kids who are all still at home, it’s been pretty cool to be hanging out with them.” A season as president for O’Callaghan means he has little time to spend with his family, lockdown has allowed him to spend time with his children that may ordinarily be spent at the football club. It has become a welcome positive for many throughout Covid-19 to reassess themselves and make time for family or for self-growth that may be lost ordinarily in the hustle and bustle of day to day life and sport.
AFL Barwon which oversees the multiple competitions throughout Geelong decided on June 9th that the competitions would not be going ahead for the senior men’s competition and the women’s netball. This is one of the first competitions in Victoria to already cancel the season, club presidents were asked to vote on the issue and decided to cancel the season. Simon Farrell is the president of Geelong Amateur football club which compete in the Geelong District Football League and has been president for seven seasons. “It’s a massive hole left on the weekends, catching up with people and having that community…it’s a big part of a lot of peoples lives,” Farrell stated. Amateurs football club has a large contingent of members who are retired so the club provides an outlet for these people. When asked whether the club would be open to playing with no crowds, Farrell replied “as a volunteer, I don’t work my guts out behind the scenes then get told you can’t go…that’s the enjoyment of it going and watching the game.” For Farrell watching the fruits of his labour come out in performance on the field makes it worthwhile for him, without seeing his team play the role seems almost pointless for Farrell.
Farrell is your classic larikin, spending time at the club where he is a former player brings immense joy and he has helped deliver his football club multiple premierships. He was drawn to the role for the challenge along with a sense of responsibility to serve his community. “it took me a little while for me to think that it would be good, you know a bit of a challenge, I always think that everyone has got to do a little bit for their community.” It is clear for people like Farrell they feel a sense of duty to support their community which is found within their sporting club. This club is his community and as many people feel a duty to the place they live, Farrell feels the same duty for his football club.
Community is clearly created from sporting clubs, they allow people to have a sense especially those such Szostak moving from the country as he said “they allow you to meet like-minded people who are a similar age.” Sporting clubs are vital throughout the country and the public are worse off without them, the sooner they come back, the sooner much of the nation will regain their sense of belonging.
